Page 20 of Smut Lovers
Chapter Seven
Cal
H e didn’t like thinking about her—he refused to even think his mother’s name, much less think of her as “Mom”.
“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to get so dark there.”
“No, it’s okay. I get it.” She offered him a smile. “I’m glad you had Mae and Phor in your life.”
“Me too.” He looked out the front windows. “Yeah, it’s coming down even harder now.” He retrieved the remote for the TV in the dining room and switched it to a local channel before returning to their booth.
“…and if you’re planning on going anywhere tonight or tomorrow, I recommend you cancel those plans,” the forecaster said.
“This will be a winter storm the likes of which we haven’t seen in over a decade, at least. Driving will be dangerous due to severe icing on roads, and the wind chill factor will be down in the negative teens.
Local schools have been ordered closed until at least Monday… ”
He muted the volume and returned his focus to Vi. “See?”
“Yes, you’re right. But I don’t have any extra clothes, or even a toothbrush.”
“I can loan you a pair of sweats for tonight,” he said.
“Depending on what it looks like in the morning, I go to your apartment and bring back whatever you need.” He realized how that sounded and quickly added, “If you don’t mind me doing that, of course.
As for the toothbrush, I can walk down to the bodega on the corner and buy that for you. ”
“I won’t argue with you,” she said. “Mother Nature is conspiring to throw us together, so who am I to fight it?” Her adorable smirk tightened those knots he felt around his heart a little more.
“We’ll have more than enough food, and as long as the natural gas isn’t shut off, we’ll have heat and light. The genny runs on it.”
“What about water? What if the pipes freeze? Outside, I mean.”
“When we finish eating, I’ll fill some containers with drinking water. I mean, if the worst happens, I can always melt snow for flushing toilets.”
His phone rang with Mae’s ringtone so he answered without even looking. “Hi, Mae.”
“Please tell me Violet is still there?”
He smiled across the table. “Yes, she is. And no, I’m not letting her leave. She’s staying tonight, at least. Longer if necessary.”
“Okay, good.” She said something in rapid-fire Thai to someone he assumed was Phor before she switched back to English. “Tell her she is welcomed to stay as long as she needs to. Longer, even.”
He didn’t need to be hit over the head to grok her meaning. “I already did,” he assured her. “I promise I’ll take care of her.”
“Good boy. Let me know if you need anything.”
When he ended the call he focused on Vi again. “I’ll warn you now, I see aggressive matchmaking in our future.”
She blinked, a slight blush rising in her cheeks. “That wasn’t just my imagination then?”
He desperately didn’t want to screw this up, or creep her out and scare her off. “Yeah.” He slowly spun his phone on the table. “Look, I promise that if you tell me you’re not interested it will not change a thing between us. But if you’re ever interested—”
“Yes,” she softly said.
His jaw snapped shut. At first he wasn’t sure he heard her correctly. “Yes?”
She nodded. “I really like you. I’ve been afraid to say anything because I didn’t want to make things weird.”
Their gazes locked for what felt like an eternity.
Then his brain screamed at him. Say something, dummy!
“I wish you had,” he said. “Said something, I mean. I’ve been attracted to you since the first time we met.
” He finally screwed up enough courage to make the admission.
“I was really worried about you that time in September, when you didn’t call in for several days.
I seriously considered calling you to make sure you were okay, or even going over to check on you. ”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t want to weird you out and be that guy, and then you stop coming here.”
Another silence settled between them, this one feeling far less uncomfortable.
She spoke next. “I gave up on dating because guys didn’t like that sometimes it’s an accomplishment for me to simply get out of bed and take a shower.”
“Then lucky for me they were fucking idiots,” he said, which earned him a smile.
Oh, yeah. I’m already in love with her. Fuck.
“And lucky for me no woman has snatched you up,” she said. “A funny, intelligent, artistic, and talented guy who also happens to be one hell of a great chef.”
His turn to blush—he felt it in his cheeks and the last time he’d felt that had been when Mae and Phor showered praise on him for his excellent grades.
He finally forced himself to blurt it out. “Would you feel like snuggling with me tonight?”
“As long as we’re doing more than snuggling, yes.” She smiled. “And while you’re at the bodega, maybe you should purchase more than a toothbrush for me.”