Page 65 of Love Unspoken

"Because you make me want to be someone you trust."

Someone you can fall in love with.

Whoa!! What the fuck?

TWENTY-THREE

NAYA

Christmas Day dawned with a hush over Boston, a blanket of snow lending an almost magical stillness to the world outside my window.

Amias didn't stay the night, but he came back the next morning with scones and coffee. He kissed me as soon as he saw me, one of those "hi, baby, how are you," good morning kisses that no one ever had given me. It was casual. I was completely confused, and Amias knew it.

"I told you I was coming back in the morning." He found plates and set them on my dining table, getting pretty comfortable in my house after one evening spent here.

I sat at the table and broke up a chocolate scone. "I…wasn't sure."

He left after we had cake, saying, "Baby, if I stay, I'll want inside you, and you're not ready for that. So, I'm going to go home and take a cold shower."

Yeah, because I was so freaking hot he needed to cool down.

I call bullshit on that!

Darren texted me in the morning to ask how it went, and I told him I was still unvirginally his. He replied with an eggplant emoji.

"Wear something warm," Amias instructed after I was done with my scone. I was in black drawstring pants and a black T-shirt. I'd tied my hair in a messy bun and didn't have a lick of makeup on. I was certain someone like Ann would never let a man see her in her just-got-out-of-bed look. I was obviously not Ann. That didn't mean I didn't feel conscious as he sat there in jeans and a cashmere sweater, looking like he walked out of a GQ Magazine cover.

"Why?"

"Because I say so."

"You know I'm not a child, right?"

He grinned and dropped a kiss on my nose. "Stop being confrontational. Get ready. We have plans for the day."

"Can you tell me about the plans?"

"No. Dress warm. Wear boots."

I looked at his footwear, and wouldn't you have it, he had Timberlands on.

I took a quick shower but didn't wash my hair. I didn't have time for the drying and styling. Instead, I tied it into a ponytail and decided it would be fine because if I was dressing warm, I was probably wearing my woolen hat and it wouldn't matter what kind of hair day I was having.

Boots were tricky for me, and I tended to wear my knee-high ones when I wore a dress, which was rare. I didn't like to wear tight jeans because they made my skin itch, though I always thought that skintight jeans with knee-high boots were sexy.

I called Darren. "He wants me to dress warm?"

Darren blew his nose, his voice sounding less and less like he was dying. "Where's he taking you?"

"I don't know. He's in jeans, a sweater and boots."

"Okay, let me think about it."

After a long moment, I called out his name loudly. "Did you fall asleep on me?"

"Maybe. Ah…you should wear something warm."

"Sleep, Darren."