Page 81 of Strictly Against Policy

When Jonathan woke me up this morning, he didn’t just come with groceries for breakfast. He came with a fresh bouquet of lush flowers and a brand-new coffee table—I hadn’t expected him to bring the latter. But he’d noticed the wobbly secondhand table I had in my living room and went ahead and bought me a new one that looked exactly the same.

I shook my head. “I can’t believe you even bought me that.” I was still chiding him for it.

“You need to let me spoil you, Lina,” he chuckled. “Enjoy it. You deserve it.”

“Fine,” I murmured.

My cheeks flared as his lips curved against my skin. He placed a final kiss there, making me lean deeper into him.

“I know you’re a woman who enjoys the more practical and simpler things in life because you’re always set on looking out for your family. But, with me, you don’t ever have to worry,” he breathed. “Promise me you’ll relax in the bathtub, and I’ll promise not to burn your place down.”

I pulled away from our hug to look into those clear, warm brown eyes and listened to the sincerity in his words.

“I promise,” I said.

CHAPTER 33

Jonathan

Since the burnt eggs this morning were a disaster, I wanted to prove I could cook properly. Granted, I wasn’t sure if making mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, and putting it all together with an expensive slab of steak proved I was a good cook. But I hoped it would prove something to Lina since we forwent the dinner reservation.

I set up her dining table with the quintessential candles to set the mood. Since I hadn’t done this before, I wasn’t even sure what I was doing. The bouquet I brought in should be placed in the middle, but it blocked my view of Lina. I shifted items back and forth for perfection, but I couldn’t be satisfied with any of my ideas.

The timer on the stove went off, reminding me to get my shit together and serve dinner for my girlfriend. I finally decided the setup was best with us sitting next to one another. I bounced up the stairs to her bathroom and found the door open. She was standing in front of her foggy mirror, already in a towel, as the bathtub drained.

At the corner of the tub, the candle she often kept in her bathroom was lit.

Droplets of water clung to her hair and skin like stars clinging to the night sky. The fragrance from her body wash lingered on her body and in the air as she turned to glance at me. Looking like an ethereal creature out of a fairytale, she was beautiful. Lina had always been beautiful, but she always had that icy exterior glazed over every bit of her—from her pinched expressions down to her rigid body language.

Here, standing before me, she was soft. Unguarded. Just Lina.

Warmth surged across my chest as I grabbed another towel hanging on her towel rack to dry her down. “You look pretty,” I said.

She looked up curiously at me. The towel in my hand gently dabbed over her cute cheeks. “Because I’m naked?”

“A woman’s beauty never equates to the amount of clothes she wears,” I explained before kissing her forehead. “You’re beautiful, Lina.”

Her cheeks tinged pink as I continued on to her hair. I took her still-dripping locks into the towel and began to pat it down the way I’d seen my sister and mom do for years.

“Your touch is so gentle,” she commented in a quiet voice.

Our gaze met in the bathroom mirror. “Is it?”

“You’re much gentler than when I do it myself.”

I clicked my tongue, shaking my head. “You should be gentler with my girlfriend.”

Lina laughed. “I’ll think about it.”

I shook my head again as I patted her hair down one last time. But not without teasing her with a swipe of the damp towel across her brow first, of course. “Dinner’s ready, by the way.”

“I’ll get dressed quickly and come down.” She looked up at me, nodding.

“Sounds good.” I kissed her temple and left her be.

When she came down the stairs merely a minute later, wrapped in a thick black bathrobe, I made no comment about it. The candles I’d set on the table were lit, and the wine cups were filled with chilled Cabernet Franc. Her eyes grew wide as she took in her dining table.

“Wow,” she muttered. Her eyes darted between my face and the dining table. “It feels so romantic.”