Page 99 of Why Not Both?

She’s silent for a long time, long enough that the answer must be no. Her expression remains troubled until she looks into my eyes and seems to come to a conclusion, the doubt fading away.

“Yes,” she whispers. “We’re together.”

“Really?”

She nods.

“You’re certain?” I shouldn’t be giving her opportunities to change her mind, but I won’t be able to survive if she goes back on it now.

She wiggles one hand out from between us to touch my face.

“I’ve missed you, Spencer. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen you almost every day and I’ve missed you. And when I noticed you were sad and hurting, I just wanted to do everything I could to make you feel better. I love being with you. I want to be able to kiss you whenever I want, for you to hold me when I’m cold.” Her eyes darken. “And I don’t want to see any other women touching you like that bridesmaid tried to do a couple of months ago.”

My lips tilt up. “Were you jealous?”

She sniffs and tilts her head up. “Of course not.”

I laugh. “No. Of course not. So what are you telling me, firecracker? I need you to lay it out for me.”

Her eyes find mine, the colour swirling between green and blue.

“Earlier your dad mentioned a workplace romance and I knew he assumed exactly what I’d feared all along. But it made me realize something. I don’t give a shit what other people think. I want to be with you. I want both the dream job and the dream man. I want everything. Does that make me greedy?”

I don’t answer her. Instead, I crush her lips to mine and she holds me close, our tongues tangling. The hand that had been on my face slides around to the back of my head, her nails dragging across my scalp sending tingles through my body.

Eventually, I break the kiss.

“Yes. You are very greedy. And I’m here for it. But if we don’t stop now, I have a feeling we’ll be staying a lot longer.”

She wriggles beneath me. “Hm. Well. I kind of want to leave before your father gets back. So.” She waggles her eyebrows, making me laugh. “Your place or mine?”

I grin. “Which is closer?”

#

I help Lis up and into the ensuite where I clean her up, straighten her clothes and then my own. I help her put her shoes back on but I refuse to return the panties, which I stuff in the pocket of my hoodie. Then I take her hand and lead her back to the ground floor and the front door. Matthew is waiting there to say goodbye and I grin at him.

“My girlfriend and I are leaving,” I say. Fuck, it feels good to say those words out loud.

“Goodbye, sir,” Matthew says as he opens the door for us. “It was nice to meet you, Miss Lis. And if I may say, I’m so glad Spencer has found a girlfriend who makes him so obviously happy.”

She squeezes my fingers and gives me that look. That same one that I swear is telling me she loves me. Or am I just seeing what I want to find? Reading something that isn’t there? I tug her close to me and kiss her, letting that word fill me up. Girlfriend. I want to scream it to the whole world. Lis is my girlfriend. Lis is mine. Fucking finally.

Matthew clears his throat and opens the door for us, bringing me back to the present. “It’s nice to see you smiling again, sir.”

“I smile a lot,” I say.

“Not while you’re here.”

I realize he’s right. I only come here twice a year. I only see Matthew twice a year. And they’re not very good days. He won’t have seen me smile for a long time.

“You’re going to want to wash the bedding in my old room,” I tell him.

“Spencer!” Lis says.

I just pull her closer to me, wrapping my arm around her. Her face is bright pink. I kiss her temple.

Matthew just rolls his eyes and shoos us out the door, ever the professional. See nothing. Say nothing.

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