| |
“THIS IS WHERE YOU LIVE?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s nice.”
“You seem surprised by that.” I didn’t live in the same ritzy neighborhood as Mabel, but I didn’t live in Lincoln Ruins. It was a two-story house with three bedrooms and two baths. I had moved in two months after Mason was born, and it was where I called home.
She looked over at me. “I’m not. I guess I just didn’t...” She bit her lip and looked down at her feet.
I laughed and grabbed her hand. “You didn’t realize tattooing made me money.”
“What? No!” she gasped.
“You didn’t realize it made me good money.”
She cringed. “Maybe?”
“I’m one of the best tattoo artists in the city, Stella. People pay me good money to draw on them and inflict pain for hours on end.”
“Well, color me surprised. I had no idea you were that amazing at your job.”
I pulled her to the front door and beeped the locks on the Charger. “If you’d let me have a crack at that virgin skin of yours you would see just how amazing I am.”
“I’ve thought about it before, but I’m kind of a wimp.”
“Doubtful.” I unlocked the front door and pulled her inside. “I’ll get you in my chair one day.”
“Doubtful,” she mimicked.
I flipped on the living room lights and dropped my coat on the bench by the front door. “Drop your stuff here and make yourself at home. I’m gonna grab a beer. You want something?”
She unzipped her coat and shrugged it off. “Water?”
“Coming right up.”
We had eaten dinner at a small Italian place, and we were both stuffed full of breadsticks and lasagna. On the way home, we had put the phone on speaker and talked to Mason before Mabel and Imogen tried to put him to bed. From the sounds of the fun they were having, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
“I love this picture of you and Mason,” Stella called.
“Which one?” I grabbed a glass from the cabinet, filled it, then grabbed a beer for me. I walked into the living room to see Stella standing in front of the fireplace mantel where there were pictures of Mason, and a couple of me with him.
“Where you have your arms around him.”
I stood beside her and handed her the glass. “Would you believe that not even two minutes before I took that picture, he was crying his eyes out because I wouldn’t let him eat grass?”
Stella laughed.
“Daddin’ ain’t easy, Babe.”
“Oh, trust me, I know. Babysittin’ ain’t easy either. Mason is a downright prince most of the time, but he definitely has his moments where he sits in his playpen and cries it out. I’ve also had the no eating grass talk with him. He’s not ready to listen yet, I see though.”
“He’ll get it eventually. You’re hard to resist, Babe.”
She glanced over at me. “I think you might be full of crap, Tor.”
I grabbed the glass of water she hadn’t even touched yet and set it on the mantle. “Not a fan of you telling me what I feel is crap.” I set my beer next to it, then wrapped her in my arms.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m gonna silence all your doubts, all the bullshit in your head, and anything anyone has ever said to you about not being good enough for me.”’
“Tor, I th-.”
She didn’t need to say anything more. Everything she was about to say was just going to be crap. I pressed my lips to hers and felt her instantly relax under my touch. My hand left her waist, tugged up her shirt, and felt the heat of her smooth skin beneath my fingers.
“Tor,” she sighed. “Maybe we’re moving too fast.”
“I plan to move so fast you get dizzy, Stella.” I caught her lips in another kiss and she didn’t resist me at all. She wanted this as much as I did, but she was too scared to jump. “Let go, Babe,” I whispered against her lips. “I’m here to catch you.”
“But what if... what if this doesn’t work?” She opened her eyes, and I could see all of her fears shining back at me.
“It’s gonna work, Stella. It’s gonna work because I see how hard and deep you love. The love you have for Mason, the endless hours of studying and school you do to get yourself and Mom out of Lincoln Ruins, the fact that even though Lexi was just a straight up bitch to you and you still somehow managed to love her tells me that you are way too good of a person for me, but if you think you wanna be with me I’m not going to say no. Mason needs you in his life. I need you in my life.”
“None of what you said is amazing, Tor. Those are things anyone would do.”
I shook my head. “Lexi didn’t do those things. The one person who should, didn’t. You’re the best thing that happened to Mason and me, and I’m not letting you go. You’re stuck with us.”
“I think you’re completely wrong about me.” She bit her lip and sighed. “But I’m not going to tell you to go away because I’ve been in love with you since the day you walked into my house and said hey my name is Tor.”
“It was a miracle I even remembered my name. You were so beautiful I was speechless for a second.”
“I know that feeling,” she mumbled.
I pressed my hand to her back and pulled her close. “I also have a little bit of good news.”
“Oh yeah?”
“My work schedule is changing.”
She furrowed her brow. “How is that good news?”
“Because that means you can still take your internship, and also watch Mason. I gotta work a little later some nights, but if it means you get to do this internship it’s worth it.”
Her jaw dropped. “Tor, you didn’t need to do that. I was going to find a different one.”
I shook my head. “You’re not going to settle, Babe. This is the internship you want, and this is the one you’re going to have.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered. “I can’t believe you did that for me.”
“Believe it, Babe. I’ll do a whole hell of a lot more than just move my work schedule around for you.”
She laid her head on my shoulder and sighed. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to pay you back for being so good to me.”
“I can think of a few ways you can,” I rumbled lowly. “You think we can stop all of this talking, and just be together right now?”
She giggled and nodded her head. “I guess we can give it a try.”
“I’ll take it.”
*
