The server arrived and Flea ordered his usual Kung Pao sothing, then fried rice. I shuddered. Rice. Gross. No. Ever since I watched the Lost Boys when I was thirteen, I haven’t been able to eat rice.
"Grace?"
"Hm?"
"You orderin’ sothing different?" Flea asked.
I smiled at the server. "Beef broccoli and chicken lo in, please."
"Shocker," Flea said under his breath and I ignored him.
The young man took our nus and left the table and I made an all-out effort to ignore Flea. Hard to do when he was virtually close enough to sll... and oh, god, I wanted to sniff him hard.
"You freakin’?" he asked, leaning forward and tapping my arm.
I sighed. "So hard."
He grinned. "You okay with pickin’ you up from class tomorrow night so we can talk?"
I raised an eyebrow, finally taking a second to look at him... you know, directly into the sun. I shivered. If I wasn’t careful, I’d get burned. "I don’t know."
"Why don’t you know?"
"Um, hello, freaking... so hard."
He dropped his head back and laughed. "Fuck, you’re gorgeous."
"Not helping freak out any less."
"Okay, baby. We’ll shelve it while we eat."
"That would be appreciated."
As promised, he guided the conversation to anything other than discussing feelings, and I started to relax. Not surprising. I was always relaxed around Flea. He made feel safe.
We finished our food, Flea paid, then he led out of the restaurant and pulled around the corner between our two buildings.
"What are you doing?" I demanded.
"Need to kiss you, Grace. You gotta problem with that?"
I licked my lips, shaking my head. "Not in theory."
He chuckled. "What does that an?"
I sighed, gripping his cut. "I want to kiss you, too, but I feel like doing that will move us to a new place and I don’t think I’m ready to lose our current place. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah, baby, I get it. And I don’t give a fuck."
"Well, I do," I countered. "I give a lot of fucks. I couldn’t handle losing you as my friend."
"Baby, you’re not gonna lose ."
"How can you say that? You don’t know everything."
"About what?"
"My life," I whispered. "My mom was crazy. It’s hereditary."
He stared at like I was an alien... or crazy. I released his cut and tried to move around him, but his arm snaked around my waist and he pulled close again.
"Grace. We’re not done."
"I am."
He grinned down at . "Right now, I’m gonna kiss you. Tomorrow we’re gonna talk."
"You’re going to kiss and then I have to think about our conversation for more than twenty-four hours?" I hissed. "That’s insanity."
Before I could say anything else, his lips landed on mine and I fisted my hands in his shirt, leaning into him and opening my mouth to deepen the kiss.
Ohmigod. I could drown in him if I wasn’t careful.
I broke the kiss and dropped my head to his chest. "No. Huh-uh. Nope."
His hand slid to my neck and he kissed the top of my head. "Yeah."
I shook my head and he chuckled.
"Baby, you need to lean in. This is happening."
"Nope."
He cupped my face, removing it from his chest and raising my chin. "You think after that kiss I’m gonna let you hide or run away?"
"Is that an option?" I t his eyes. "It’d be good if it was."
He grinned. "No way in hell."
I bit my lip. "I didn’t think so."
"It’s gonna be okay, Grace."
"I wish I believed you."
"Biggest fear," he said. "Let’s address that now. The rest we can work on as it cos."
"My mom was crazy. Literally."
"And you’re afraid you’re the sa."
I nodded.
"You been seen by a doctor?"
I nodded again.
"And?"
"I’m all-clear," I whispered.
"Why don’t you believe that, then?"
"I don’t know," I admitted.
He smiled gently. "You’re not ntally ill, honey. I’m confident of that."
"Not now," I said. "What if that changes?"
He stroked my cheek. "Quit borrowin’ trouble, Grace. Worry about now. Don’t rob the joy by worryin’ about what might happen. Shit, one of us could get hit by a bus tomorrow."
I gasped. "Don’t say that! Don’t put that out into the universe."
"Baby, neither of us is gonna get hit by a bus."
I rapped my knuckles on his forehead.
He rubbed his head. "Ow, what the fuck was that for?"
"I was knocking on wood."
He raised an eyebrow, then burst out laughing. "God damn, Grace, you’re fuckin’ hilarious."
Before I could scoff, his lips were on mine again and I was once again distracted by his tongue and what it was currently doing to my mouth. God, I liked it. I liked it a lot.
This ti, he broke the kiss and dropped his forehead to mine. "Not givin’ you up, Grace. We’ll talk more about what that looks like tomorrow, but I want this."
I squeezed my eyes shut. "I’m willing to talk."
"Look at when you tell that."
I wrinkled my nose, slowly opening my eyes. "You’re kind of bossy, did you know that?"
He grinned. "Little bit."
I rolled my eyes. "We’ll talk tomorrow. But I want chocolate and wine, and I want to be in my fat pants when we do it."
"I’ll make that happen."
"That’d be good."
He kissed once more, then we headed back into the shop.
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