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As we stood, he told me, “I love you, Chapel.”
I’d never doubt that. I just… wished he treated my mother in a way that showed how much he loved her too.
20
One Week Later
Instead of going hometo Memphis for the weekend, I stayed in Rose Valley Hills. The strangest thing happened yesterday. Jeremiah stopped by, with flowers, and asked to spend today with me. I didn’t think much of it until I’d finished showering and doing my skincare routine. Now, as I prepared to get dressed, I wondered if this was a date. I had no idea what we were doing, so I didn’t know how to dress. To be safe, I left my closet to call him and see if he’d tell me what he had up his sleeve.
“Yes, Chapel.”
I doubt if Jeremiah intended for his words to sound as seductive as they did, but at the sound of them, I wished he was saying that while he was inside of me.
“Um, hi. What exactly are we doing tonight? Is this a date?”
A few seconds passed before he chuckled. “It’s a pre-date, I guess you can say. I want to talk to you about some things so I can plan the perfect date and discuss our next steps, if that’s okay with you.”
Blushing, I hiked my shoulders as those fireflies fluttered in my stomach, trying their hardest to get to the man responsible for them.
“That sounds nice, so dinner tonight?”
“Yes, and dancing if you’d like.”
“Dancing, dancing, or going down to the country to line dance with your people?”
His laughter made me smile. “Whichever you’d prefer. I haven’t done any stomping in a while and you know I’m always down for that, but we can go to that club on Perkins or JD’s if you’d like to.”
Decisions, decisions. Jerry looked good enough to eat line dancing and trail riding. Trail riding and stomping. I never thought something as simple as dancing in dirt would ever be sexy and appealing to me, but it was. Maybe it was because it was him in raw form—shirtless, probably a little high or tipsy—enjoying himself and feeling light. Then again, if we went to the dance club tonight, I’d have him in my arms.
“I want us to actually have fun, so we can go down to the coun—”
“Ayyee, I’m heading to pick you up now.”
All I could do was laugh as I disconnected the call. Even though the plan was for him to pick my brain to put a good date night together for us for the future, I knew my buddy would want to spend the evening truly enjoying himself, and there was nothing better for a man like Jeremiah than some good music, moonshine, and movement.
I put my phone on the charger, then returned to my closet to get ready. With a clearer idea of what the night would have in store, I decided on light-wash ripped shorts, cowboy boots, and a white baby tee that I’d cover with a flannel shirt if it got cool. Jewelry was needed regardless of the attire, so I put on a herringbone chain and wrist and ankle bracelet before grabbing the brown leather cowboy hat that matched my boots from the top of my closet.
Only a few minutes passed before Jeremiah was ringing my doorbell. As soon as I let him in, I grinned. We’d unintentionally matched and he looked so handsome I couldn’t keep my hands to myself. After a long, warm hug, I locked up, and we headed out.
We made small talk as we headed toward the beach. I got even more excited when he told me we’d be having dinner at The View. Outside of their perfect view of the beach, they had the best sushi and tacos in town.
There was a short wait, so instead of sitting, Jerry and I stood so we’d be able to see when the busser was done wiping off our table. His arms wrapped around me as he said, “You always look amazing, but there’s something about you dressing down that’s so sexy to me.”
“Jeremiah,” I cooed, curving my frame as he kissed my neck. “We’re at the stage where we do PDA now?”
“Apparently so,” he agreed before kissing my ear.
We hadn’t really talked much aboutussince the night we made love. So far, whatever this unspoken thing was that was happening between us was fun. It felt like our usual vibe with more kissing and touching divided between the two of us. Jeremiah taking the time to have a pre-date let me know he did plan for things to progress between us, but I was grateful for his patience and the fact that we were on the same page about not getting into a relationship any time soon.
I still had some work to do on myself before I committed to anyone else. There was also a part of me that was unsure about taking things to the next level with Jeremiah. I didn’t think he was capable of doing something to hurt me, but I’d thought the same thing about Nova too. And even if he didn’t cheat, there were other reasons a relationship didn’t work. I’d meant it when I said I didn’t want to ruin what we had. Nova was a loss I could get over with time, but Jeremiah? Losing him would permanently shatter me. He wasn’t just my friend, he was a part of literally every part of me, every part of my life, and now that we’d had sex… that only pulled us closer to one another.
There was also the fact that Jeremiah and Nova were once best friends. Hell, we all were. Would I be breaking some kind of code if I dated Jeremiah?
It was too much to even think about.
“Hey,” Jeremiah called, turning me in his arms. “Where’d you go?”
I was about to ask what he was referring to, but then I noticed my hand was around my neck—my telltale sign of holding something in.
