Uncompromising (Age Gap, gxg)

Chapter 43

The salt of our mingled tears coated our lips as Zee and I shared a frantic kiss. It was time for her and Hollie to head back to the campus, and neither of us wanted to say goodbye, though we knew we needed to. We hadn't jumped back into bed for the rest of break, though we did spend several nights snuggling while Zee rubbed my belly to make my cramps more bearable as mother nature decided to pay me a visit. Honestly, that was wonderful, as nobody had ever done anything so sweet for me during that time of the month, and it truly helped.

"Three weeks," I murmured as we finally broke apart. "We can make it, okay? You're going to kick ass in school, and then you and Hollie will be back, and we can keep taking our steps."

"I hate baby steps," Zee admitted. "I just want to race ahead and see our future." She gave me an adorable pout that was completely at odds with the persona that she'd tried with me months ago in the hotel, and I gave her a little kiss to make that pout go away.

"I do too, believe me. But we made excellent progress this week, and we're learning more every day." Indeed, our snuggles had turned into nightly talks about music and movies and hypothetical travel destinations that let us both learn some of the little things that we would need to keep going forward. It also gave me some good Christmas present ideas, in addition to the clothing money I was planning on getting her to round out a business wardrobe. I would want to spoil my baby after all. Plus, doing shopping like that would make me feel better while I was missing her.

Because, if I was being honest with myself, I was going to miss her more than I'd ever missed anyone. I wasn't going to say I was in love with Zee, but if I was making a little list of things that needed to happen before I did, then that list was almost all checked off. We'd met in a hotel for an amazing night, then had Halloween weekend with a great lunch interview before she saved me from Elliot, and finally an entire week at Thanksgiving where we started to make progress on a lot of the non-physical elements of a relationship.

So, I could safely say that I loved the way our bodies reacted to each other. I loved the way her voice sounded, be it low and sleepy or happy and giggling. I loved the way she looked, who wouldn't? I loved all of the little things that I'd found out about her. But most of all I loved the way she made me feel, because having a partner who made me as effervescently happy as she did, had never been a part of my life before. When you add all that up, there wasn't much left for me to need checked off before I could look her in the eye and tell her what I wanted and what I felt. Maybe I'd be able to by Christmas. It wouldn't shock me, and we would still have another two weeks to spend together by then.

Fuck, I was acting like I was in high school again and it scared me. I never thought it was possible to fall this fast and hard, but here I was! Obviously, I knew it was crazy to offer her a room in my house, fully decorated, before we were truly official, but that was also me being nice and knowing she was in a rough place, as well as trying to be a caring boss. Visiting her for snuggles was a great bonus though.

I really needed to get some HR forms filled out too, because I wanted to make sure that it was all above board, and I didn't want anyone treating Zee like she was sleeping her way to the top. Honestly, I would have given her the internship with that interview, even without the night at the hotel or the prospect of more. But I might not lick her quite as much without those!

"Tell me we have a chance," she whispered as we stood in my bedroom wrapped in each other's arms. "I really need that to look forward to."

"Zee, we do. Believe me, this is going really well so far. I think this past week showed we had a lot more in common than our physical attraction, and that helps. I like you so much, and I can feel you like me too. If we keep this up, and both keep liking what we find, then I think we have a real chance. But like I said, even if we don't, you have a home here, okay? I'm not going to kick you out if we decide not to pursue the relationship."