Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 112892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
He laughed, his hands warm on my shoulders. “Now take a deep breath and open that.” I inhaled fully and let it out before sitting on the edge of the bed, where he joined me. Opening the bag, I pulled out something made of yarn. I smoothed it out and saw that it was a beautiful knitted pair of mittens. They were made of cream-colored yarn with a tree on the front.
“Every time I hold your hand lately, it’s freezing, so I thought you could use these.” Diego’s voice was almost a little shy, as if embarrassed that he’d been thinking about me. Which was pretty damn sweet.
“Thank you. And they’re beautiful. I tend to lose gloves and mittens, but I’m not going to lose these.”
Diego hesitated. “The tree… it kind of reminded me of the one from the scavenger hunt. The one you so bravely climbed.”
“And fell out of.” I brushed my thumb over his cheek. “And you caught me.”
“That scavenger hunt… it was kind of the first time it felt like we were on the same page. You seemed more relaxed with me, and I didn’t yet know about the party, so I wasn’t freaking out on you. It’s a good memory.”
“Yes, it is. Except for that damn tutu. I still don’t get the point of those.”
“Do you think it’s still up in the tree?” he asked, and I laughed.
“It’s probably been made into a bird’s nest by now.”
“A real one,” he agreed. “Not the symbolic kind you had to photograph.”
“Thank you for thinking of me.”
If his skin weren’t on the tan side, he might’ve blushed. “There was a little holiday craft fair in the quad, and I was thinking of you, and then I spotted those. So there we are.”
“I think of you a lot, too.” I set the mittens down on the bed next to me and took his hand in mine.
“Yep,” he said softly, squeezing my fingers. “Still cold.” He drew my palm to his lips, his mouth, and blew warm air on it, then rubbed it with both hands. “Better?”
“Yes,” I said, feeling warm all over, not just my fingers. “You make a pretty good mitten substitute.”
But then I grew more serious.
“I thought about you a lot, too.”
One dark eyebrow arched. “Why did you say that in the past tense?”
His look of mock concern made me smile softly. “I meant before. Even when I was uncomfortable with you. I mean, I wasn’t uncomfortable with you, just the circumstances and the fact that you didn’t remember.”
“I get it, Mia. But that is in the past. Where we are right now makes all of that worth it.”
“I agree. And I hope you’ll still think that after I tell you something.”
“What’s that?”
His arm slipped around me. I would have liked to look him in the eyes, but I wasn’t quite brave enough. So I looked at where he still held my hand in his.
“I love you,” I said softly.
His body stilled, and panic filled me.
“You don’t have to say it back or feel the same way. I just… I just… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
I started to get up, but he tugged me back down. He waited until I looked up at him, and then he said simply, “I love you, too.”
“Are you sure?” I said, and then stopped. That sounded a little stupid. “Seriously, you don’t have to say it just because…”
I trailed off, trying to stop the rambling. How had Aaron and Cody managed to say this? It was so damn hard.
But the smile Diego gave me, and the warmth in his eyes, made my racing pulse settle down.
“I wanted to tell you that too,” he said, “but we said it was too soon.”
“We?”
“Yeah. Cody, Aaron, and I—we had some beers on the porch the other night and talked about it. About how we all felt it, but we didn’t want to scare you off or overwhelm you, so we promised each other we wouldn’t say it.”
My jaw dropped at that information.
Diego continued on, his arms around me. “So that’s why I didn’t say it first. Don’t tell them I said any at all, okay? I don’t want them to know I went back on my word when they didn’t.”
I bit my lip to keep from commenting on that. I couldn’t decide if it was sweet or funny that each of them had vowed not to say it to me—and then had, anyway.
But that wasn’t what mattered most right now. This gorgeous, kind, wonderful man had just said he loved me, and I sure as hell loved him. I climbed onto his lap, straddling his legs so that I could cup his face in my hands and kiss him.
And as the kiss deepened, his hands running up and down my back, I realized this was the position we’d been in the first time we met, at the party. It hadn’t meant much back then, but now it meant everything.