stopped offering. I was never afraid to get around the city. I had my pepper spray tucked in my purse and ready to be used at a moment’s notice. One time, I walked down the street, and a guy heckled me. When I passed, he shoved his hand up my skirt and grabbed my ass. I kneed him so hard in the balls that he collapsed on the sidewalk and screamed. I could still hear him even when I was three blocks away. But it was definitely nice not to have to walk in the cold or spend an additional twenty minutes walking when my man could just drive me…in his million-dollar car.
We moved into the entryway, and I grabbed my purse and one of the books he’d signed for me. I smiled as I looked at it before tucking it into my bag. We left and headed into the garage, where he fired up his beast of a car and drove me onto the quiet streets of Manhattan, heading to where my apartment was at the very edge.
I glanced at him beside me, loving the way the interior lights blanketed his handsome face in a beautiful glow. His was a big man who was almost too large for the car, his muscular thighs spread apart and his thick arm resting on the center console as he drove with one hand. I could stare at him forever and question my reality.
What did I do to deserve someone like him?
He pulled up to the empty curb and turned off the car.
I didn’t pull off my safety belt.
Neither did he. He turned to look at me, like he knew I had something to say.
I stared at him for a few more seconds before I said my thoughts aloud. “How do you feel about telling Lizzie the truth?” I imagined she would react positively since she liked him, but I’d never even mentioned a guy to my daughter, so I really had no idea how she would feel about it.
He stared at me with no reaction, his eyes still. “That’s your call.”
“But are you ready to do that?” I whispered. “It’s okay if you aren’t. I just thought I would ask since…this is where we are.” We loved each other, and I took that seriously. People who loved each other didn’t break up because of something stupid. They stayed together, pushed through obstacles, made it work. And I believed Derek would overcome this obstacle to be with me.
He looked ahead for a while, taking one of his signature long pauses to think about his words before he shared them. His hand stayed on the center console, and he looked out the slowly frosting window in silence. “I’m ready to tell her the truth. But only if you are. She’s your daughter. You’re the one who has to decide if you think it’s best for her, if you think it’s a good idea to expose her to me.”
It baffled me that he still didn’t understand how much of a benefit he had been to Lizzie, that he had made my daughter happy in a way I never could. He was her role model. I could see it in the way she talked about him.
“I want to be with you forever, Derek.” I didn’t sugarcoat it anymore because I just couldn’t. I wanted to marry him. I’d do it right now if that was what he wanted. There would never be another man for me. Maybe that was presumptuous because this relationship had been relatively short, but I knew how I felt. It wouldn’t change in a few months, in a few years. If anything, those feelings would just be more profound. “Yes, I think it’s a good idea.”
He slowly turned his head back to me. His expression didn’t change. There was no fear or trepidation. “Alright.”
“I’ll take some time to think about how I’ll tell her.”
He gave a slight nod.
I unfastened my safety belt, and he did the same. Then we went into my building and up the stairs to my apartment. He said goodbye outside the door, slightly left of the peephole so no one would be able to see if they thought they heard us talking.
His arms moved around me, and he gave me a kiss goodbye as well as a squeeze. “Goodnight, baby.”
“Goodnight.” I watched him walk away, watched his muscular back shift and move as he carried himself to the stairs and then out of my sight. “Damn…” I rubbed