Page 138 of Promise Me Sunshine

“You’re kidding.” He eats a small handful. “I love them.” He watches me retch my way through another. “If you hate them so much, then why do you save them for last?”

“You gotta eat the best ones first, obviously!”

“No, Len. You gotta save the best forlast!” He brings our empty bowls back to the kitchen.

“We’re doomed,” I say on a sigh, leaning over the back of the couch and watching him wash his hands. “Our worldviews are way too divergent. We should probably just break up now and get it over with.”

“Totally,” he agrees. “If we ever get a divorce, instead of irreconcilable differences, we’ll just cite almonds.”

I’m outraged. “Don’t say ‘divorce’ to me!”

He’s grinning. “It’s notBeetlejuice,Lenny. You can say the word without bringing it upon yourself.”

He’s on his way back over, so I tug him down and install him back on the couch.

“Miles.” I put my hands over my face. “I really don’t know anything about relationships. What if I’m so bad at it and everything gets screwed up and we have no choice but to…break up! I get sick just thinking about it! That can never happen!”

His hands slide up my arms and to my wrists, he gently pulls my hands away from my face and kisses one palm and then the other. “Lenny.” His voice is coal-black and there’s steel in his eyes. I start to melt. When he’s like this, all I have to do is listen to him. “No breakups.”

I nod obediently. He sits up all at once, scooping me intohis lap. We’re nose to nose. He puts one finger under my chin and takes an indulgent sip from my lips. “No,” he says, and I get a kiss. “Divorces.” I get another kiss.

I’m liquid in his arms and all I have to do is open wide for his kiss. When he pulls back this time I sigh. “How’d you possibly make divorce so sexy?”

He chuckles and it makes me bounce lightly against his lap. “I was going for romantic.”

“Well, then, you majorly failed,” I say, tipping my head to one side when he starts to kiss his way down my neck.

“Should I try again?”

“Definitely.”

He’s kissing at the hinge of my jaw and I can’t help but wiggle against him. Thank God for his jeans because that’s good friction right there. “You don’t have to worry about marriage. I’m going to go slow, Lenny. And I’ll take a good, long time getting you ready.” I’m gasping and grasping his T-shirt when he starts to lay me back on the couch. “And when it’s time, you won’t be scared anymore. You’re just going to want it so badly.”

“Is this…” I gasp. “Matrimonial dirty talk?”

He chuckles darkly, nuzzling my sternum through my T-shirt. “Is it working?”

“Depends. Are you trying to get me to marry you or fuck you?”

“Sure,” he says with a shrug and I laugh, just generally thrilled.

He leans up and returns to my mouth. He’s teasing me, preventing the kiss from deepening. He slides one big hand just under my shirt, thumb on my bare hip. He’s mostly got me pinned, but even so, my legs reflexively push open and I taste his smile. He likes that.

He takes himself on a little tour. His fingers press over myribs and lodge, a quarter inch, under the elastic of my bra. “Hey…what do you like?” His head is cocked to one side and he’s studying my whole face.

“Sex,” I say, attempting to lever up and keep kissing.

He laughs. “Okay, great.”

He’s pulling the collar of my T-shirt from one side to the other, kissing as low as he can while his hand works its way higher. He opens his mouth over my chest, slipping the fabric, leaving wet heat in his wake, stroking any skin he can find.

I’ve got hands in his short hair, clenched in his T-shirt, grabbing his arms, his shoulders, everything I can reach. His mouth is on mine again and he does the impossible: he undoes the button on my jeans without breaking the kiss.

And then he waits. “Thoughts?”

I kick my legs, scrambling to get my pants down and out of the way. He chuckles, leans to one side to make room, and thenthwump! We overbalance and topple off the couch. He’s on his back and I’m slapped over top of him, my pants around my knees.

We burst into laughter. “Where’s this alleged bed?” I demand, hauling myself up to my knees.

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