Page 38 of Trophy

Both she and Rob had to wake up early the next day. It was a work day, and unfortunately businesses kept running, no matter how many personal crises you’d worked through the day before.

They didn’t have much time to really talk before work. They’d slept later than they should have, so Allison needed to rush over to her house to shower and change for the restaurant. Rob kissed her before she left and asked if she’d come over that evening for dinner.

She said yes.

Any more relationship talk would have to wait until then.

Allison spent the day in an exhausted and strangely giddy haze.

It felt like she could actually breathe, like she didn’t have to stay on guard against something she might let herself do or become.

Chelle told her that she looked gorgeous, and when Allison doubted the veracity of this compliment, Chelle just muttered that love tends to do that to a woman.

Allison didn’t even feel obliged to object.

She got off midafternoon, as she normally did, and was tempted to walk over to the hardware store so she could get a glimpse of Rob.

She managed to forgo that silly mission and instead went to the Walmart in the next town over to catch up on some shopping she’d gotten behind on because of all the heartache.

Things might be better with Rob now, but she still was really tight on money. She couldn’t be eating out all the time because she didn’t have food in the house.

While she was there, she looked at the clothes section for the first time in her life.

She had more designer outfits than she knew what to do with, but she didn’t actually have very many lying-around clothes.

Most of the clothes in the store she wouldn’t dream of wearing, but she bought a couple of pairs of yoga pants that looked decent enough, and then she went to look through the pajamas.

Arthur had wanted all of her sleepwear to be slinky and sexy, and she only had a couple of comfortable pajama bottoms. She found some light cotton ones that looked cute enough.

She could tell the quality wasn’t as good as most of her clothes, but she didn’t see why it mattered.

At least they were cheap.

She actually had a little bit of a shopper’s buzz as she left the store, and she had to laugh at herself.

When she got home, it was still just after five, so she made herself sit down and work on some jewelry instead of stalking Rob’s house. She was still working on that choker necklace, which was incredibly intricate, so it forced her to concentrate.

She blinked when her phone buzzed, and it was Rob telling her he was home. It was almost six already, and she’d had no idea.

She put down her tools and ran to check the mirror. Since her hair was in decent shape, she grabbed her purse and hurried across the street.

The door was open, so she knocked on the storm door and let herself in.

“I’m in here,” Rob called out.

She found him slouched down on the couch in the living room. “What are you doing?” she asked.

He gave her a tired smile. He’d finally shaved this morning, but he still didn’t look quite like his normal self. “Sitting.”

“Did you get anything to eat?”

“Not yet. I was waiting for you.”

“You look tired. Do you want me to fix something?”

“Not yet.” He stretched out his arm toward her. “I want to sit with you for a minute.”

When she took his hand, he pulled her toward him with surprising force. She ended up on his lap, laughing and wrapping her arms around his neck.

“That’s better,” he murmured, nuzzling her face as he slid both of his hands down her back until they were cupping her bottom. “I wanted to make sure you were still…”

“I was still what?” she asked liltingly, tangling her hands in his hair.

“Still mine.”

She could feel him smiling, even as he pulled her into a tight hug. She hugged him back and after a while said against his shoulder, “Are you really okay, Rob? You seem… different.”

“I am different. I lost you and I got you back. I don’t want to do it again.”

“I don’t either. So let’s not.”

He eased her back so he could see her face. “Is it all right if I ask a few questions, just so I can stop worrying about some things?”

“Of course. What are you worried about?”

“We’re… dating now, right? For real?”

“Right. For real.”

“Exclusively?”

“I hope so.”

This evidently was what he wanted to hear, because his face relaxed slightly. “You said when we first got together that you weren’t ready for a relationship, and so we were taking it slow. Do you still want that?”

She shook her head, knowing with certainty the answer. “I’m ready now. For anything.”

His lips turned up in a little smile. “I really want to tell you I love you, but I’m afraid it might be too soon for you.”

She gave a little gasp, her heart doing an embarrassing jump. “It’s not too soon.”

