Page 148 of Tangled with the Tight End

“I don’t think that’s a priority,” I say, leaning in and kissing her cheek, then working my way around to her lips. “I think …” I kiss her again. “You need to keep saying …” Another kiss. “Yes.”

She melts into me.

“What was the question?” she playfully asks between kisses. Her hands run through my hair and she pivots toward me. “Whatever it is … yes.”

I smile into our kiss.

When we pull apart, she leans on me and I wrap an arm around her. We sit in silence, my hand moving up and down her arm, her nestling in just a bit more.

My phone rings on the counter, breaking the moment.

“My dad,” I say, holding up a finger while I grab my cell. “Hold that thought.”

She smiles softly and whispers, “Holding it,” while I answer. “Hey, Dad. What’s up?”

“Boston’s birthday.”

“Yes. Today. Are you and Mom coming?”

I’m talking to my dad, but my eyes are on Winona. She’s smiling at me with this affection I’ve never experienced from anyone before.

I reach over and run my hand down her jawline. She smiles wider.

“Yes. We’re coming,” Dad says. “We thought we’d stop by your place first. We can drive you over since you aren’t driving yet.”

“Oh. Well … Winona was going to drive me over.”

Her brows scrunch in slightly. I run my finger down between them, gently, dragging my finger down her nose and landing with my fingertip on her lips. She playfully nips at it and I pull it back in an exaggerated retreat.

She smiles up at me.

“Winona? The nurse?”

“Yeah.” I don’t correct him. She’s practically a nurse and he will give her more respect if he thinks she’s a nurse than if he knew she was still an aide.

“No need,” Dad says in his typical tone of finality.

“She’s coming with me,” I explain. “Maeve invited her.”

I’m weak. I invited Winona. Because I want her there. Sure, Maeve insisted on her coming, but I was the one who reached out to ask if I could bring her.

But this is my dad. He needs to be eased into ideas that weren’t his to begin with or he’ll bulldoze through whatever it is. He’s not a bad person, just very certain of his perspective and power.

Winona’s lips thin out for a moment.

When I silently mouth, “I want you there.” Her smile spreads again.

“Well, suit yourself,” Dad says. “It doesn’t seem like you’d need a nurse at the party.”

“She’s …” so much more than my nurse. But this isn’t the time or place to drop that bomb. So I just say, “She’s coming with me.”

“Have it your way, Declan. But your mother and I want to see you before the party. We should be there in a few hours.”

“Here?”

“Not at Chuck E. Cheese.” His tone is deadpan, but I still laugh. “Not that they have one of those in Waterford.”

You’d think that was a compliment, but coming from my dad, it’s sort of not.