"Lark?" I almost run right into her as I exit the diner. "What are you doing here?"
"You weren't in bed when I woke up." She looks past me, her gaze skimming over the windows.
Gem is still in there, crafting a post about how she dumped my ass for good. I don't give a shit. She can say what she wants about me. I know the truth. If Lark knows, that's all that matters.
"You were sound asleep so I didn't want to wake you." I adjust the scarf that's around her neck. "You read my note, right? I told you I'd be back within the hour."
"I didn't see it at first." Her bottom lip trembles. "You left it next to my pillow. I saw it when I walked back into my bedroom after checking my phone."
"You shouldn't have come out in the cold. It's snowing," I point out the obvious. "You're not dressed very warmly."
"Did you mean what you wrote in the note?"
I wrap my arm around her shoulder and guide her to the side of the building. I know she's not talking about the part of the note where I wrote about which diner I was going to meet Gem at so I could put a stop to her constant harassment. Lark is talking about the rest of the note. She's referring to the words I wrote about her. "I meant every word."
She stops and looks up at me. "Last night was the best night of your life?"
"Until tonight when you let me s
tay with you again." I rub the tip of her reddened nose. "Then tomorrow night will be better and the next night will be the best."
"You called me your Christmas angel in the note." Her eyes well with tears. "Is that what I am?"
"You're my everyday angel. I want to spend every day with you, Lark. Today, tomorrow, New Year's Eve. All of next year. All of it."
"It's fast. You just broke up with her last week."
"My heart was never attached to her," I say honestly. "I've felt more in the past few days than I've ever felt in my life."
"Me too." She sighs. "We'll take it slow, right? These things need time to grow. We can't rush this. I don't want this to crash and burn."
"We won't crash and burn. This right here is just the beginning of us."
Chapter 19
7 Weeks Later
Ryker
"I'm proud of you, Ryker. I think you're doing the right thing."
"Is that excitement I hear in your voice, Lark?" I look down at her. "You want my job while I'm gone, don't you? Is that why you blew my mind this morning?"
"I blew your dick." She nods, her lips pursing. "I did it because I like you, not because I want your job. Besides, Crew is too controlling to let you pick who covers for you. He'll make that decision himself."
She's right. Her brother is the man with the plan. I spoke to him this morning about my need to take a leave of absence to get things in order at Cremza. I expect to be gone for six weeks while I help my grandparents hire someone to take over the everyday duties of managing the business. I'll still have the upper hand when it comes to all decisions and I'll keep a close eye on things once I'm back at Matiz, but I need to devote time to helping them transition into being semi-retired. It's a decision they made in early January when they realized that there are things they want to do but haven't had the time for.
"You'd make an excellent replacement." I tease her bottom lip with the pad of my thumb. It's the same lip that held the last lingering drops of my release after I'd come down her throat this morning. I didn't expect it, never imagined that she'd blow me in the kitchen of my apartment after we'd shared a bowl of cereal together.
The orgasm was fulfilling, the sounds she made after I picked her up, knocked the bowl into the skin and then ate her out was my heaven. She's given in and opened up. She no longer hears the words of her first piece of shit boyfriend who didn't understand that the cries of a woman under your touch are the fuel most men crave. He was a bastard who took something from her but she's taken it back now. She's free to be herself.
She's given me more these past six weeks than any man deserves.
"It's Valentine's Day tomorrow. What do you want to do?" She has a half-assed grin on her face. "Do you even do Valentine's Day? You seem like you would."
"I don't," I answer truthfully. I've never been one of those guys who trudge down to the store to pick up a heart-shaped box of chocolates or a greeting card with a generic message. I've never done anything for any woman on that day. If I had, it would have been epic. It will be epic this year.
Disappointment wells in her eyes, but her expression holds firm. She's never asked me for a thing since we started seeing each other. Our connection has grown at its own pace. I'm falling in love with her, not just because of who she is when we're alone together but because of the incredible person she is at the office. She holds her own, every single day.