"I wish you would have," I smiled at him. "I thought you liked me like a sister."

Tristan snorted just like he had so many times before while solely in my presence, but he didn't bother to try and cover it up anymore which was too perfect. "Not a sister," he said with a laugh. "Definitely not a sister."

I wanted him, I knew that without a doubt in my head, but I didn't want to be just another notch on the bedpost. He thought I was special before today, and I wanted to keep it that way. The only child gene in me screamed that I wanted to mean something, and I was okay with that. He was going to have to at least try to woo me a bit before the chastity belt came off, especially after all the shit he'd put my poor heart through. Bastard.

There were so many questions I wanted to ask him. I wanted to ask what this meant because it couldn't be insignificant. I wanted to ask him what he expected after this. How exactly he felt for me. If he quit for me. Why he wasn't buried in me. I wanted to look down and see if he had the boner equivalent of my wet panties. I didn't ask or do any of the things because he scooted over on the couch and slid an arm over my shoulders, pulling me in tightly against his side. Minutes turned into a half hour, and then an hour while we sat there silently. His arm didn't loosen from around me, and I just wiggled deeper into his embrace. Before, it was never like that, occasionally he would put an arm around me randomly or something but this was so different. It would have been like comparing a full moon to a crescent moon.

We'd figure that out somehow but not today. I wanted to enjoy the moment. I also wanted to make him squirm just a little later on.

His mouth was tender against my temple at some point. It made me forget all of the questions I had for another day when the moment was less bubbly and warm. When I could feel like I hadn't just won the lottery. "Can I tell you something?"

I laughed against the thick material of his hoodie. How many times had I not asked him the same exact thing? "You already know the answer."

He brushed his nose across my earlobe, "I punched the wall because I was pissed off you were going on a date."

"Oh," was the only thing I could spit out coherently before prying the arm that wasn't around me off the armrest to inspect the tender flesh that he ruined. It was swollen and red, already starting to scab over in a much worse condition than last time; honestly, it seemed like a miracle that it wasn't broken. That didn't stop the smile that I was sporting, though. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"You're an idiot for hurting yourself," I told him with a kiss to the veins right by his knuckles. I gave his skin another kiss. "But I'm so glad you're here."

Chapter 44

The next morning I met up with my two bitches for lunch at the deli closest to Nicole's office. The two forces of nature sat together on one side of the booth leaving me all alone on the opposite end. I think they did it on purpose in order to interrogate me more effectively, but you could never really be too certain with those two.

"Tell us what happened," Zoey said ominously while looking down at her chicken caesar salad .

I had to snort, because I didn't understand how she could just know something happened the night before. I hadn't been acting any differently, I thought. "Why do you think I have something to tell you?"

Nikki scoffed before swallowing down a mouthful of turkey sandwich. "You have a stupid smile on your face."

"I really don't think my smiles are stupid," I rolled my eyes as I took a bite out of the roast beef sandwich on my plate.

Zoey and Nikki looked at each other with smirks on their faces, and then nodded in unison like mind-reading twins. "Yeah, you do."