Neat (Becker Brothers, #2)

by Kandi Steiner

“Every single night. My brothers and I would clear the table, do the dishes, and Dad would pull Mom into the living room, turn up the music, and dance with her.” Mallory’s eyes sparkled, a smile tugging at the right side of her mouth. “That’s so romantic.” “Dad always was,” I said, laughing a little. “He always taught us to be vulnerable, to be emotional, to share what we were feeling even if we felt ashamed or embarrassed. And he taught us how to respect a woman, how to care for her, make her feel good.” I swallowed, searching her eyes. “Make her feel loved.”

“And I see someone who fights for justice, and who learns before she judges.” I stopped swaying, sliding my hands up her back, over her arms, eliciting a wave of chills in my wake before my hands framed her face. I swept her hair back, looking into those almost-violet pools of her eyes as I spoke my next words. “I see the first woman to steal my heart, and the only woman I ever want to keep it.”

And I was there, on the wrong side of the line she’d drawn between us, wondering if I’d ruined everything, wondering if she’d call it all off tomorrow, wondering if I’d have to live without her — all because I couldn’t live within the terms she’d set for us. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to move on — not now that I’d known what it was like to have her.

Mallory pulled my lips to hers, and the way she kissed me was so desperate, so thick with need, I was sure I was her lifeline. The oxygen she needed existed in my lungs, the shelter and protection she craved was provided by my hands, the care and understanding she’d been searching for, she found in my embrace.

I found all I’d ever wanted in her. She was the spontaneous to my well planned, the art to my logic, the unexpected welcome to my day-to-day routine I didn’t even realize was suffocating me.

“Do you think there’s a universe that exists where you could be mine?” Her eyelids fluttered open, and she turned in my arms. Even in the dark, those blue eyes of hers shone, and she locked them on mine, one hand crawling up to frame my face, sliding back into my hair, pulling me closer, her lips brushing mine when she gave her answer. “Let’s make one.”