She leans against the doorway with a smile. “A little birdie told me.”
“Chase!”
“He overheard you talking on the phone with your friend and thought I deserved a heads up,” she explains.
I let out a breath. “Yeah, sorry. I was apparently having a moment. Look, I just came here because I said something earlier and I don’t want you thinking—”
“Dylan, let me stop you right there. I’m glad we talked earlier, and there was nothing you said that threw me off. Well, except for that thing about me terrifying you.”
Groaning, I lower my head. “I knew it.”
Velyn’s hand comes to my chin, lifting it so that we’re now eye to eye. “The only reason it threw me off was that it’s the same thing I was thinking about you.” Her hand drops to her side, but our eyes remain connected. “Dylan, there’s something between us. I don’t know how to explain it, but when I’m near you…angry, happy or just talking, I feel like—”
“Everything’s really okay,” I finish.
She nods. “Exactly, but how—”
“Because it’s the same feeling I have right now standing here with you.” I lower my head shaking it. “Shit, Velyn, I shouldn’t have come here.”
I start to walk away again, but she grabs my hand pulling me back.
“Dylan, look at me.” When I look up to her, the only thing I notice is the calmness in her eyes. She steps closer to me, our bodies touching with each breath we take. “Dylan, I want you to kiss me.”
My lips lower, softly brushing with hers. “I want to kiss you.”
“Then what are you still waiting for?”
With no more hesitation. No more doubt about what we feel. No more fighting our desire for one another…our lips connect in a deep soft kiss—our first kiss. The only real kiss I can say I’ve ever felt anything like this. After this, there’s no way that either of us is turning back.
We’re done—I’m done
“Wakey, wakey!”
Velyn wouldn’t let me drive home without some rest. So, when she wakes me at four-thirty in the morning out of a dead sleep, I’m a little thrown off but quickly adjust when I see her bright-eyed face over the top of mine.
“How is it you’re so lively this early in the morning?”
With her voice in a whisper, she replies, “I’m used to it. Now, up and at ‘em. I have to be at work for five. And as much as I’m okay with leaving you here in blissful slumber, I don’t think my father would appreciate waking up to a strange man on his couch.”
I take hold of her waist, pulling her down on top of me. “That wouldn’t have been an issue if you just let me sleep in bed with you.”
“Yeah, not a chance, Casanova. We both agreed that we’re not sure what this is and that neither of us knows what it is we want right now. So, Mr. Dandridge, that means you get to sleep on the couch.”
I let out a soft groan. “But kissing is okay?”
She smiles. “Well, I’m not a nun.”
I wrap my arms tightly around her body and bring my lips up to meet hers. The kiss is soft and innocently sweet. I’m not used to soft and sweet, but her kisses…they’re perfect.
“What happens after we leave here?” I ask.
She pulls out of my arms and sits up, so I pull myself up as well. “Like we said, neither of us knows what we want. I think it’s best for right now that we just go on as nothing has changed.”
I bring my hand up to her face tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “It’s funny for the longest time that’s all I ever wanted in my life. No commitment. No strings. But hearing it from you, I don’t know, it just sounds wrong.”
“What are you saying, Dylan?”
I shrug. “Would it really be a bad thing…a commitment that is?”
“I don’t know. But what I do know is that at this point in my life, I can’t add anything more to my plate. Dylan, I just don’t have the time to give a relationship the kind of attention it would need.”
I scan over her face and see it’s eating away at her. “You’re right, and it’s true that neither of us has the time...right now. Maybe one day, but for now, we focus on ourselves. So, friends it is then?”
She gives me a smile shooting out her hand. “Friends it is.”
I want to kiss her lips, not just shake her hand. But, to keep Velyn in my life, this is the compromise I have to make—for now!
I follow Velyn to the diner to give myself peace of mind that she got there okay. Once she’s inside, I make the twenty-minute drive back to my place. Walking through the front door, it’s quiet, not that I was expecting different. However, what I didn’t expect was when walking to my bedroom that my father’s office light would be on.
I don’t knock; just lean in and listen closely, but all I hear is the faint murmur of my father’s voice talking to someone on the phone. He’s angry that’s as much as I can get, but that’s not unusual. It would shock me more if he were to show any kind of happiness or excitement.
I make my way to my room, not caring to have a one on one with dear Dad right now. I slip in and close the door quietly behind me.
“Dyl, is that you?”
“Chase?” I turn on the bedroom light to find my brother lying in my
