Time (Laws of Physics #3)(12)

She blinked once, hard, and took two stumbling steps forward. “I thought you said I should cry.”

“Yes. Absolutely. Cry if you need to, but don’t ignore what the tears are about.”

“What? Abram—”

I held a hand out to stop her advance. “I’ve been thinking, and I know you have too. A little less than two weeks, twelve days. You can’t trust someone you don’t know, and trust takes time.”

Mona’s frown deepened, her lips pinching together. “We don’t have time.”

I laughed lightly, because her words were a direct echo of my desperate thoughts. But we were both wrong.

The one thing we finally, finally had was time.

“We have all the time. We have the rest of our lives.”

“I’m confused. You want to be exclusive. Now you say you don’t know me? Are you saying—are you saying you don’t lo—that you don’t feel the same as—as—” She crossed her arms, her chin jutting out, a flash of vulnerability and hurt behind her eyes.

It was the vulnerability that had me heedlessly crossing the short distance, as though yanked, compelled and panicky to touch her before she could build any walls between us.

“No. No. Absolutely not.” I held her face in my hands, ignoring how the gentle touch made her flinch, and stifled the urge to take back my words. Instead, I committed to honesty, no matter how much the thought of losing her now scared the hell out of me. “I love you. I’m crazy about you. I want you, only you. But, Mona—” I touched my forehead to hers, “—God, I don’t want to rush a single moment. I want a first date, and a second date, and a third, and a twenty-third, and an eighty-seventh. I want phone calls and text messages. I want to hear about a day in the life of Mona DaVinci, every day.”

I leaned away, needing to see her eyes, my heart giving a sluggish, painful beat at the conflicting emotions there.

Despite my pledge not to rush, I hurried to add, “I want to get mad at you, and fight, and make up—I can’t wait to make up with you. It’s going to be so great.”

That pulled a hesitant little smile from her and she swallowed, her gaze less stormy. “That does sound nice.”

I grinned at her reluctant reassurance and didn’t miss how her attention shifted to the left side of my face, the deeper of my two dimples.

While she was distracted, I pressed my mouth to hers, stealing a tender kiss and whispered solemnly, “I want to take care of you, when you want me to, when you need it. I want to trust you’ll be there, that I can count on you to take care of me too.”

She sniffed, nodding, her fingers gripping my forearms. “That also sounds nice.”

“Good.” Cautiously relieved, I let go of her cheeks. Smoothing my hands down her shoulders to her sides, I pulled her against me. She came willingly, going soft, lax, just as she’d done before, and my body hummed happily in response.

Well, happily and hornily.

I felt myself calm. “No. My feelings haven’t changed. I’m still insane about you. But . . .” I stroked her hair, kissing her temple, inhaling her sweet scent. “I want to be sane about you too.”





4





Atomic Physics





Mona





“That takes us through September,” he said, the bed depressing as he claimed his spot on the edge.

I nodded distractedly, again scrolling through the calendar app on Abram’s phone for August and July, hunting for a possible span of time where we might be able to arrange a quick meet-up. We’d both set timers on our phones, a countdown to the moment I’d have to drive him back to the airport using Lisa’s car.

I felt good-ish about February through June, but July and August were still a problem. We hadn’t been able to find even one rendezvous over those two months. Abram would be in New Zealand and Australia and I would still be in Europe. No face-to-face time for over two months felt like a rendezvous dearth of ginormous proportions.

Of note, I did rather like the word rendezvous and planned to overuse it in the future.

“How long is the flight from London to Dubai again?” I gazed longingly at the seven-day period of free time he had between Brisbane and Perth in mid-August. Unfortunately, it just so happened to be the same week as my Spectroscopy Symposium in London, where I’d be presenting at three sessions and moderating two graduate-level panels. Dipping into my parents’ travel fund to visit my boyfriend—especially when international tickets were so pricey—didn’t sit right with me. However, if I skipped avocado toast for the rest of my life, I’d be able to afford the plane ticket.

Abram covered my hand, drawing my eyes back to his. “We’ve spent a half hour on just those two months. Let’s move on to September through November.”

We were situated adjacent to each other on the twin daybed in Lisa’s guestroom. It doubled as a small couch, but I’d left all the throw pillows piled up behind the headboard. I was sitting against the wall, my legs crossed, with just my regular sleep pillow behind my back. Abram sat on the edge, one foot propped on the floor. He stood at intervals to pace while studying the calendar app on my phone.

Keeping it real, Abram’s pacing was a problem, because I loved, loved, loved watching his body move. Which meant that I was staring at him when I should’ve been studying his calendar. He didn’t seem to notice my staring. Or, if he did, he didn’t say anything about it.