Page 101 of Letting Go at 40

However, maybe she needs to hear it from me.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” There’s an undertone of mockery in my question until a sweet flush rushes up Anna’s skin. Her lids coyishly lower and she licks her lips.

My gut reaction says: I made her blush.

The palpitations in my heart say: I made her blush.

Anna did need to hear from me what I wanted and what she means to me.

Slowly, she stands and closes the distance between us. She steps between my knees and takes the glass from my hands, towering over me just a moment before slipping herself into the space between the low table and the couch before me.

With her hands on my chest, and her on her knees, she looks up at me, eyes wide and hopeful.

“Yes. I’d like to be considered your girlfriend.”

Titling my head, I need clarification. “Are you a secret girlfriend?”

Anna lightly chuckles. “I think that cat is out of the bag, so to speak. I don’t think I’ll be running around telling everyone I have a boyfriend, but the kids know we are involved with each other.”

“And how did that go over?” I already witnessed Mila’s reaction.

“The boys approve. Mila will get there. She’s twelve.” Anna shakes her head, dismissive, like the age explains it all.

“I’m not going to survive Lynlee as a teenager.”

“Yes, you will,” Anna assures me, fingers toying with my shirt.

Will she still be my girlfriend in seven years when Lynlee hits her teens?

It isn’t a question I ask because Anna’s fingers are unbuttoning the bottom buttons of my shirt. Then she’s pressing the material upward and lowering her head to press kisses to my abdomen. The muscles jump and flinch at the caress of her lips and soft suction from her mouth. Her tongue drags along my waistline while her fingers work at my belt.

“Anna.” I comb through her hair. “What are you doing?”

“Now that I’m your girlfriend, I think we should take our relationship to a new level.”

“Are we skipping some steps?” Are we hopping from make-out sessions to marriage?

“I was just thinking we could round a few bases.”

With her long lap along my abs, my dick leaps in my pants. Who is this seductress and where has she come from?

With my belt unbuckled and my pants unzipped, Anna reaches for the waistband of my jeans, but I scoop forward and capture her lips. The kiss is hungry and needy. Sweeping into her mouth with my tongue, we tangle with apology and anticipation.

Anna is my girlfriend.

I don’t even know what that means. Nothing will be different from what it’s been, but still, there’s a shift in her. In us.

Sliding my hands to her ass, I tug her upward and she’s working on straddling me when I stand. She squeaks as her hands grip my shoulders and her legs wrap around my waist.

“What are you doing?” she chuckles before I press a quick kiss to her lips.

“Lynlee’s in the next room. Let’s take this to my room.”

“Okay.” There’s a shakiness to her voice, in her acceptance.

I’m still not having sex with her. Not with apologies lingering and a new label between us. But there are other things I want to do to her and tonight we need some make-up time.

Once we enter my bedroom, I sit on the edge of the bed with Anna straddling over me. Our mouths connect, desperate and eager for more. When I slide my hands up Anna’s sides, she pulls back and slips off my lap.