Page 70 of For the Win
His arms tighten around me. “Might be?”
My laugh sounds more like a groan of frustration. “You have to meet me halfway, Numpy. Telling me how you feel might be a good start. You know, so I’m not walking out on that shaky confession bridge on my own.”
“I love you,” he says so swiftly it makes me gasp. “I’ve been in love with you since December. After that night, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. You were around every corner and in every song on the radio. I woke up missing you, and I didn’t even know your name. I was planning to find you when this weekend was over. The Bellamy situation was awkward and I wasn’t sure if Ishould stay, but I couldn’t let myself think about leaving until I saw you again.”
My heart pounds harder. “You didn’t even know me back then.”
“I can’t explain it either, which is why I didn’t know how to tell you without scaring you away. I fell in love with you at Finn’s Pub, but I found out how much I liked you at our cabin in the woods. When you left this morning, I realized I couldn’t live without you.”
He’s saying everything right. And still… “How would it work? You don’t even know where you’ll be going next. You don’t even live in this state. I’d love to go on vacation to all those places you’ve mentioned, but my friends are here. My job.”
Michael stops swaying. “Are you asking me to stay, Win? To be your boyfriend? Your first since that one little snot-nosed asshole that didn’t deserve you?”
Am I? Hell yes, I am.
“I’m not calling you my lover, and if you ever say I’m da bomb dot com, we have to break up immediately.”
He laughs, his expression full of wonder and, yes, hope, as he presses his forehead to mine. “You want me to stay with you.”
I really do.
“That depends,” I bluff weakly. “Can I wear your T-shirt again? Will you still make me fancy cookies?”
He closes his eyes and exhales softly. “Make sure you mean this, Win. Because I won’t let you take it back tomorrow. You’ll be mine.”
I can’t stop the goofy smile forming on my face. “It’s like I got lost and fell into one of those fantasy books. We find each other and lose each other in the same night. We meet again and end up stuck in a cabin, complete with a sex marathon. Now we’re dancing at an anniversary slash wedding announcement and…”
“And it feels like it was all supposed to happen,” he whispers, his lips somehow closer to mine.
Like it was meant to be.
“It kind of does.” I lick my lips. “You know, I have a room here. With a lock on the door. We could steal whatever’s left of that dessert the winner of baking made and sneak away without anyone noticing.”
“Anything you say.”
He’s guiding me toward the door when the band starts playing “All I Do is Win”and I know Bex is to blame. She did have them at her mercy for over twenty-four hours.
I look back to see my three best friends jumping around like idiots and pointing at me while they sing along. Which, of course, makes the rest of the party turn to see exactly who or what they’re pointing at. Me. Leaving to have more sex with Bellamy’s brother. Whom I love and will probably marry.
That’s right, I said it. I’ve been converted now. I’m a true believer. After this weekend, how can I be anything else?
I smile apologetically at Michael. “That’s my family. That’s what you’re going to have to deal with on a daily basis if you’re serious about this.”
In answer, Michael picks me up like a bride and carries me out of the dining hall to a raucous round of applause. I decide not to mention his boundary problems. The truth is, I kind of love it when he does this. I also might have a new title for my movie.
Skinny Winnie Meets His Match.
EPILOGUE
Three months later…
“I’ll take a Firecracker,” I tell the bartender, looking around the once-again-crowded Finn’s Pub and smiling. It’s May, and I’m getting a lot of strange looks due to my outfit. People don’t usually wear Christmas sweaters this time of year.
What can I say? I’m feeling eccentric lately. The other day I got a sheer mesh, rhinestone-speckled scarf from my time at Royale’s out of my closet and wore it with jeans and a T-shirt to lunch. Michael couldn’t stop touching it. Or me.
“I thought that was you.”
I turn on my stool to find Seamus has replaced the girl at the bar, a broad grin on his face. “Hey there, you handsome unicorn of a man.”
