“Do you really think he’d do that?” She cringed.
“No.”
I wouldn’t have gone out with him if I’d gotten that kind of feeling from how we interacted.
He seemed earnest.
“Alright, I’ll call him in the morning. Not right now, I need to think.”
“That sounds good.” She hugged me again.
As I made my way up the steps, I felt like I was never going to sleep again. My mind was a slurry of want and fear, and my heart was still racing from when I yelled at him. It didn’t feel good. As I settled into bed, sleep came easier than I expected, and I was able to pass out without trouble.
Morning woke me up, and it reminded me of when I woke up in his bed. Everything felt wrong, different, scary. I wanted to talk to him, but I wasn’t sure what time he’d wake up since he was up so late. I walked over to my window, wanting to ponder the place where his car wasn’t sitting anymore—
But his car was still there.
Confused, I rushed down the stairs, still in my pajamas.
He was awake, typing away on a laptop that he got from who-knows-where, with his curly hair in full motion. The window of his car was down, but it looked like it was more for airflow than for him waiting for me. Leaning against the door peep-hole, I soaked in the scene and tried to decide what to do.
If I went upstairs and showered and changed, there was a chance he’d be gone—but if I didn’t, he’d have to see me looking like a mess. Well … the first time we kissed, I was getting over a fever. Me looking like a mess was nothing new.
I had to know what was going on in his mind.
“Hey,” I greeted him as I walked down the path in my pajamas. Dale looked up at me, and suddenly I could see how tired he was. How exhausted. He must have been awake all night.
“Hey,” he nodded at me. He didn’t look mad, just heavily concentrated.
“So, you’re still here,” I started. I wasn’t sure what to say.
Somehow, I felt the need to apologize even though I wasn’t guilty of anything.
“Can I talk to you?” His voice was rumbly from disuse, and it reminded me of the first morning I’d had with him. I found myself wanting more mornings with him.
“Yeah, of course,” I gave in. Walking around to the passenger side of his car, I climbed in. “You won’t drive off, right?”
“Not unless you want me to.” He laughed. “I just want to come clean about everything.”
“Everything being why you’re stalking me,” I quipped.
It was a test, to see how he could joke about it.
“Yeah, that’s fair,” he nodded. I’d never seen him so withheld—it felt strange.
I closed the door behind me and waited.
“I’ve had my eye on you for a while,” he started.
I made a face and he put his hands up.
“Honestly, I just meant that I’ve had a crush! You’re gorgeous. The most following I’d do was to make sure you got on the bus safely at night. Even then I’d keep my distance, and then go back to the office.”
My jaw popped open at this admission, and it took me a moment.
“So that’s how you saw me pass out?”
“Yeah,” he grumbled. He ran the palm of his hand over the stubble on his chin, and the scruffy noise was more attractive than it had any right to be. I pushed that thought out of the way and tried to focus on what he was saying.
“I would stay to make sure you got on the bus alright, since the office is downtown, and then I’d just go back to the office until I needed to go home. That was it.”
My face felt hot, and I found myself weirdly thankful that he was following me all those times. At least those made sense and weren’t creepy as hell.
“My mom passed away alone, from a disease she didn’t even know she had.”
My stomach fell to the ground hearing this.
“She had few symptoms throughout her life—but because I lived here and she’d moved away after the divorce, she was alone. Something about seeing you sick stirred up some memories of that, and I just—” He leaned forward and rested his head on the steering wheel.
I felt terrible for him and held his arm in my hand.
He shook his head, but his face was stone and in pain. “I’m sorry I followed you around, and that I put your job at risk since my dad has some weird vendetta against me dating anyone in the business.”
“He does?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I just wanted to be close to you—and once I got a taste, it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t control myself.” he frowned. “I’m sorry I scared you, and that I followed—"
“You’re fine, it’s fine,” I cut him off. I understood completely.
“No, it’s not, so I—”
“I forgive you, it’s fine.” I leaned across the way and kissed him. Suddenly, all of his protective behavior made sense, and I couldn’t hate him for it.
He’d saved my life, and had been nothing but good to me.
He kissed me back, and I softened against him.
“Your dad’s really worried about you dating employees?”
“Yeah.” He laughed. “I might have overcorrected; I hope you don’t get pissed.”
“What did you do?” I cringed.
“I knew you wouldn’t accept for me to pay for your tuition; it wouldn’t feel right,” he explained. “So I started a fund for medical students, and twenty are getting surprise post-acceptance.” My heart started hammering in my ears. “After going over your history and education, we’d like to offer to pay off the rest of your tuition for you,” he explained.
He was giving me a choice.
“You’re right. If you offered to just pay it out of pocket I would have felt like you were buying me,” I cringed.
“I just want you in my life.”
My heart ached at these words, so I leaned in and kissed him instead of trying to think of a response. He was one of the most incredible men I’d ever met—I was so lucky.
8
Danielle
“I can’t believe Lorie is moving closer to Hollywood,” I sighed. Dale laughed and pulled me into his arms, despite the fact that I was carrying in some of my things.
“You sound like you’re disappointed to move in with me,” he growled.
I laughed and shook my head.
“I just haven’t ever lived this far away from her,” I griped.
“She was driving forty minutes to get to work from your duplex,” he reminded me.
“Yeah but I just had to go into the next room to see her.” I frowned. He carried me through his massive home—well, our massive home—and I had to cheer up some just at how ready he was to have me at home with him.
His oh-too-familiar oversized bed came into view, and I couldn’t fight the smile on my face.
“Are you trying to cheer me up?” My voice came across more playful than coy.
“I’m trying to break in some new sheets,” he teased me.
I laughed, and he tossed the boxes aside and plopped me onto the bed.
“Now that you live here, I’m going to get even more insatiable,” he warned. The change in tone gave me gooseflesh, and I watched as he started pulling down my shorts. I didn’t want to stop this, didn’t care about my boxes half-unloaded from the U-Haul in his front yard. It was a gated community; I didn’t have anything to worry about.