True L̶o̶v̶e̶ Story (28 page)

“I didn’t mean…”

“No, I know. I think about it, though, I do. All the time,” he confesses. He’s touching me again—the awkward moment passing, and a surge of excitement taking over the room.

“You do?”

“I do.” He leans down and kisses me softly. “And our babies.”

I gulp. I’ve only allowed myself to think about that when I’m in my bedroom alone, missing him. Otherwise, I might hope too much; my desperation for him might ooze out too much when I’m around him and he’ll run.

“I’d want our little girl to look just like you,” he says.

I hug him tight, before he can see the tears that are filling my eyes.

“Your heart is pounding out of your chest. Am I scaring you, baby?”

“No,” I whisper, “I’m not scared.”

“Would we be one of those couples who has to combine our two names to make her name?” he asks, a slow smile crossing his face.

“You mean something like Sparian? Or Ianow? Oh, I know! Orvillate! Yes, Orvillate, that’s the one.” I laugh.

“What about Orvate? Or Korville?”

I get tickled and can’t stop. “Wonai!”

He looks bewildered for a second. “Ahh…”

“See what I did there?”

He laughs. He dips me back and when he swoops me back up, he turns me around in a twirl. I feel loved and pretty until I stump my toe on the floor. It wrecks my nail polish.

“Dang!”

Ian checks on my toe and then stands up and starts dancing seductively in front of me. He pulls off his t-shirt and starts singing in a high falsetto voice, “Dang girl, dang girl, dang girl, dang girl, dang girl, dang.” He turns around and starts slowly pulling off his pajama bottoms, throwing in a pelvic thrust. “Dang girl, dang girl, dang girl, dang girl, dang girl, dang.”

At first I’m staring wide-eyed at him and then I lose it. He runs his hands through his hair and then goes for his underwear, ripping them off and my mouth drops before I die.

“You’ve got me saying, ‘Dang girl, you’re so fine. The way you let me put it down, girl, just blows my mind. I guess I gotta put it down to—day. I gotta put it down…” he sings.

He’s picked me up and is ‘putting me down’ on the bed. I’m wiping my eyes and trying to catch my breath. Finally he stops and looks at me, grinning. “Dang girl, dang girl, dang…” he whispers as he kisses down my chest.

“You just put Justin Timberlake to shame,” I tell him.

“Thanks, you inspired me with your ‘dang’.”

“I see that.” I jump as he tickles my ribs. “It’s actually ‘damn’ though. DAAAAMMMN,” I holler as he tickles harder.

The rest of our stay goes without a hitch. We have so much fun. It feels like we’ve gone through another shift in our relationship. A huge one—as significant as when I came home to find him on the steps to my apartment.

If I were that kind of girl, I’d go home and start looking for a wedding dress. Good thing I’m not.

- 21 -

2 months later

I’m running from class to the coffee shop to cover an afternoon shift for Nadine. My phone starts ringing with Ian singing, “Dang girl.” It makes me laugh every single time it rings.

“Hello?” I snicker.

“Would you get a new ring already? So I can hear your sexy, breathless ‘hellooo’ when you answer instead of you in mid-cackle.”

“I thought you loved my cackle.”

“You don’t really cackle, I just thought you’d enjoy that word.”

“You know me so well. I do.”

“Whatcha doin’, bayyyby?”

“I’m about to start an afternoon shift. What about you?”

“Well, I’m missing you, and I was thinking I’d try to change my flight to come in earlier…”

“Earlier than tomorrow?” I ask excitedly. “Do it! Come on! I only have to work four hours. Can you be here by then?”

“Well, I can be there in six, if everything goes well with flying stand-by.”

“Ohhhh. This is good. I can sleep with you tonight!” I shout.

Several people on the street turn around and stare at me. One mother walking by with her son gives me a glare.

“Sorry!” I mouth to her and then bite my lip until it hurts.

 “Yes! I was hoping you’d allow me in your bed.”

“If you behave,” I whisper.

“Now, come on, baby, you know I can’t do that.”

“I do have an early shift tomorrow.”

