Page 24 of Obeying His Rules

“Like coffee for example?” I ask.

“Coffee is good.”

Her hair falls across her face as she nods. She brushes it back, and I see she’s starting to blush.

“How about I buy you one?” I ask. “There’s a great little shop down the block. Way better than the sludge they serve here. Let me pick that book up for you too.”

I reach out and take the book from her and start walking toward the register. She follows me, and a bubbly girl with blue hair greets us.

“Oooh, Skeleton Leaves. I love this series! Do you have a frequent buyer rewards card with us?”

“I don’t,” I reply, turning to the girl beside me. “But she may.”

“I do! Can you look it up by my name? Jennifer Everly?”

The girl behind the counter enters a few strokes on her keyboard, then nods and smiles. “There you are! I’ll add this to your account.”

I hand the girl my card and let her give Jennifer the receipt, then hold the door for her as we step outside.

“Well?” she asks as we turn left and start walking down the sidewalk.

“Well what?”

“Aren’t you going to tell me your name? Now that you know mine and all?”

I chuckle. “Of course. My name’s Marlon. Marlon Carnell.”

“And what do you do, Marlon Carnell?”

“Why don’t we wait until we reach the coffee shop for that discussion?” I ask. “It requires a bit of a long explanation.”

Jennifer tilts her head down and looks up at me through her eyebrows.

“Oooh, a mystery man already! I like it.”

Three months later…

“A three-month anniversary?” Jennifer looks up at me, her eyes filled with confusion but also tenderness and joy. She’s right on the verge of tears as I hand her the dozen pink roses and the card.

“I’ve never…people do those?” she asks.

I shrug. “I felt like doing one, so I got you these.”

“But I didn’t get you anything!” she whines, causing me to chuckle. “And what–I didn’t even know we had an official day we started being a thing!”

“It’s okay you didn’t get me anything,” I reply. “And I based it on the day we met. Remember? In the bookstore?”

She nods enthusiastically. “Of course. You bought me the third book of Skeleton Leaves.”

“That’s right! Do you like your flowers, baby?”

“I love them!” she replies as the tears start to fall. “But I feel awful that I didn’t get you anything!”

“Don’t feel awful,” I laugh. “This was meant to be a surprise. I just wanted to make you feel good. I wanted to show you how much I love you.”

“I feel guilty…”

“Don’t feel guilty, Jennifer!” I say, kissing her. “Then you’ll ruin the whole thing!”

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