Read Deep Surrendering: Episode Eleven Online

Authors: Chelsea M. Cameron

Tags: #New Adult Romance

Deep Surrendering: Episode Eleven (2 page)

BOOK: Deep Surrendering: Episode Eleven
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I got up the next morning before my alarm and skipped around my living room. Two days until the ball. I had been struck by Cinderella-itis. I couldn’t stop thinking happy thoughts.

Fin texted me that morning and I nearly broke my jaw from smiling.

Just wanted to check and see how my girlfriend is doing this morning.

I was so eager to answer him, I nearly sent a message back with an embarrassing autocorrect.

She’s doing very well. And how is my boyfriend this morning?

I felt like I was sixteen and passing notes in class. I looked up to see if anyone was watching me, but of course no one was. You always think that people are watching you and concerned with what you’re doing, but it’s almost never the case.

He is missing his girlfriend.

Ditto. I was about to write something else when I realized if I didn’t get going, I’d be late for my next class. I rushed and got the last available seat. Thankfully, I remembered to turn my phone off so I wasn’t one of those people whose phone rang during class and disrupted everything. That had never happened to me and I wanted to keep it that way.

It wasn’t easy to focus, but I did my very best. I couldn’t fall apart now that Fin was back. If anything, I should be less distracted because I wasn’t always wondering where he was and if he was okay. I knew where he was. He was home and he was safe and it was going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. It was nice. More than nice. It was the best.

In addition to the messages from Fin, I got one from Chase. I felt horrible, because I’d almost forgotten about him, what with all the Fin stuff going on. It was a simple message, asking me if I wanted to study and get coffee. I chewed on my lip, not sure what to do. If Chase were a girl, Fin wouldn’t care if I had coffee with her and studied. But Chase was a guy and he was a guy that might have become someone if Fin wasn’t around.

In the end, I decided to send him message back saying that I couldn’t tonight, but maybe some other time. That would give me a few days to decide what to do.

Fin and I messaged back and forth all day and I couldn’t wait until I could see him. We were planning on having our first dinner out and I was a little nervous, which was silly. After I got home from school, I spent forever getting ready, making sure I had every hair in place. I chose a purple dress that I’d bought on a whim when I was missing Fin. It was absolutely perfect for tonight.

I left my hair down, which meant he would hopefully run his fingers through it, and kept my makeup light. Still, I checked myself a million times in the mirror before Fin buzzed and I let him up.

When I opened the door, I was presented with a bouquet of lilacs. Of course. I inhaled their fragrance and then pushed them out of the way so I could see Fin’s face.

“I knew my boyfriend was back there somewhere,” I said and he smiled so big it made my heart swell.

“Hello, girlfriend,” he said. “Are you ready for our date?”

I leaned forward and meant to give him a quick kiss, but it turned into something more and I had to put both hands on his chest and push myself away from him so I wouldn’t try to cram my tongue down his throat.

Both of us were a little breathless.

“We should probably not let ourselves do that again,” he said, licking his lips. “Although, I definitely didn’t get enough.” Me neither.

I had to stop staring at his lips. I definitely needed to stop staring at them, because when I stared at them, I wanted to kiss them. So I looked up at his eyes and that was even worse.

Fin cleared his throat and that snapped me out of my lust haze.

“Shall we?” he presented me with his arm.

“Just a minute. I’m going to put these in some water.” It was just like the first time we’d gone out. Well, I hadn’t been his girlfriend at the time. Now I was. My boyfriend brought me flowers.

I filled one of the vases he’d gotten me and then got my coat. It was a little chilly tonight.

I took Fin’s arm and we rode the elevator down to the first floor. Carl was waiting by the open car door. I wanted to give him a hug, but restrained myself.

“It’s nice to see you again under better circumstances, Miss Marisol,” he said as he got in the driver’s seat.

“Much better circumstances,” I said as Fin put his arm around me. I slid over so I was sitting in the middle of the backseat, right up against Fin. I didn’t need any space between us. Not even a few feet in a car.

“The best,” Fin said in my ear as Carl pulled away from the curb.

“So, where are we going?” I asked. Part of me didn’t want to know, and wanted to be surprised, but part of me hated surprises and wanted to know.

Fin shook his head.

“Nope. Not going to tell you. I haven’t had a chance to surprise you in a while and I’m looking forward to this.” I wasn’t going to lie, I’d missed him, but I’d also missed this. The excitement of going out and just being with someone. I’d been pretty lonely for a while. A lot of that had been self-inflicted. I just hadn’t wanted to go out or see a lot of people. I still had Chloe and Sloane and Rory, but it wasn’t the same. They couldn’t fill that boyfriend place.

“Fine,” I said, inching closer to him. “I’ll let you get away with it this time.”

He chuckled.

“Oh, I plan on getting away with a lot before the night is over.” Butterflies burst to life in my stomach. Oh, how I’d missed this. The flirting and the anticipation and the excitement.

“Maybe if you’re good I’ll let you,” I said. He kissed the side of my forehead.

“What if I’m bad?”

“I might let you get away with even more.”

We ended up in the park, near where we had our first date. The car pulled up next to something that I couldn’t see in the dark.

“Give me one moment,” Fin said as he got out of the car. I waited for a few minutes, wondering what the hell he was doing until some lights came on. I peered out the window and saw what appeared to be one of those airstream campers. Like something you’d see out of an old movie. There were lights strung along the top, and on the awning Carl and Fin were adjusting. I couldn’t wait any longer, so I got out of the car.

“What is this?” I said and Fin spun around.

