I grabbed her hand that she balled in a fist and pressed her knuckles to my lips, air wheezing in jagged heaves from my lungs. “Cookie.” Had to beat back the urge to confess it all right then. Just fucking tell her. Lay it out. But I couldn’t accept her rejection yet, not before I’d set it in motion and there was no turning back. I guessed I was a coward like that.
