Page 116 of Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal
Well, she doesn’t have to ask me twice. I loop my arm around her, and immediately, she snuggles in close, resting her head on my shoulder and placing her hand on my chest. Her faint scent of lavender filters up to my nose as she fits perfectly into my side.
Well, motherfucker . . . this is . . . this is more than I could have asked for.
At first, I can feel my body grow stiff, unsure how to handle this, but as she melts into my side, nuzzling her head against my shoulder, the tension wears off, and I ease into the hold, allowing myself to spread my hand along her hip and get comfortable.
“That okay?” I ask.
“Perfect,” she says, her answer so quiet, so... relaxed that it actually makes my heart beat faster. Knowing I can make her feel comfortable with me, that means so much.
I close my eyes, allowing myself to revel in this moment because I can’t really recall a time when I felt this attracted to a woman, when I waited with bated breath to see if she’d give me her time. And right now, she’s giving me her whole night.
She sighs against me, and her hand splays out across my chest, warming my body, as my imagination starts to play with me. What if her hand moved down an inch or two? What if it traveled to the hem of my shirt and her fingers toyed with the idea of touching my bare skin?
What if?—
“Atlas?”
“Hmm?”
Her thumb strokes my chest, spreading another wave of warmth through me. “I need you to know something.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
Then to my surprise, she sits up and stares down at me, her beautiful face half-lit up by the fire.
“I, um . . . I want you to know that I . . . that I believe you.”
“You... you do?” I ask, feeling my chest fill with relief.
She nods. “I do, and I’m sorry if... if I’ve seemed ungrateful tonight, because I’m not. I’m so grateful for you. I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t come and rescue me. Rescue my tarantula. You... you put your life on the line for me, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay you for that.”
“You don’t need to,” I say, my pulse picking up, my body tingling.
“I can at least tell you how grateful I am,” she says as her thumb continues to stroke my chest. “And I’m sorry it took me so long. I was just processing.”
“Processing what?”
“All the things you were doing. I have... I have one person telling me one thing about you, but then I see your actions, and your actions speak so much louder than your words, and I want to believe that you’re not doing it to manipulate?—”
“I’m not,” I say quickly. “Fuck, I’m not, Betty. I genuinely care about you, and what I said earlier, it’s all true. I like you. I don’t know how it happened, maybe when we were awkwardly talking about penises and vaginas in the gym, I don’t know, but I felt like I knew you on a deeper level, like we’re the same person, and fuck, you’re hot and funny and cute?—”
She places her finger over my lips, quieting me. With a smile tugging on her lips, she says, “I believe you, Atlas. I don’t know why Dwight said those things, I truly don’t, but I do know that you are not the same person he speaks of.”
“I swear to you, Betty.” I wet my lips. “I swear to you that I didn’t touch his ornament. You know me. You know how sacred that tree is. I wouldn’t do that.”
She nods. “That’s what I was trying to process, because it didn’t make sense. None of it makes sense. I really hope I’m not being blind about all this and it’s not one big ruse, but I believe you. I trust you. I think... I think Dwight is placing the blame on you when it was maybe someone else.”
That’s what I’ve been thinking about today too.Who did that to him?
Was it intentional? If so, it was truly unkind. But hearing that Betty believes I wasn’t an asshole to Dwight, well, it feelsas though I’ve been validated. And I didn’t realize until this moment how important that was to me.Betty approving of me.
I let out a long pent-up breath and drag my hand over my face. “Fuck, I’m so glad you said that. Because it wasn’t me. I promise you, it wasn’t me.”
“I know.” Her hand slides down my stomach. “I know it wasn’t you.” And then her hand slips under the hem of my shirt, and just like that, her fingers are touching my skin. “And I’m sorry that for a moment, I believed you were capable of doing that to him.”
It’s extremely difficult to think right at this moment, but it’s not lost on me that her trust in me could all come undone if she finds out about the wooing plan. Even though my intentions weren’t honorable initially, I’m honestly into her now, and I loathe the idea of Betty finding out about the ways Storee and Ididmanipulate situations.I want her to trust me. I want her to choose me.
“You... you don’t need to apologize,” I answer as her hand travels up my stomach. My teeth tug on my bottom lip as she drags her finger across my abs.
