Page 76 of This

I’d had enough to drink at that point, the current slice was tolerable, so my filter wasn’t on.

From Steve’s ramblings, I already knew his side. He’d fallen in love the moment he saw her—across the bar when her hair was cut in a pageboy and she wore her eyeliner thick. The black words on her pale skin showed him her soul, and he recognized it. But seeing the soft, memory-driven smile on her face, I needed her side.

“I’ve been in love with him since he was born.” She glanced over, her smile growing when I tipped back my beer to keep from mocking her Steve-ism.“I’m serious.”

“Okay,”I said.“And here I thought, you were the sensible one.”

Aria laughed and shifted to face me.“The first time I realized I loved him was a few months after we met. He dragged me into a dollar store, bought sidewalk chalk, and then drew my portrait in the parking lot.”

“A reasonable answer. So, how do we get from five years ago to over twenty?”

“When I saw pictures of him from high school and learned what he was like, I fell in love with who he had been then. And again, after watching his family movies from his childhood, and in the picture they had taken of him right after he was born. I loved him at every age throughout his entire life. I just didn’t know it until I was standing in the center of his chalk art.”

It reminded me of the first time I had gone to dinner with Bennett. Here. At this restaurant. I was supposed to meet up with a chick I’d met at the gym on the other side of town that night. I’d spent the day telling myself I wouldn’t cancel, but deep down, I knew I would. Just like I knew the hook-ups after her wouldn’t be enough to get her out of my head. I couldn’t figure out why back then, but now I know I’ve been falling in love with Bennett since the first time I saw her. It just took a long time to understand that’s what it was.

The other three are alreadyat the table when I walk in. Bennett gives me a sweet smile when I slide into the chair next to hers.

The check is on my dresser.

Waiting for the server to take our order, Liam and Keaton seem determined to steer us through an obstacle course of conversation in which Bennett and I have no reason we need to speak to each other directly. It would be amusing if it wasn’t so unnecessary. We order, and before the server has walked away, I have my phone out under the table.

Hi,I text her.

If I wasn’t next to her, I wouldn’t notice her sliding her phone out from under her leg on the chair. Her eyes dart to where my hands disappear under the tablecloth, and her lips tug up on one side.

Hey,she sends.

Maybe I could leave, help Shane run the office remotely.Fuck, I can’t seriously be considering this because of a one-word text message. I need to get my shit together, remember what I was like before she sank her claws all the way into me.

You look hideous.

Sparing my first glance since sitting down, I see her eyebrow arch at my message. She looks at me fast before nodding at something Keaton said, but I know the smile is for me. Her hands move under the table

Her:Tell me how you really feel.

I weigh my options, decide how much room I want to give her to wiggle. Then I bulldoze on through.

I’ve missed you in my bed and being inside you. I’ve missed your laugh and smile—every part of you really. Come home with me and put me out of my misery.

As soon as I hit send, I put my phone facedown on the table between us and slip my hand back under and to her thigh. She doesn’t try to move it. Her leg or my hand. In fact, her fingers lace with mine.

Leaving the restaurant, no onequestions Bennett following me when I cock my head toward my truck. Everyone knew she’d leave with me. Regardless of what I’d thought up until yesterday, Bennett and I aren’t over. We’re fucked up and tormenting each other until one of us bends. She wants me to return to being a weekend boyfriend, and I want her every fucking day.

Back at the house, I toss my keys on the counter. Bennett’s still hovering by the door to the garage when I turn around.

“Come here,” I say.

She listens, but her steps are too slow, so I reach for her waist and haul her against me. One side of her mouth turns up at my impatience, and her hands run up my arms. In my dreams, she never touches me.

“When do you leave?”

“Liam’s taking me to the airport tomorrow after the visitation. Unless you want to take me?” She blinks up at me, as out there as Bennett will put herself.

I nod. “I want. We’ll make an appearance and then bail early to screw in my truck.”

She laughs, and I brush my lips over hers.

“But first…” I lower my hands over her ass and keep going. “I’ve gotten the smile and laugh. Now for the rest of the things I’ve missed.”

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