“Okay, maybe I’ll drag my ass out of bed so I can watch you work.”

“We’ll see how you feel after I keep you up all night.”

“Mmm, I love your dirty mind.”

I laugh. “Hurry, get here! I can’t wait!”

“Okay, Little Bird. Done. Tonight, I am gonna screw—”

“Sorry, babe. I’m here. Gotta run!”

I hang up, snickering to myself that I cut him off mid-steam.

I rush home after my shift and take another shower. I pick up around the apartment. Tessa has been spending more and more time at Jared’s place. I decide I should call her, but only get her voicemail.

“Hey girl, it’s me. Just calling to let you know that Ian is coming TONIGHT! And I thought you should be forewarned in case you happen to come HOME tonight for once and hear me moaning … do NOT come save me, I am JUST FINE. Okay. Love you. Bye.”

Baked spaghetti is in the oven, the marinara and alfredo sauces are warming on the stove—Ian likes half with marinara and half with alfredo poured over it—lemon icebox pie is already made and the wine is chilling.

Ian decided long ago that he would always get a cab from the airport. He doesn’t like me going to the airport to wait for him by myself. I’ve run into some crazies that are hard to shake every time I go. I seem to draw the crazies like a moth to a flame. Ian says the bugs come to the light. He earned a kiss for that one. Even though I know I can take care of myself, it really is much easier this way.

I’m wearing a long black nightie that has a slit up to kingdom come, and black heels that are come-hither shoes all on their own. I had everything ready for tomorrow night, but he’s coming early! I want to make it worth his while.

He texts when he’s close, and I unlock the door. I spray the perfume he gave me and walk into it. I brush my teeth one more time and put on some tasty lip gloss. I can’t sit. I’m too giddy.

About four minutes before I expect him to show up, I go to the kitchen and pretend to be busy at the stove. Stir, stir, stir.

The sight of me cooking in sexy lingerie is ALMOST as intoxicating to him as Sparrow the librarian. Not quite, but close. That’s why I’ve put my hair up and secured it with pencils. It took four for my thick hair. I wonder if that’s overkill.

He gives a soft knock on the door and then opens it. “Sparrow?”

“In here,” I call.

“You HAVE to lock your do—whoa.
What
have you done?” He’s looking me up and down and lands on my hair.
Fuck
, I hear him whisper.

I hide my laugh behind an attempted sexy pose. Honestly, this man is
so
easy.

He rushes across my tiny kitchen in one giant step and crushes me against him. He kisses me hard, not taking his time for any slow or gentle build up. He is all in. Now.

God, I love him.

He bends down to pick me up and starts to stride to the bedroom.

“Wait,” I say, shaking my head no. “Dinner first.”

“What?” His eyes actually look glazed.

“Put me down.”

He obeys, strictly because all the blood has left his brain. Otherwise, he would be giving me grief right now.

“Dinner.” I point to the oven and try to do a sexy walk. I make it there without stubbing anything. “Sit.” I point to the table where everything looks so pretty.

He pulls his lips out between his thumb and index finger until they’re squished tightly together. He draws a deep breath and goes to sit down like he’s told. Once he sits down, he seems to regain his sass and begins muttering.

“Just because you look all—” he waves his hand up and down, “—and have your hair all—”

“Yes?” I prompt. This is so entertaining. I should have done this a long time ago.

He growls at me.

The joke is on me once we begin eating. The food is delicious, if I do say so myself. But Ian, two bites in, after saying how good it is, turns white. I think it’s a trick of the light at first. He’s watching me eat with a faint smile on his lips, eyes wide and still. And then he goes green.

“Excuse me.” He goes to the bathroom and is in there for about ten minutes.

Oh, this isn’t good.

He comes back and looks a teensy bit better, closer to the white than the green.

“Are you okay?” I ask, so concerned.

“I am,” he says emphatically.

He tries a few more bites and again, green. He sets down his fork and puts the bottom of the chilled wine bottle on his cheek.

“You’re scaring me,” I whisper. “Do you need to go lay down?”