Now his eyes blazed up to match the little smile on his face. “I love you, Allison Davies.”

“I love you too, Rob West.”

He kissed her then, and she kissed him back, and both of them were eager and emotional and a little bit tired. She ended up slumped against his chest again, feeling like she might actually cry.

“Okay,” Rob murmured. “That’s good. That makes me feel better.”

“Me too.”

He stroked her back the way he’d done last night.

“I know you were worried about a lot of things before. I know a lot of the problem was me, and it’s something I’m going to work on.

I wouldn’t let myself be needy with you or open up if it made me feel out of control.

I didn’t want to feel the way I’d felt in relationships before, but that meant I couldn’t do a real relationship at all.

I’m not promising it will be fixed overnight, but I am going to change. I hope you know that.”

“I do. Thank you.”

“But there were other things you mentioned.” He paused. “You said you never intended to stay here in Fielding for long. Did you mean that?”

She felt a little pang—that everything in the world hadn’t been miraculously fixed. But the issues didn’t seem to be so monumental as they had before. “I… I wasn’t planning on it. Right now I don’t even know anymore. I don’t want to work at Dora’s for any longer than I have to. I do know that.”

“Well, of course not. I never expected you to. You’re taking classes again, so you can get a degree and get a better job. Right?”

“Right.”

His hand had grown still on her back, and she was sure he was going to say something about how there were plenty of job possibilities for her in the area. It wasn’t true, but he’d want to be encouraging.

When he finally spoke, it wasn’t at all what she’d expected. “You know, Charlotte isn’t very far away.”

“What?” she asked, lifting her head.

“Charlotte is only an hour or so away. If you want to work there, or if you end up managing to get your jewelry shop going, we could make it work. Or there’s Asheville, which is a decent size and even closer.

We could live halfway between the city and here.

Then neither of us would have to drive so far.

” He gave her a quick, nervous look, evidently misreading her stunned expression.

“I mean in the future, of course. Way in the future when we’re ready to make decisions like that.

I just wanted you to know that you’re not trapped here, just because you’re with me. ”

She was crying now, and it was absolutely ridiculous. She buried her face in his shoulder for a minute until the wave of emotion had passed. “You mean you’d actually be willing to move?” she gasped at last.

He lowered his eyebrows, clearly confused by her reaction.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I don’t really want to live in the city.

I would hate it like nobody’s business. But I’m not joined at the hip with this house or anything.

Of course I would move, if it could get you closer to what you want.

” His confusion was changing to a kind of bemused pleasure as he recognized her joyful expression. “Didn’t you know that?”

“I do now.” She pressed clumsy kisses against his mouth and chin.

He appeared to think this was a very good idea, because soon he was kissing her back. And then his hands were moving all over her body, and then he was taking off her clothes.

She was fumbling with his clothes too, but he was quicker. They were both so aroused and urgent and emotional at the moment that they couldn’t even be bothered with foreplay. As soon as Allison had freed his erection, he was positioning her over him, and she was lowering her hips to take him in.

He kissed her as they started to move, building a rhythm of fast, tight little pumps.

Allison wasn’t sure she could come, but she loved it.

Loved how he felt inside her, loved how he was already huffing in pleasure and an overflow of emotion.

Loved how he was holding her bottom in his hands, guiding her motion.

Loved how they both were in the same mood, needed the same thing from each other.

They didn’t last long. When she wasn’t making any strides toward coming, Rob shifted his arms so he could find and rub her clit. She gasped as the pleasure started to build, and soon she was riding him hard, reaching orgasm just as he lost control.

Both of them cried out with their release and then held each other tightly, panting in the aftermath.

“I love you,” Rob mumbled, still trying to press kisses against her hair.

She believed him, without question.

“I love you too.”

And she knew he believed her too.

A month later Allison was peeking again at the note Rob had left her on his napkin this morning.

He still came to eat at Dora’s on weekdays, and he’d never stopped giving her notes. This morning he’d written, I love the way you laugh, like it’s something secret. I love everything about you. R.

She wondered if anyone had ever had a better boyfriend than she had.