Page 69 of Date Knight (Roll for Romance #2)

Phil

F ive years ago, I’d nearly kissed Amy Evans for the first time.

This summer, I’d finally closed the deal, and it had been better than I’d ever imagined it could be, but I’d stupidly let her slip away.

So now, I watched her descend the stairs and walk towards me, vowing to never let her go again if she could forgive me.

The dress was even better than I’d dreamed, but I could barely look at it. All I could focus on were Amy’s green eyes and the way they shone brighter and brighter the closer she got to me. Maybe it was the lighting, or maybe… no, I didn’t dare let myself hope yet.

“You’re here,” she said, stopping just a couple of feet away. It was still too far.

“I couldn’t miss it,” I said. “And thank god, because you look incredible. Not seeing you in that dress would have been the worst mistake of my life.”

She narrowed her eyes. “The worst?”

I shrugged. “Second worst. Maybe third.”

The music paused for a moment, and the ensemble started the last section over again, and I remembered that I’d promised the emcee, via Jack and Morgan, that I’d demonstrate the dance.

So I stepped towards Amy and raised my left arm.

She met it without hesitation, stepping around me just like we’d practised.

“Well, I’ve got a few things I wouldn’t mind doing over,” I said.

I had to tear my eyes away from her so I could walk to the edge of the dance floor and deposit my helmet and gloves, but the moment I could spin around, I was admiring her again. How had I ever let myself stop doing that? It turned out I could be both a knight and a fool.

“Where did you scrounge up a suit of armour?” she asked as we moved towards each other again.

“Lauren’s friend. But they’re a bit shorter than I am, so I’m not sure how long I’ll last to be honest.”

I brought my hand to her waist and guided her in a circle around me. I hadn’t touched her like this in weeks, and I let myself press into the dip in her side.

“You look heavenly,” I said as we pulled in closer, our faces just a few inches away as we spun.

“It’s the dress,” she said, smirking. “It’s rather well made.”

My cheeks burned. “I mean, I’m pretty sure it’s you. You could be wearing a bedsheet and you’d still be beautiful. Actually, come to think of it…”

I trailed off suggestively, but I wished I could take it back when I saw her smile falter.

“You can’t say things like that to me anymore,” she said as I grasped her right hand with my left, bringing my other hand to her waist.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

The round ended, and we stepped apart, and she lifted her skirts and dipped in a curtsy as I bent forward in a bow. The crowd clapped, and several people, including Grey and Fatima, stepped onto the dance floor to start the next round.

This was the moment– this was why I was here. I looked over Amy’s shoulder as we danced to see Ethel in her wheelchair by the door, Chloe stood dutifully behind her. She and Ethel were both giving me identical thumbs-up.

Amy stepped forward with her arm raised, ready to dance the next round with me, but I couldn’t do it.

We’d danced the same steps so many times over the years, and it had gotten us nowhere.

So I swallowed hard and stepped forward, ready to lay it all on the line.

I shook my head, and she dropped her arm.

“Phil,” she said, and hearing the strain in her voice when she said my name made my heart feel like it might beat straight out of my chest, through the breastplate and onto the ground in front of us. Though I supposed that was the idea of all this.

“Amy,” I said back, smiling. She could stomp on it if she wanted to. It was hers to do with as she wished.

“I read the lore?—”

“It’s a lot, I know,” I interrupted, stepping in close, needing her to hear me. “And I’m not trying to ask for anything you don’t want to give. I just thought you should know how I really felt. Feel , still. Because the thing is, I love you too, Amy.”

Her eyes went wide. “What?”

“I love you,” I continued, right over the top of her reply.

If I stopped, I might not start again. And I needed to get this out.

“And yeah, I love you like a friend, and I want the best for you, yada yada. But I’m also in love with you.

I have been for years. And I’m sorry I ever let you feel like I wasn’t. ”

I watched as her face melted, her eyes growing wide and wet, her brows quirking up in the middle, her lower lip falling slightly away from the other.

“And if I fucked things up too badly,” I said, “if you can’t forgive me, that’s fine. I’ll be your friend. But if you’ll let me, well, I’d really like to carry on being in love with you.”

Amy bit her lips and took a shaky breath in. “But what does that change, Phil? If you were in love with me yesterday, and last month, and last year, but you still pushed me away.”

“It changes everything,” I said, gathering her hands in mine and bringing them to my face. “ You changed everything, just by being yourself. By bringing the magic to anything and everything you touch. By forcing me to realise what I really want, which is this.”

I pressed a kiss to each of her hands in turn. The corner of her mouth quirked up slightly, but she didn’t give just yet.

“Why couldn’t you do this before?” she asked, her voice small and quiet.

“I was scared,” I admitted. “Shit, I’m still scared. Everything around me feels like it could fall apart at any moment. And I was stupid, too, because I thought focusing on you was what made everything fall apart.

“But that wasn’t true, Amy. Everything else was already falling apart.

But you were holding me together. And if everything’s going to shit anyway, I want to be standing there side by side with you, if you’ll have me.

