Page 64 of Let's Be Forever

“If you want to help so badly, you can cook,” I offer, although I’m positive she’s still going to argue with me about that.

A divot appears between her brows, and her lips purse in a pout. “This doesn’t feel right.”

I inch closer, breathing out a sigh. “I know it doesn’t. I know you’re capable and very independent and after everything you went through, you don’t want my help. I get that, but I’m here, Anna. I told you I’m not going anywhere and I meant that. So even if you were to move out, I’d still help. You could be on the other side of the world and that wouldn’t change a thing. I know it’s not enough, but let me do this for you.”

She stares up at me, I stare down at her, and then our eyes fall to the small gap between us. I’m standing in front of her, almost caging her in, but I keep my arms at my sides.

“Please?” I softly plead.

I watch the resolve in her eyes crumble. “Okay, I’ll cook.”

“You were always the better cook between us.”

Even the Brazilian dishes. I didn’t know how to cook much, but I knew those. Mom may be proud of where she comes from but she wasn’t teaching us how to cook. So she made sure the nanny she hired was Brazilian. Anytime she babysat us, she’d cook and tell us stories of when she lived in Brazil.

“I was, wasn’t I?” That pulls a tiny smile from her.

“And I bet you’re twenty million times better since you went to France.”

Her lips stretch wider, and a proud gleam shines in her eyes. “Yeah, I am…”

Memories of the FaceTimes, pictures, and videos she’d send when she was there surface. Anytime she could, she was updating me on what they were doing, what she was learning, and how her French was coming along.

But when we weren’t sharing updates, we were helping each other come.

“I really want to kiss you,” I murmur, gaze straying to her supple lips.

“Don’t do it,” she replies just as low, wetting her lips.

“I’m not.” I raise my hands, gripping the edge of the island, caging her in. She stares up at me, whiskey eyes narrowed with skepticism. “I won’t kiss you until you tell me to.”

I want nothing more than to have my lips on hers, to worship her, and do everything I’ve dreamed of doing since I first saw her. But as happy as that would make me, I want her to want it too.

Her brows tweak up, and she scoffs at my audacity. “That’s not going to happen.”

“I’m going to work hard to earn your trust. I will get on my hands and knees for you if I have to.” I lean in, stopping an inch from her face. “I will spend the rest of my life begging for forgiveness because I know sayingI’m sorryisn’t enough and never will be. So I will work, I will fight, I will be whatever you want me to be.”

She’s quiet and it stretches for what feels like an eternity. “Sy—I…that won’t mean I’ll want to kiss you.”

“So last night…?” My gaze drifts to her lips and down to her chest as it rises and falls a little fast.

“It meant nothing. I was tired.”

“It meant everything to me.” I infuse as much sincerity into the admission as I can. “I still feel your lips on mine. I missed them. I missed you.”

Anna inhales sharply, and her eyes shift down to my mouth. “Stop saying you miss me.”

“You want me to lie to you?” I lift a brow, forcing my eyes up because I know she’s not wearing a bra and her nipples are pebbled. I can see her piercings through the thin material of her top.

“I want you to shut up.” But her voice lacks conviction.

“I have so much I want to say to you.” I lift my hand, tuck her hair behind her ear, and glance at the different earrings that adorn it.

“You’re making it hard to want to co-parent.” She shudders, and I think she leans into my touch. I hope I’m not imagining things.

“You’re making it hard to focus.” I drop my hand, eyeing her chest again.

Anna’s gaze follows mine and she blushes a little before she slips away from me. “I’m going to check on Rosie. I think I heard her.”