Page 39 of Wrong Car, Wright Guy
“Not at the time. We weren’t in a good place.”
“Just because we weren’t in a good place, doesn’t mean I didn’t care. I just…hated that I couldn’t have you.”
“Crossed wires,” she says with a gentle shake of her head. “They cause a lot of unnecessary damage.”
“Or you could argue that they saved us from rushing into things. We found a way to work together without our feelings getting in the way. I’d say that set us up perfectly for our future, don’t you?”
“Always the debater. But I do like the part where we have a future.”
“If I have any say in the matter, it’ll be a long and happy one.”
“Careful, Tanner. You’re going to make me embarrass myself by saying something too soon.”
“Oh, I want you to say it,” I whisper, bringing my mouth to her ear. “I’d fuckingloveit.”
She bites her lip, but before our perfect little moment can go any further, our bubble gets burst when a big burly guy knocks into us.
“Take it off the sidewalk,” he grunts.
“Take a step to the side, you lazy prick!” Ruby yells, not missing a beat. “There’s plenty of space.” The guy flips her off before she turns back to me in exasperation. “Jesus. Where were we?”
“I was about to tell you I’m in love with you,” I say, grinning down at her because over the last few months, that’s one fact that has become abundantly clear. I am in love with Ruby Casey, body, mind and soul. No one, not a single person in this world, has ever made me feel the way she does. She can make me horny, angry and happy all in the space of a few seconds, and I want to spend the rest of my days exploring that.
“You…you love me?”
“Yeah,” I say, brushing the backs of my fingers against her cheek. “Too soon?”
“No,” she says. “I feel it too.”
“Yeah?”
She nods. “I love you, Tanner.”
A giggle bursts out of her chest like she can’t believe we just said that, but I don’t give her any time to dissect it because I’m covering her mouth with mine and kissing her until we forget where we are. And where we’re supposed to be.
Ruby’s phone rings to remind us.
“Oh shit.” Her brother’s face and name cover the screen as she swipes a finger along it to answer. “I’m right on the corner.” She listens while something is said back to her. “I know, and I’m sorry. We’ll be there soon.”
“Everything OK?”
“Coco—that’s Darren, Theo’s boyfriend’s drag name—is MCing tonight, so it’s a big deal if the seats she reserved for us are empty when the show starts.”
“She. So do we call Darren ‘she’ all the time? I don’t want to mess up any pronouns.”
“Oh, when he’s out of drag, he’s Darren and a he. When he’s in drag, he’s Coco Monroe, and she’s a she. But either way, he’s not going to hit you in the side of the head with a stiletto if you get it wrong. So don’t stress.”
“OK. But I’m gonna stress. I’m officially meeting your family here. As you pointed out, this is a big deal.”
She entwines her fingers with mine and grins. “Yeah. It is a big deal. And a tiny teaser before you eventually meet my parents.” Her eyes go wide as she gasps. “Which will have to happen soon because you dropped the L bomb. Whoa! Full steam ahead, Mr. Wright. There’s no stopping this relationship train now.” She starts making chuga-chuga sounds before she abruptly stops. “Oh, wait. You’re my Mr. Right.”
“Shockingly, I’ve heard that one before,” I say as we get to the club and are waved straight through.
“Oh, I hate that. Don’t tell me that. I hope you responded with, ‘I’m Mr. Right Now.’” She puts on a deep voice to mimic me as we check our coats with a very tall drag queen with hair so high it brushes the drapes overhead.
“I’m notthatmuch of an ass. I just said I wasn’t Mr. Right because contrary to someone’s incorrect supposition, I don’t lead people on.”
“My bad. But you’ve already put a positive spin on that misunderstanding, so IthinkI get away with it.”
