He says something else to her as they scurry away, but I don't hear it. When I look up from my hands, all I see is Dustin.
"Uh, hi," he repeats. "Um, I wanted to—I mean, I talked to my sister, and—shit. You know I love you, right?"
"Oh, god." I plop onto my bed. Nothing good ever starts withyou know I love you, right?"Here it comes. Just rip off the band-aid, Dustin."
"What?" He scampers over and kneels in front of me. "I don't know what you think I mean, but I do love you. And I was thinking, and then I called my sister, and I just… needed to see you. I do love you, Brooke. I think I always have. I want our relationship to continue after I leave. Whether that means long distance, or I apply for a transfer to the NYC office, or you move to Chicago—really, any of those options. I just know that I want you, Brooke."
Every air molecule leaves my lungs as my stomach dances a conga. My vision tunnels until all I can see isDustin's beautiful, vulnerable face. All I want to do is cup his cheek and feel the softened stubble of his beard on my palm. I want to kiss him into next week. Unfortunately, my entire body freezes, and all I can do is squeak out something unintelligible with a tiny nod.
He melts into a relieved smile and rushes towards me, cradling the back of my head as he pulls me into the most earth-shattering kiss. Symphonies ring out in my head. Birds chirp happily. Bells ring in the most gorgeous princess-y tower. I swear to god, the very floor beneath my feet rumbles to the beat of our hearts.
His tongue gently invades my mouth, and a delighted groan rumbles in my throat. My hands fly over his body, needing him, needing every single bit of him as close to me as possible. Closer than that, even.
"I want you, too," I manage to breathe out between gasps for air. "God, I want you. I want to make this work. We can always make it work, right?"
"Always, baby," he murmurs into my ear. The soft heat of his breath makes goosebumps erupt down my neck, and I fight back a shiver. "Yours, forever."
"You're never going to let me forget that, are you?" I pull back with a sheepish smile.
"No. No, I'm not. I believed it wholeheartedly back then, and I'm overjoyed to say it back to you now. I promise you, Brooke. I'm yours, forever." He pulls me over to straddle his lap and runs a hand through my (verymessy) hair. "I can't even tell you how many times I read those notes. I felt… weird about keeping them all these years. But I'm so glad I never deleted them. Hell, I think the originals are somewhere in Mom's attic."
"Wait, seriously?" My whole chest and neck flushes with embarrassment. "They were socorny. Full of teenage hormones, horrible spelling, and even worse grammar."
Dustin chuckles with a glimmer in his eye. "Yeah, but they were from you. Honestly, you ruled my life for my formative years."
"That can't be healthy."
"Ha! Maybe not, but look at us now. We both grew up, we matured, we lived, and we learned." He grins. "Plus, that ass—you inspired my ass fixation, baby. C'mere."
With some kind of acrobatic skill, he flips me over and off of his lap, face down in the bed. His hands clamp around my ass cheeks, and he lets out a soft groan as he kneads the thick muscle. "Goddamn, baby. You're a fuckin'sight."
"Why don't you do something about it?"
A loudwhumpagainst my bedroom door startles the both of us, and we flinch apart. A split-second later, we hear a muffledshitfrom someone who sounds an awful lot like Janine.
"Janine?" I call out. "Are you spying?"
"No," she lies. Obviously.
Dustin looks down at the raging erection straining against his jeans. "Um, do you—"
"I got it." I roll myself off of the bed and stomp to the door to find Janine and Ricky scampering down the hallway. "Seriously, you guys?"
Janine pokes her head back around the corner. "You'd do the same thing, girl. Donotlie to me."
"Get some, Brooke." Ricky grins lewdly and shoots me an enthusiastic thumbs-up. "We're not listening. I can barely hear it out here when you go to bone town. And I definitely can't hear it from my room. I swear."
"Jesus, gross," I mutter. Turning back to Dustin, I grimace. "So… back to your place, then?"
Judging from the way his pantsaren'ttenting, the moment's dead. He chews on his lower lip for a second. "I mean, wecould. But what if I stayed here, and I just get to hold you?"
I smile. "Yeah, that'd be nice."
Every makeup item I own is splayed out on the bathroom counter as I hurriedly redo my eyeliner for the millionth time. Janine sits on the (closed) toilet, munching on a bag of corn chips and throwing out suggestions. Her bag ofhair-care items waits for me on the edge of my bed. We've only got a few hours before the dinner cruise tonight, and I want to look fuckingincredible.
"So, like, how do you keep yourself away from him during the work week?" she asks.
"Not well." I sigh and frown as the perfect winged eyeliner eludes me—again. "I mean, we're pretty good at just being professional-friendly. I think."