“If you had just let me take you to bed like I was trying to, none of this would be happening.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” he croaks out before rushing to the bathroom.

Well, that didn’t quite go as I was hoping. I take another few bites of spaghetti and take everything to the counter to cover up and put away. Looks like there will be lots of leftovers. When Ian walks out, he stands in the kitchen doorway.

“Did you get enough to eat?” he asks.

“Yeah, I did. Are you feeling any better?”

“Yes. I’m … just fine.” He grabs my hand. “Can we sit on the couch? I thought I could wait, but I can’t. I—”

“Okay, now you’re really scaring me. What’s going on, Ian?”

I hold onto his hand while he leads me to the couch. I sit down and look up at him, waiting for him to sit beside me.

He gets down on both knees in front of me.

“Sparrow, I—”

Wait a minute. Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod.

He smiles at me, and some of the color in his face returns. His blue-grey, green, ever-changing eyes kiss me with each glance. He loves me.

“The day I met you, I went home and told Jeff that I had met the girl I would marry … not ‘would’ like I thought it would happen, but would, as in, if I could marry any girl in the world …
any girl …
I would choose you. He laughed, and I agreed that it was the most farfetched idea I’d ever had because there’s no way I could ever deserve someone like you.”

He gulps then and his eyes fill, making them even more beautiful. Tears start rolling down my face and he wipes them one by one.

“But then you loved me. I don’t know why, but you did. And something small inside of me grew and I hoped that I could be all that you saw in me. I love you, Sparrow Kate Fisher. I love you so much, it hurts. I love you so much, it’s taken over right here—” he puts my hand on his chest “—and swallowed me whole until I can’t think of anyone or anything but you. You have completely captivated me. And I only want more.”

He stops then and pulls a ring out of his pocket. My breath catches. The sparkle from the ring is zinging around the room, casting prisms everywhere. It’s beautiful.

“Will you marry me, Sparrow?” He lifts his eyebrows as he holds up the ring, as if the ring is what will entice me. It really is a gorgeous ring.

I look at him and the ring and grab both sides of his face and kiss him. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” I whisper between each kiss. “You woke me up the day we met, Ian. Maybe even before that—when I first saw you—enough for me to write it in my diary.” I smile and lean my head against his. “You make me feel like I can be exactly who I am, and you’ll just love me all the more, however I turn out.” I laugh. “And you turn my insides into mush…” When I pull back to see him better, he still looks worried.

“Yes, I will marry you,” I say.

“Aaaahhh,” he yells, and he stands up, taking me with him. “Yes? You’re saying yes? Are you sure? You don’t care that we don’t have it all figured out yet?”

“Yes,” I laugh, covering him with kisses. “No, we’ll figure it out. Is this what had you green during dinner?”

“Yes.” He hangs his head and peeks up at me under those long, curly eyelashes. “I was gonna take you out for a fancy dinner tomorrow night when I got in and then I saw you and this ring is burning a freakin’ hole in my pocket!” he shouts. “And then you wouldn’t let me screw my way out of it,” he says sheepishly.

“Oh! Is that what you were trying to do?” I poke him in the chest.

“Well, I didn’t know you were gonna play hardball with the pencils and slit up to here.” He puts his finger exactly where the top of the slit goes. “And then you went all librarian on me with, “No. Dinner. Put me down,” he says, mimicking my voice.

“Put the ring on my finger, and take me to bed.” I frown.

His Adam’s apple goes down and pops back up as he swallows. “Yes, ma’am.”

It’s late, but I have to call Tessa and tell her.

“Hello?” She sounds half-asleep.

“Tess, I’m so sorry to wake you up. I just had to tell you something.”

“K.”

“Are you awake enough to understand what I’m saying?”

“Mmhmm.”

I’m not so sure she is.

“Ian asked me to marry him!”

“What? WHAT? He did?” She lets out a screech. And then I hear Jared saying something. “It’s okay, it’s just Sparrow,” she tells him. “IAN ASKED YOU TO MARRY HIM? WHAT DID YOU SAY?”