Thirty seconds later, I see her through the glass door, coming through the small lobby, a wild smile on her face.
She lets me in, and I lift her in my arms, kiss her gorgeous mouth, and say what I should have said yesterday morning. “Screw adulting. I’m in love with you.”
32
Crosby
Nadia wraps around me like a koala, her legs around my hips, her ankles hooking over each other behind my back, her arms around my neck.
I couldn’t be happier to have her go all marsupial on me.
Still, I tip her back so I can look her over. She’s absolutely adorable in a peach hoodie, jeans, and Converse sneakers.
“Were you going to catch a Lyft or something?”
She nods, laughing and smiling. “Told you I was going to see you. And yes, I better cancel the Lyft. But first I just want to say, adulting sucks.” She drops a kiss onto my lips. “And I am stupid in love with you. I don’t care about timing or how things are supposed to happen. I don’t care about dating in a certain way or certain order.”
The beautiful admission spills out of her in a fantastic rush.
A rush that makes my heart thunder, and my happiness meter redlines, going off the charts. “You’re taking the words right out of my mouth, sweetheart. I don’t care either. I was so caught up in my old mistakes that I didn’t realize till tonight that leaving things between us as just friends would’ve been the biggest mistake of all.”
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she says, roping her arms even tighter around my neck. “I was going after you to tell you that too, because I’d be a fool to let you go without saying how I feel.”
“Let’s not be fools,” I say softly.
She kisses the corner of my lips. “Let’s not.” She pulls back, a brow arching. “But I should cancel the Lyft.”
I set her down, she grabs her phone from her back pocket, and a few taps later, she proclaims, “Done!” and slams her body against mine, snuggling up against me. Holy hell, I love this woman’s affection. I love how she wants to get close.
“Do that again,” I murmur.
“I want to do everything with you.” She presses harder against me, then gazes up at me, her tone going all vulnerable and thoroughly sweet. “This is what I realized this weekend—I wanted a relationship like Eric and Mariana have, or Brooke and David, or my mom and dad. I thought we needed to do it that way. How they did.” She pauses, takes a breath, and smiles once more. “But you and me, we can do things our own way.”
“We sure can, sweetheart,” I say, buzzing with possibility as I brush another kiss to her lips, savoring the moment, the contact, the connection. “We can do everything our way. And I just hope you’ll forgive me for being so stupid yesterday,” I say, sliding my hands up her back, never wanting to stop touching her.
“There’s nothing to forgive. I agreed to be all adult about it too. What a ridiculous idea,” she says with the most adorable eye roll.
I laugh. “So ridiculous.”
My right hand slides into her hair. “God, I love your hair. It’s so soft and fantastic, and I just want to touch it and touch you and kiss you and taste you and make love to you.”
“Well, you went pretty quickly from ‘so ridiculous’ to wanting to bang me,” she says, a little saucy. Or maybe a lot.
“That’s the thing, Nadia,” I say, squeezing her hips. “I want everything with you. I want all the things. And I can’t believe I thought we had to stop. But I hope you know the reason was that I love you so damn much. So much that I was terrified of messing this up.” I watch her, making sure she knows that, though we can have fun anytime, I’m dead serious now. “I let you go because I wanted to ensure we could have something someday. I didn’t want to risk messing up the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” I lift a hand, stroking her cheek. “You’re the best thing, and you have been happening to me for years.”
This is the truth I’ve learned in the last week with her. I was drawn to bad girls, but only because I’d been missing a piece of my heart for the longest time.
I’d surrendered it when this gorgeous woman went to prom with another man. When I felt the first inkling of jealousy over the mere possibility of something.
Ever since, I’ve been looking for that something in all the wrong places. But ever since Nadia gazed at me with those wide, vulnerable eyes, I’ve known that she’s the lost treasure I’ve been searching for.
“It’s been years for me too.” She cups my face, sliding her thumb along my jaw. In those brown irises, I see my long search reflected back at me, all my hopes echoed. “It hit me at the rehearsal dinner—I’ve had a big crush on you for a long, long time.” She sounds giddy with happiness. Her eyes glisten with it.
I lift my thumb, swiping away the hint of a tear. “Don’t cry, sweetheart.”
“It’s because I’m happy. Because this is crazy and amazing and wonderful. That’s what I realized at the dinner—how much I care for you, how much I feel for you. And I’ve kept realizing it over and over again. But it’s not teenage you. It’s who you are now, the man I’ve come to know in the last week. It’s the way you talk to me and laugh with me and tease me and take care of me. It’s the way you touch me and hold me and want me. It’s the way you understand me.”
I beam from deep within. “I love everything about you, Nadia. And I’ve loved getting to know the woman you are