I want to spend every moment of every day showing up for you the way you’ve shown up for me.

Not every spare moment, because we both know there would be nothing left to give.

I want to put you first like you deserve.

I want to be your knight in shining armour. ”

I stared into her eyes, willing her to see how much I meant it. How badly I wanted to not only be present– be her present– but be her future, too. God knew we already had the past covered.

She didn’t say anything for a long time, just kept staring at me, as if she were trying to work something out, too. People moved around us, but it was like we were in a little bubble, as if the rest of the ball wasn’t there around us at all. But somehow, I heard shouts from somewhere in the room.

And clearly Amy heard them too. I saw her frown and look around, and only then did I listen to them properly.

“Kiss her, you fool!” Ethel yelled again, and I looked over to see Chloe keeping her hand on Ethel’s shoulder so she didn’t jump out of her wheelchair and come towards us.

In the past I might have worried about the uneven floor or the way she was leaning, but I let myself be present, turning back to Amy instead.

“Is that Chloe’s Fairy Godmother dress?” she asked, still looking over at Ethel. “A bit campy, no?”

“She wanted to dress for the occasion,” I said, relieved as I watched a smile creep over Amy’s face. “It was the only thing I had that felt appropriate.”

“Not the yassified Witch King of Angmar?”

“Oh, we tried it. Let’s just say the way it fit made me a bit uncomfortable as her grandson.”

“You’ve really gone all out, haven’t you?” she said, turning her attention back to me.

“For you? Every time.” I brought a hand to the side of her face, running my thumb along her cheekbone. Her smile dropped instantly, but she didn’t look upset, or even afraid. Just… frozen. Disbelieving, maybe. Hell, I could hardly believe it myself. “What do you say?”

“You mean it?” she asked, her voice thick with emotion. “Because Phil, I really don’t think I can take it if you push me away again.”

“I really mean it,” I said, bringing my other hand up so I was cradling her face in my hands. “I don’t know much, as is well established, but I know that I love you.”

I nearly fainted with relief when she smirked up at me. We were so back.

“Well, that’s really embarrassing for you,” she said. “Maybe I should find someone who knows more things. Some fun wildlife facts, maybe?”

I stepped closer, shuffling my feet under her skirts, so that her chin tilted up in my hands to meet my gaze, our mouths just a whisper apart. “Yeah, well, your brother’s around here somewhere if you want wildlife facts. This is the best I’ve got.”

“Christ alive, Phil, will you shut up and kiss me alr?—”

I closed my mouth over hers, needing no further encouragement.

The moment we kissed, it was like coming home.

Her lips were soft and warm as always, and I could feel her smiling as I kissed her over and over.

She pushed up onto her tiptoes and brought her hands up between us, running her fingers through my beard, tugging at it lightly as if she could pull me even closer.

I wrapped my arms around her, and she burrowed into my embrace, smiling up at me from the crook of my elbow.

I could hear Ethel cheering from the side, and was it just me, or was that Jack and Chloe joining in too? But I didn’t look. I kept my eyes on the centre of my world– the burst of starlight cradled in my arms.

“This is twice now that you’ve been my knight in shining armour,” she said. “Though the last time was a bit less”– she scanned the armour, reaching up a hand to brush across the breastplate– “literal.”

“Baby, I will live and die in this armour if that’s what makes you happy. That’s my life’s mission now, remember?”

“I don’t know,” she said, walking her fingers across the metal. “I’d quite like to take it off you later.”

I quirked a brow at her. “Later?”

“Well, that depends,” she said. “Tell me, mister dressmaker of dreams.”

I looked up wistfully towards the ceiling. “Ooh. I like the sound of that.”

“Eyes on me,” she said, tugging at my beard again, less lightly that time, so I looked back down at her.

“I’ll never look away again. What can I tell you?”

“If you made this dress,” Amy whispered, her brows bouncing suggestively, “does that mean you’re especially good at taking it off?”

She shrieked as I reached down and looped my hand behind her knees, sweeping her off her feet and cradling her in my arms.

“Alright, it’s bedtime for you,” I said, and she tipped her head back and laughed as I carried her carefully towards the door. When we reached Ethel and Chloe, I let Amy down gently, moving her skirt out of the way so she didn’t step on it.

“It’s about damn time,” Ethel said, reaching up to grab Amy’s hand and give it a firm pat. Amy bent down and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“Thank you for helping him see the light,” she said, “because I feel pretty certain he didn’t get there on his own.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, feigning offence, “do you want me to leave?”

“Only with me,” she said, standing up to press another kiss to my mouth. “Now let’s get out of here.”

I retrieved my helmet and gauntlets from Grey, who rushed them across the room to me, then reminded Chloe to text me if she and Ethel needed anything at the hotel I’d gotten them down the street.

“You ready, m’lady?” I asked, bending my arm and offering Amy my elbow. But she took my hand instead, lacing her fingers together in mine as we walked side by side into the night. Despite the bright lights of the city, when I looked up, I swore I could see every single star.