Page 76 of The Breakup

“Hello, big boy.” Then she pulled her hand back. “But I have neighbors, silly. Get control of yourself.”

“I can’t help myself. It’s your fault for being so gorgeous.”

Now she rolled her eyes. “What do you want, Christian? You’re laying it on pretty thick.”

“It’s true,” I said. Then I realized she really had no clue how I felt about her. I needed to be more clear. I needed her to know. “Hey, Bel?”

“Yes?” She watched me curiously, open-minded, trusting.

Lacing my fingers through hers, I said, “I want this to be real. You and me. Not just dating—but an us. I just want to be clear about that in case you didn’t know or were wondering.”

“You don’t think it’s too soon?”

Well, that wasn’t the response I had been hoping for. “Too soon because of Bradley or too soon after we started dating?”

She opened her mouth to respond but then I decided I didn’t want to dissect any of that. I put my fingers over her lips. “Never mind. No matter what you’re referring to the answer is no. I don’t think it’s too soon. I don’t know if you know this about me, but I kind of avoid relationships at all costs. So if I feel this way, then it’s not too soon. It’s meant to be.”

Bella cupped my cheeks and gave me a soft kiss that nearly destroyed me.

“I would love to be your girlfriend. Officially.”

Girlfriend. Huh. I guess that’s what I was suggesting. It didn’t horrify me. In fact, I liked the sound of that. That didn’t mean I had a clue what to say now though.

But Bella being Bella, she let me off the hook. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to say anything else. And if you would like to touch my boob right now, that’s fine too.”

And this was why I loved this woman.

Relieved, I cupped her tit and gave her a kiss.

Holy shit, I loved her.

—

It amazed me how well I had learned to read Christian in such a short amount of time. Revealing his feelings for me had been a huge leap of faith for him, and an almost painful confession. So even while my heart soared and I wanted to jump and down and make a huge deal out of it, I told him to touch my boob instead because he needed an out. A mask. To take it back to sex. I was okay with that, because I understood him. I was just happy he had even said anything. I had been anticipating going on the way we had been without ever bringing up feelings.

As he kissed me, I sighed into his embrace, confident about my decision to hold off on revealing my baby news. That would shove him over the edge, no doubt. Too much emotion, change, all at once.

I would just let it ride for a hot minute.

For once in my life, I just wanted to enjoy living in the here and now.

With my new boyfriend. Who I happened to be really into.

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