“It’s still a nuisance.”
“Not really. It is understandable, though.” I gathered his hands in mine and kissed his knuckles. “These past two months have turned both our worlds upside down. It’d be weird if that sort of exhaustion didn’t manifest itself somehow.”
He glanced down at our joined hands, and I decided to rewind the tapes and tackle the rest of what he’d said.
“My family will adore you and show you in their special way,” I murmured. “I’ll be your translator, and I’ll give you all the heads-ups you might need. For instance, my nonna will try to force-feed you, because she thinks everyone under three hundred pounds is skinny, and you won’t be able to say no to her.”
His mouth twitched a little.
“I’ll talk to her too.” I bumped my forehead gently against his. “And let’s make one thing clear. The first and the second, maybe even the third time you and I go over to hers for dinner, we’ll both be nervous. You’ll worry about stepping on any toes and saying the wrong thing, and I’ll worry about not being able to calm you down enough. But at the end of the day, if my family sees that I’m happy, they’re happy.” What was next? Oh, the social life crap. “Now. Going out on the weekends and whatever. You’re obviously gonna meet Ruby and Chris, and I’ll be stoked whenever you come with us to a bar. But I will totally understand when you don’t feel up to it—hell, sometimes I don’t either. It’s unfair to compare how often I go out when I’m single to how I wanna spend my time with you. I’m not as social as you think.”
He cleared his throat and raised a brow, and the seconds-long look he gave me made me grin.
“Fine, by your standards, maybe I am social,” I chuckled. “My point is, I love staying at home. It’s what I prefer. I wanna have movie nights and make dinner together and just be with you.” I eased the pad of my thumb over the worry lines between his eyebrows. “We also never stay out very long, my friends and I. We’re busy with our own lives. Most of the time, it’s a couple drinks, and then someone’s yawning because they’ve had a long day.”
Some of the tension left his shoulders, and he leaned forward to drop his forehead to my shoulder.
“I already know you’re picky and not flexible.” I kissed the side of his head. “I’m the opposite, so chances are I won’t fight you if you have a strong preference. And sometimes we’ll compromise. Sometimes I’ll push. We’ll talk, we’ll make mistakes, we’ll even fight, but as long as we have each other’s backs and wanna be together, we’ll work things out.”
He hummed. “You make it sound easy. I hate embarrassing myself, not to mention others. What if I embarrass you? I need breaks sometimes, you know. If it’s too loud in a restaurant, I excuse myself to go to the bathroom, but…and please don’t take offense, but if the display between you and your father after the concert is any indication of what a Sunday dinner is like, what if—I mean—how—” He cursed and stumbled over his words.
“Hey. Look at me, honey.” I cupped his cheeks and got him to stop hiding against my neck. “First of all, it’s impossible to embarrass me. Second of all, I want us to be a team. If it’s that important to you to be discreet about wanting a breather, we’ll come up with a system. You can signal to me whenever you need to duck out for a moment, and we’ll take turns coming up with excuses. Maybe I’ll send you down to the car to get something, or maybe you can step outside with Anthony when he takes a smoke. Or, if you want Nonna to fuss over you and give you extra dessert, you pretend to take a work call in the stairway, and when you come back, she’ll express her worry about you working too much by filling your plate.”
There were countless options. It wasn’t an issue.
It seemed to be a big deal to Gideon, however. His eyes became misty, and he managed a wobbly smile. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course.” I rested my forehead against his and wiped my fingers under his eyes. “Just be patient with me. I fucked up badly today, and I need time to learn your cues and recognize your needs better. I shouldn’t have just shown up like that.”
He shook his head and closed his eyes as he drew in a deep breath. “You don’t understand the impact you’ve had on me. I feel more alive now than I ever have, and I welcome the moments of discomfort if it means I’m making strides forward with you. For goodness’ sake, you give me memories worth remembering.” When he opened his eyes again, they were clearer and more beautiful than ever. There was a spark of hunger, of determination. “I foolishly thought you’d be another temporary obsession at first, but I could not have been more wrong.”