Page 65 of It Must Be Love

I sat at the table and broke up a chocolate scone. "I…wasn't sure."

He left after we had cake, saying, "Baby, if I stay, I'll want inside you, and you're not ready for that. So, I'm going to go home and take a cold shower."

Yeah, because I was so freaking hot he needed to cool down.

I call bullshit on that!

Darren texted me in the morning to ask how it went, and I told him I was still unvirginally his. He replied with an eggplant emoji.

"Wear something warm," Amias instructed after I was done with my scone. I was in black drawstring pants and a black T-shirt. I'd tied my hair in a messy bun and didn't have a lick of makeup on. I was certain someone like Ann would never let a man see her in her just-got-out-of-bed look. I was obviously not Ann. That didn't mean I didn't feel conscious as he sat there in jeans and a cashmere sweater, looking like he walked out of a GQ Magazine cover.

"Why?"

"Because I say so."

"You know I'm not a child, right?"

He grinned and dropped a kiss on my nose. "Stop being confrontational. Get ready. We have plans for the day."

"Can you tell me about the plans?"

"No. Dress warm. Wear boots."

I looked at his footwear, and wouldn't you have it, he had Timberlands on.

I took a quick shower but didn't wash my hair. I didn't have time for the drying and styling. Instead, I tied it into a ponytail and decided it would be fine because if I was dressing warm, I was probably wearing my woolen hat and it wouldn't matter what kind of hair day I was having.

Boots were tricky for me, and I tended to wear my knee-high ones when I wore a dress, which was rare. I didn't like to wear tight jeans because they made my skin itch, though I always thought that skintight jeans with knee-high boots were sexy.

I called Darren. "He wants me to dress warm?"

Darren blew his nose, his voice sounding less and less like he was dying. "Where's he taking you?"

"I don't know. He's in jeans, a sweater and boots."

"Okay, let me think about it."

After a long moment, I called out his name loudly. "Did you fall asleep on me?"

"Maybe. Ah…you should wear something warm."

"Sleep, Darren."

"Good call, Sparky."

I hung up on him and turned around to find Amias lounging at my bedroom doorway. He'd opened the door, and I hadn't even heard him.

"You want me to help you pick out something to wear?" he asked, amused.

"You look like a GQ model no matter what you do," I said grimly, "Us lesser people have to…put some thought in it and people like me…." Ah, fuck it!

"What did we talk about last night?"

I just looked at my bare feet glumly. He was going to get tired of me after one night. My insecurities, my inability to even get dressed for a date, would drive him away. But I hadn't dated…not since high school, and even then, I had like two dates. I was the school nerd.

"When did you go on a date last?" Amias asked as if he could hear my thoughts.

I counted. "About eight years ago. My last date was right before the accident."