“So am I,” she says softly. “I want to discover everything about you too. I want to make you happy.”
“You already do,” I say right before I lower my mouth on hers again.
Chapter Nineteen
Alice
We leave the park shortly after I finish eating, and I snuggle against him on the way to the car because it’s gotten really windy. Nate seems pleased, draping his arm around me. He’d parked right in front of the shop, which is now closing.
“Hey, can we buy some more to go? I want a second serving tonight. If you behave, I’ll let you have some too.”
Nate flashes me a grin. “Whatever you wish.” He’s a little too excited considering he’s not a fan, but I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
We buy a to-go container filled to the brim. Afterward, Nate and I chitchat with the vendor while he closes the shop, and after he leaves, Nate and I head to the car.
It makes me giddy that Nate brought me here.
It feels a little silly to be so excited about something so small, but my mother’s words from a few years ago come back to me. She said love is in the little day-to-day things. That when she thinks about the love she has for my father, the first things popping in her mind aren’t their wedding, or the proposal, but the way they look after each other each day. The way they share the joys and encourage each other in the difficult moments.
“Why so silent?” Nate asks, snapping me out of my thoughts. We’re in front of the passenger door, but instead of unlocking it, he traps me against the car, his hands on the roof at each side of my head.
“Just enjoying being together.”
Nate tips my head up, sealing his mouth over mine, and I nearly melt in his arms. This kiss feels different than the ones before, though I can’t say why. He threads his fingers through my hair, deepening the kiss, and I figure out what is different.
This feels a lot like love, no matter how much I’m telling myself not to get ahead of myself, not to project things.
“I need you,” he whispers when we pull apart. “Tonight. Every night.”
“I need you too.”
***
The next half hour passes in a blur. I don’t remember when we got in the car, or when we decided to spend the night at his apartment, but even though Nate is speeding through the streets of San Francisco, I still feel like he’s not driving fast enough.
We make a conscious effort not to touch each other until we’re inside the apartment. Once inside, I toe off my shoes, barely managing to place the box on the table in the living roo
m before Nate places one hand on my waist, spinning me around so I’m facing him.
He brushes away a rebel strand of hair that has caught at the corner of my lip. Then he slides his thumb across my upper lip, then my lower lip, pressing gently in the center. I open my mouth a little and he heeds my invitation, sliding his thumb in my mouth. I run my tongue across the tip.
“Jesus, Alice.”
In one swift move, he pulls me flush against him. Splaying my hands on his chest, I swear I can feel his heart hammering against his ribcage, just as I can feel how hard he is for me already. He tips his head down, kissing me deeply, the kind of kiss that wipes away every thought, filling every cell with warmth and love, and hunger for more. When we finally come up for air, we’re both gasping.
“You have too many clothes on, Alice.” His lips part in a grin.
“Then start taking them off.”
Without another word, he proceeds to rid me of them, first my shirt, then my pants and shoes. I do the same with his clothes, pure need and desperation driving our hands.
“This is not very gentlemanly of you,” I tease. “I was going to have some more ice cream first.”
Tilting his head to one side, he studies me, and I can practically see the wheels spinning in his brain. Uh-oh. I might have woken a monster.
Without taking his eyes off me, he removes the lid of the cup.
“Here you go.” The challenge in his tone matches the heat in his gaze, and their combined force has my skin buzzing with awareness everywhere.