She means every single word she says. As she should. I’m beginning to see that Cora is more than the quirky, fun girl I met at that party. She is soulful. She has morals and sticks to them. I never have to question if Cora is going to do the right thing because it’s not in her DNA to do the wrong thing.
It gives me all the more reason to like her.
“You can’t be. I’m pretty happy about who you are too. In case you were wondering,” I tease.
She rolls her eyes. “Of course you are. I’m a dime. You’d be a fool to toss me to the side for someone lesser than.”
“The confidence is sexy. Tell me more about how amazing you are. It turns me on.”
Her eyes sparkle with humor. “I should stop then. Don’t want Rosie and her five sisters to have to be up all night helping you with your little issue.”
I snort. “Little?”
She can’t help but smile wider. “I’m assuming because of your truck. Usually only men who have something to compensate for drive lifted trucks.”
I shake my head, laughing. “You are a spitfire. I’ll give you that. Anytime you want, I can prove to you that I have nothing to prove.”
Her laughter dies down as she grabs my other hand, facing me as she leans against the tree.
I want to kiss her. So bad do I want to kiss those lips. I won’t, though. Not yet.
“One day I hope you do prove me wrong. I really like you, Kellan. You are a charmer, but you are also honest. You didn’t shy away from telling me the hard stuff. I admire that. I like to live in the moment, though. Savor life as I experience it. So no matter how much I want you to lean in and kiss me right now like I’m sure you want to do, I’m going to ask you not to. We only get so many last first times in our life. If this is my last first date, I want to soak it in. I want my cheeks to never stop hurting from all the smiles and laughter. My stomach to never calm down from the butterflies causing chaos inside of me. I want to go to bed tonight and wonder what it would be like to have your lips on mine. I want to think about it for days to come until the time is right to experience it.”
I pull my hand from hers and cup her face. “You want to take it slow? I can do slow. We can move at a glacial pace if we have to. Know that I’m right there with you, though. You will be in my dreams every night. My heart will skip a beat every time I see your name on my phone. I will be counting down the minutes until I get to bask in the peace that being in your presence brings me.” I swallow hard before continuing. “And yeah. Rosie and her five sisters will be very busy helping me live out my fantasies with you until the time is right.”
Her breath comes a little faster. “Should I be jealous of her?”
“Absolutely not. She can never hold a candle to you. Now I’m going to need you to go inside and make sure to look back over your shoulder at me. Give me a glimmer of hope that you are feeling this chemistry between us as potent as I am. Then you go up to your room and have a good night’s sleep because if you don’t, I’m going to kiss you. I’m going to kiss the fuck out of you and make you forget all that poetry we both just spit.”
She shakes her head, laughing, and she steps into my arms, hugging me tight.
It feels amazing. To be held by her like this. At this moment, I never want to let her go.
I do, though.
She surprises me when she lands a kiss on my cheek, close to the corner of my mouth. “I promise to pine for you if you pine for me,” she whispers.
“Deal. Run along now, beautiful.”
I watch her as she turns, scurrying up to the door. As I asked, she looks over at me, biting her bottom lip. It has my dick twitching in my pants.
She waves before going inside, leaving me out in the dark alone.
The entire drive home, I can’t help but smile.
I am going to marry that girl one day.
I have no doubts about it.
six
Weaving through the crowd, I set two cups of coffee down on the table before taking my seat. I turn Grace’s so the mouth opening is facing her chair, so she won’t have to turn it to take a drink when she arrives. Reaching for my cup, I take the top off to let it cool faster so I can take a drink.
Anything to keep my hands busy.
Even though I’m the one who invited Grace out for coffee today, I’m nervous. I love Grace and think she’s perfect for my brother. Over the summer, she and I became close, and I genuinely think she’s the person my brother needs in his life. She brings out a side of him I have never seen, but it’s a good thing. He’s better because of her.
Today, though, isn’t just getting coffee with my future sister-in-law. I want to ask her about Kellan. Really, I want to be able to come clean and tell her all about what I’ve been doing, but I don’t know if I can do that quite yet.
