Page 26 of For The Weekend
I nod. “If you don’t like it?—”
“I love it.”
I exhale audibly, my shoulders drooping. “Good, I was worried?—”
She throws herself at me. “Thank you.” She wraps her arms around my neck. “Thank you so much.”
I play it off, even as I loop my arms around her waist, squeezing and lifting her a bit so she’s on her tippy-toes and I’m holding all her weight. “It’s no big deal.”
“It’s a huge deal.” Her tears wet my cheek. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.”
I don’t know what to say, so I stay quiet. I like holding her better than talking anyway. She breathes hot against my neck, and I dig my fingertips into her sides. She giggles, mumbling something that sounds like, “You’re strong.”
She has no idea, but the idea of lifting her up completely so her legs curl around my waist is too much, and I let her go. Making sure she’s on her feet, I keep my hands on her hips, only releasing her to cup her smiling face in my palms. I wipe the wet streaks on her face, allowing myself to drag my thumb over her lips once.
They’re plump and perfect and kissable.
“Go on. Lemme see you take it for a spin,” I tell her before opening the door for her. She guides it outside and hops on, pedaling it in circles.
She laughs. “This is amazing!”
And my chest opens up, making a hole wide enough for her to ride the damn thing right inside. I’d welcome it. Leave tracks all over me. Evidence of the happiness I feel in this moment.
After a few figure eights and gleeful sounds that I previously only thought came from cartoon characters, Eloise pulls up alongside me. She puts the kickstand down and hugs me again. This time, I stoop lower so she doesn’t have to reach sofar and duck my face into her neck. She smells of sugar and cinnamon. Feels like everything right in the world.
“I love it, Roman. Thank you. I’ll take good care of it. I promise.” She leans back so our gazes meet. “You can have free baked goods for life.”
A chuckle rumbles in my throat. It’s rustier than her old bike, but I suspect it’ll get more of a workout with this girl in my life. “I’m just happy you’re happy.”
Heat laces her answering smile, her emerald eyes going heavy lidded, and my mind races with all the ways I could put that same look on her face again, but the alarm on my phone interrupts my thoughts and this conversation. I release her to silence it, showing her the few daily alarms I have set. “I have to pick Mazie up from school.”
“I have, like, a thousand alarms set on my phone too. But they’re reminders for me to do basic stuff like take my pills and brush my teeth.” Then she realizes what she’s said and rolls her eyes at herself. “Awkward.”
But the silence that settles between us isn’t awkward. It’s a good type of quiet. The comfortable kind. Where we don’t want to move because we don’t want to be anywhere else.
Except I have to be somewhere else.
I pinch her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “See you ’round.”
“Bye, Roman.” She bites into her lower lip, fighting her growing smile—a tragedy—then hops on her bike. I watch her pedal away before trashing her old bike in the dumpster and settling behind the wheel of my Tahoe. It’s not until I check the rearview mirror to back up that I notice I’m smiling.
Chapter 8
Eloise
It was cold. Which was unusual for my kitchen, because it’s always a few degrees warmer than everywhere else. But it probably felt that way because I was naked.
And mixing cream cheese icing.
Until a hand landed on my shoulder. Then I was warm all over. Warmer than the icing suddenly melting on the hot cinnamon buns.
Then that hand landed onmybuns.
I knew who it was before I turned around, but seeing Roman’s face made me hot all over.
He was naked too.
Or at least, I think he was. It was sort of hazy below our chests. But either way, I was into it.
