Page 69 of My December Darling

“Why?” she asks with a smile in her voice.

“Because you’re you.”

“And who am I exactly?”

The girl I can see myself falling for, even if she has no intention of falling with me.

“Someone special,” I answer instead.

Her head tilts. “That’s it?”

“Were you expecting some kind of love confession after only three dates?”

“Two,” she corrects while holding two fingers up.

I grab her hand and kiss her palm. “I’m counting the double date with Gabriela and Aiden as one.”

“Can it really be considered a date if I had no idea?”

“I think you put two-and-two together real fast.”

Her eyes sparkle with amusement. “Doesn’t make it an official one.”

“It’s not like I could’ve come out and asked you straight away to go out with me.”

“I would’ve said no.”

“Exactly.”

She traces an invisible heart over the spot where mine beats rapidly in my chest. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not open to another.”

Her confession makes me elated. “Really?”

She rises on the tips of her toes, and her mouth hovers over mine. “But just one.”

We’ll see about that.

She seals her comment with a kiss, and goddammit, I know it’ll never be enough with this girl. It’s a gut feeling, and one that becomes solidified with every interaction we have.

It becomes clear to me that Catalina’s time in Lake Wisteria might be coming to an end after her sister’s wedding, but ours as a couple has just begun.

20

LUKE

Catalina and I fall into a pattern over the next few days of meeting up at work to write her speech, spending our free time together building the LEGO set, and texting during the in-between. I feel like I’m in high school again, constantly thinking of my crush and counting down the hours until I see her again.

I’ve been careful not to push Catalina too hard, so I usually wait for her to text me first, although I can’t resist kissing and touching her as often as possible. We haven’t taken anything further than that, and the wait is driving me crazy, but I refuse to be the one to break first.

I want Catalina to be begging for me to touch her. To fuck her hard?—

“What’s got you smiling like that?” Aiden turns around. The man working on the hem of his tuxedo pants double-checks the length before asking him to step down.

“Nothing.” I toss my phone on the couch and step onto the platform.

“Catalina?” He grins.

“Maybe.”

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