Page 40 of Heartless

“That’s very important to me.”

“I haven’t lied to you,” I pointed out.

“No, you haven’t. You stayed away for a long time, though. If we date, I’m going to need to know that you’ll be honest when I upset you. Zoey, I’m 30. I’m not perfect. I’m old enough to know that even the best couples have fights from time to time. What I need to know is that if we do embark on some sort of relationship journey together, that you’re going to tough it out with me when things get hard.”

There it was.

That word again.

Relationship.

I could do that, I thought. I could have a relationship with David. That was what I wanted, and it seemed like he wanted that, too. It seemed like we both wanted that. A relationship could be an incredible thing. We could do couple-y things like double dates and cookouts. We could do dirty things like tying each other up, like having sex at Classified.

A relationship would be hard, though, and neither one of us had the best track record with each other. Still, I didn’t want to throw away what would probably be my last chance with someone like David. My brother hadn’t panicked or freaked out when I’d told him that we’d slept together. He’d seemed wildly calm about the entire thing, in fact. I didn’t need to worry about him, I knew.

I didn’t need to worry about anything.

“Yeah,” I finally told David. “Yeah, you’re right.”

He pulled into the parking lot and turned to me.

“We don’t have to make any choices right now,” he said.

“I don’t want you to think that I’m pressuring you. When I saw you tonight, I honestly didn’t think anything was going to happen between us.”

“So, what changed?”

“I saw you, and I realized that I’d been an idiot,” I whispered. There it was. “I shouldn’t have walked away from you. Not before. Not ever.”

“We all screw up,” David said. “I’m sorry that I didn’t boot Debra out of the legal firm. I think about that moment a lot.”

“To second chances?” I asked, raising my pinky.

“What’s that?”

“It’s my pinky.”

“Why are you holding it up?”

“So, we can make a pinky promise,” I said solemnly.

David burst out laughing and shook his head.

“I’ve seen a lot of weird things, Zoey, but a pinky promise?”

“Yeah, it means that we’re both going to give this thing a go. We’re going to try dating each other. I mean, we’ll have to figure it out as we go, but we could do it. We could date.”

“I’m not making you a pinky promise,” he growled. Then he did what I wanted more than anything else in that moment. He reached for my hair, tugging it, and he used it as a handle to pull me close to him. David took charge of the moment, and he claimed my mouth with his own. He kissed me ruthlessly, relentlessly, and he didn’t stop until I felt dizzy. Everything was spinning when he pulled back, but I knew what that kiss had meant.

“Now that,” he said. “That’s a promise, Zoey.”

“What’s the promise?”

“I will be honest with you, and I will be fair with you, and I will adore you.”

“That sounds more like a vow than a promise,” I whispered.

David just pressed a kiss to my forehead, but he didn’t say anything else.

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