“I don’t know.” There is no safe answer, so all I can be
is honest. “I don’t know if I can. I shouldn’t. I can’t.”
“Why shouldn’t you?” Steph leans back a fraction.
“Because of what I just told you? I want you, Adley. I don’t
just want to kiss you in private. I want to take you out. On a
date. I want to do things with you. I think about you all the
time. I can’t sleep at night because I think about you
constantly. I wake up and I used to be so focused and now I
feel like I’m all over the place. This isn’t just me trying to do
some experiment. I’m sure about this.”
I feel like I can’t breathe. Steph is just a few inches
away. She’s so beautiful. Kissing her washed out everything
else in the world. It was easy to forget that I’ve been hurt. It
was easy to fall into her. To lose all sense of time or the world
outside. In here, it’s just us.
“Do you really want to go on a date?” I should not be
asking this. I should be pulling away. I should be doing
everything possible to keep my heart safe.
Steph’s hand slips out from under my shirt and she
backs up a respectable distance. I miss her already. I miss the
heat of her skin on mine. I miss our bodies so close together. I
miss the instant chemistry that was so explosive between us
I’m not sure that anything could contain it.
“Yes.” She grins at me. “Dinner. A movie. The theater.
A walk. Anything. Let me take you out.”
“A play? Or theater? I’ve never been.”
“Really? Oh my god, you’ll love it! I’ll find something
amazing. We’ll go slow. Go on dates. We don’t have to do this,
the physical stuff, if you’re not comfortable with it.”
God, I want to. I want to do the physical stuff. The