Page 104 of Leave a Mark
He’d planned nothing, but now that he considered it, there was no question in his mind. He wouldn’t want to go anywhere without Wren, and the thought of traveling with her gave him hope.
“Wha— well, like where?” she stammered.
“Where would you like to go?” he asked, rubbing a hand up and down her back. “Have you ever been to New York? You’re an artist. We could see MOMA and the Met. Or we could do something more outdoorsy — like hike down into the Grand Canyon…”
“Whoa,” she cautioned. “Both of those ideas sound really expensive. I can’t swing that.”
Lee shook his head in the darkness. “No, babe.I’mtakingyouon a trip. That means I’m swinging it.”
“That’s crazy. I can’t let you do that—”
“You can’t stop me, either.”
“What time is it?” she blurted, changing the subject. “You have to get up so early. We should get some sleep.”
Lee chuckled at her evasive maneuver. “We don’t have to decide tonight. But we’re going somewhere… if you say you’ll come with me.”
He heard her sigh. “We’ll talk later,” she said, sounding resigned. “It’s not like you don’t always get your way.”
“I always get my way?” Lee asked, amused to see himself from her eyes.
“Well, of course.” Indignation dripped from her voice. “From the first day I met you, you’ve gotten your way with me—”
“No, I didn’t get to have my way with you until yesterday,” he teased.
“Ha-ha. Very funny. I remember being given no choice but to accept a ride home from the hospital. And then you took my favorite puppy—“
“Which, I hope you now see was best for everyone—“
“Stop interrupting. I’m making a point,” she said, poking her finger against his chest.
She couldn’t see his grin, but when his laughter shook the bed, he heard her suppress her own giggles.
“Then you wouldn’t leave my studio until I’d given you a tattooandmy phone number, which pretty much brings us to tonight when you insisted on coming over, even though I’d left your house to be alone.”
“Let me just point out that this, too, was best for everyone.” Lee was glad that she was laughing because, now that she’d mentioned it, he realized that when it came to Wren, he wasn’t very good at accepting“no.”
This was a first.
For so much of his life, he’d accepted disappointment and denial. He’d accepted the choices other people made for him without insisting on what he wanted. But now that he wanted Wren, he couldn’t accept not having her. Not without a fight. He’d only give ground if he knew she’d be happier without him. And nothing he’d seen so far gave that any credence. So far, his persistence had paid off.
“You know what this means, right?” he asked.
“What?” Wren asked, sounding skeptical.
“It means there’s no point in fighting me. I’ll get my own way eventually, and it’ll be better for everyone anyway.”
“That’s what I said!”
“Yes, but you didn’t emphasize the part about it being better for everyone.”
Wren snorted. She actually snorted. Lee’s laughter made Victor sit up at the edge of her bed.
“Goodnight, Dr. Hawthorne.”
Lee pulled her close again, kissing her lips… her cheek… her neck…
“Goodnight, Wren.”
