Cherry on Top is a classic ice cream parlor with the ice cream displays at the back of the square room and plain white metal tables and chairs scattered about for patrons. Customers are drawn to over fifty flavors of ice cream visible through the glass refrigerated cases.
“You seriously know how to please a girl,” Taylor comments, stepping into the parlor with an infectious grin. “First…earlier”—a rapid blush spreads across her cheeks—“now this.”
I smile at the way her eyes brighten. “You’re just a really easy girl to please.” I lean in to whisper in her ear. “But maybe that’s because I know you and your body so well.” When I lean away, her blush is deeper.
She gives me a cute little giggle and shakes out her hands. “Okay, enough of that.” Her eyes scan the shop from left to right, concern in their depths. “Are you sure coming here is a good idea? Isn’t this exactly the type of thing we’re trying to avoid?”
“First, I doubt anyone expects me to come to a place like this.” I grab the brim of my hat, then shake the sides of my sweatshirt’s hood. “Second, what are the chances anyone will recognize me?” I wore sweats on purpose. No one could see my hair. The public never saw me like this.
“Well…” She glances over her shoulder at the ice cream displays before grinning back at me. “Let’s just make it quick.”
“Good choice,” I comment, following her toward the back, seeing the lightness in her steps, the happiness she’s experiencing, and somehow that’s making me feel happier than I’ve felt in a long time.
And it only confirms that I’m doing the right thing now. I see a little more of the old free and happy Taylor in her eyes and my pain subsides.
When I reach the server, I don’t even hesitate. “Two hot fudge sundaes, please,” I order.
As the server hurries off to fetch our order, I swear I can see Taylor salivating before she spins around, folding her arms. “And how do you know I didn’t want something else, mister?”
I arch a brow. “Do you?”
She hesitates. Then laughs and drops her arms. “Well, no, but still, I’m starting to hate how predictable I seem to be around you.”
“It’s not a bad thing.” It means she’s still my Taylor.
“I guess it’s not.” Her smile turns knowing. “Besides, I’m not the only one who hasn’t changed much. Like you…still the guy who swoops in to rescue everyone.”
I snort. “In your eyes.” Only in her eyes. Because the only people I’ve ever done anything good for is Taylor and Allie, and the only reason is because both women weaken me. It’s the sweetness and the softness about them; they wrap all that warmth and goodness around me, making me do things I never do. Like, care.
Right then, the server returns with our two sundaes, and after I pay, I follow Taylor to a small table in the corner, not near any windows. She sits and begins devouring her sundae without even looking at me.
I smile, scooping up some ice cream. This is my girl right here. She loves incredibly hard and gives all of herself to that love. Like now, with her love of ice cream, and her inability to talk to me while she’s eating.
Sadly, I know we must talk, and that’s why we’re here in public. I didn’t trust myself to have this conversation at the condo. Knowing us, she’d end up naked and fucked and then I’d be regretting it after. “We need to talk about what we’re doing before this goes any further.”
She lifts her head and has chocolate sauce on the corner of her mouth. I chuckle, wiping it away and then suck the chocolate off my thumb, instead of doing what I want to do. And that’s placing my thumb in her mouth and watching those pouty lips wrap around my flesh.
“Talk about what?” she asks, her eyes searching mine.
“Us,” I tell her.
“Us?” She scoops up the ice cream and swirls her tongue across the spoon.
I frown at her attempt to distract me from a conversation I’m now understanding she doesn’t want to have. “Continue to eat your ice cream like that and you’ll put us in a very compromising position in this ice cream shop.” It’s not a threat. It’s a promise.
Her throaty laugh doesn’t help the sudden pressure in my dick. “Ooh!” She swirls her tongue across the spoon again in the way she knows I like my cock sucked. “That sounds like it’d be fun.” She waggles her eyebrows.
“Ah, princess, it would be fun,” I retort, lowering my voice. “But are you sure you don’t mind getting laid out on this table with your skirt up to your hips and your legs spread wide while I feast on your cunt?”
Her mouth drops open, eyes go huge before she recovers, laughing me off. “You would never do that.”
I arch a brow. “You wanna bet?” She watches me a moment then wisely slides the spoon fully into her mouth. “Better,” I tell her seriously. I don’t like to be teased by her mouth unless I ask for the teasing, and she knows this. “Now, as I was saying, we need to discuss what happened earlier.”
“Why?” She sticks her spoon into the sundae, leans back in her chair and frowns at me. “I mean, can’t we just have fun and leave it at that?”
In our old relationship we could have. But I’m not that man anymore. My ensuing relationships have had clear rules and boundaries. “Of course we can have fun and keep this very casual.” Christ, it’s what I hope she can do. There’s nothing I want more than to drive myself deep inside her. My balls are literally aching to blow. “But I need you to tell me that keeping it casual is something that you can do.”
Her frown deepens, eyes slowly narrowing. “I’m not the kid you once knew, Darius. I’ve had a friends-with-benefits arrangement before.”