Page 61 of Glad You Exist

She looks like she wants to say more, as she looks over her shoulder at me, pausing outside her door but then she smiles and nods before walking in.

I have a big stupid smile on my face because she didn't say no.

She didn't say she didn't feel the same.

She let me hold her and kiss her.

But until I hear the words coming from her, I have to keep waiting. Stay patient.

* * *

I findmyself staring at Liz from across the lanai—just like I have been for the last three hours.

Having had to play host to my cousins, I haven’t had a chance to get any alone time with her since we all came down to the party.

I decide today that pink is my new favorite color.

On her.

She’s wearing another pink dress.

It looks amazing against her beige skin and jet-black hair. She is still wearing it down but now she had it slightly pulled off to the side with a pink clip. She’s laughing at something my cousin Missy is saying.

I catch her eye, and she stops mid-laugh and stares at me, a curious look on her face.

Knowing I just got caught staring at heragain, I try to play it off as simply looking around but then her gaze travels down the length of my body and back up again to my face. I feel the heat of it coursing through me.

It’s the same exact way she looked at me early this morning when she was telling me to put a shirt on. And now we are both silently staring at each other across the backyard.

A light blush is creeping up on her cheeks and before my mind even decides it, I’m already halfway across the backyard headed to her.

“Hey.”

“Hey…hi?” Our height difference has her looking up at me, her head tilted in question.

I grin down at her because she just looks so damned cute looking up at me like that, even though what I really want to do is to lean over and see if she’ll meet me halfway.

Her response is a smile that’s slow and wide. I’m a goner.

A warm sensation pools around my chest at the sight of it.

I gesture at the buffet table across from us.

“So, everyone told me they loved the food you made.”

She blushes again, dipping her head to stare at her toes in her platform sandals.

I am not lying. Every one of my cousins raved about her cooking to me.

Even though she made enough for at least twenty people, and there are only ten of us here, all the chafing dishes are now empty.

Luckily Dad also grilled hotdogs and burgers to tide over my ravenous cousins.

If they didn’t love Liz before, she definitely won them over today with lumpia and pancit.

Another cousin, Sierra, chooses that moment to come back around and whisper,“Marry her.”

I can’t help but wink at my giggling cousin as she walks away.

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