Forever and Always (4 page)

Sean laughed. “No, but I’m excited to
find out.” He kissed my forehead then finished his shake. “Well, it
was pretty good. You were right about that.” Sean grabbed my
milkshake and drank out of it before I could stop him. “I guess
this one is mine, too.”

I stared at the straw for a moment
before I brought it to my lips. I pulled it away again and couldn’t
hide the disdain on my face. All the guys were laughing at me,
including Sean, so I closed my eyes and drank out of the straw and
put it down. “There,” I said triumphantly. “I did it.”

“
Congratulations,” Ryan
said sarcastically. “Now you’re a normal person.”

Sean leaned towards me. “I love that
you’re weird—if that makes it any better. You aren’t some
unrealistic fantasy—you are real.”

I smiled at him, remembering when I
said those words to him. “You got that right.”

“
Don’t let him go, Scar,”
Cortland said. “Otherwise you’ll end up alone.”

“
Thanks.” I
laughed.

Sean turned towards my brother. “When
is this comedy show?”

“
Around seven,” he said.
“What are your plans for the night?”

I wanted to stay in the apartment,
particularly in the bedroom, but I knew Sean wouldn’t go for it.
Sean turned to me. “How about dinner and then we’ll rent a
movie—something that couples do.”

“
Are we going to make out
while the movie is on?”

“
We are an adult
couple—not a high school couple,” Sean teased.

I sighed. “Fine,” I said. “That sounds
good.”

“
Okay,” he said. “That
sounds like a date.”

3

I took Sean to see the Space Needle
then to Pike’s Market across town. Sean seemed to be intrigued with
everything, but I felt like he was paying more attention to me than
anything else.

“
So, are all people in
Seattle obsessed with golf?” he asked when we were in the Space
Needle Gift Shop.

I shook my head. “No,” I said. “Or I
don’t think so, at least.”

“
Let’s go to the music
museum,” he said excitedly.

I looked at my watch and saw that it
was almost six. We had been out all day, and I wanted to lie on the
couch with him and cuddle like boring couples do. As long as I was
with Sean, I was happy, but I wanted to be alone with
him.

“
Maybe we should head back
and change before dinner,” I said.

He looked at me for a moment. “Do you
even want to go out?” He smiled.

“
No, not really,” I
admitted.

“
We can order in,” he
said.

“
That sounds wonderful.” I
sighed.

“
This doesn’t change
anything,” he said. I knew what he was referring to, that he
wouldn’t sleep with me.

I rolled my eyes. “I just want to be
alone with you,” I said. “I want to hold you and cuddle with you.
We can’t do that in a public place.”

“
You’re right about that,”
he said. “And we can make out while we watch a movie—if you really
want to.”

“
Yes, please.” I
smiled.

“
I feel like a horny
teenager anyway,” he said sarcastically.

“
We can change that,” I
said as I kissed his lips.

“
You are the devil,
Scarlet,” he said as he pulled away. “You are practically trying to
rape me while I’m trying to respect you.”

“
I never said I wanted to
be respected.”

“
Well, get over it because
I love you, Scar. You are just going to have to deal with
it.”

“
How long are you going to
make me wait?” I asked.

Sean sighed. “I don’t know,” he said.
“Until I think you are ready.”

“
And how will you know if
I am?”

I followed Sean out of a store. He
opened a cab door and let me inside first. “I don’t know,” he said.
“I just will.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and
sighed.

“
Don’t be mad at me,
Scar.”

“
Too late,” I said. “I
don’t get it, Sean. I love you and you love me. We are together and
we are happy. You are a part of my family now and we are perfect
together. What are you waiting for? I want to make love,
Sean.”

Sean glanced at the driver then back
at me. “We’ll continue this conversation later,” he
whispered.

I rolled my eyes then stared straight
ahead. He grabbed my hand and held it within his own, but I didn’t
pull it away. Sean started kissing my neck and I felt my anger ebb
away as his lips grazed over my skin. “I love you.”

