Chapter 17 Lainey
Lainey
Iswing open my apartment door to the most handsome man I have ever laid eyes on. Remington is wearing a fitted black T-shirt, dark-wash jeans, the same boots he wore on our first date, and a sexy grin. In his hands he’s holding “Tulips,” I say with a smile, welcoming him in.
“Hi, beautiful.” Remington wastes no time once I shut the door.
He drops the flowers on my little blue entry table and scoops me into his arms. His lips are on mine instantly.
Soft, warm, hungry. I lean deeper into him and a low rumble vibrates through his chest. Before things get more heated, he pulls back and I can feel the pout on my face.
Remington’s deep laugh snaps my eyes open to see him smiling down at me.
“Jesus, I missed you,” he says tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear, then running his thumb slowly across my jaw.
“I missed you too, more than I should probably admit,” I whisper.
“Why should you not tell me that? I just told you the same thing.” Remington runs his hands down my arms slowly and back up again making me shiver.
“I don’t want you to think that I am needy or clingy or whatever,” I say, looking away from him in embarrassment, and with the whispers of past partners’ voices plucking my memory.
“Lainey, look at me, please,” he says gently. “I like that you think about me as much as I am thinking about you. That we miss each other. That we are excited to see each other. That we want to spend time together. Okay?”
“Okay.” I nod, looking directly into his handsome face. “Thank you.”
He gives me a soft, sweet kiss, and hands me the tulips he brought. “So you know these ones, huh?” Remington smiles at me with mischievous playfulness.
“I don’t live under a rock, I do know some flower names, Remington,” I say with a heavy dose of sass, which makes his smile grow impossibly wider over his straight white teeth.
“I know you don’t live under a rock,” he laughs, “but I also have to cover all my flower bases here. So today is tulips. They can symbolize lots of things, but I picked them as a representation of happiness.”
I run my fingers along the silky purple petals and ask, “Oh yeah? Why is that?”
“Because nothing makes me happier than being able to spend time with you. I have not been able to stop thinking about when I’d see you next after you left me with that pie.
Which, by the way, was the best pie I have ever had.
I had to fight off the guys to keep them from eating it.
Normally we share food, but there was no way I was going to let them have that one.
Although freaking Eli did get one forkful, and his eyes rolled back in his head, so I think you have a fan for life out of him.
” Remington is laughing, picturing his best friend.
I can’t even imagine all the trouble those two have gotten into together.
“I’m really happy you liked it.” I can feel blush on my skin growing from the heat of his eyes on me.
“It was the perfect pie,” he says taking my hand, kissing the scar on my wrist, and leading me over to the couch. “I heard that you got to meet my sister?”
“I did,” I tell him excitedly. “I hope that’s okay?
We hit it off when I went to her store with Kendra, and then we all had pizza.
She asked to be the one to tell you for some reason, and I said that was fine.
” It was hard for me not to tell Remington about being with his sister.
I want to just tell him everything. He makes it easy to be open and honest. Not telling him about Sutton felt weird, but she insisted on talking to him.
“Yeah, she called me, and it’s great that you are getting to know each other.
I knew that you would hit it off and be friends.
My sister is awesome and one of my favorite people.
She also wanted to talk to me first about something that happened in the store,” Remington says, sounding a little nervous.
“I didn’t do anything to upset Sutton, did I?” I try to think back to our afternoon together and start picking over each moment in my memories.
“Of course not!” Remington puts his hand on my thigh, and I feel the heat of his palm travel up my entire body.
My mind wonders what it would feel like to have his hands roam all over my bare skin, and another shiver sends goose bumps rippling all over me.
Slowly rubbing his thumb in circles, and being very distracting, Remington keeps talking.
“Sutton wanted to tell me about something that she saw at the store when you were there.”
“Oh, yeah. She looked really worried. I thought she might pass out. She said she thought she saw an old ex-boyfriend through the window or something, and it kind of freaked her out. Is she okay? They aren’t bothering her, are they?” I ask.
“No, Sutton’s fine, and she didn’t see one of her exes through the window.
She actually saw my ex, and she didn’t tell you because she wanted me to be the one to be able to talk to you about my past when I was ready.
But if she really is around town, and I hope she isn’t, I wanted you to know.
” Remington is tense all over. Not the charming, relaxed man that strolled in a few minutes ago.
I can tell this is not a conversation he wants to have.
“It’s alright if you’re not ready to tell me about her.
I don’t need to know,” I reassure him. As much as I have opened up to Remington, there are still things from my past that I’m not sure I am ready to share with him.
Things that I have not shared with anyone, not even my therapist knows all the little details.
So I won’t push him to tell me anything, ever.
He has to come to me openly, in his own time.
Hopefully I can be a safe space for him the way he is becoming a safe space for me.
“No,” he surprises me, “I want to tell you so you know more about me. More about why I am the way I am. A lot of it has to do with what happened with her, with Cora.” He says her name on a hiss, a tone of disgust so deep, one I haven’t heard from him.
“I’m here,” I tell him. “You can tell me anything, Remington. I know who you are, and more importantly what kind of man you are.”
Taking a deep breath, Remington lays out everything.
And there is a lot. He grew up with Cora, she was Sutton’s best friend, and they are all close in age.
They started dating in high school, and he told me about all the pressure he felt from everyone about them being a couple even that young.
The more he talked, the more my heart ached for the boy that grew into a man with a person by his side that did not see him for who he was.
Cora sounds like a selfish, self-centered person.
I can’t see Sutton being best friends with someone like that.
I can’t see Remington dating someone like that, loving someone like that.
Hot discomfort licks my gut, and I know I am feeling jealous of a relationship that is long gone, but obviously still has a hold on the man sitting in front of me.
His past wounds are not fresh, but they are deep, just like mine.
Remington ends his heartbreaking tale with the night he kicked Cora out of his apartment, the day they graduated college.
He is vibrating with the anger of the memory, and I am raging on his behalf.
Furious that anyone could hurt the man I am quickly developing deep feelings for, making him question his life and judgment.
“I can’t believe she did that to you. How dare she disrespect your relationship that way.
But the thing that makes me the most upset—and honestly I can say this because you know I have also been cheated on—is the way she spoke about you being a firefighter.
She thought it was something you were just messing around with at college and were going to get over?
Give it up for her own company?” I stand up and pace my small living room, unable to contain the buzz of contempt rushing through my muscles, needing the movement.
“Yeah, I know,” Remington agrees. “I was upset about the cheating, obviously, but being a firefighter is what I am called to do. I didn’t know it right away, it took time to figure it out, but once I did I was locked in.
She acted like it was a joke. Even after she watched me spend years working hard to earn my degree and make up time for my first year and a half pursuing the finance degree. ”
“Remington, you do not have to justify your decision to me. Most college kids change majors at some point, sometimes more than once. I know that you are meant to be a firefighter. I can feel it, see it with how passionately you talk about it. I got to go to the station and meet your friends and coworkers. They all love you. You’re a family there and it’s special.
That woman has no idea what she is missing out on.
Thank God she ruined her life so that mine could be made better by knowing you.
” I pour my words out, standing in front of Remington while he’s still seated on the couch.
“You really believe that?” he asks, voice rough with emotion. His hands grip my hips and pull me closer, pull me down toward him.
I straddle Remington’s lap, and frame his face in my hands, a light stubble scraping across my fingertips.
“You are the best man I have ever met. There’s nobody else like you.
” I lean my face in and go to gently seal the sentiment with a kiss, but Remington meets me halfway with passion.
One large hand grips my waist while the other slides into my hair.