Page 111 of So Much More
I poke him in the belly, and he responds by tickling me mercilessly, which turns into kissing. By the time we come up for air, I’m on my back, and he’s hovering above me, braced on his forearms so he won’t crush me. Our faces are so close our heavy breaths mingle together.
“Wendy,” he breathes into me, his lips barely brushing mine, his pupils so dilated I can barely detect any blue. “I want …”
He doesn’t finish his thought, but I know what he wants. I can’t move, though my entire body is trembling beneath his. But we can’t do this—not with his sisters on the other side of the wall, not with all the emotions surrounding this night. This is neither the time nor the place for what our bodies are practically insisting we do. I finally give a slight shake of my head and his eyes close. Then he lets out a soft groan and rolls off me.
“I’m sorry.” He flings his arm over his eyes. “I know you’re not ready for that, and I promised not to pressure you. I’m the worst boyfriend ever.”
I turn toward him again and place my hand on his chest. “No, you’re not.” I tug his arm off his face and push myself up so we can look at each other, but his eyes are still closed. “Randall, look at me.”
He slowly opens his eyes and turns his head toward me, his eyes full of sorrow.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I insist. “You didn’t pressure me. When I said no, you listened. And Iamready. I’m sure of that now, and oh, how I wish I could comfort you in that way. But this isn’t how we want our first time to happen—when you’re stressed and upset, and we’d be rushed and trying to keep your sisters from hearing what we’re doing. That’s not the memory I want for us.”
His eyes close again and I gently press my lips to each of his eyelids. Then I take a deep breath and say, “I don’t want memory that for us … because I love you.”
forty-nine
My heart stops. My lungs stop. My brain tries to process what it just heard but is incapable of doing so. Surely Wendy didn’t tell me she loves me. Or if she did, she didn’t mean it.
“I love you, Randall Hamilton,” she says again with certainty.
My body begins to function again, my eyes pop open, and my mouth curves into a smile. “You do?” I can hear the awe in my voice.
Wendy nods and smiles back at me. “So much.”
I quickly sit up with my back against the headboard and haul her onto my lap. “I love you, too, Wendy O’Halloran.” My smile grows bigger. “So much.”
“I know,” she says with a cheeky grin. “Your sisters told me.”
I laugh. “How did they know? I didn’t say a word.”
She shrugs. “Sibling intuition, I guess.”
“They’ve had plenty of time to intuit.”
Her eyes widen. “Oh, yeah?”
“I knew I loved you that night we first kissed on your couch.”
She thinks for a moment. “Even though I didn’t let you stay the night?”
“Yes. Should I get a trophy for that?”
“You get a nose kiss for that.” She gives me a quick peck.
I smile and kiss her forehead. “It was fun when we couldn’t kiss on the lips.”
“Maybe for you.”
I kiss both of her cheeks. “Not for you?”
“I wanted to kiss you so badly.”
I tilt her head down so I can kiss the top of it. “I know you did. You made that very clear.”
She laughs. “You wanted to kiss me, too.”
“I wanted to do more than kiss you.” I kiss her nose. “But I’m glad we waited. Made it ever so much better when we did finally lock lips.”
