She rolled her eyes and cut the distance between them, coming up to her toes to plant her lips against the dark-haired man’s. He wrapped his free arm around her waist and pulled her right into the broad frame of his body, deepening the kiss even though he was holding a baby carrier in his free hand.
I had to look away.
Maybe it was time I started looking for someone to let into my life. It’d been five years since the last time I’d had an honest real boyfriend, and I wasn’t traveling as much anymore.
I could make it work. Couldn’t I?
My stupid eyes moved over to Kulti’s direction for one split second before I forced them down to my lap. I slipped my headphones on, peeked up again to see Dex holding the baby carrier in a hand as he and the girl walked to the back, and then started up a movie on my phone to keep me busy until the German was done. Sometime later, a hand waving at me from the front desk caught my attention. It was the redheaded guy.
“Hey,” I said, taking my headphones off and pausing the movie.
The girl from earlier was sitting next to the desk with him, no baby seat in sight, but there was a baby monitor on the desk. “I don’t usually act like a fan-boy,” the man said, his voice a whisper. “But… is that Kulti?” His face was really hopeful.
I set my phone on my lap and watched as he leaned forward for my reply. “Yes.”
The guy pumped his fist in the air and turned back to the girl. “I told you so!” he whisper-hissed at her, which only made me smile.
“His hair is different,” she responded to him in a low voice, looking back to make sure she wasn’t being overheard.
“He does look different with his hair short,” I agreed, stretching my neck up but only able to catch a glimpse of the guy they’d called Dex hunched over.
“Do you think he’d give me an autograph?” the redhead asked.
I nodded.
The guy grinned all teeth at the girl, who smiled at me. “He’s the most famous person we’ve had in here, at least since I started. There was that boxer guy that was a friggin’ jerk but no one was impressed,” she explained shyly. She turned back around before adding, looking at the ginger, “I used to have a big crush on him. He was so cute.”
“Don’t let the boss hear you,” the redhead laughed.
Or he’d get jealous? How adorable was that?
So sweet it made me feel a little weird. With how busy I was, I didn’t spend much time around couples. Even when my friends had significant others, I still didn’t do a whole bunch of stuff with them.
Oh hell. I had almost exactly what I’d always wanted. I had nothing to complain about.
“Are you dating?” the guy blurted out a second later. The girl hit him in the arm.
I felt my neck get hot, and though I realized I didn’t have to answer, I did anyway. “No.”
“Oh.”
“We’re just best friends.”
“Look, I need to warn you: I think my dad’s going to lose his shit,” I said as we pulled into my parents’ neighborhood. “I already warned him that I had a big surprise while I was waiting for you at the tattoo place, but I really think he’s going to lose it.”
I could feel the weight of his gaze from the other side of the car even though it was almost eight o’clock at night. “I’m not worried.”
Of course he wasn’t worried.
But I was.
My dad was going to crap his pants. I hadn’t found the balls to even warn my mom because I wasn’t sure how she’d handle it either. There was a chance she’d freak out and say she needed a warning beforehand.
“Rey, you don’t understand how big of a fan of yours he is.”
“Schnecke, I’m not worried. I’ve seen it all.”
Not that I didn’t doubt it, but it still didn’t help my nerves as we got closer and closer to the house my parents had lived in for as long as I could remember. The fear that one of them would spill the beans on my childhood crush had been nagging at me for hours.