AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The thought I had earlier returned to me, about making things between us official. Bee was the commitment type. Patrick had been her only other boyfriend. If I told her I wanted to make it official, was I basically asking her to marry me? I thought I’d want to run. But I didn’t. Maybe I was just desperately clinging on to anything I could think of. Maybe I was losing my mind. Or maybe that was what I wanted. A white picket fence, two kids, and a smoking hot wife? That didn’t sound so bad to me. Actually, it sounded kind of perfect. I peeled my eyes away from the dress and looked at her.
She looked embarrassed. No, she looked sad. And it wrenched my gut. I wanted to make her happy. I’d do anything to make her happy.
“How much did this cost?” the woman said and turned to her.
Bee shrugged.
The woman looked back and forth between us. “Oh, I see. Your husband didn’t know you were parting with your dress? That’s very sweet. You should resell this, though, not give it away. You can make a pretty penny.”
Bee didn’t say anything to correct the woman about her assumption between us. “That’s okay, it’s not about the money.”
Husband and wife? Now that someone had said it out loud it didn’t sound nearly as appealing. I wasn’t ready for that. One day maybe. And maybe it would be with Bee. I wasn’t ready yet, though. I couldn’t have kids. And I didn’t want a picket fence. I loved living in New York.
“If that’s what you want.” The woman wrote something down and handed the paper to Bee. “Definitely worth more than the smallest tax credit. Someone will get good use out of this.”
“I hope so.” Bee walked past me and out the door back into the cold.
“She must have looked beautiful in this,” the woman said to me.
“Yeah.” I quickly followed Bee. She was already getting into the truck.
I didn’t say anything as I climbed into the driver’s seat and started it back up. I pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the busy streets of the city.
“I’m sorry about that,” Bee finally said. “I was just trying to get rid of it.”
“It’s okay. I get it.”
She turned toward me. “Mason?”
“Yeah?” For some reason the way she had said my name made my heart beat faster. Had she already found out what I had done?
“I really like you.”
I sighed with relief. “I really like you too.” Instead of following the GPS, I continued going straight. I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
“Kendra’s place is that way,” Bee said.
I ignored her. I felt awful about stealing her idea. But I didn’t feel awful about getting the Sword Body Wash account and jump starting my ad agency. It was hard not to tell her about it. I wanted to share my good news with her. But I couldn’t. Not yet. The least I could do for now was share that success with her.
“Mason?”
“I think you should move in with me,” I blurted out before I could change my mind.
“You want me to move in with you?”
“It feels like you already have.” I smiled at her. “I’m not sure when the last time was that we didn’t fall asleep together.”
“It’s still a big step,” she said.
“It’s one that I want to make with you.”
“I don’t want you to ask me just because I lost my job and you feel sorry for me.”
“I don’t feel sorry for you.” I pulled up in front of my apartment and cut the engine. I reached over and grabbed her hand. “I like falling asleep with you and waking up next to you. I’m asking you because I’m greedy. I can’t get enough of you.” I ran my thumb along her knuckles and over the tan line on her ring finger. She nervously touched that spot all the time. Like there was something there that nothing else could fill. She probably didn’t even realize she was doing it. But it broke my heart a little every time I saw her do it.
I felt guilty about what I had done. But everything else I said was true too. I wanted to fill that spot on her finger. Not with a ring. Not yet, anyway. I wanted to be enough for her. Just me. Because she was enough for me.
She looked up at me. “I can’t get enough of you either.”
