Page 184 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
“You know, you mean a lot to me, too,” she finally said. My heart skipped a beat as she admitted that to me. I was hoping she felt the same way, but after yesterday, I had no idea. I smiled and leaned in to kiss her. It felt great to kiss her again, especially after thinking our relationship was over.
“It’s scary,” she continued to talk after our kiss. “I didn’t think I would fall for you so quickly, but after the beach the other night, I can’t get you out of my mind.”
I was surprised that she was opening up to me about this so quickly.
“That makes me so happy to hear,” I told her. She smiled.
“That I’m scared?” she laughed.
“No!” I replied. “That you can’t stop thinking of me. You shouldn’t be scared, though. I promise, I won’t hurt you.”
She looked at me a bit skeptical. I knew that it would take some time to get past the pain that Brad had caused her, but I was confident that I was the right man for the job.
“You will just have to trust me,” I said. She nodded.
“I will,” she responded. “I just need you to know where I’m coming from. I know that Brad was over a year ago, but I still have issues with everything that happened.”
“Are you not ready to move on?” I asked. I hadn’t thought of that before. What if she didn’t want to move on from Brad? I knew that he had moved on from her, but was she ready to leave him in her past?
She looked at me, finishing her cup of eggnog.
“I am ready,” she finally replied. “I just need to take some things slowly.”
“Well, I think we already passed that… a few times!” I laughed. She playfully hit me.
“I don’t just mean sexually. I mean it as our relationship as a whole. I need to take it slow.”
“I know what you meant,” I kissed her forehead. “We can take it as slow as you want. You just need to communicate with me about what works and what doesn’t. The best kinds of relationships have strong communication.”
She nodded in agreement.
“Clear communication going forward,” she said, as we shook hands for a second time that evening.
“I am actually surprised that you admitted it to them,” she told me, sitting back on the couch. Truthfully, I thought about lying about it, but I knew we would both get in much bigger trouble if I did that. Plus, I had assumed Brenda saw and told on us. Brenda was friends with Robin, and even though Robin was supposed to be unbiased, I knew she would take Brenda’s side.
“It was really the only choice,” I told her, leaving the details out. I didn’t want her to know who had told on us. I didn’t think she would approach Brenda about it, but I wanted to keep the drama as limited as possible.
“True,” she said. “What did you tell them?”
“I told them there was mistletoe there and that I kissed you. I told them that I really cared for you and I couldn’t help myself. I said it was all my fault and if anyone should be in trouble, it should be me. Luckily, they let us both off the hook.”
She smiled.
“My knight in shining armor,” she laughed.
“Well, I don’t know if I would go that far,” I said. “But I wasn’t going to take you down with me. I care about you too much for that.”
I leaned into her for another kiss. She wrapped her arms around my neck as we began to kiss passionately. I bit her bottom lip and she moaned softly. She obviously liked when I did that. I caressed the side of her face with my hand. After a few minutes, she pulled away.
“I need a drink after that,” she laughed, reaching for the eggnog. She poured herself another cup. As she raised the glass to her mouth, I stared at her. She was beautiful.
“What are you looking at?” she asked, suddenly growing a bit self-conscious.
“I am just looking at how beautiful you are,” I said. “I am the luckiest man in Miami.”
She swatted me away playfully and laughed.
“If you think saying things like that are going to get you into my pants, you’re wrong,” she said. “It’s going to take a lot more than that tonight!”
