Falling For Casual

Chapter 16

His fingers grazed the side of my neck, his lips following after. Goosebumps danced along my spine as I waited for him to plant another one and another after that. I was drunk off his touch, though I was actually drunk from the giant frozen margaritas sitting in front of us. Funny how this wouldn't have been the drink I'd initially choose, but how I was sort of forcing myself to give into this fantasy of me and him, him and I, us.

   Those slushy alcoholic drinks made my face hot, Texas adding fuel to the flames with his fingertips gently stroking certain parts of me. I was sure the waitress noticed how red my face was when she came by for the third time asking if we wanted any food. We didn't come here to eat. The only thing Texas would be devouring after all this would be me, whether it was in this restaurant or not didn't matter to me.

   "I made this on the train on my way to our second date," he whispered in my ear. My eyes blurred for a second when his breath tickled my earlobe. I had to blink a few times to focus on what he was showing me. On the table in front of us, he placed a white paper heart with the letters T and A on the front. When he flipped it over, the same letters were written on the back in reverse.

   "Did you really?" I asked, my voice barely audible. Between the drinks, the heat from his mouth, and the cuteness of the heart, I couldn't take it. I was becoming overwhelmed, my brain swimming trying to come up with thoughts.

   "I had a feeling then."

   I turned to face him, his body so close to mine that I had to wiggle a little to position myself to look at his eyes. His gaze swallowed me whole, my teeth biting into my bottom lip to stop myself from launching myself into him.

   "You're so fucking cute, I can't stand it." I lifted my hand to his face and ran my thumb over the side of it, memorizing how his skin felt, his beard. He brought his own thumb to my jaw as if to mimic me, his eyes following that trail until they were back on my mouth.

   "You're special."

   It was two words but it felt like everything. Those syllables ricocheted in my gut, my lungs, my heart, until they settled themselves in my mind where they made a home. There was nothing I wanted to think about, nothing I wanted to ponder about us because I wanted all of this, whatever this moment was, to be us forever. I wanted to erase all the parts I disliked about him because I couldn't think of anything other than this. Or maybe it was that I was only feeling this way from the alcohol. Maybe it was the fact that I was inebriated, my mind smothered with things like tequila and his kisses that were making my mind foggy.

   "I love finding new ways to express my romantic side with you." His lips brushed the side of my cheek, and I felt my brain swim. My eyes fluttered closed the more I fell into this moment. "I have a few long-term surprises in motion, and it drives me crazy not being able to tell you about them."

   I leaned back then, pushing his chest with my hands so I could peer into his eyes. I wasn't going to be able to hide the shock on my face, and I needed him to see it.

   "Tell me please!" I shouted a little too loudly. A few heads spun in our direction, but I kept my sights on Texas. "You know I can't sit with surprises," I said a little lower to him but not low enough for people to stop staring.

   "You know I can't tell you. I'll spoil you, but I'll never spoil surprises." Gently, he pinched the tip of my nose with his fingers to tease me.

   "Can you give me a hint? Please," I begged. I said it over and over, and each time another one would come out he would just pinch my nose again and again, the corners of his mouth turning up more with each pinch.

   "I don't think I can," his voice dropped lower just like his eyes as they stared at my pleading mouth. His thumb moved from my nose to my bottom lip which he couldn't help running back and forth. I felt something stir in my pelvis, my thighs clenching together when I noticed him suck his lip into his mouth and take a deep breath. I could only imagine what he was thinking of right then.