Page 58 of The Love Interest
She sighs dramatically. I would love to make her sigh all kinds of ways, for all kinds of reasons. Grab her arm and kiss her and take her breath away. I would fucking love to.
But I won’t. I can’t. Not tonight.
When we reach the side street that her apartment’s on, instead of turning onto it, she starts skipping ahead, continuing up Houston.
“Where are you going?”
“Your place!”
“Get back here right now, young lady.”
She spins around, wide-eyed and grinning, like a naughty little girl who wants to get in trouble. “I want to see it.”
“Fiona. I’m not letting you into my place.” I stop walking and stand my ground. “Fiona. I will walk you back to your place, and that’s it. We’re going home. Separately.”
She stomps her feet and pouts, like I knew she would. I don’t even know why I’m turned on right now. She’s being a brat. “This is very frustrating and disappointing!”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to start behaving out of character now, would I? Keep your voice down, and get back here.” I start walking down her side street. I don’t look back.
I can hear her boots on the pavement. She’s following me. Begrudgingly.
Those boots are fucking hot and those socks are fucking hot and her thighs are really fucking hot. And those tits. I can’t believe she flashed her cleavage at me. That was fucking hot.
But I can’t touch them. I can’t touch her. Not yet.
“Why did you even bother coming to see me tonight?” She’s about five feet behind me, and she’s keeping her voice down now.
“I wanted to see you.”
“You wanted to, or you needed to? Because I needed to see you.”
“Both.”
“Is it really that easy for you to see me and not want to do more with me? Because I don’t think I can dothismuch longer.”
“Like I said in one of the letters, I can’t make you wait for me.”
“But you want me to? You want me to wait for you?”
“I have no right to ask you to.”
“If you asked me to, I would. If you told me that you wanted me…” Her voice is trembling, and it’s killing me. “If you want me to be yours, I will wait for you. But you have to say the words.”
I say nothing. I can’t make any promises. I want her and I’d wait for her, but if I ask her to wait, then we’d be in some kind of relationship, and we can’t be.
She’s quiet until we get to her building. She pauses in front of the path up to the stoop. Without looking at me, she says, “I know I’m ten years younger than you, but I can handle more than you’d think. I can tell you what I want, and I can ask you for what I want. I can compartmentalize, and I can keep a secret. I’ve never liked any man as much as I like you, so I guess I can’t say how I’d feel if we slept together just once. Tonight. But I want to. I wish you did too.”
She walks up to the front door and unlocks it while I stand here processing what she just said to me. How the fuck does a twenty-five-year-old just say that to someone they aren’t even in a relationship with? She knows I want her. I’m not going to say it again. Not now. Not tonight.
“But I can’t keep waiting for you to ask me for what you want, Emmett.” She opens the door to her apartment building and then turns to face me. “Good night. See you in class.”
Oh hell no.
I jog up the steps and catch the front door before it closes. I follow her up the stairs. She doesn’t acknowledge that I’m following her, and I don’t say anything. It’s just footsteps and breaths that keep getting heavier and heavier.
She’s in apartment 208. I know that because of all the letters I’ve addressed to her. When we get to the door to her apartment, while she’s unlocking it, she states, “My roommates aren’t home.”
I follow her inside. This apartment is a two bedroom. Not big, not too small. Not a lot of furniture. Not shitty. It smells like her. It smells really fucking good. “I’m not staying.”
