Page 78 of Clean Out of Luck

“Have I ever hurt you in the past?” Wade asks seriously.

“Yes. One time, you promised me dinner, and you never paid up.”

He smirks down at me. “I remember. You saved me from an awkward date, and I told you I owed you one. And you told me I owed you some tacos and horchata.”

I look at him in surprise. “You remember that day?”

He nods. “It’s imprinted in my memory. You were twenty-two years old and back home from college. I had someone hitting on me in the store, and you came up and slipped your hand into mine, pretending you were my girlfriend. It was the first time I realized I was attracted to?—”

I gasp.

“—you.” He smiles sheepishly at me.

“You were attracted to me then?”

“It was the first time I looked at you differently…” He clears his throat. “When did you look at me differently?”

I sigh as I step back and rest a hip on the counter. “Are you sure you want to know?”

He nods slowly. “I think so.”

“It was the day you barged in here with no warning. When I was changing the lightbulbs. I felt this weird jolt when you walked in.” I try to explain the strange feeling. The one where the air electrifies around the person you’re with. But it’s hard to get that across to someone. “I didn’t realize what it was at first. But I knew something had changed.”

Wade takes a step toward the mop, picks it up, and sets itin the bucket. “You’ve done an awful lot of rage cleaning lately. Did that pent up frustration have to do with me?”

I smirk. “You were always ruining my dates but never offering to be one. What do you think?”

He pivots, stepping forward directly into the wet spot on the floor, and pulls me to him. “I think I’m in this the whole nine yards,” he says hoarsely as he loops his arms around me.

I clutch the front of his shirt. This is it. This time, when I’m in his arms, it’s with clear expectations. It’s the expectation that we both want something out of this. We’re not here for a short time. This is serious, and we are committed to trying our darnedest to make something of this.

“Are you going to kiss me?” I ask quietly.

“You ask that a lot, you know,” Wade says.

I tip my head back and laugh. “And you thought I was the quiet one.”

He chuckles and leans closer to my face. “I’ll kiss you on one condition.”

“What’s that?” I whisper.

“That you go out on a date. With me.” He presses a slow kiss to my forehead.

“I think—I think I could manage that.” I gasp as he bends down and kisses my neck.

“I’ll bring you flowers.”

He kisses my jawline.

“We’ll go to Amor Serendipia, and we’ll tell each other all our hopes and dreams. And talk about that book you’ve been reading.”

I smile as he kisses me on the cheek. “You do know your way to my heart.”

“I told you I wanted to court you,” he says softly as he hovers above my lips. “Is that a yes?”

I sigh happily. “Yes. Completely and totally a yes.”

He presses his mouth against mine, and I lose myself intothe feelings. I didn’t know it was possible to have this much of a response to kissing someone. I thought all kisses started out mediocre, that you just needed practice.

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