Unexpected Love Story (Love 2)

“Now.” I carry her outside to the backyard, but I don’t go far because she starts screaming.

“You asshole. You’re hurting me,” she yells, and I stop and put her down. The horror that I actually hurt her makes it too much for me to breathe.

“Where are you hurt?” I ask, checking her out, as she slaps my hands away.

“You hurt my stomach,” she says as she tries to shoo me away.

“I didn’t mean to,” I say softly, putting my hand on her stomach and she lets me. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she says, walking away from me and back into the house.

“Are we going to eat or not?” she asks as she opens the fridge and takes out a water bottle.

No one says anything as I look at the sky, mumbling to myself, “What the fuck?” We all go into the kitchen and take our places to try to cook breakfast. The saying too many cooks in the kitchen is in fact the right one. With every turn, we are bumping into someone. We finally finish and all eat outside.

Brody and Darla are the first to leave, kissing us all goodbye, Darla smirking at me the whole time.

“Let’s go,” I tell Crystal when I stand. Enough with the stalling.

“No, thanks,” she tells me as she turns and walks out the back door, slamming it on the way.

“That fucking woman is going to be the death of me,” I say, turning and walking out the front door, slamming it. “Fine, she doesn’t want to talk. I won’t bother to explain myself,” I say out loud. “Her loss.” But I don’t take one more step. Instead, I turn around, walk through the house again, and run out the back door, yelling her name.

I finally catch up to her on the beach. “Would you please give me a fucking second to explain?” I stop her from walking by standing in front of her with my hands on my knees as I try to catch my breath.

“Nothing to explain,” she says, the wind making her hair fly all over the place as she tries to catch it in her hand.

“Really?” I say, standing up now. “So you’re not pissed that you saw me with another woman?”

“Nope,” she says, shaking her head. “I mean, if you saw me out with another man, you wouldn’t care either, right?”

The thought of her on a date with another man has me flexing my hands into a fist. “It would piss me the fuck off.”

She crosses her arms over her chest. “Really?” she says.

“Fucking really,” I say, looking up at the sky and back down again. “Felicia and I went to school together, and she just moved back to town. I saw her at Gram’s when she had the dinner and then again when I went for pizza,” I say, walking closer to her. “I was out eating and waiting for your phone call. I was biding my time until you called me, or until nine, when I was just going to show up at your house,” I tell her, tucking her flying hair behind her ear. “I wasn’t on a date.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she says, not giving in, but my hands go to her shoulders. “We said we wanted one more night, and we got it.”

“What if I want another night, or two nights?” I ask her as she looks up at me. “What if we just continue doing what we are doing without a timeframe?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” she asks.

“I like you, when you don’t drive me crazy,” I tell her. “And I want you all the time, even when you drive me crazy.” I smile at her and lean down to kiss her lips. “Sometimes more when you drive me crazy.”

“This is a really bad idea,” she says, but her hands go to my hips. “Like really bad. I don’t want to be known as the whore of the clinic.”

“We don’t have to tell anyone, well except for the four people who already know.” I raise my eyebrows. “And we can just take it one day at a time?”

“No hanky-panky at work,” she tells me. “That is a fine line I refuse to cross. If at any point I feel you pushing it, I will cut you.”

“Fine, no hanky-panky at work.” I bring her closer. “Is the parking lot considered work?”

“Yes.” She nods. “No kissing in public either.”

“Trust me, the last thing I want to be is the talk of the town,” I tell her. “I’ve had enough of that over the past couple of months.”

“Okay. Also, no dating other people while we are together,” she says, and I glare at her. “If we want to date someone else, we walk away.”

“Yeah,” I say. At this point, I would agree with whatever she wants just to get one more day with her.