Chapter 53
I inhaled a deep breath as I stirred in bed, arching to stretch the sleep from my body. When my eyes fluttered open and met a still-sleeping Wes, everything from the night before came rushing back…and a soft smile curled on my lips.
I let out a slow breath as I stared at him, watching the gentle rise and fall of his chest with each breath he took as I tried to calm the rapid flutter in mine.
I noticed a few strands of his dark hair—short with a slight curl at the ends—falling against his forehead, and I lifted my hand, gently brushing them away with my finger.
Once upon a time, I wanted nothing more than to strangle this man. He was the antagonist in my story, but somewhere along the way, he became my friend. And slowly, without realizing it, I fell for everything I once claimed to hate—his charm, his smirk, his wit. Now, I didn’t want to be without him.
I didn’t know much about love, but I knew, without a doubt, that I loved him. And while I still had a lot to learn about sharing my heart with someone, I was glad it was him I was giving it to.
“Was I snoring again?” Wes quipped, his voice deep and raspy from sleep.
I let out a soft chuckle. “No. I was admiring.”
Wes’s eyes opened, and a slow smile curved his lips when he met my gaze. “I’ve been wanting to tell you this for a while…but do you have any idea how gorgeous you look first thing in the morning?”
That flutter in my chest amplified. “You couldn’t tell me that before?” I teased.
“No. In the same way you couldn’t tell me you were admiring me. But I’m going to tell you every morning now. And I mean every morning. Because if you think there will be a single night where you’re not in the same bed as me and in my arms until that sun comes up, think again, Princess.”
I bit my lip through a smile. “It’s too early to be so charming.”
“Not for me. It’s a gift.”
Another soft chuckle escaped me as he pulled me to his side. When I nestled into the crook of his arm, he brought his hand up to smooth across my cheek until his fingers were in my hair as he brushed his lips across my forehead.
And if I wasn’t already a goner before, I was now.
Wes and I spent most of the day right there in my bed, seemingly trying to make up for the last several months. It was a miracle I was able to walk out to the kitchen for a drink and something to eat.
Callie reached out when they landed that night, and while I wanted to rush to her and spill the beans like any girl would with their best friend, I refrained. I told her to get some rest—because that jetlag was a bitch—and we’d talk tomorrow when we all met up for our usual Saturday night out.
We moved from my apartment to Wes’s Saturday afternoon—he made me pack a small overnight bag and said it was my turn to stay at his place.
Seeing this side of Wes—so openly affectionate and swoony while still maintaining his witty charm—was definitely something I loved being on the receiving end of. And I loved that it was a side of him that only I got to see. It was a side just for me.
When we arrived at The Sandbar Saturday night, we walked inside hand-in-hand.
Susan was walking by as we stepped through the front door, and she slowed her steps with a smile before her eyes traveled down to our interlocked fingers.
Her gaze snapped back up to us with a broad grin and an arched brow. “That must have been one hell of a trip to Monaco.”
We both laughed. “You have no idea, Suzie-Q,” Wes said.
“Well, I’m certainly going to need to get all the details.” She looked at our hands again and shook her head with a chuckle. “I’ll grab your usuals.”
We thanked her and then headed back toward our usual table. When we approached, Callie grinned at our hands, Lucas and Blake both smirked at Wes, and Gabe shook his head with a laugh.
“So…is this an official thing now?” Gabe questioned, looking between us with a curious smile.
“You bet your ass it is,” Wes answered with a grin as we sat down.
He casually draped his arm over the back of my chair, and I bit the inside of my cheek in an attempt to tamp down my smile.
I watched the eyes of the others continue to look between us as they smiled. “Stop it,” I breathed through a laugh.
“Morgan, you’re blushing,” Blake teased.
“I am not.”
Wes smirked, twirling a strand of my hair around his finger. “You’re blushing, Princess.”
“Whoa, whoa…” Gabe laughed. “We already have a pet name?”
“I’ve been calling her that for a long time. You’ve just never heard it.”
Gabe chuckled. “This is definitely going to take some getting used to.”
“Yeah,” Lucas agreed. “What are we going to do without listening to you two bickering back and forth?”
“Please,” Wes scoffed playfully. “Bickering is like foreplay for us.”
My eyes widened as I looked over at him. “Seriously?”
“What?”
“You don’t need to announce it to the table,” I chided.
Wes smirked. “Since when are you such a prude, Princess?”
“I am not a prude.”
Lucas chuckled. “Glad to see some things won’t change.”
The following Friday, I helped Grace close up the office before we made our way out of the building a little after five. When we stepped outside, I wasn’t paying attention, but Grace nudged my arm with a grin, gesturing behind me.
I turned to see Wes leaning up against his car parked along the curb, his arms casually folded while wearing his signature smirk as he looked at me.
“See you Monday,” Grace whispered with a smile before walking toward her car.
I made my way over to Wes, watching his eyes travel over me. “You’re looking delicious enough to eat in that skirt.”
I chuckled as I stopped in front of him, reaching up to loop my arms around his neck. “I thought I was meeting you at your place?” His arms circled my waist, pulling me flush against him as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m taking you on a date, Princess.”
Butterflies filled my stomach as I drew back to look at him. “A date?”
“Our first real date.”
“And what are we doing for this date?”
He smirked and leaned back in, speaking as he peppered kisses up my neck and along my jaw, his voice low and thick. “Dinner…drinks…dessert…” His lips brushed against mine. “And then you’re coming back to my place for some toe-curling sex.”
I bit my lip. “Sounds like you have it all planned out.”
“Oh, I do.” He pressed another kiss to my lips. “But if you keep biting your lip like that, we’re not going to make it to dinner.” He pushed off his car, moving me with him, then turned to open the passenger door for me. “We’ll come get your car tomorrow.”
I slipped into his car, and he shut his door before walking around to the driver’s side and sliding inside. When he pulled away from the curb, his hand immediately reached over to rest on my thigh.
That was another thing I noticed over the last week since our confessions—Wes’s love language was, without a doubt, physical touch.
If he was near me at all, no matter what we were doing, his hands moved on instinct to me, almost like he couldn’t help himself.
I loved it. There was something about knowing he craved to touch me, even innocently, that I couldn’t get enough of.
I slid my hand over his and interlocked our fingers. “So, where are you taking me for this date?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I don’t like surprises.” He gave me a look, and I chuckled. “I know, I know. ‘That’s too damn bad.’”
He smiled. “You know me well.”
We talked, and as he drove over the Ravenel Bridge, I glanced over at him, feeling a little nervous about what I was about to bring up.
“So, Callie stopped by my parents’ place the other night because my mom is giving her this pin for her bouquet for her ‘something old.’ My brothers were there, and she accidentally spilled the beans about me and you…
and now they want to talk to you, and my parents want to meet you… ”
He smiled. “Okay.”
My brow furrowed. “Really?”
Wes glanced over at me with a chuckle. “Yeah, really. Why do you look so surprised?”
“I don’t know…I thought you’d be freaked out or something about meeting them so soon. It’s only been a week—”
“Officially, it’s been a week. This has been two years and then some in the making, Princess. It’s not soon, and I’m not freaked out about meeting your parents.” I smiled softly at him, feeling that flutter in my chest that had been there all week. “And I already met your brothers.”
The flutter stuttered. “Yeah, that was before they knew about what was really going on…and the last time you saw them was when I decided to spill our secret to everyone, including them.”
“Yeah, and?”
“My brothers can be…a lot. I haven’t brought many guys around them, but they have never liked any of them. And they always give them a hard time.”
Wes chuckled. “They don’t scare me.”