Three days after making out and miraculously not taking things further than that, I’m taking Alex out for our rescheduled tour of the city sights.
That’s if I can stop thinking of all the reasons why I shouldn’t get out of my bed where she’s currently plastered to my side, having crawled in next to me after finishing work and falling asleep in my arms.
I love how she’s so giving and open with her affection. It shouldn’t surprise me because that’s just who she is—an honest, what-you-see-is-what-you-get woman who wears her heart on her sleeve. She cares fiercely, she feels deeply, and she’s given me the jolt I needed to see that sometimes the thing you want—the one you want—can come into your life when you’re not looking.
And since we now clearly know that we’re interested in each other, what I want more than anything is to explore this undeniable chemistry between us in my bed, but I’ve promised my girl a date today, and if she’s up to it, that’s what we’re going to do.
Afterward, though? That’s when we’ll have time for more. But I’m a man of my word, even if I have to keep repeating that like a mantra so that I can get the strength to extricate myself from her warm embrace.
“Mmm, this is so much better than sleeping alone in a firehouse bunk,” she murmurs, shifting her hand up to rub against my bare chest. So not helping.
“It’s definitely nice to have my sexy roommate crawl into my bed with me.”
She lifts her head and licks her lips as her eyes roam over my face before she rolls over, laying her body flat out in front of me. Never have I been both grateful and resentful of the fact she’s wearing a T-shirt and underwear. “You know what else would be nice . . .”
I reach up and run my fingers through her hair, framing her face in my hands and bringing her down for a quick touch of a kiss. “Don’t tempt me, because I’m determined, but I’m not strong enough to resist the charms of my—” I stop midsentence.
“Roommate, girl, girl . . . friend?” Alex’s eyes flash with amusement, her lips tipping up into a knowing smirk. “Plant mom?” she suggests, not even trying to hide the fact she’s enjoying my unease.
I narrow my eyes at her. “Doesn’t seem like enough, does it?” I flex my grip and kiss her again, a little harder and for a little longer this time, just enough for her to melt into me before I gently pull her back.
“Brothers’ workmate,” she says, pretending that she’s thinking hard about it. Two can play that game, baby.
“My woman.”
“Me, woman. You, man.” She arches a brow, the look far too sexy for her own good. Shaking her head, she dips down to rub her nose along mine before bringing our lips back together and resting them there. “The word I think you’re looking for, Gio Rossi, is girl . . . friend . . . unless that’s not what this is. Then we’ll have to seriously discuss a co-plant-parenting agreement.”
I drag my arms down over her shoulders and under the covers, coming to rest when I cup her ass cheeks and hold her hard against me and my morning wood. “Girlfriend then?” I stare deep into her eyes, loving the way they soften and warm.
“You sure about that? I mean . . . we haven’t even had sex yet,” she says, her body shaking as a giggle bubbles out of her. God, that feels damn good. I shake my head. Never a dull moment with this one.
Sliding my hands across her skin, I bring them back to frame her face. “Baby, are you my girlfriend?”
“If I’m gonna be your girlfriend then you’d better kiss me to seal the deal. Especially since you won’t fu—”
I shut her up with a kiss, feeling her smile against my lips. Planting a foot on the mattress, I push up and flip her over, covering her body with mine and kissing her deeper, pouring everything into it until I have to pull away because I know I won’t be able to stop if I keep going.
Lifting my head, I take in her dazed, blissed-out expression, her lips swollen and pink, her eyes closed, her breathing labored. Her lids flutter open, and she glances up at me with a lazy grin.
“Will you let me take you on our date now, girlfriend?” I ask, quirking a brow.
She nods then laces her hands behind my head and pulls me back down. “After you kiss me again.”
“So,” Alex says around her last mouthful of her Portillo’s Italian beef sandwich with extra gravy. “Whttz nuxt?”
I side-eye her. “I’m sorry, I missed that. Where’re my nuts?”
She snorts, food flying out of her mouth as she splutters and starts to choke and cough.
“Shit,” I mutter, moving us out of the pedestrian traffic to the edge of the sidewalk and rubbing her back. “Sorry.”
“Why? That was actually quite a good comeback for you. I’m impressed.”
My mouth drops open, and she pokes her tongue out.
“Serves ya right for making me choke.”
I waggle my brows, which just makes her laugh again.
“And I was told you were the straight-laced, only-sees-black-and-white Rossi. I’m starting to think there’s this naughty . . .” She hooks a finger in my belt loop and starts reeling me in. “. . . cheeky . . .” She leans back on the stone wall behind her, still pulling me closer. “. . . dirty, dirty man hidden under all that rule-following exterior.”
When my front meets hers, she whimpers, and I feel it all the way down to my dick. Totally not the time or place to sport a boner.
“You’re distracting me from my tour . . .” she says.
“Tour?” I murmur, peppering her jaw with kisses. “What tour?”
She laughs and shakes her head, gently pressing me away from her. “Nope. Damn. That teasing totally backfired on me, didn’t it?”
“Yep.” It’s two in the afternoon and we’ve been to the Art Institute, then to take the obligatory selfie at The Bean before another selfie outside the Chicago Theater sign—Alex told me it was her Mom’s favorite place in Chicago—then to Portillo’s for lunch, and now we’re heading toward Michigan Ave and the Magnificent Mile.
“You ready to go window shop at all the highbrow stores?” I ask her.
“Yep,” she says, beaming as she looks up at me.
“Want to give your boyfriend a kiss before you do that?”
She pretends to think about it so I kiss her anyway, only stopping when she’s gripping my shirt and sagging against me. “You know too many tricks that work on me, plant daddy.”
“And hopefully, by the end of the day, I’ll have a few more to add to my plant momma arsenal.” I step back and wink at her, taking her rubbish out of her hands and dropping it in the nearby trash bin. I chuckle under my breath at her narrowed eyes before I grab her hand. “C’mon, we have a date with stores we cannot afford to shop at on our civil servant salaries.”
“There is one place I really want to go, but I think I’ll have to come back one day and do it myself.”
I frown. “What? Why? We can go there today.”
She looks away, her teeth digging into her lip.
“C’mon, tell me.”
“Skydeck in Willis.”
“Tower?”
“Yeah. But it’s okay. I know you don’t like heights and—”
“Okay.”
Her whole body jerks. “Really?”
“Sure,” I say with a shrug. “Why not?”
“Um . . . ’cause you don’t like heights.”
“Not sure I can fall out of an enclosed building, baby.”
“But—”
I cup her shoulders and dip my head so I’m looking her straight in the eye. “You want to go up there, Alex?”
“I do.”
“Then we will. Just hold my hand and don’t let me freak out.”
“Gio, we don’t have to.”
“I know. But my girlfriend’s a firefighter. And I’m not sure if you know this, but she’s a badass. She wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”
Her blue eyes soften. “Nope. ’Cause a little birdie told me she has plans for her boyfriend when they get home.”
I give her a quick kiss. “I have plans for her too. Lots and lots of plans that require a lot of energy . . .”
“Well,” she replies, her voice a little breathy, “we better get up that building then so we can get onto these plans.” She kisses me this time, and it’s not a quick touch of the lips. It’s a hard, deep, definitely PG plunder that is over far too soon for my body’s liking.
When she pulls away and loops an arm in mine, she grins up at me, looking proud as punch. “Lead the way, boyfriend. Buildings to scale, views to see.” She looks me up and down. “And plans to carry out.”
Oh, yeah. I’d do pretty much anything to get on to those plans.
Even go 1353 feet in the air to see Lake Michigan and the city I was born and raised in.