Page 71 of Sunflower Persona
I like that I make her laugh. I love how she does it with her whole heart, snorting and choking included.
She is joy personified.
I’ve never been so enamored with anyone in my whole life. It’s got me tongue-tied and acting like an awkward idiot; thank whatever god is listening that she seems to find it all amusing. After the rocky start to our evening, I thought for sure she was going to end things and ask me to take her home, but she surprised me by being blunt about what she wanted. I would be a liar if I said it didn’t make me like her even more. I’m too damn old for games.
Everything seemed to fall into place after the awkward small-talk bit. She’s kept the conversation flowing with insane questions between bites of food. Things like “if you were a potatoproduct, what would you be” and “if you had to choose, would you go to pirate school or knight school.”
I cleared my plate a while ago, but she’s been too caught up in her questions to remember to eat. I’m not about to complain. The longer she takes, the more time I get to have her by my side. It’s not like the restaurant is busy or they need this table. I’ll stay here until this place closes if it’s what she wants. Having her next to me, touching her, feeling her lean closer into me as she laughs—well, that’s been the highlight of my week. Hell, maybe my year.
“I think I’m done,” she says and places her utensils on her half-filled plate.
“You sure? Do you want a box to take that home with you?”
“I’m good. I don’t actually have a way to reheat it.”
The amount of food left on her plate makes my skin itch with the sense ofwrong, but I tune out the voice in my head screaming at me about the waste. I drape my arm back over her shoulders with a grunt of acknowledgment. Our waiter doesn’t take more than a few moments to notice the change and make their way to our table.
“How was everything?”
“Really good,” Kori answers before I can, so I nod along in agreement.
“Are you ready for your check?”
“Yes,” I tell them.
“Perfect. I’ll be right back with that.”
“You don’t have to pay for me,” Kori says with a huff.
“I know. I want to. I asked you out, I’m paying. Simple as that.” Pulling her into my side, I plant a kiss on her temple. “Plus, I’ve got to take care of my girl.”
At those words, she melts into me with a dopey smile on her face. It takes all my restraint not to bend down and taste that smile for myself.
The waiter comes back, and I give him my credit card without looking at the bill. I know it won’t be crazy expensive, but I don’t want to ruin this moment by thinking about money. I was prepared to spend triple this to spoil her like she deserves. And it’s not like I hadn’t already done the math in my head while we ordered. Two entrées, two soft drinks, and an appetizer. I’ve spent enough time serving that I added tip and tax on too. I can afford it—I can afford more—but dread flares in my gut as I take the folio from the waiter anyway.
With a small grimace, I sign the receipt and climb out of the booth. Kori crawls out behind me in the most awkward, uncoordinated way she could have managed. I don’t know why she thought that was easier than sliding, but she never moves in the ways I expect. Training for as long as I have has given me a good idea of how a bodyshouldmove, and that isn’t it. Once she finds her footing, I offer her my hand and don’t let go, pulling her close so I can wrap my arm around her waist instead.
“I don’t want tonight to be over,” she says with a sigh as we walk out into the humid night.
“We can go back to my place,” I suggest and instantly regret it as she tenses in my arm.
“I don’t mean for sex,” I blurt out, which only causes her to stumble over her feet. “I just meant I didn’t want this to be over either. We can go walk around campus instead.”
“No, your place sounds nice,” she says as her eyes drop to the cracked asphalt.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
On the drive back, my hand rests on that spot on her thigh—right below the hem of her bright-yellow skirt—and I rub the skin there while she continues to ramble on with whatever random thoughts pop into her head. She doesn’t ask a lot of questions, which is a relief because I don’t think I could focus onthe road while giving her the full attention she deserves. Having her next to me is distracting enough.
There’s no game plan for when we arrive. I wasn’t lying when I told her I haven’t been on a date in a while, and I certainly haven’t brought a woman back to my place—it’s been years since I’ve had any desire to be with a woman at all. Yellow is an anomaly in every sense of the word, and I couldn’t begin to explain why.
As we pull up, I expect her to stiffen or at least show some hesitancy, but she smiles at me as I put the car in park. Before I can get her door for her, she is out of the car and climbing the stairs, giving me a perfect view of her thick thighs and the round cheeks of her ass peeking out from under her skirt. A growl builds in my chest as I scramble out of the car after her. No one else is around, which is good, because that view belongs to me now.
I bound up the stairs behind her, crowding her, but leaving space between that ass and my growing erection. I don’t want to scare her; I meant it when I told her this wasn’t about sex, and I have no plans to go back on that. That doesn’t change how every single one of my nerve endings is in tune with her every movement. She was made at a frequency my body can’t ignore. I can only imagine what it will be like when she is finally ready to touch me. There’s no doubt in my mind it won’t be as perfect as the rest of her. I’ll probably make a fool out of myself—I’m out of practice, and my stamina isn’t what it used to be—but I’ll make sure it’s good for her.
Her sweet, fruity scent floods my senses as I reach around her to unlock the door. It takes every ounce of willpower not to spin her and kiss her senseless against the peeling wood. My apartment is dark, like always, but for the first time in a long time, I don’t dread stepping inside. How could I when I brought my own bit of sunshine home with me?
