“Thank you,” I say to him. “This has really been such a perfect day. The perfect first date.”
“It’s not over yet,” he says. “We still have to hit up California Adventure after this.”
“We’re going to California Adventure?”
“Uh, yeah, it’s going to be a whole day.”
“Are we ending with fireworks?”
“What do you think?” he asks with a smirk.
“Wow, Breaker. You know . . . if you wanted a blow job that bad, you could have just asked for one. You didn’t have to go through all of this.”
He chuckles. “Oh, I know, Lia.” His lips right next to my ear. “Trust me, I know how much you want my cock.”
My cheeks heat, and I’m glad we’re in a dark room, or else people would be able to read the expression and desire I have for this man all over my face.
“I truly think I got a hard-on while riding Rise of the Resistance,” Breaker says as we sit at our reserved seat in Docking Bay 7. “Like actual chills.”
“Same,” I say. “Although I can’t speak on the erection that you’re talking about. I did get chills. That has to be one of the most immersive experiences I’ve ever been a part of. And the way the cast members yell at you. I truly felt like I was a prisoner.”
“Yeah, we’re doing that again.” Breaker leans back in the small circular booth we have to ourselves. “Makes me want to get out my Chewbacca costume and start running around the apartment.”
“You still have that?” I ask.
“Yeah, and I still have your Leia costume, which . . . I think we need to upgrade, you know, since now I get to see you naked. I think I deserve you in the gold bikini.”
“Oh my God, seriously? Are you going to be that cliché?”
“Yeah, you have a problem with that?” he asks.
I smirk and lean into him. “No, I actually think it would be really hot.”
“Don’t fucking tease me, Lia. You know I’ll buy that bikini right now.”
I’m about to tell him to do so when Jorge delivers our food. Breaker went with the smoked ribs, and I was drawn toward the shrimp noodles. He also drops off some Sprites and then says, “I’m going to take a break for a moment while you two eat. You have my number if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Jorge,” Breaker says right before he takes off.
“This looks delicious,” I say as Breaker hands me a fork.
“It does.” He slips his arm around my waist and pulls me in closer before resting his hand on my hip, keeping me right next to him.
As we dig into our lunch, I ask him, “Have you always been this possessive over the women you’re seeing?”
“Nope,” he answers before swallowing his first bite. “You’re the only one.”
“Can I ask why?”
“Why? Do you hate it?”
I shake my head. “No, I love it, but it’s so different. I haven’t ever met a guy who has held me like you do. Or wanted to touch me like you. And I guess I didn’t know how much I liked it until you came along.”
“Yeah, I didn’t know how much I needed it either until I touched you.” He smirks at me and then shoves a forkful of his food in his mouth, looking all goofy and ridiculously cute. When I shake my head at him, he nudges me and asks, “What?”
“You’re just . . . God, you’re annoying with how hot you are. You can just smirk, and it makes my stomach all twisted in knots.”
“I consider that a good thing.”
“Of course you do because you think you have me wrapped around your pinky.”
“Don’t I?”
I fork a piece of shrimp and mutter, “Unfortunately.”
He chuckles. “Don’t be upset about it or anything.”
“You’re just charming and sweet and thoughtful, and ugh . . . it makes it hard to find fault in you.”
“Are you looking for faults?” he asks as he sips from his Sprite cup.
“Aren’t we always looking for faults?” I ask as I twirl noodles on my fork. “Without faults, we wouldn’t be human.”
“True,” he answers. “So if you’re looking for faults, I have something for you to chew on.”
“Oh yeah, is it a real thing?”
“Very real. I think about this all the time and how I could have done better,” he replies.
“Okay, let me hear it.” I take a bite from my fork and listen intently.
“One of my greatest faults would be not asking you out on a date the first night I met you.”
I roll my eyes. “Come on, Breaker.”
“I’m serious,” he says, and from the tone in his voice and the expression in his eyes, I can truly tell he is. “Ever since I got a taste of you, I keep thinking about how I’m such an idiot for not asking you out sooner, for not making a move earlier. I can’t believe I waited this long to hold your hand, to have you in my bed. It makes me feel like a real fucking idiot. And all those years of not having a girlfriend, it’s because of you. Because I had deep-rooted feelings for you that I wasn’t allowing myself to feel. So yeah, there’s my fault, being a legitimate idiot when it comes to how I feel about you.”
“Wow, okay,” I say, unsure of how to respond to that. “I don’t know if we would have the same relationship that we do now. I probably wouldn’t have been as open with you about certain things if I was looking for something romantic. When you’re just friends, it’s as if you can drop all the walls and be yourself, but when you’re trying to be romantic with someone, you almost put on this fa?ade to show that you’re good enough to be with that person. I’ve sort of felt that way recently with you.”
“Why?” he asks, turning toward me and abandoning his meal.
“It’s nothing huge, just subtle things, but I’ve had some self-conscious moments, and I just think it comes with the territory when someone is more sexually experienced. I mean, this past week, Breaker.” My cheeks redden. “I have never done half the things we’ve done. I didn’t even know that kind of sexuality was in me.”
“Do you still feel that way?” he asks.
“Sometimes. You’re just . . . I don’t know, it’s stupid.” I adjust my glasses on my head and turn back to my meal.
“I’m just what?” he asks, tugging on my hand.
Knowing he’s not going to let this go, I say, “You’re not the same nerdy guy from college. Sure, if I was able to look past the mustache back then and the floppy hair, I probably would have been intimidated, but I wasn’t because you were goofy, and I loved that about you. Now that you’re all grown up and . . . you know . . . muscular, there’s an intimidating factor to your transformation. I don’t feel like I’m in your league.”
“Jesus, you can’t be serious, Lia.”