Page 59 of Unravel Me

Rosie flushes, averting her gaze. I nudge her chin, guiding her eyes back to mine.

“I think it’s adorable when you get shy. Your whole body heats, you start nibbling on your lip, and your freckles try to hide beneath those rosy cheeks.” The pad of my thumb drags across her lower lip. “You’re beautiful, Rosie, and I really like being here with you.”

“I really like being here with you too,” she breathes. “Are you gonna kiss me now?” Her eyes snap wide and she clamps her mouth shut. “Holy fork—I didn’t—no, that was supposed to be—I—”

I swallow her words with my mouth on hers, and,fuck, it’s everything I could have ever hoped for. It’s soft and gentle, the way she melts against me, the noises she makes in the back of her throat. It’s everything sweet with a hint of a bite, the tang of grapefruit clinging to her lips, the frantic press of her fingertips on my shoulders, the shift of her curves against the hard lines of my body.

I sink my fingers into her hair, angling her head back. Rosie sighs, her lips parting, letting me in. Her tongue meets mine without hesitation as her hands coast over me, down my arms, my chest, clutching at my shirt as she pulls me closer, tosses her leg over my hip. My hand glides along her thigh, over her ass, gripping her waist as I hold her tight and move against her, sure that I’ve finally found paradise.

Rosie is bright cerulean skies and the heat of the summer sun kissing your cheeks. She’s toes in the sand and crystal clear water splashing at your feet. Rainbows made of flowers and swirls of colors blending together at sunset like a flawless painting. She’s escaping reality and living in pure bliss without the racing thoughts and the itch of too many bodies, too many eyes on you.

She’s my version of paradise.

I cup her face in my hand, sweeping a thumb across the apple of her cheekbone as I slow us down, taking one last moment to taste her, suck on her lower lip before I press my mouth to hers once, twice more.

Rosie’s erratic breath mingles with mine, color blooming in her cheeks. She presses two trembling fingers to her swollen lips. “Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“I…I meant to say that in my head. The kiss thing. And honestly, thewowtoo.”

“I like when you think out loud.”

“A lot of my thoughts are about you,” she admits.

I blow out a breath of relief and pull her into my chest. “Thank fuck, because all of mine are about you.”

* * *

“What’s eating you?”

“Hmm?”

My eyes lift to my rearview mirror, catching sight of Connor in the back. He’s passed out with his stuffie, and he didn’t stir longer than a minute when I lifted him out of the playpen and tucked him into the car seat. Rosie, however, is a different story.

“You’ve been gnawing on your lip for the last fifteen minutes,” I tell her, stopping out front of her apartment. I tug her bottom lip free from her teeth. “What’s on your mind?”

“I don’t want to sound…I’m nervous that I’ll sound…I don’t want you to think…”

“Rosie.”

Her shoulders deflate and she flashes me a guilty grin under the light of the streetlamp. “I really like you, Adam.”

“I really like you too.”

“But…”

“Oh fuck. Not a but.”

She snickers, giving me a shove. “I really like you,butI’m not looking for something casual. Honestly, I wasn’t looking at all. But now you’re here and I don’t want to bring my son into something that doesn’t have potential to be long term, to be real and serious and good.” She takes a breath, tucking her hair behind her ears. “I know I’m only twenty-four, but I want to share a life with someone. I want us to be special to someone. I want to build a family with someone, and I have no problem parting ways with someone who doesn’t want that too. Because if Connor is the only family I get in this life…he’s enough for me.” Dim eyes move over me, and I watch her fingers curl into her fists. “I know some people don’t like to talk about commitment, and maybe it’s soon. But I—”

For the second time tonight, I swallow her words, every single one of them. Her truths and her insecurities, the ones that align so perfectly with mine.

“I want that, Rosie.” I rest my forehead against hers. “All of it and more.”

“I’m scared,” she whispers. “Nobody has ever fit into my life. I don’t want to know what it feels like to lose that.”

“I like being here. I have no plans of leaving.” I look to the little boy in the backseat, the soft sound of his deep breathing, back to the enchanting woman in front of me. “You’re a package deal, Rosie. That doesn’t scare me. I’ll tell you as often as I need to until you believe it.”

---