“Nope.”
“Duck?”
“Not even close. And how are ducks and flowers even remotely creepy or scary?”
I shrugged. “A duck chased me at the park once when I was five. I cried.”
“Aww, you poor thing. That does sound traumatic.”
“My mom laughed.”
After a pause, she answered, “Yeah, I probably would have too. Keep guessing.”
“A whale on drugs?”
With a snort, she intoned, “Wow. You are genuinely bad at this.”
I shrugged. “At least I’m still a good kisser.” Giving into temptation, I slid my bare leg against hers under the covers, delighting in her warm, smooth skin.
“Yeah,” she murmured, agreeing as she moved with me as if she wanted to feel more of me against her too. “I guess we can’t all be good at everything, though, like I am.”
“Truth,” I repeated, moving my face closer to hers.
Her toes found mine, and she nudged my big toe with hers, making me nudge back, until it was a full-out war and we were laughing and rolling across the bed.
Just when Reese came too close to the edge of the mattress and started to go over the side, I grabbed her hip and yanked her back from falling.
We were still breathing hard from our match as she leaned her face against my neck and touched my cheek, as if trying to mourn over the bad parts of the night with me.
I turned my face in to kiss her palm, right where I’d drawn my spider. “It’s going to be okay,” I murmured.
“I know,” she said, but she still sounded sad.
So I reiterated, “We’re going to be okay. If you can forgive me for all my fuckups, then I can forgive you for being perfect at everything.”
She hummed out a sound of amusement before letting out a long breath. “If I were really perfect, then I would’ve known what the right thing to do tonight was, and I would’ve done it. I would’ve saved you from going over there and—”
“You did save me,” I told her. “In more ways than you’ll ever understand. You’re my hero, Reese. Before you came along, everything inside me felt so dark and miserable. But now…it’s not.”
After a long pause, she said, “Thank you,” and squeezed my wrist.
I caught her hand and linked our fingers together. “You want to know the crazy thing? All your flaws and quirks are probably the parts I love most about you.”
“Really?”
I kissed her cheek. “Really.”
“Want to know what I love most about you?” she asked.
“Of course.” I was dying to know. It mystified me why she even bothered to give me the time of day.
“I mean, aside from your butt,” she started. “It’s that you seem to like me just the way I am, flaws and all. Jeremy always made me feel ashamed for saying or doing certain things. You know, those crazy, weird quirky things I say and do. Even my friends and family have tried to temper some of my more outgoing oddities, but not you. You’ve just accepted me for what I am, and it’s so nice and refreshing, and I think it made me open up to you probably more than I ever have to anyone else, so…thank you. Thank you for making me feel secure and comfortable enough to just be me.”
I really didn’t feel
as if I should be thanked for anything tonight, not while I had another woman’s hickey on my chest or while I was purposely not telling her that her life might now be in danger. But I was happy to hear her say what she did and learn I actually did do something positive and good for her. My eyes went damp as I kissed her hair and then pressed my cheek against it.
“You did it now,” I warned on a sympathetic sigh. “You just went and got yourself stuck with one Mason Lowe for the rest of your life. Way to go, lady.”