Page 42 of Only For You

I turned to mirror her posture, my head resting on my bent arm. “I don’t know.”

“Okay.”

We stared into each other’s eyes, saying nothing until the words tumbled out.

“I don’t like that your parents think I’d date you and let you sleep with other men. I hate that they think I’d be with other women when I was lucky enough to have you.”

A crease popped up between her eyebrows. “Will—”

“Is that the kind of boyfriend you think I’d be?”

She closed her mouth with a snap and blinked, but she didn’t reply.

“Forget it.” I snatched up a pillow and rebuilt the Great Wall of Abigail.

“Don’t be like that.” Abbie yanked the pillow away again. “You took me by surprise, that’s all. I had to think about it for a second.”

I rolled onto my back and stuck my hand underneath my head. “There’s my answer, I guess.”

“If you’d let mefinish… I had to think about it because I’ve never given much thought to the type of boyfriend you’d be, just like I’ve never worried much about the type of girlfriend I’d be. I’ve always assumed it wasn’t in the cards for either of us.”

“Okay.” I chewed on my bottom lip and stared into the darkness, the words coming easier if I didn’t have to look at her. “So, if I asked you to consider it now, what kind of partner do you think I’d be?”

“A provider,” she said without hesitating. “Someone a girl can lean on. You’d make her the centre of your world, and she’dnever doubt for a day that’s where she belonged because you wouldn’t want it any other way.”

I didn’t mind the sound of that, and the corner of my mouth ticked up. “What else?”

“You’d be a little possessive in a good way. And protective. You’d think only good things about her, and you wouldn’t let anyone say otherwise.”

I spun around again, plumping the pillow under my head. I was starting to like this game. “And?”

“You’d make her laugh.” Abbie grinned and shifted another pillow so she could poke my chest. “And you’d make sure she didn’t take herself too seriously. You’d call her out on her shit, but you’d respect her even if you didn’t always understand her. You’d ask smart questions that made her think about things in different ways. You’d see her potential, and you’d do everything in your power to make her see it, too. You’d move the Earth for her.”

I pushed the next question past the catch in my throat, swallowing my apprehension with effort. “Would I be faithful?”

Abbie shook her head against her pillow, and my heart sank. But then she said, “No doubt about it.”

Something broke open inside my chest, flooding the darkness with light. “Yeah?”

She chuckled quietly. “Yeah. When I imagine you in a relationship, I can’t see you as anything other than a one-woman man.”

“You know what?” I ran my hand through my hair and rolled onto my back again to hide my pleasure. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“No?”

“Nope.” I exhaled loudly as today’s anxiety and frustration seeped away. Fatigue rolled over me, and I let my lids fall close. “Thanks, Ellison.”

“Hey!” She shoved at me gently. “What about me?”

I bit back a grin. “What about you?”

“Well, what kind of a partner do you think I’d make?”

I blinked at her and tried to keep my amusement from showing in my expression. Amusement—and hope. “You think you’d want to be someone’s girlfriend one day?”

She shrugged one shoulder and pulled at a loose thread on the corner of her pillow. “I don’t know, but if we’re playing this game, you have to play fair. If you had to predict what kind of girlfriend I’d make, what would you say?”

“Hm. You’d think about his needs before you thought about your own because that’s the kind of woman you are, so you could only be happy with a man who took good care of you.”

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