year?”
“Nope. I’m nowhere near that creative,” he said, and I laughed. I wasn’t either.
After we looked at all the windows, the temperature continued to drop, and my feet were sore from standing all day long—and not because my boots were bad. I knew my feet would have hurt no matter what I was wearing on them.
“You guys ready to go home or …” Danika asked, stopping at the end of the question because I knew she didn’t want to make us leave if we weren’t ready.
“I’d love to take a hot bath,” I said, and she oohed at me.
“Yes! That sounds so good. And we can grab a pie on the way home for later,” she said.
I threw my head back. “A pie?”
“Pizza. She means, a pizza,” Chance interpreted, and I nodded even though I wasn’t even remotely hungry.
“We still have a fridge full of leftovers,” I said, reminding everyone about all the turkey sandwiches waiting for us at home.
“True,” Chance said. “Maybe pizza tomorrow,” he suggested instead.
Danika agreed, “That’s better anyway. Tomorrow, I’ll introduce you both to the best pizza you’ve ever eaten. You’ll never be the same.”
I couldn’t wait. It was our last full day in the city, but I tried not to think about it because I didn’t want to be sad. We definitely hadn’t booked a long enough trip.
Next time.
NYC is for Lovers
Mac
W
hen Danika suggested taking a cab back to the apartment, I almost bit her head off with my enthusiasm. The idea of traipsing around any-fucking-more made me want to curl up in a ball and die. Not that the entire day hadn’t been unbelievable. This city was a fucking gem. I loved it. But I was tired of walking around in it.
And I wasn’t the only one. Everyone was exhausted.
Whether it was the number of miles we’d hiked throughout the day, the cold, or a combination of the two, the four of us could barely keep our eyes open past nine as we sat on the couch, trying to watch a movie. We called it a night and headed to our rooms to crash and do it all over again tomorrow.
Once again, I was too tired to do much else but sleep. My girl was going to start thinking I didn’t love her. And I did, by the way. I knew it. Hell, I’d known it. But I still hadn’t said it.
I’d started falling for her that night on the phone last year. But I fell even more the night of the party, where she defended me more than once, stood up for me, and showed me that she had my back when people were trying to stomp all over it. And I’d been falling more and more every day since.
I couldn’t imagine not having her in my life. It would be like trying to live without the sun—no pun intended.
As I held her in my arms, her tiny body tucked up against mine, I fought the urge to confess my feelings. I planned on telling her. I’d been planning on telling her since the minute we stepped into the airport back in LA. But I wanted the perfect moment.
*
The next morning, I woke up, and my arm was numb. Freaking out, I looked down and noticed Sunny fast asleep, her head using my bicep as a pillow. I slowly pulled it out from under her, not wanting to wake her up but needing to get some blood flow circulating. The tingles started immediately, followed by the flutter of my girl’s eyelids.
“Morning,” she said.
I leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek. “Morning.”
“What time is it?” Her eyes closed again as I reached for my phone to check.
“Six thirty,” I said, and she groaned. “I’m going to see if Chance wants to go to the gym. I need to work out, and I’m sure he does too.”
“Okay.”
“Stay here until I get back,” I demanded, knowing she probably wouldn’t listen to me.
“We’ll see.” She opened her eyes and grinned before snuggling into the covers, tempting me.
I thought about diving underneath and making her scream until we woke the neighbors, but talked myself out of it.
“When I get back here, you’d better be ready,” I warned.
“For what?”
“Your man.”
She laughed. “I’ll see you when you get back then, all sweaty and sexy.”
“You like that, do you?” I asked, rolling on top of her and pinning her beneath my body.
She nodded. “Mmhmm.”
“Fuck waiting. I want you now.” I leaned down and took her mouth, begging her to