Lee’s still caught in the moment, her hands suspended in the air where she was holding onto my sides, her chest rising and falling with every breath that rushes over her parted lips.
And I can only stare because I’ve never been more mesmerized in my life than I am from seeing how captivated she is by me kissing her.
I watch her come back from wherever the kiss took her to. Opening her eyes, her arms fall to her sides, and her breaths begin to return to normal, while the blush in her cheeks deepens.
When she lowers her gaze to the ground, I move forward, closing the small distance between us, and I reach for her hand, lacing our fingers. I lift my other hand to the back of her head, and rest my cheek on her hair as I hug her, whispering, “Thank you.”
Lee presses her cheek to my chest and nods. Raising her hand, she flattens her palm over my chest, and we stand like this for a long while, just staring out at the valley.LeeWe follow the path back to the campus, and it feels like everything looks brighter. Even the leaves on the trees seem to be a deeper shade of green.
Every couple of minutes, I glance down at Lake’s hand, holding mine tightly. But when we pass by the restaurant, and I see all the people, I try to pull my hand free.
Lake doesn’t let go, and giving me a reassuring smile, he says, “Here it’s normal to hold hands in public. People won’t even notice.”
Right, they don’t frown on public displays of affection like people do back home.
I glance around me just to make sure we’re not offending anyone when I see Lake’s friends walking across the lawn toward the buildings where the classrooms are.
“There’s Layla, Kingsley, and Preston,” I say.
Preston looks in our direction, and he notices Lake is holding my hand. To get Layla’s attention, he nudges her so hard she stumbles into Kingsley, who falls onto the grass, and it makes laughter burst from Lake.
Preston looks horrified by what happened, and he tries to help Kingsley up, but she only yanks him down, which has Layla sitting down on the grass because she’s laughing so hard.
Lake has to stop walking, and grabs hold of his stomach as he hunches over with laughter, and the sound is so magical it makes me chuckle.
I pull my hand free from Lake’s and pat him on the back while he struggles to breathe. “And you said it’s normal,” I say wryly. “People won’t notice.” I point to his friends. “We caused an accident.”
Lake sinks to his knees, and he covers his face with his hand as tears of laughter spill over his cheeks.
I glance around us, and I notice more students laughing. We caused a happy accident, and it fills me with joy.
Lake finally manages to catch his breath, and I help him to his feet. Reaching up, I wipe a tear from his cheek.
Suddenly he takes hold of my face, and he presses a hard kiss to my mouth. I’m frozen with surprise, and before I can even catch up to what’s happening, he lets go of me, saying, “You make me so happy.”
“Does this mean we get a new mom?” Mason suddenly asks.
My head snaps so fast in the direction of his voice, I almost sprain it.
Falcon and Mason walk toward us, and they both have huge grins on their faces.
“I forgot to tell you,” Lake mumbles. “Because I’m the mature one –”
Mason lets out a bark of laughter. “Mature my ass.”
He takes a patient breath, then continues, “It sometimes feels like I have five kids instead of friends.”
“Oh, so that would make me the mother?” I ask.
Lake nods, and with a solemn face, he says, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Being a single father makes dating almost impossible, and I didn’t want you knowing before… uhm… before…”
“Before I fell in love with you?” I help him find the words.
The solemn look is quickly replaced with one of hope as Lake whispers, “Did you?”
Reaching for his hand, I wrap my fingers around his, and I smile up at him. “Yes.”
“Oh my God, that’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen,” a random girl says, and I step closer to Lake when she wipes a tear from under her eye.
When students begin to cheer and clap hands, I take another two steps to the right until I’m behind Lake and I can hide my burning face against his back.LakeKnowing this must be embarrassing for Lee, I pull her from behind me and placing my arm around her shoulders, I begin to walk to the dorm.
I shoot Mason and Falcon a glare and mumble, “Thanks for that guys,” as I pass by them.
A couple of steps further, Mason yells at the top of his lungs, “There’s already five of us. Don’t go making more babies.”