Page 106 of Running
“A pillow fort?” I giggle. “Are we ten?”
“Okay, maybe not a fort.” He chuckles back. “But a pile…no, adenof pillows.”
“Like a den of sin?”
He looks at me with a gleam in his eye before pulling me back in his arms and sinking his mouth onto mine. The kiss is lazy, his mouth savoring mine, despite the imminent storm.
After a few minutes, he breaks apart our kiss but keeps hisarms around me. And then I notice his eyes. They look decidedly mischievous.
“The things I will do to you in the pillow fort aregoing to be eighteen-plus activities only.”
Ahhhhhh.
“Well, that sounds fun. Just don’t eat all my snacks.”
He leans over to take a nibble of my ear.
“Oh, I’ll be eating well, but I won’t need your snacks.”
And now I’m turned on.
Apparently, Johnson’s worries about the hurricane have been replaced by different motivations.
“You’re awful frisky today, J.”
“Honestly, all joking aside, it’s just good to be here, know you’re okay. It’s been an interesting twenty-four hours. I’m a little amped up.”
“What’s going on?”
Then I feel him tighten his arms around me. “I hate to change the topic to a serious one, but can we sit down on your couch for a second? There’s something I want to chat about.”
Now he’s makingmeantsy. I sit down without speaking. He joins me a second later, and my nerves taper down when he rests his hand on my knee, like it’s second nature.
“I’m hoping this is obvious, Grace, but I’m head over heels here.”
My worry fades more at his confession. “Well, you did just drive through hurricane warnings to get to me, so that earns you some points for sure.”
He smiles at my joke but stays serious in tone. “If all things were equal, I’d be asking you if I could call myself your boyfriend.”
I think I wear my confusion on my face. What does he mean by that?
His eyes widen as he takes in my expression. Clearly he can tell he’s thrown me for a loop.
“Shit, that came out wrong. Idowant that.”
Okay, he officially has me on a rollercoaster of emotions right now. “What? I’m confused.”
He squeezes my knee. “I’m screwing this up. I’m sorry, I’ve been in my head too much the last day.”
“It’s okay, but what’s going on?”
“So I don’t want there to be any doubt in your mind when I say the next thing. About where we stand. I would scream from the rooftops how I feel about you, if we could. I want to talk about whether we should tell Landon.”
I stay quiet. I think I can anticipate where he’s headed, but want to give him a chance to explain.
“I’m struggling with how I feel. I really didn’t think we’d keep this secret past this time, but there’s so much at stake right now—” He starts trailing off, knowing he doesn’t have to repeat all the dynamics, we’ve talked about them so much.
I weigh the options myself as he’s speaking, and I find my own head and heart aligned. “This may be a surprise, but I don’t mind if we wait longer to tell Landon. I don’t love hiding things from him, but we’re past the point where he’s not going to feel betrayed on some level. The big thing for me is I’m enjoying this time where it’s just us. In our bubble, able to ignore the outside world. I’m not looking forward to dealing with all the questions from Landon either.”
