Page 17 of Love Me
I tucked whips of hair behind my ear, my wristlet smacking against my forearm as I did. “Sometimes simple things like holding hands can have more meaning than, say, kisses.”
“Are you saying you’d rather hold hands than kiss?”
“Why can’t I have both?”
One side of his mouth stretched upward, showing me that he was teasing. “You can have both.”
Inside the store, as I began putting things into the cart, Knox quickly figured out what I was making for dinner. “Tacos?”
“And you were so worried,” I teased as I tossed corn tortillas into the cart. “I guess you came to the store for no reason.”
“I’ve never been worried about your cooking.”
My brows rose and I pushed the shopping cart down another aisle. “Oh, really?”
He shook his head. “I just like how cute you get when your feathers are ruffled.” A glint of mirth showed in his eyes at theyou’ve got to be kiddinglook I was giving him. “And as for why I came to the store with you…I wanted to spend time with you.”
It was a task to hide the giddiness bubbling in my chest.
“I also wanted to talk to you about this morning,” he said.
I had a feeling I knew what he was referring to, but still asked, “What about this morning?”
Knox stopped walking, which made me stop, and we stood staring at each other in the middle of the aisle. He gave me a look that said he knew I was playing dumb. “Have I ever given you any indication that your age is an issue for me?”
Oh, boy.It was time to confront this. “No, but you didn’t deny it this morning, either.”
“Because I was a little blindsided and with how you kept looking at me, I knew the insecurity was directed at me.”
I didn’t deny it because it was.
His eyes narrowed. Not in an angry way, but in an assessing way. “You gonna tell me why that is?”
“It was something that Stephanie said—”
“Stephanie?”
Gathering my confidence, I squared my shoulders. “Look, I know I’m being stupid. The last thing I should be worrying about is if my gorgeous older boyfriend is bothered by my age, which is something I don’t have the power to change. Nor would I. I am who I am.” Having said all that with one breath, I paused to take another and to figure out the best way to explain my point. “But at the same time, you make me happy, Knox. All four of you do, and you all have the power to take that happiness away.”
His face relaxed as he stared down at me. “My beautiful younger girlfriend has that power, too.”
My heart seemed to puppeteer the corners of my mouth, stretching them up. It was the first time he’d ever said I was beautiful. Knox was a man of bluntness and harsh words. But when he had a moment like this, where he was kind and wonderful, it was profound.
“Don’t act like you didn’t know you were beautiful,” he grumbled.
“Not as much as you just made me feel.”
He sighed as if exasperated and pulled the cart from my grasp, clearing the obstacle between us. He grabbed my wrist and drew me to him. When his hand went to the back of my neck, I instinctively pushed up on my tiptoes, tilting my head back and offering myself to him.
His lips descended on mine. At first his kiss was slow, but passionate, like he wanted to savor the moment and the taste of my lips. That was, until I tried to kiss him back—to savor him. He stilled the instant I tried and put his hands on my shoulders to pull away. It was such a sudden change in mood, from passionate to closed-off, I found myself stunned and wondering what had just happened. I did my best not to show my disappointment as I waited for him to explain.
But he didn’t. He stepped away from me and grabbed the cart. “Are we almost done here?” he asked over his shoulder, and it seemed as if he didn’t want to look at me.
Maybe it was because we were in the middle of the store. It wasn’t the ideal place to get carried away kissing.
When I didn’t answer him right away, he finally looked at me. I couldn’t read his face. It was too indifferent. “What else do we have to get for dinner?”
“Uh,” I stammered, making myself focus on what he was asking. I did a mental check of what was left on my grocery list. “Cheese, and I need to restock on cinnamon.”
