26. The Real Interrogation #3
“When I met your sister,” I said slowly, “she told me my personality was a red flag factory, and my haircut was a cry for help.”
Delilah's lips twitched. “That sounds like her.”
“It was the hottest thing anyone had ever said to me.”
Davina made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a groan. “Dallas…”
“No, let me finish.” I turned to face her fully.
“Every woman I've ever met either wanted something from me or was intimidated by me.
But Davina? She looked at me like I was a puzzle she was going to solve, whether I liked it or not.
She challenged everything I said. She didn't care about my career or my money or my…”
“Good looks?” Davina supplied dryly.
“I was going to say championship titles, but sure.” I grinned at her, and her answering smile made my heart stutter. “The point is, she saw through all of it. Saw me. And instead of running away, she stuck around to tell me exactly how I could be better.”
“By insulting you on a podcast?”
“By being honest.” I shrugged. “No one's ever been that honest with me. It was terrifying. It was also the most attractive thing I'd ever experienced.”
Delilah was watching us with narrowed eyes, her gaze ping-ponging between our faces.
“So all those podcast episodes...” she said slowly.
“Flirting,” Davina said, and her cheeks flushed pink in a way that made me want to kiss her. “Very aggressive, very public flirting that I was in complete denial about.”
“You called him a testosterone-poisoned man-child.”
“I stand by that assessment.” Davina's hand was still in mine. “But I've discovered I'm apparently attracted to testosterone-poisoned man-children. The heart wants what it wants.”
“The heart,” Delilah repeated flatly.
“And other organs,” I added helpfully.
Davina elbowed me in the ribs. Hard.
“What? I'm just saying, the chemistry was…”
“Dallas.”
“...immediately apparent from our very first…”
“DALLAS.”
Karen let out a yowl that sounded distinctly like for the love of God, stop talking, and Ricky started barking at nothing, apparently deciding the tension in the room required an auditory response.
Delilah watched the chaos unfold with an expression I couldn't quite read. “Show me,” she said.
We both froze.
“Show you what?” Davina asked carefully.
“Show me you're in love. Kiss. Right now. Like you mean it.”
Oh.
Oh.
Davina's eyes met mine, and I saw the flicker of panic there. We'd kissed before, last night, this morning, multiple times in between, but that had been private. Real. This was performance, and somehow that made it feel more dangerous.
“Dee, that's ridiculous…” Davina started.
“Is it? Because if you're really as in love as you claim, it shouldn't be difficult.” Delilah's smile was sharp enough to cut glass. “Unless there's a reason you don't want to kiss your husband in front of your sister?”
I stepped closer to Davina, cupping her face in my hands. Her skin was warm under my palms, her pulse fluttering rapidly at her throat.
“Okay?” I murmured, low enough that only she could hear.
She nodded, almost imperceptibly.
I kissed her.
It wasn’t a performance kiss. It was slow and thorough, with every ounce of genuine feeling that had been building within me since the moment I'd woken up with her in my arms.
Her hands fisted in my shirt, pulling me closer. She made that small sound, the one that drove me crazy. When I finally pulled back, her eyes were dazed, her lips swollen, her breath coming in short gasps.
“Wow,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” I agreed, stunned by my own response.
We'd both forgotten Delilah was there until she cleared her throat.
“Okay.” Delilah’s voice was different now. “That was... convincing.”
I kept my arm around Davina's waist, partly for the performance and partly because I wasn't sure my legs would hold me up otherwise. “Told you.”
“I didn't say I believed you completely.” Delilah held up a hand, ticking off points on her fingers. “There are still approximately seven hundred questions I have about the timeline, the logistics, and why you didn’t mention this to me before Instagram broke the news. But...” She paused, studying us with an intensity that made me want to squirm.
“You look at her like… Well, like you are in love with her.” She stood, directing her attention back to Davina. “When do you plan to tell mom and dad?”
“Um…” Davina hummed.
“Soon,” I answered for her.
“Great,” Delilah said. “I can plan a dinner.”
“Actually,” I said. “Why don’t you let us do the dinner, and we’ll invite my family too.”
“Sooner rather than later.”
I nodded.
“If you hurt her, I have access to surgical instruments and a very thorough understanding of human anatomy.” Her smile was terrifying. “Just something to keep in mind.”
She swept out of the kitchen.
“Well… That was intense.”
She nodded. “Yeah, that’s why I hadn’t told her yet. I knew convincing everyone else would be a piece of cake next to her.”
“I think she liked me,” I teased.
She was quiet for a long moment. Then, slowly, a smile spread across her face.
“Yeah,” she said simply. “I think she did.”