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“Those are your two choices, baby. You get me?” he asked quietly and very, very dangerously.
Time to notch Raye and Jessie’s How to Deal with An Alpha tutorial higher up on my schedule.
For the now, I knew my safest bet was to say, “I get you.”
He let my chin go but dipped his to my phone.
“Now?” I asked, and the word came out two octaves higher than my normal voice.
He took a sip of his coffee, his gaze never leaving mine, and after he swallowed, he said low, “Now.”
Oh man.
Again, I went with what I suspected was my safest bet.
I bent to my phone.
And Javi grunted, “Speaker.”
Oh man!
This was invasive, totally.
But he’d asked me if I was ready last night, and we both knew he wasn’t asking if I was ready to take our relationship to the next level, that being a physical one. He couldn’t miss I was ready for that.
He asked if I was ready because we both knew, when we took our relationship to that level, that was it.
Sure, life was life, and anything could happen.
But I had not missed he’d introduced me to the real me last night.
Nor had I missed that I could be the real me because being with Javi made me free to be that me.
Nor had I missed the tone of his voice the night before when he’d said, “I want you so fucking much.”
For him, this wasn’t about living the dream of having the pretty cheerleader bounce on your dick.
For him, this was about living the dream he’d never allowed himself to dream. Full stop.
And for me, it was about doing the same, except I’d never known there was something as wonderful as Javier Montoya to find.
He did not carry me up the stairs like a groom carried his bride because it was most expedient.
He was making a point.
And not only did I not miss his point, I loved and adored the point he made.
Shoot.
I made the call, put it on speaker, and my mom picked up probably on the very last ring before it would have gone to voicemail. And it was not probably that she did this deliberately. I was well-acquainted with this weapon in her arsenal.
“Harlow,” she answered coldly.
I felt the chill. I again felt that usual shriveling up happening deep inside. I felt the familiar feeling of becoming smaller.
Mostly, I realized how much I hated to feel so damned small.
And then I felt Javi’s attention scorching into me.