“
I love you too,” I
whispered. I was still mad at him, but I loved hearing him tell me
that.

When we got back to the apartment,
Ryan could tell that I was mad just by looking at me.

“
You guys are fighting
already?” he asked incredulously.

“
No,” I said as I sat on
the couch and crossed my arms over my chest.

“
I’ve known you your whole
life, Scar. I know when you are pissed about something. I suggest
you let it go and cut Sean some slack.”

“
Shut up, Ryan,” I
snapped.

“
I knew I was right.” He
smiled.

“
She’s mad that I won’t
have sex with her,” Sean said.

I slapped Sean on the arm. “I can’t
believe you told him that.”

“
Well, now you know how
ridiculous you sound.” He laughed. “I know you tell your brother
everything, so what’s the big deal?”

“
Yes,” I snapped.
“
I
tell him
everything because he’s
my
brother. You had no right to tell him
that.”

“
Too late,” Sean
said.

Ryan laughed. “You are getting mad at
your boyfriend for respecting you? Wow, what an asshole,” he said
sarcastically.

“
This doesn’t concern you,
Ryan,” I said.

“
Whatever,” he said.
“You’re just going to tell me about it anyway.”

I sighed and looked away from the two
men. I didn’t have any reason to be mad at Ryan, but I was. And I
was furious with Sean. Ryan walked down the hall and went into his
room to get ready for his evening out. Sean placed his hand on my
thigh.

“
I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“You are just making this really difficult for me. You are
absolutely gorgeous and sexy, and you have no idea how much I want
to be with you, but more importantly, I love you and I want to make
sure that I’m not hurting you.”

His words softened my anger. I turned
towards him and met his gaze. “I’ve moved on from what happened,
Sean. I forgive you, so let’s forget about it and be happy
together. I trust you and know you will never hurt me again. It was
a huge misunderstanding anyway. And I won’t let you hurt me again.
Last time I thought I couldn’t go on, but I’ll never allow myself
to feel that way again. So please, stop babying me.”

Sean sighed. “I’ll think about it,” he
said.

I rolled my eyes. I was done talking
about it. “What do you want for dinner?”

Sean thought for a moment. “Chinese
food sounds good. Or even pizza.”

“
Let’s do pizza,” I said.
“We have to find a movie to watch.”

“
There’s probably
something on television,” he said. “That way we don’t have to go
out again.”

“
Okay.”

Ryan came back into the living room
and grabbed his keys. “I’m leaving,” he said as he walked to the
door. “It’s nice having Sean here so I can go out.”

“
I never asked you to stay
and babysit me,” I snapped.

Ryan shrugged. “I’ll see you later.”
He shut the door behind him and was gone.

I rose from the couch and opened up
the phone book, looking for a pizza parlor close by. Sean came up
behind me and ran his fingers down my back. “Have you called
Janice?”

“
No.” I sighed. “I’ll call
her when you leave.”

“
Okay,” he said. “I know
she’ll appreciate it.”

“
I know.”

He kissed me on the cheek then stepped
away. “What kind are you going to order?” he asked.

“
Combination.”

“
Are you going to ask them
to drop it on the ground before they bring it over?” He
smiled.

I picked up the phone and dialed.
“You’re lucky that I love you.”

“
The luckiest guy in the
world.”

The phone started to ring and they
finally answered. I placed our order and hung up. Sean pulled out
twenty dollars and left it on the table. “They can keep the
change.”

“
I got it,” I said. “You
paid for drinks the other night.”

“
Don’t worry about it,” he
said quickly. “You can get the next one.”

His quick refusal made me suspicious.
I knew he had been conversing with Ryan, and I wondered if my
brother had told him about my situation. I wanted to ask him
without giving the information away just in case Ryan hadn’t told
him.

“
I’m making good money
from my editing company,” I said. “A woman just paid me two
thousand dollars to edit her manuscript.”

