Things were going to be okay.
She could hear it in his voice when he asked, “Are you sure this is cool with you?”
“I’m sure. Are you sure?”
“You know I am.”
And she did. She did know.
How could anyone doubt, when he said it so softly, so gravely? He even glanced away after he’d told her, as if the emotion of doing it was just a little too much.
Though that might have been Lydia drawing his attention.
She pointed to her eyes and then pointed at him before turning to speak to Brad.
Who was in fact wearing a shirt that showed off his delightful chest.
“Your buddy looks kind of disapproving.”
“Well, in her defense, you did Stockholm me.”
“I want to deny it, but right now it kind of feels like I did.”
“I’ll let you in on a secret: I went willingly to my doom.”
“It will never be your doom. I promise you. I promise.”
He squeezed her hand tight. As if he could imprint that promise on her skin.
But really it was her, now, who needed to reassure him.
“Not even if I’m an asshole who keeps you like a dirty secret?”
“You weren’t an asshole. You protected yourself. I like that.”
“It doesn’t seem like you like it.”
“Not going to lieit stings, too. But it’s a sweet kind of sting. Like the kind of thing you might get after taking a bullet in the shoulder for someone you love.”
She had something planned to say, after hearing that first sting.
But it started to melt at the idea of it being sweet. And then he got to the other part, the part about the bullet and the shoulder and the love, and the words dissolved altogether. She froze right where she was, looking up at him through the faintly smoky air. Half leaning on his arm, hand in his. Everything as it was, only he had just said those words.
And now he was slowly becoming aware of that fact.
She watched his eyes widen slightly, and then he jerked his gaze to her.
“Oh. Oh no, wait…no, I meant…you know what I meant.”
“Wow, okay, because for a second there…”
“Yeah, for a second I was like in love with you after five minutes of friendship.”
He laughed, while she tried not to think about how thin that sound was.
It was probably just her imagination. Or his embarrassment over this mistake.
“Right? Has it been five minutes? Because it feels like thirty seconds.”
“Well, actually it’s been around a month, but I take your point.”
“A month is still absolutely nothing.”
“No, god no. It’s a tiny amount of time.”
“And that bullet comment was totally cool enough.”
“You like the bullet thing?”
God, his tone was almost tentative.
And so full of yearning.
“I did. Like, a lot. I mean, I don’t want you to have a bullet lodged in your shoulder. But the fact that you would…that you have…that you don’t mind that much…”
“I don’t mind that much.”
“You know what? Me neither,” she said.
Then hauled him down for a proper kiss.
One that had lips and lots of tongue, and left him grinning like a buffoon.
“If I had known it would have made you look this fucking giddy,” she said, “I would have kissed you in public waaaaay before now. Seriously, it’s weird that you’re this happy about it. Like I’m having déjà vu, only with everything the opposite of how it should be.”
“It’s not just the public thing. I was…thinking…”
“Are you sure that’s wise?” she said. “I heard it gives you wrinkles.”
“I knew you only cared because I’m so pretty. I get ugly and it’s over.”
“I will admit I do like your dewy, youthful skin.”
“So that’s all I am to you. Skin,” Tate replied.
“And ass. Oh my god, your ass. Do you have any idea what it’s like to actually be able to appreciate your ass? I used to tell myself it was like two rhinos wrestling in a sweaty sock.”
“Fuck, why did you not use that as an insult in high school? That would have devastated me,” he said.
She laughed at that. He laughed at it, too.
Though she couldn’t help noticing the emphasis he put on the word devastated.
Like he meant it, on some level. She had possessed the power to hurt him, even if she hadn’t known it.
“Well, too late now. All I got is drool and two grabby hands.”
“See this. This is what I was just grinning like a lunatic about. You realize we are actually a hundred percent dating right now? Like, we are absolutely together without eight miles of trauma standing between us and huge urges to hide everything and lots of pretending we are not mentally groping each other. This is real. You just said you want to grab my ass. I can totally tell you that I want to grab yours. I can say right out loud: I want to strip you down and kiss every inch of your hot little bod. And nobody cares.”