“I did not. And you called my pasta saucemeh.”
“You called your feelings for memeh,” I challenge.
Her cheeks turn a bright shade of pink, and I smirk.
“Did I bruise your ego?” she asks.
“No. But lying is a sin, buttercake.”
Her mouth opens on a gasp, but she recovers. “Right back atcha, teddy bear.”
She charges at me, and I sprint around to the far side of the kitchen, putting the island between us. I juke right and run left, but she’s got killer instincts, and she’s onto me in no time. She leaps onto my back and starts tickling under my arms.
I try to get a hand on her to spin her around as I stumble into the living room, but she’s like a ninja. I don’t know how she’s staying attached to my back while also tickling me with the full use of what feels like both of her hands.
I can’t catch my breath as she continues her attack, but finally I’m able to get near enough to the couch where I can wedge her underneath me. I’m careful not to let my full bodyweight press down on her. I don’t want her to suffocate, but I apply enough pressure that she can’t get any leverage to continue her tickling.
Noli lets out a dramatic grunt as she wiggles this way and that. “Hey, you big oaf. Get off me.”
“What’s that? Sorry? I couldn’t hear you. Did you say my muscles are too big?”
She starts laughing at that, and I smile.
“You already know you have big muscles, Collin. You don’t need me to say it.”
I take a mental picture of this moment, marveling at the way the weight of my day fell from my shoulders in the presence of Noli.
I can tell some of the fight is going out of her, because her movements are growing slower. I angle my body so we’re lying side by side on the couch, facing each other. I clamp my hands around hers, in case she gets any ideas about tickling me again.
We’re nose to nose, so I can see the way Noli’s eyes flare and contract, and I notice a tiny spark in their depths before she brings her face closer and brushes her nose back and forth with the tip of mine. She captures my lips in a soft and sweet kiss.
“Thanks for what you did for that family today,” she whispers. “For what you do every day. I’m proud to be married to you.”
36
Level the Playing Field
Noli ~ October
“Noli?”
“Yeah, come on up!” I’m standing in the living room of the apartment above Collin’s garage with my hands on my hips. Somehow, I managed to accumulate a lot of stuff in the months I lived here. Today, we’re moving it over to Collin’s house so I can stop going back and forth.
Collin appears next to me and holds out a to-go cup from the Getaway Café. “Thought you could use some jet fuel.”
I take the steaming drink and blow into the opening, inhaling the coffee aroma. I scrunch up my nose. “This doesn’t smell like black coffee.” My voice comes out sounding accusatory, but really my stomach is begginggimme.
“That’s because it’s not.” Collin’s eyes twinkle.
I frown. “What’d you get me?”
“A maple-cinnamon latte with whipped cream.”
My jaw drops. That’s my favorite drink. I used to scour the city for it in Pensacola. But I never once mentioned it to Collin. I’m as sure of that as I am of my own first name. “Why?” I squeak. “How?” I add more quietly.
Collin’s dimples pop, and he watches me take a delicious first sip. I close my eyes to savor it, and when I open them, he’s still looking at me. I arch a brow.
“Why? Because I watched you choke down black coffee at the comm center and at the café for almost a year, and I figuredthere was no way you were enjoying it. So I asked Inez what you got for your free birthday drink.”
