“It means I’m going to kiss you, Remington Winslow.”
Maria has never actually said those words to me. She’s hinted at them but never voiced them in a way that made me feel like she was ready to take the bull by the horns.
“Yeah?” I gulp. “And when are you planning on doing that?”
“Right now.”
Right now? Holy shit.
She reaches out to place her hand on my cheek, and I don’t miss the way her fingers shake a little, vibrating against my skin. I half expect her to hesitate, to let her nerves get the best of her.
But she surprises the hell out of me.
Leaning forward, she places her lips to mine, and the first, ever so gentle brush of her mouth occurs. Light as a feather, the kiss lingers like that long enough that I can feel my heart getting off-balance in its spin cycle in my chest.
The urge to take it further overwhelms me. I slide my fingers into the hair at her neck and kiss her, really kiss her, right there in front of the medical center. Our mouths part and our tongues dance, and I don’t know if I’ve tasted anything as sweet as this.
It’s not my first kiss, but damn, it feels like it. Every other kiss before this one feels like an impostor. A fake.
They weren’t hesitant but hungry like this one. More experienced, but not nearly as mind-blowing. If I’m not careful, I just might end up falling in love with this girl.
Actually, you just might already be.
Still Saturday, October 5th
Maria
Who would’ve thought that a simple walk around Central Park would make me feel better?
Certainly not me. Somehow, though, the tightness in my chest has eased, and I no longer feel like my shoulders are trying to relocate to my ears.
If anything, I feel relief. Rejuvenated. Human.
“You have to admit, Izzy and I put on one hell of a show,” Remy says with a big-ass smile as we stand off to the side of the huge rock he just climbed down from. “We should probably take this on the road. Hit all the major cities.”
The man just presented her to all of Central Park from the top of that big rock like she was freaking Simba, while the soundtrack from The Lion King played from his phone.
The two of them were such an amusing spectacle that even random strangers stopped to clap and laugh.
“The next time you rock climb with my baby, I’m calling the cops,” I retort, and the teasing tone in my voice can’t be missed.
“Hold the phone, babe. I thought you said I would only be in the good kind of trouble when I came back down?”
“This is the good kind,” I tell him with a playful point of my index finger. “The bad kind would be me kicking your ass.”
He laughs at that. “Well, I’m more than happy to take the heat because my little stunt achieved what I needed it to.”
I raise an eyebrow at him, and he nods toward my face.
“You’re smiling.”
You’re smiling. He did all that to make me smile?
After everything he’s already done for me, I don’t know what to do with that information. I almost feel undeserving of his kindness. I mean, I’m losing count of how many times he’s saved my ass… And what have I given him in return? Stress? A crying baby?
Izzy begins to fuss in her carrier, but when Remy bounces his knees a little, she calms down and her eyes start to fall shut.
“Is it just me, or does this baby like to be in a constant state of motion?”
I laugh. “Oh, it’s not just you. Girlfriend definitely likes to be on the move.” I should know; I’ve been dealing with that issue since the day I brought her home from the hospital—I often wonder if my fast-paced work habits during my pregnancy created this dilemma.
He grins. “Looks like we better get this walk moving again, then.”
At an easy pace, and in the name of keeping Izzy happy, we continue our walk. And after we’ve managed a quarter of a mile or so, I look beside me, where Izzy sits in the baby carrier across Remy’s chest and see that she’s snug as a bug and sleeping again.
The day is uncharacteristically warm for early fall, midseventies and sunny with a few clouds. They’re the perfect conditions to get some fresh air without having to stress whether Izzy is too cold or too warm or the wind is blowing against her skin too much or the sun is too hot on her little face…or you know, a million other things that you’d never think would be a stress until you’re responsible for a tiny human being.
It’s almost crazy how, when a baby comes into the picture, your life changes in a matter of seconds. Everything that used to be a priority is forced into an afterthought, and worries you never thought you’d have are suddenly all you can overthink about.