“You weren’t supposed to get out of the car yet. I probably should have blindfolded you,” he said, his eyes darkening a little. Oh, if he had put a blindfold on, that probably would have led to both of us being naughty and we might not have made it to dinner.

“Well, now that I’m out of the car, what’s this?” I gestured to the trailer. It was a lit up and looked absolutely adorable. “Are we camping?” I looked around, but the park was mostly vacant. Still, this thing could be a beacon for trouble.

“No,” Fin said, nodding to Carl and then going to open the door for me and hold out his hand so I could walk up the steps. Curious, I walked toward him and stepped into the camper.

“Oh, Fin,” I said. The place was filled with candles. They were on every surface and made the tiny space glow. On the little table was…

“Fish tacos?” I asked.

“And gelato for dessert,” he said, coming in after me. I turned around and the sight of him in the candlelight was almost more than I could take.

“Where did you get this?” I asked, gesturing to the camper.

“I bought it. I thought maybe we could hitch it up and take it somewhere. Anywhere. Maybe across the US.” A road trip with Fin? I couldn’t imagine anything more perfect.

“You bought it just for this?” He gestured for me to sit down and I did. The camper was cramped, but cozy and with the candlelight it was absolutely magical.

I sat down and felt a little foolish that I’d spent so much time on my hair and outfit.

“And may I say how lovely you look in purple?” he said as he sat down. Of course he was dressed to impress, complete with his purple silk tie. I wanted to wrap my hand around it and use it to bring his mouth to mine. Screw the tacos. I wanted him for dinner. And dessert. And everything after that. Fin was staring at me, waiting for a response. Oops. I’d gotten distracted by lust-filled thoughts. Trés embarrassing.

“Thank you,” I said, messing with my hair. He sat down and doled out the food. There was really no glamorous way to eat them, so we just dug in. I wasn’t worried about Fin seeing me with taco all over my face.

“I hunted down the guy who runs the food truck and forced him to make these,” Fin said as we ate.

“You’re ridiculous sometimes. You could have just gotten the recipe and made them yourself. Or paid someone to make them for you,” I said, shaking my head.

“But then it wouldn’t have been the same.”

True. These were the absolute best fish tacos ever.

Fin poured out some wine, which we hadn’t had last time, but was a nice addition. I tried not to get sauce all over my face as I ate.

“I want it to be like this,” he said as he lay his napkin on his empty plate. “All the time.”

“You want to eat fish tacos and gelato in a trailer every night?” Ugh, I should not have eaten that extra taco. I was definitely going to regret that later.

“No, I want to have dinner with you every night. I want to… be domestic. Buy groceries and pick out drapes and walk the dog,” he said.

“You don’t have a dog.”

“But we could get a dog. Wouldn’t you like to have a dog?”

“Sure,” I said. “I’d like to have a dog.” Whenever I’d imagined my future, I’d always seen a dog. A big, fluffy, yellow dog.

“And where would we live?” I asked. That was the ultimate question. I hoped we’d be in Boston, but in the city? Outside of it? And what if I got a job offer after I graduated that wasn’t here? Melding two lives together was not easy. Not even a little bit.

Fin sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“That’s the tricky part. I can picture you and me and the dog and everything else, but making it happen?” Exactly.

“We don’t have to talk about this right now,” I said. “We have tons of time. And I’m still in school. We don’t have to decide anything right now.”

He nodded, and I could tell he was relieved.

“You’re right. Absolutely right. I’m getting ahead of myself. I hope I’m not freaking you out.” I shook my head.

“No, not at all. I want all those things too.” Eventually. Someday. Right now I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he was sitting across from me.

He grinned.

“Ready for dessert?” I moaned.

“No way. I ate way too much. Maybe in a little while.” I put both hands on my stomach and winced. My mother would be horrified. She’d tried to teach me to eat like a bird in the presence of a man, but it never stuck. I loved food too much.

“That’s fine. Come here,” he said, getting up and holding out both hands. I stood up and tried not to move too fast. It was definitely going to be a while until I could eat again.

Fin led me to the back of the trailer where there was a little bedroom which was mostly filled with a huge bed, and next to the tiniest bathroom I’d ever seen. The bed was made up and there were candles in here as well.

“You really went all-out, Mr. Herald,” I said as I slowly lay back. He lay next to me and grabbed a remote to turn on the flat screen that hung on the wall. He clicked a few buttons and “Sleepless in Seattle” started playing.

“Tom Hanks?” I said.

“Tom Hanks.” I moved over and turned so I was lying on his chest, but I could still see the screen. He brushed his fingers through my hair and kissed my forehead.

“When I was away from you, I thought about all the things I missed and this was near the top,” he said and I sighed in contentment.

“I’m guessing sex was at the top?” I said, turning my head to look at him.

“No, actually. That was number two.” I rolled my eyes.

“What was number one?” I asked.

“Being able to touch you. Hold you. Smell you. Hear your voice and see your lips move as they form words. I missed everything about you.” I’m sure he didn’t mean absolutely everything. I mean, I’m not perfect and neither is he. I’m not naïve enough to think that there won’t be things about Fin that annoy me. Things like leaving his used floss on the sink, or tapping pens against his teeth, or not separating colors and whites in the washer.

Silly, stupid, petty things. But I wanted to get to the silly, stupid, petty things. Because then I’d know that this was real and it was going to last.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked, tracing my cheek and moving down to my chin.

“I’m thinking that you can’t have missed everything about me. I know there must be things I do that bug you.” He chuckled and then tapped my nose.

“I’m not touching that with a ten-foot-pole, Mari Cherry.”

“Smart man,” I said and snuggled into his chest again.

“I have my moments.”

BOOK: Deep Surrendering: Episode Eleven
4.88Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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