“I’m sure. It started happening a few months before I met you, but I didn’t really lean into it until more recently. I won’t deny that I’ve fallen back into old habits a few times, but that’s over now. It hasn’t happened since that girl you know about who came at us in the park, and it won’t happen again.”
For some reason, her eyes lost their spark when I said it and her voice became flat. The waiter brought our food, but neither of us moved to pick up our cutlery. Instead, we ordered our mains and waited for him to leave.
When he was gone, she was still looking very much disenchanted with me. “Lying isn’t supposed to be part of an apology, Tanner.”
“Lying?” My eyebrows shot up. “I’ve never been more honest with anyone in my life than I’m being with you right now. All cards are on the table. What am I lying about?”
She exhaled deeply through her nose, rolling her lips into her mouth. “I overheard you on the phone that night. I swear I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I woke up and you were gone. Then I heard you talking and I thought something might be wrong, so I went to find you.”
“What night?” The question was out before I could even think about it, but when I did, I arched a brow at her and felt the beginnings of a grin tugging at my lips. “Right. That night. What do you think you overheard?”
“You speaking to another woman,” she said, and frowned when she noticed the grin widen. “What? Why are you laughing? You might think stuff like this is funny, but I sure don’t. If I sleep with you, I expect you to last at least until the next day before you move on to the next girl.”
“There wasn’t a next girl.” I let the grin break free since she’d already seen it, and I leaned forward to hold her hand more firmly again. “Jeremiah called while you were sleeping. He gave me some shit about you coming home with me. Then Steph took the phone and insisted that I explain myself.”
“Steph?”
I nodded. “Steph. She wanted me to come right over and tell her what I was doing with you so that she could threaten my balls if I hurt you, but I told her I’d go over in the morning.”
“First thing in the morning,” she mused, shaking her head as an adorable flush deepened the red on her cheeks. “Wow. I jumped to a very different conclusion, but stop laughing at me.”
I tried, but I just couldn’t quite manage it yet. “I’m sorry, but is that really why you took off? You thought I was flirting with another woman while you were sleeping in the next room?”
Catching her lip between her teeth, she nodded. “It didn’t seem like such a stretch.”
“It wasn’t,” I said honestly when the laughter finally subsided. “I’m sorry, okay? I really am. I wish that I’d never given you a reason to jump to a conclusion like that, but I know I have. I just can’t believe that I finally know what happened, and that it was that. The thought never even crossed my mind.”
“It’s not funny, though,” she said. “You laughed, but it’s not funny.”
“No, it’s not, but I laughed because I’m so fucking relieved that it’s not something big. If it was true, it obviously would’ve been huge, but it’s not and that means we can move past it. It’s not anything catastrophic. Just a misunderstanding.”
For another beat, she just kept looking into my eyes, searching before she finally smiled. “There really hasn’t been anyone else since that girl in the park?”
“I swear there hasn’t,” I said, squeezing her hand again. “I haven’t even looked at anyone else. I’m done with all that, Larisa. You have to believe me.”
“I do.” She breathed in deeply, then released the air slowly and glanced away from me. She lifted her chin a little before picking up her cutlery. “Okay, well, we’ve talked then, right? Was there anything else you wanted to talk about, or should we eat before the food goes ice cold?”
“Let’s eat,” I said, then told her all about the housewarming while we did. I made a point of telling her again how much everyone loved the place and I reassured her that I did, too. “You’re extremely skilled at your job. Honestly, to have come up with all that with so little input from me is amazing. Don’t ever doubt yourself, but especially not on my account.”
She smiled, and for the first time, it looked like she really did believe me. We got our mains once our appetizers were done, and made small talk about our lives for the rest of the meal. By the time we finished dinner, we’d both had a couple glasses of wine. Larisa seemed happy, giggly even, as she held my hand and we made our way to the waiting car.
“Location B,” I said to the driver once we were inside.
She turned to me, brows high on her forehead in surprise. “Where are we going now? Aren’t we going home?”
“Nope, but I’m not telling you where we’re going. It’s a surprise.”
She groaned. “God, you and your surprises. Okay, Tanner. Let’s go then, but just so you know, I have no idea how you’re going to top dinner.”
I winked at her, glad that I’d taken the time to plan all this. “Don’t worry about that. All I can tell you is that it will top dinner, and I’m not saying any more than that.”
Leaning into my side, she kissed my cheek and wound her fingers through mine again. “I trust you.”
For the second time in one night, her words took me to cloud nine. I was practically floating as the driver navigated us to our second location, and once we got there, I was looking forward to spending the rest of the night with her as close to me as she was right then.