Page 74 of Finding Lexie
“Does this…” Her voice trailed off.
“Does this what?” Midas asked, putting his finger under her chin and tilting it up so she had no choice but to look at him. “Talk to me, Lex.”
“Does this make you feel differently about me?”
Midas blinked in confusion. “Feel differently how?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Are you upset enough to want to take a break? We don’t have to spend the weekend together.”
Midas’s stomach clenched. “No!” he exclaimed. “Why would you even ask that?”
“I just… I know I disappointed you, and because I’ve been on my own for so long and haven’t had anyone who’s given a damn about me, I tend to not think about others as much as I should. That might not be something you want to deal with.”
“Do you want to be with me?” Midas asked.
She frowned. “Yes. Of course I do, but—”
“Pack a bag,” Midas said, interrupting her.
“What?”
“Pack a bag. With enough to last you for two nights. We’re going to my house and spending the weekend together. All weekend. Days and nights. I’ll bring you back here Sunday night, so you can get to work bright and early Monday morning.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yes. I don’t think I can let you out of my sight for at least forty-eight hours. That should be enough to get my adrenaline to subside. Maybe. Lexie, in case it’s missed your notice, I give a damn about you. I have since the moment we snuck out of that hospital room together. Probably even before then. And I’ll teach you that you don’t have to make every decision on your own anymore. I want to be your partner. Your sounding board. The person you turn to when you’re happy, or scared, or sad. I’ll celebrate with you, hold you tight when you cry, and comfort you when you need it. I want to be everything to you, just as you’re quickly becoming everything to me.”
“Midas,” she whispered.
“And even though a lot has happened in the last couple of hours, I haven’t forgotten what you said before the shit hit the fan. You want me to take you to bed? Done. Now, go pack. I’ll just be standing here guarding the door so no one bursts in and interrupts us before we can get to my place.”
She smiled and it lit up her face. “I have a bed,” she said, looking back at the double mattress in the middle of her studio apartment.
“I see that. And believe me, I’ll be making love to you in it sooner rather than later. But not now. And not this weekend. This weekend, you’re all mine. And I want you in my space. It’s a little caveman-ish of me, I admit. But I want to take you for the first time in my bed.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Okay,” he echoed. “You gonna pack or what?”
“You gonna let go of me or what?” she countered.
“Not sure I can,” Midas admitted.
Lexie wrapped her arms around his neck and went up on her tiptoes, getting even more in his space than she already was. “You know what I can’t wait for?” she asked in a sultry, sexy tone.
“What?” he asked, thinking she’d say “seeing you naked” or something equally hot.
“A frozen Dole whip bar,” she whispered into his ear.
Her response was so unexpected, Midas burst out laughing. “Brat,” he accused.
She was grinning from ear to ear, obviously pleased with herself.
But her teasing did the trick, made him relax enough to be able to drop his hands from her waist. She backed away from him, still smiling. And when she got to the door to her bathroom, she said, “Oh…and feeling you so deep inside me, I don’t know where I stop and you start.”
Then she spun and disappeared into the bathroom. Her giggle echoing in the space around him.
Midas groaned at the image her words evoked and collapsed against the bar separating her kitchen from the rest of the room. He eyed her bed, then closed his eyes.
