Page 102 of For Butter or Worse
Nina wasn’t a romantic person. She didn’t believe in soul mates. Or meeting someone you were meant to be with. At least that’s what she’d told herself in every relationship she’d been in where she didn’t feel that connection so many people claimed to.
But she was in love with Leo, and her feelings for him were more intense than anything she’d ever felt. She wanted to be with him. Not for publicity or sex. She wanted a relationship.
And judging by the romantic gesture of bidding for her time, she thought he might want exactly the same thing. So she grabbed the back of his head and pulled him toward her. Their lips met.
A surge went through her, breaking her open and easing the tension that had built in her since the day she said goodbye to him. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her waist. His lips were warm and invited her in, and she let herself delve back into them. How had she lived without this, and without him?
“Nina...” he began. His brow furrowed, and he took her face in his hands. “I can’t just be friends with you, or whatever we used to be. It would hurt too much to want to be with you, and not be able to. So if we’re going to do this—”
“We were never friends,” she said. She pulled him back to her mouth. She wanted to show him just how much she wanted to be with him, too.
When they pulled apart, her voice trembled slightly. “Are we going to do this? For real this time?”
“I’m not going anywhere ever again, unless it’s with you.” He smoothed his thumb across her cheekbone.
“Could we go somewhere that’s inside and not raining?” she asked. She kissed him again and tasted espresso.
“I have a place like that in mind.” He gently pulled her hair as she bit his lower lip.
“And I have an idea of how to warm you up.” She rubbed her thumb against the back of his neck.
“Don’t tell me you have those nifty hand warmers.” His hands spread across her rain-soaked back, and then slid down, down, down until they rested at the curve of her ass.
“What I have in mind will warm up more than just your hands,” she eventually said.
“A heated blanket? I do love those.”
A piercing shriek sounded through the air. Then another. Nina immediately knew what the source was.
She turned to look behind her, and there was Reginald, his mighty plumes spread so wide that all she could see was him. But his beady peacock eyes weren’t looking at her. No, his sights were set on the man she loved.
“Reginald, back off!” she shouted at the peacock. “He’s mine!”
Reginald hesitated momentarily. His wings quivered as if he might launch into his shimmying mating dance. But then he seemed to think better of it. Just as quickly as he appeared, he turned on his heel and fluttered off toward the tent to find another option.
“Are you on a first-name basis with all peacocks, or just that one?” Leo asked.
She turned back to him and exhaled. “What can I say? No one’s going to try and steal my man without a fight.”
He scooped her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He carried her toward the valet stand.
“I never hated you,” he whispered into her ear.
She sunk her nails into the back of his neck, and whispered, “I did hate you.”
He laughed.
“But you grew on me, like a barnacle. Or a zit. Or...”
“Or a pair of devil horns?” Leo’s fingers brushed against her neck, and along her shoulders.
As they stood together in the rain, their lips meeting again was the realest thing she’d ever felt.
Epilogue
Eight months later...
Leo poured a bag of full-size candy bars into a plastic pumpkin bowl.
