Page 37 of Sunflower Persona (Classic City Romance #2)

Kori

M y phone buzzes as the bus comes to a jerking halt at the stop in front of the arch.

I don’t need to check it to know that it’s Gage and that he’s probably wondering where I am.

Still, I pull it out and shoot off a quick response, letting him know I’ll be there in a few minutes, and book it off the bus and down the street toward Cutter’s.

His gaze is on me the second I walk through the door, and like Medusa, that burning look turns me to stone.

I swallow back nothing as my mouth goes completely dry from the intensity.

In a few large steps, he’s out from behind the bar and closes the gap between us, looming over me as he crowds my space.

Without a word, he cups my face and captures my lips in an earth-shattering kiss.

The move catches me completely off guard and turns my legs to jelly.

This is not what I expected from him today.

Yes, we’ve gone on a few dates over the past couple of weeks, and he calls me his girl, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he wants people to know we’re together.

Things between us are so new, so it makes sense that he might want to be cautious.

Although I’m pretty sure that’s a non-issue now.

Cheering and whistling from the drunken patrons bring us back to reality.

He pulls away enough to look at my face but stays in my bubble.

If it were anyone else, I would hate it, but I’m coming to realize I am more than okay with having Gage nearby—which is a good thing because he wasn’t lying when he said he has no concept of personal space.

Although he’s never this touchy with any of his friends.

Maybe it’s only my space he likes to invade.

He has stuck to me like glue at any given chance since we started going out.

“Is everything okay?” he asks in a hushed voice, loud enough for only me to hear.

“Yeah, I’m good. I couldn’t decide on what to wear and then had a bit of an eyeliner mishap.”

“You’re gorgeous with or without that shit.”

Warm fuzzies stir in my chest even as he turns and walks back to his post. Strangers weren’t the only people privy to our show. All of his— our? —friends are gathered around the counter with varying degrees of amusement on their features.

“So I take it things between you two are going well?” Evelyn ambushes me as I join them.

“Yes, things are going quite well.” My face flushes thinking about how good things are.

“Come on now, you gotta give us more than that,” Karis pipes in.

“Like you haven’t heard it all from Gage.”

“Actually, I haven’t,” she says with a huff and glares at the smug man. “Gage is being annoyingly tight-lipped about your relationship. I need some details, woman.”

I glance at my boyfriend for guidance, and he gives me a small nod as his lips curl into a grin.

“Okay, fine. But I’m not doing this here. I don’t want to inflate his ego by gushing about him in earshot.”

Karis gags, but Evelyn is already on her feet and dragging me toward an empty high-top near the front.

“Don’t worry, lover boy, we’ll bring her right back,” Karis says as she follows. Nathan is two steps behind her, but she turns and pins him with a sharp stare. “Girls only.”

He sighs but sits back down beside Morgan and James.

“Spill,” Karis demands once we’re on our own.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything!” Evelyn says with glee. “What is he like once you get past the porcupine exterior?”

“I don’t know, he was never exactly Mr. Prickly with me before all of this. He’s always been incredibly attentive and patient with me, so that hasn’t changed.”

Evelyn gives me a “go on” look, and I sigh. She isn’t going to relent on this.

“The main difference is how much more touchy he is. Like, I’m talking a hand on me at all times, touchy. He smiles more often, and he is more playful.”

“Gage smiles?” Evelyn asks in disbelief.

“Shut up. Everyone smiles.”

“Not Gage, at least not often,” Karis adds as she goes to take a sip of her drink.

Pride blossoms in my chest. There’s something satisfying in knowing all his smiles are only for me.

“How is he in bed? A man like that has to know what he’s doing,” Evelyn asks, and Karis chokes, sputtering liquid down her chin.

“Don’t answer that, Kori,” she says with a deadly glare.

“Oh, come on, don’t be a stick-in-the-mud.”

“I’m sorry I don’t want to hear about my best friend’s penis.” Karis’s words are far too loud, drawing odd looks from the strangers around us.

“We haven’t actually done that yet,” I admit and cast my eyes toward the table.

I don’t know why admitting that feels so shameful.

It’s not that I don’t want that— because I do—it’s just that every time things start to get hot and heavy, he stops them.

Hell, he hasn’t even let me take his shirt off, let alone get him off again.

It’s torturous. If I didn’t feel the evidence of his arousal, I’d think he wasn’t into me at all.

“Oh, thank God.” Karis breathes a sigh of relief as Evelyn sits up to her full height.

“I’m sorry, what? How have you not climbed that man like a tree?”

“I—I’m—” I stammer, and a look of understanding flashes across her features.

Only I’m not sure what she thinks she’s understanding here.

“Ah. I see. Well, whenever you are ready, I’m sure he will make your first time great.”

Sweet baby Jesus, kill me now. Why does everyone keep thinking I have no experience?

My head falls into my hands as I let out a groan, and Karis snickers. If I knew this was where today was going to go, I would have stayed back with Nathan.

“I’m not a virgin,” I mumble through my hands.

“Wait? Is he?” she asks, and Karis snorts.

“Definitely not,” Karis says, and jealousy crackles through me, followed quickly by rolling unease.

Maybe I’m not enough for him.

Who knows what kind of women he was with before me? They may not have been relationships, but he had no issues jumping into bed with them. Why won’t he do that with me? He says I’m his woman but won’t fuck me like it.

“Then why aren’t you two going at it like rabbits?” Evelyn asks.

“When I find out, I’ll let you know,” I say with a sigh.

Because believe me, I crave him. I want to take those next steps with him. I want to know what his cock feels like inside me. My dreams are filled with fantasies of him “taking care of me,” but the second I try to make those dreams a reality, he pulls away.

