Page 56 of Love.V2
Yet…I took another step closer, swallowing, my mouth suddenly dry.
If I’d been looking forward to New York for a long time, I’d been scared for longer. Long-nurtured fears and regrets bubbled to the surface, threatening to crack our perfect evening into pieces.
“What’s that face? You don’t agree?” Even though he was sitting, he didn’t have to crane his neck to see me. He was so tall, larger than life. And I was so small.
So small I sometimes became nearly invisible.
“Tess?”
In the end, it was the careful caution in his voice that made me speak up. I couldn’t keep this bottled up if it would hurt him, too.
“Tonightwasmagic. But it’s not always like this,” I said, my throat dry as I voiced the concern that had been prickling my brain for weeks. “What happens when things get back to normal? When it’s just boring life stuff again?”
“Boring life stuff?”
“I mean, we can always make new lists, but sometimes it’s just…life.” My hands lifted, searching for the words. “Sometimes I get overwhelmed and it might take me time to come back out of my shell. What happens if you get this job at Jinx and you lose yourself in work again? Or when it’s just a Tuesday and we have pasta and go to bed early?”
Will this still work?I wanted to beg him for an answer. For some guarantee that twelve years from now, we wouldn’t revert to the cold, separate place we had been.Will you still love me when I babble about art? Will you still look at me like that when one of us forgets to pick up the groceries?
“I like Tuesdays.”
It wasn’t the answer I wanted. “Dylan—”
“I’m not done.” He grabbed my hands, bringing them up to his chest and holding tight. I shuffled forward until his thighs bracketed my legs. “I like Tuesdays. With you. I like pasta. And holding you while we sleep. That sounds like a great fucking day to me.”
I tried to pull back. He wasn’t getting it. “That’s…I’m not asking about pasta.” He held tighter.
“I know, Angel. I know exactly what you’re asking.” He gripped my chin, drawing my gaze from the ceiling. “You’re scared it’ll go back to the way it was. That the ‘boring life stuff’ will get in the way of this.” He squeezed my fingers. “I’ve done the boring life stuff with you before, Tess. And I’d rather have a lifetime of Tuesdays with you than Saturdays with anyone else.”
His words reached into my throat and squeezed. My heart fluttered again.
“Boring doesn’t scare me, Theresa Lynn. Doing it without you, though…” He shook his head, heart in his eyes, shatteringly sincere. His thumb reached out to catch a tear I hadn’t felt fall. “I’ve done that before, andthat’swhat scares me.”
I swayed forward, powerless to fight the pull towards him. Heknew. He got it.
My lips brushed his, butterfly soft. I wanted to savor this moment. Maybe it would carry me through all those Tuesdays. Because he was right. Life happened, and we weren’t perfect. But we were better together than we were apart.
His mouth parted underneath mine. He whispered my name like a plea. A benediction. I let my hands slide across his shoulders. Cup his neck. Pull him closer.
All this time of quiet retreating and living separate lives. It was done.
I was done.
“I love you.” He’d told me a million times, but this felt like that first time. Like laying on his bed at the frat house, galaxies of possibility thrumming between us. “I’ve never stopped, Tess. Not for one minute.”
We hadn’t said those words to each other the whole time he’d been in Chicago. One time in our lives, we’d exchanged them like breathing.I love you. I love you, too.Constantly.
Maybe we’d said them so often, we’d forgotten what they meant altogether. But I remembered now.
“I love you, too,” I whispered. He smiled into my mouth. “Even while I left, I never stopped. Not for one minute,” I repeated his words, pressing my lips more firmly against him. Hot palms circled my legs, sliding up the back of my thighs to pull me closer. One of his arms clamped around my back while the other continued its exploration, easing over the curve of my hip, smoothing up my spine.
We were close enough that I felt rather than heard his groan. I nipped his lip with my teeth, grinning bigger when he hauled me into his body, forcing my knee to brace on the bed, straddling him. His fingers made circles down the back of my thigh, teasing the hem of my dress when he made the journey back up.
All the while, his breath was hot, tongue darting out in increasingly daring licks. “This dress,” he moaned, balling the fabric up then releasing it. “You look like you’re wearing rainbows.”
“Sounds cute.” I pressed light, close-mouthed kisses along his cheek.
“Oh, the dress is cute. The things I want to do to you in this dress?” He yanked, sending me sprawling against his chest. “Definitely more X-rated.”
