Chapter 11 #2
“If talking about him makes you happy, why would I have an issue with it? Happiness is important, and we should get it when and where we can.”
I’m discovering I like his motto.
I flip onto my stomach and set the cell phone on my pillow. My hair falls around my face, and my tank top gapes, showing cleavage. Bobby’s gaze doesn’t drop below my mouth.
My chest aches in a good way. He is a gentleman compared to the college guys who hit on me at parties. Their eyes go to my chest and stay there.
“Beautiful?”
“Hmm?” My voice comes out dreamy.
“I don’t give two fucks that we met four hours ago. Being around you, it’s like I’ve known you since I was born.”
“I’d still be in heaven, you know?”
He chuckles. “Does my age bother you?”
“Seven years isn’t bad. My best friend was ten years older.
” I’m sharing a small piece of Carlos that isn’t super personal, but it feels good to talk about him without raising suspicion or getting a blank or curious stare if I were to bring up Carlos’s name to my friends.
I didn’t talk about him other than to share that he was the owner of the nightclub I loved dancing at.
“Does my age bother you?” I ask.
“If it did, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”
He has a point.
“Wouldn’t you be embarrassed to tell people your girlfriend is in college? I mean, not that I’m yours,” I backtrack.
He smiles. “Nah. I’d be puffing my chest out like a rooster in the hen house.”
“Really?” I shift onto my side, take the phone with me, and set it on a fluffed-up pillow close to my head.
“You’re smart, sweetness, and come next year, you’ll have a college degree that’ll be used to make a difference in people’s lives.
You’ll get them out of their isolation and experiencing life again.
Who wouldn’t be proud of your accomplishments?
If they aren’t, they’re not worth having in your life. ”
I tear up. Carlos said something similar. “I really wish you were here.”
“Me too, Ever. Even with the threat of getting pummeled by your shadow.”
“He’s not here,” I admit.
“And here I am all alone.” He threads his fingers through his hair and blows out a breath, looking older than earlier, but still sexy as ever. I have a feeling Bobby will age like fine wine.
“I should’ve stayed and taken you up on your offer,” I say before I remember the implication. Had I stayed, all hell would have broken loose when Ty brought up my location and realized my phone hadn’t moved from Alexandria in hours.
“My brother tracks me.”
Bobby stares at me for two heartbeats before he answers. “Noted.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“I would never say no to you, Ever.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
He smiles. “Looking forward to it, sweetness, as long as I get to hold you afterward.”
He’s too charming. Too sexy. Too everything. And I love it.
“Um, what would it look like were we to date?” It’s a loaded question. “You’re two hours away. Not quite long distance, but my schedule is packed, and work takes up your time.”
“Dating or you’re mine?”
My brows furrow. “There’s a difference?”
“I don’t date.” Bobby doesn’t smile or wink. He’s serious.
“That’s right. Casual, no-strings sex, and rules so you and the woman are on the same page. Nothing left to misunderstandings.”
“You. Me. Us. That is it, Ever.”
“Yours. If I’m yours, what would that look like?”
“I’d make you my priority and see you on your terms.”
“You’re giving up a lot when you barely know me.” I rest my chin on my knuckles and watch for signs he’s feeding me a bunch of bullshit.
“You have the most to lose if you don’t keep up with your studies.”
“You have a business, a livelihood that helps you keep twelve cars with twelve purposes,” I counter.
His mouth twitches at the corner. “Thank you, Ever. It means a lot that you care whether I eat and have a roof over my head rather than how deeper my pockets can get.”
He winks, and suddenly, we’re sharing an inside joke.
“Making you my priority is the only way I’ll get to know you down to the little things that make you laugh and cry the hardest. I’ll know intimately every curve of your body. Will know exactly how to touch and taste you. I aim to satisfy you so well you’ll orgasm only on my command.”
God, he’s cocky, and my sex throbs.
I glaze over his comment about making me orgasm multiple times and focus on the genuineness in his words and the sincerity on his face.
“I don’t want to hang up.”
“I’m not asking you to. Keep me on the line. Fall asleep to my voice. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
My throat tightens. My eyes water. It’s so nice to be seen. To have someone here, even if he’s not physically here, to be a comforting presence in the loneliness of my life, surrounded by my friends, Ty, and his crew.
“Bobby?”
“Yes, sweetness?”
“I could fall for you.”
There’s a deafening silence followed by an intensity that flows from him to me through the phone screen. I reach for the other pillow. I’ve overshared.
Oversharing. Overthinking. I do so much of it when I’m with him. Then he asks a question that flips my world off its axis.
“Is that a yes?” His voice is low and husky with an undercurrent of possession.
I know what he’s asking, but I need to hear him say the words.
“Yes to what?” My heart pounds against my rib cage. The air is sucked from my lungs, and I’m lightheaded with anticipation.
“Yes to being my girl.” Bobby moves the phone closer to his face. All I see are his sea-glass eyes.
What is it about me that he likes enough to choose me over any of the gorgeous women from the nightclub? Ty’s given me the lecture about older men.
Not only are they after body count, but he said they pursue younger women because they can mold them into what they want and take advantage of their inexperience.
Does Bobby fall into that category?
I’m not inexperienced or na?ve, having been with a man ten years older than me since I was seventeen. Carlos didn’t fall into my brother’s category of POS older men who preyed on young girls.
Carlos was sensitive to my young age but recognized my maturity and what I’d gone through for a young person. My father wasn’t physically around, Ty had his own challenges in life, and I’d mothered a drug-addicted mother. Then Mom died, and my life spiraled out of control.
I’m reckless and impulsive, and I feel lonely in a crowd, but these emotions aren’t guiding me to my answer. It’s the bloom of warmth spreading across my chest. Happiness. I smile. I’m happy when I think about spending time with Bobby.
“I am yours.” My heart beats out of control. My vision narrows. He’s all I see.
Bobby’s eyes darken with possession. His gaze dips to my mouth. I swallow down my fear and anxiety, followed by an inhale and exhale of happiness and desire.
It’s done.
I’ve sealed my fate.