“Oof,” Karis says with a chuckle. “I could go talk some sense into him if you—”

“No!” I practically shout and drop my face into my hands. “Please, anything but that.”

I would die from the embarrassment.

“Fine, but the offer stands. Now let’s get you back to your man before he loses his patience, comes over here, and throws you over his shoulder like a caveman.”

“Okay, but that might be kind of hot…” Evelyn muses.

I shake my head, but she isn’t wrong. It would be hot as hell if he fireman carried me into the back office and made his claim on me in front of everyone here.

“So what is everybody planning for fall break?” she asks once we make it back to the bar. “I take it we aren’t going back to the beach?”

“Hard pass on that one. I think last year ruined beaches for me,” James says with a grimace. Everyone but Evelyn nods along in agreement.

I zone out as everyone talks about their plans.

Gage and Evelyn are the only two not planning to use the long weekend to get out of Athens for a few days.

The conversation continues from there, but my attention is solely on my boyfriend.

I’m unable to focus on them with how close he is, how good he smells, and how badly I want to touch him in ways that are wholly inappropriate in front of others.

“Come back to my place tonight.” His murmured words break through my lust-addled daze.

“Don’t you close?”

“Is that a problem?”

Only for my sleep schedule. But for him, I think it’s worth wrecking my circadian rhythm.

“No. I don’t think it is.”

***

Cutter’s is eerie when empty. If it wasn’t for the low hum of old rock ballads playing over the speakers, I’d be thoroughly spooked. Well, that and the hot-as-fuck man wiping down the high-tops.

“Anything I can do to help?” I ask from my seat on top of the bar’s long wooden counter.

“You being here is help enough.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. All that’s left to do is mop, then I get to take you home with me.”

He goes back to his tasks, but every few seconds, he looks my way and smiles.

I’m sure he would be done much faster if I wasn’t here distracting him.

Or if he would let me freaking help. At least I’m getting a show out of it.

Watching his muscles strain and flex against the tight fabric of his flimsy shirt, and those veins…

A shiver runs through me.

The only thing better than watching would be touching, and I can’t do that until he’s done closing up, and he would be done by now if he wasn’t being a stubborn ass.

“I feel useless,” I moan and lie back to sprawl on the freshly cleaned counter.

My boyfriend chuckles, and a few seconds later, his form blocks out the light, casting me in his shadow.

“You could never be useless.”

He offers me a hand and pulls me back up to sit, positioning himself between my dangling legs.

God, he is massive. No one has ever made me feel so tiny.

No one has made me feel so safe either. If he wanted to, he could wrap himself around me completely, shielding me away from the world and all of its sensory overload.

“Dance with me.” He doesn’t ask. No, those words are filled with Coach Gage’s commanding edge.

“What?”

“You heard me. You’ve danced with Nathan, all of the girls, and that punk-ass kid. I think it’s time I get a turn.”

“By that logic, I should dance with Morgan too.”

“Kori,” he growls.

“Okay.”

He grabs my hips and hoists me off the countertop, and he doesn’t put me down until he finds an empty spot to his liking.

“You know I’m really bad at this, right? I stepped on Nathan’s foot, like, eight times.”

“Oh, I know. But I’ll let you in on a little secret—so am I.”

He guides my hands to his neck and wraps his own around my waist, pulling me flush against his chest. Then he starts to sway.

He was right that he is just as bad at this as I am.

For someone who is so graceful on the mat, it’s like his body refuses to listen to his brain once a beat is involved.

Our limbs move awkwardly, and every step is off beat, but I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a more perfect moment.

A thick ball lodges itself in my throat, and my eyes prickle. I rest my head against his chest to hide the overwhelming swell of emotion. It’s too early to feel this way, right? He’s only been in my life for a few months and only been mine for a fraction of that time. I can’t love him yet.

The tight, warm pressure in my chest says otherwise.

He starts to sing along to the music—horribly off-key—but the words of epic loves and happy ever afters break whatever remaining hold I had on my emotions. A tear trickles down my cheek, and I bury my face further into his shirt. Once that dam breaks, my chest heaves with a sob.

And with that, the precious moment shatters. He pulls me from the comforting warmth of his body, and his hands cup both sides of my face. Fear dances across his features as he looks me over with a frantic gaze.

Way to go, Kori . My stupid emotions had to get in the way and ruin everything.

“Hey, baby, what’s wrong? Talk to me.” His voice cracks with the desperate plea.

“I’m just happy,” I tell him, feeling like the biggest idiot who’s ever lived. “You make me happy.”

Those stormy eyes grow glassy, and then his lips are on mine.

One hand slides around the back of my neck in a firm but gentle grip, and he deepens the kiss, plunging his tongue into my mouth.

My tongue flicks out to meet his, pulling a groan from deep in his chest. That sound sends a shiver of need through my whole body.

I throw my arms around his neck and pull him even closer to me.

“Goddamnit, Kor, you are so goddamned tempting,” he growls as he pulls himself away from me with a pained scowl.

Me? Tempting?

This man clearly needs to look in a mirror. He is the most tempting thing I’ve ever seen. I need him closer to me, not pulling away. I let out a soft whimper, which pulls a raspy chuckle from his throat.

“Fuck mopping. The floors will just get dirty again tomorrow. Let’s get out of here.”

He grabs me for one more steaming kiss, before dragging me toward the door, leaving the cleaning supplies scattered where he left them.

Whoever opens tomorrow is going to be pissed, but I can’t find it in me to care.

I need him, and tonight, I’m not going to let him push me away when things get hot and heavy—I’m going to be enough for him.