Sean nodded. “I’m going to quit my job
and start editing too, then.”

“
You don’t need to pay for
everything, Sean. I have money.”

“
I know,” he said. “But
you are my girlfriend and I like to treat you. Is it that big of a
deal?”

I realized that he didn’t know. After
all, if he had, he would have said something already. He probably
would have yelled at me for not telling him about it to begin with,
and berate me for giving all my money to my brother.
“No.”

“
Good,” he said. “This
feminism movement is annoying. A guy can’t even take out a girl
anymore.”

I smiled. “I didn’t mean to offend
you, babe.”

Sean wrapped me in his arms and
nuzzled my neck. “I like it when you call me that.”

“
You do?”

“
Definitely.”

“
I like that it isn’t
weird that we’re a couple.”

“
Me too,” he said. “It
makes me wonder why we didn’t do this sooner.”

“
That’s because you were
busy being oblivious to my charms,” I teased him.

He pulled away from me. “No,” he said.
“I know you’ve always been a hot piece of ass.”

I smiled. “And you haven’t always been
bad to look at.”

Sean laughed. “I prefer the other
compliment.”

“
Too bad,” I said. There
was a knock on the door and I answered it. I handed the man Sean’s
money and brought the pizza into the living room. Sean and I ate it
out of the box like always, and we watched television for a
while.

“
There are no games on.”
Sean sighed.

I leaned into him and rested my head
on his shoulder, cuddling with him like I’ve wanted to since he
arrived. The scent of his body was evident in my nostrils, and he
smelled like home. It reminded me of his apartment. Sean turned off
the television and lay down beside me on the couch. His fingers ran
through my hair and we stared at each other for a while, just
treasuring the fact that we were really together.

“
I’m sorry about
everything, Scarlet,” he whispered. “I hope you believe
that.”

“
I do.” I smiled. “And I’m
sorry, too.”

Sean leaned in and kissed me gently.
My senses ignited when we touched. The chemistry between us was
powerful and amazing. All the times when Janice accused me of
loving Sean, I rejected the idea, refusing to think I could ever
love him, but I did, and now it seemed so obvious. If only we
hadn’t been established as friends first, perhaps we would have
been together. Maybe we’d even be married. I cupped his cheek and
pulled his lips closer to mine. I slipped my tongue into his mouth,
making his body shake. Sean ran his hands down my body and slid one
inside my shirt, feeling the skin of my stomach and ribs. My hands
reached under his shirt to caress the muscles of his stomach and
chest. Just the touch alone sent me over the edge and I knew I
wanted him. Why did we have to wait? I climbed on top of Sean and
kissed him with more passion. He responded immediately, and I
grabbed his hand and placed it over my breast. Sean squeezed it
gently then unclasped my bra, letting it fall loose. Sean rolled on
top of me then rubbed his nose against mine, making me weak as he
looked at me.

“
Are you sure?” he
whispered. “I want this to be right.”

“
I love you, Sean,” I
said. “I want to be with you. And I know that you love me. We are
meant for each other.” My hands combed through his hair as his eyes
drifted shut.

“
I love you, Scar,” he
said as he kissed me.

“
I love you.”

Sean gathered me in his arms then
carried me into my bedroom, laying me gently on the bed. His shirt
felt soft in my fingertips as it slid from his body and dropped to
the floor. His strong chest made me feel safe and protected, like
he could always defend me. That fueled my arousal even more,
knowing that he would never hurt me again. With steady hands, I
unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down with his undershorts. He
was completely naked on top of me. I kissed his body everywhere,
praising his beautiful physique with my mouth. Sean moaned as he
watched me for a moment then pulled my shirt from my body and
dropped it on the bed. He kissed my chest gently then moved to my
neck, trailing kisses down to my stomach. His fingers unbuttoned my
pants and he pulled them free, leaving me only in my thong. Sean
crawled on top of me and pressed his forehead against
mine.