just any stare. A stare like he just received part of me, like he now knows me even better.
I lift a finger to my mouth and touch my lips. They’re slightly swollen because Rick just kissed me harder and better than anyone has ever kissed in the history of the world.
His eyes are still on me, and without hesitation he says, “Nei tuoi occhi c’è il cielo.”
I stare at him, still dazed.
Rick’s eyes dart around, then land back on mine. “You have no idea how bad I’ve wanted to do that.” He smooths down the sides of my hair, sliding his hands all the way down to my waist, then his fingers dig into my hips and I think he may never let go of me. Then, as if he can read my mind, he says, “And it’s Italian. It means ‘heaven is in your eyes.’”
I don’t know how to respond, but I think the meaning is clear. Did he just say he saw God when he kissed me? Everything happens in front of me, and I understand it, but my mouth won’t move. He made me catatonic. Kissed me so hard and spoke Italian so good it put me in a fugue state.
All I can do is nod.
His palms slide back up to my cheeks, and he looks me in the eye, as if he’s still going to address the questions I had before the kiss heard ‘round the world.’
“I’ll tell you everything, I promise. I won’t hurt you. I won’t corrupt you, either. You make me a better person, and if I thought I would make you worse, I’d leave you alone, no matter how hard it’d be. I promise, Mary.”
This time I lunge in and kiss him back. He squeezes me in a tight embrace as our mouths collide. He feels so good, pressed up against me, his hard chest as close as I can get to it. In this moment, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so—safe, taken care of. I don’t have a worry in the world. I can do anything. When our kiss breaks, I lean up to his ear, and not even I can stop what comes out of my mouth, especially after he opened up and promised to tell me everything.
“Take me to your place. I want to see it.”
Like I said, this man makes me confident, so comfortable in my own skin. I can’t remember the last time I let my guard down and said everything I wanted to say to someone. I would never tell that to another man on the planet, especially on date number two.
Rick’s eyes get big, then he shakes his head. “No, it’s too soon, too fast.”
My jaw tightens a little, and I put a palm on his cheek. “I’m a grown woman. I make my own decisions. And what I want is you.”
He looks me up and down for a long time, staring into my eyes, and I start to worry he’s going to reject me for a second time in a row. The way he stares at me, like he’s wondering if he really wants to do this. Maybe he doesn’t want to. Maybe it’ll ruin things.
My mind is playing tricks on me. I know how bad he’s fighting with himself because he wants it too. The phone call, all the signs, the way he just kissed me. I can tell he wants to do the right thing—for me. At the last second, he takes me by the hand without saying a word and pulls me to his car.
And just like that… It’s happening. This is actually happening.
I feel alive.
Rick Lawrence
I can’t stop kissing Mary every chance I get. Now that I’ve had a taste, I want more. No, I need more. I need her so bad, my whole body aches for her, every damn cell, every fucking strand of DNA in my body screams out for her.
I’m a man. I’ve had urges before. It’s only natural, but absolutely nothing compares to this. If I don’t have her as soon as possible, I might die.
We stumble up the stoop to my apartment building, hands flying everywhere, mouths fused together. When we finally get to the elevator, then my door, by some sheer force of the greatest willpower of all time, I stop us. I unlock the door and push it open, then turn and look hard and long into Mary’s eyes.
My only apprehension is that I don’t want to ruin her. I don’t