Page 61 of Bought
I shrug, though I feel the weight of her question. “Will anyone ask?”
“They might,” she says slowly. “Depending on how you introduce me.”
She’s right. The Bachmans are nosy. Obsessed with new love stories. They’ll ask when we met and how we met. What this is.
What she is.
I grip her hand tighter, the risk crawling beneath my skin. “I’ll introduce you as my girlfriend.”
She hesitates. “That seems fast.” But her smile says otherwise.
We both know this is reckless. Too soon. Too much.
We also know what it felt like to come together. To fall into each other’s arms. Her taste, her breath, the sultry rasp of that voice.
She’s carved her way in, and I’ll leave her there to stay.
“This is getting complicated,” she muses, looking down at her lap. She goes quiet, thinking. Finally, she’s back. “You don’t have to do this, you know. I don’t even know why you invited us all to dinner anyway.”
It just felt right at the time. I’d shown up unannounced, and there they were, all of them at the door of the apartment.
“I don’t either,” I say. “Honestly.” My words don’t seem to comfort her already sky-rocketing nerves.
Am I making a mistake?
In my family, it’s enough for a man to walk into the room with a woman at his side. They know she’s his. “We’ll drop the girlfriend bit.”
“Good call.” She sighs with relief. “Cass would kill me.”
Would Cass be upset she’s dating, dating the man who tried to buy her virginity, or does she not want her dating…
Me?
Her words slice through the heat of my thoughts. “Hey! Stop here. Please.”
I ease into a curbside space without asking why.
“If we’re really doing this crazy thing,” she turns to me with a smile, sliding the sunglasses to the top of her head. “I wantto run in and grab flowers. For your family. For tonight. For hosting.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I do,” she says with a sweet stubbornness I’m starting to crave.
“I’ll come,” I offer.
“No,” she says. “If you come, you’ll pay. And then they won’t really be from me.”
I nod, but something in my chest tugs as she gets out. It’s just across the sidewalk, but I don’t like letting her out of my reach. Not even for a second.
She disappears inside. I put the top up to save her hair while I wait.
He’s moving too fast for a sunny afternoon as he darts into the store behind Erin. He doesn’t look back, but his body betrays him with every muscle tense. The man is wired tight for a reason.
He dips into the store.
Do not run in there like a crazy boyfriend, I warn myself.
Followed by reminding myself that I’m not her boyfriend.
