Page 36 of Extra Witchy

“Because?”

“Only Titus knows anything about what I’m really like,” he admitted in a quiet voice.

“You’re afraid to show them?”

“That’s part of it, I guess. But it’s just easier to let people fill in the blanks, make assumptions based on how I look. Correcting those ideas looks an awful lot like effort.”

“Which you haven’t cared enough to make? They’reyourfriends, Trev.”

He shook his head, taking a sip of the wine. “No, they’re Titus’s friends. I’m his platonic plus-one. I’m his drinking buddy, largely because I never turn him down. I’m reliable as a Toyota, right? Knew a dude in college who put two hundred thousand miles on his Camry.”

With an odd tightness in her throat, she touched the back of his hand, and that moment felt more significant than fucking in Danica’s downstairs bathroom, somehow. “But you’re not worried about putting me off? Letting me see the real you.”

“I should be,” he whispered. “But…I’m not. It feels like…”

“What, sweetheart?”

“That you’remyperson. That no matter what I say, you won’t judge me. I…trust you.”

***

Before Leanne pulled away, Trev caught her hand where it rested on his and lifted it to brush his lips over her knuckles.

Hopefully, she wouldn’t crack a joke because he might never work up the nerve to say something like that again. But her gaze stayed on his, quiet and steady as a rainy night. “I’ll do my best not to disappoint you,” she said.

“That’s not possible. Everything we’ve done together has turned out, like, a thousand percent better than I expected…or frankly, than it should have, all things considered.”

“I was thinking that too,” she admitted.

“Like, about what?”

“Grabbing business class seats on such short notice for instance. Getting a discount on our gorgeous hotel room. Finding a vacancy at such a pretty chapel and then lucking into same-day tickets for this show. Just…all of it, really.” She cocked her head, a flirty little gesture that never failed to make his heart flutter, and added, “Itispretty magical.”

Trev didn’t quite get why she was smiling so much, and he couldn’t stop staring at her mouth. “Could not agree more.”

If he leaned over the table to kiss her, he’d likely spill the wine. So he contained the urge and just admired how gorgeous she was as the restaurant served their meal in courses.Freaking courses.He thought about how he used to subsist on whatever he could microwave or make on a hot plate. The show started as their dessert arrived, and he loved that too.

Trev had never told anyone that he preferred old music or that he’d gotten into it in a big way after hearing a variety of songs in games likeBioShockandFallout. It was easy to talk to her, a level of comfort he’d never achieved with another partner. He’d never put too much thought into what he wanted from a relationship, but now, one unshakable certainty coalesced:

It shouldn’t feel like work.

Sure, it would require effort and nurturing down the line. But each moment shouldn’t feel like being a salmon swimming upstream to spawn. He watched her every bit as much as he did the singers, sneaking glances at the performers now and then, because it was more fun to see her smile, to watch her eyes light up at something happening onstage.

When the show ended, he collected their bags as Leanne linked her arm through his with a content-sounding sigh. “This was fantastic. We’ll have such a great story to tell when we get back.”

He missed a step, nearly stumbling, and she helped him stay on his feet.That’s not what this is all about, right? It’s notonlya ruse, keeping up a front for her political aspirations.But maybe it was? Grimly, he reminded himself that he’d agreed to help her craft a certain image, one more marketable to voters, and to keep Junie from moving in.

Don’t push past what’s been asked. You’re already getting a lot out of this.

Mumbling a noncommittal response, he ordered a ride for them. Awesome thing about Vegas, there were drivers nearby, usually four or five minutes away, pretty much all the time. Not like St. Claire. Their driver this time was an older man who reminded Trev a bit of Howard Carruthers, who drove to keep busy. Their driver was also a talker, preventing them from making any private conversation on the way back to the hotel.

When they got to the room, he hung up his wedding clothes with reverent hands. While it was Leanne’s third run, this was his first time, and truthfully, it probably wouldn’t happen again for Trev. He stood for a moment, admiring the gray pinstriped suit and the charcoal-and-white wing tips. To his surprise, Leanne came up and hugged him from behind, resting her head between his shoulder blades.

“What a long, awesome day it’s been.”

Trev savored her warmth for a moment then loosed her hold on him and turned so he could cuddle her in return. “I hope you don’t think this is weird, but…I’d like to hold off on sex stuff until tomorrow.”

She smiled and kissed his jaw lightly. “So we can have an actual wedding night. You’re secretly a romantic.”

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