Page 48 of Caught A Vibe

“I’ll let you know.” I hold up my agenda on my phone and try again. “Now, if we’re all done picking apart my personal life, can someone update me on the preorder numbers?”

That night, halfway through a shared frozen pizza and bottle of red wine at my kitchen table, I broach the subject that has preoccupied me since the meeting. I don’t know why I’m so nervous, but I can’t seem to find the right words. I know I do better with speeches when I can practice them and prepare. But when I tried to plan this conversation there were so many unknowns that everything I said sounds wrong. I can’t keep going over and over it, so I’m just going to wing it. We talk about everything else. Surely we can talk about this too.

“Dash, can we talk about something?” Nerves shake my voice and I draw in a deep breath to steady myself.

Mid-sip of wine, he lowers his glass cautiously. “Of course. What’s up?”

“You are still sleeping on my couch.”

He runs his hand over the back of his neck and winces. “Yeah, I know. I keep checking the listings but nobody is moving right now, and people are real skittish about new roommates…”

I stretch my hand across the table and wait for him to take it before I speak again. “I think we need to figure out a new arrangement.”

“Okay.” His face tightens, and he pulls out his phone.

No, this is not going well.Panic shortens my sentences. “You shouldn’t have to sleep on the couch. I want you to move.”

“I know. I’ll look again in the morning. Maybe I can just head back north.”

I swear to God I can word better than this. “No. Into my room. With me. Fuck, I’m not saying this well.” I grip his hand harder as I take another sip of wine and try again. “Look, I just think it’s ridiculous for you to keep contorting yourself to fit on my crappy couch when there is a perfectly good bed ten feet away that we have established I enjoy having you in, so…”

Dash blessedly cuts off my ramblings with a kiss. My shoulders relax and the tension in my neck melts away along with my knees as he does that thing with his tongue that I love.

He moves to my neck and kisses his way up to my ear, his whisper sending a shiver down my spine. “Are you sure?”

“It…it makes sense, doesn’t it?” I stutter on an exhale.

Dash pulls back and leans in his chair, his face blank. I miss his touch immediately. What did I say?

“Not what I asked. I can make do on the couch until I find a place, if this is a logic thing. I don’t want to be a logical conclusion.”

I can practically see him drawing the shutters down. I hurt him with my fear, and I can’t stand that. Words explode from my mouth, no filter, no preparation, pure emotion.

“Good. Because nothing about the way I feel makes sense to me right now. I shouldn’t be tied up in knots over a man I’ve known barely two months. I shouldn’t be asking him to move in during a global pandemic. This feels impulsive and out of control and…right.” I take a steadying breath and try again. “All I know is when you talk about leaving, it gets hard to swallow. And when you tell me about roommate listings, the butterflies in my stomach turn to hornets. I want you to stay. I want you in my bed and in my life. I want to take another step toward logic with you in this world gone mad.”

Dash smiles wide enough that his dimples come out to play. I’m toast.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” I smile back, relieved we’re on the same page. Why can’t all relationships be this easy? What was I so worried about?

“I’ll stay as long as you want me here. In your apartment. In your bed. In your life.”

“About that bed part…” I tease, eager to work out some of these nerves that have had me tied up in knots.

And so a planned evening of binge-watching Netflix fast-forwards to “chill.”

Dash

Iwake in the middle of the night to soft hair tickling my nose. This is new. My spot on the couch never tickled me awake, but the tradeoff of waking with Penny in my arms is worth it.

The bare shoulder a hair’s breadth from my mouth belongs to the naked woman I’m spooning, and this pleasure outweighs any irritation I might feel over being woken up in the wee hours of the morning.

If making love until we’re exhausted and falling asleep in each other’s arms is logical, I am here for it. With distance, I can see how her mind took apart the problem of how to get me in her bed and laid out a solution. Her approach nearly broke me, but the reward is worth it.

Kissing her shoulder, I notice that she doesn’t shiver the way she does when I kiss her neck. I add the observation to my mental list of Penny’s Pleasures. I am quickly becoming obsessed with learning all the ways to make her feel good.

I’m not going to mess this up. I slide my arm around her waist, bringing her snug against my chest. When she arches to move her ass closer to my hips, grinding sleepily against me, I kiss her curls and grin. “Good morning, sunshine.”

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