“I know,” he agreed before reaching over and grabbing my hand, squeezing it lightly and not letting go for the rest of our drive to the zoo.
Once we got there, Nash had to stop in each tiny shop to buy Madison at least one thing. To say she was spoiled by her uncle was an understatement. It was weird to see a guy in his mid twenties act that way with a four-year-old, but very sweet. By the time we got to the first animal exhibit, Madison was loaded down with two new stuffed animals, a bag of cotton candy, and two hair bows that had little koalas on them.
She grabbed both of our hands as she squealed at the sight of the polar bears, planting her face against the glass to get the closest view. Nash gave me a reassuring smile as he pulled his aviator sunglasses down and I relaxed just a little bit.
By the time we were finished for the day, my feet hurt, I was ready for a nap, and I had a new best friend. It was hard not to fall in love with Madison. She had to be one of the sweetest and smartest little girls around.
Nash picked her up halfway back to his truck, her eyes starting to droop close as soon as she laid her head down on his shoulder, but not before she gave me a sweet smile. “I’m going to take a nap, you can give Uncle Nash kisses now.” I giggled at her and could see Nash’s chest vibrating with laughter as he strapped her in the back, tucking her stuffed animals in next to her. He placed a kiss on her nose before getting inside the truck.
I looked back at Madison to see that she was all ready passed out. I turned around to find Nash’s eyes on me, staring intensely back. “What, do I have something on my face?”
“No, I’m waiting for that kiss Madison gave you permission to give me. Then we can head home,” he raised his brows at me, just waiting. I licked my lips nervously, my hands suddenly sweaty at the thought of kissing Nash again. It had happened before, but I hadn’t been so nervous. Maybe it’s because this could actually mean something now. Before he had Mariah and all I had really felt was guilt. Now seemed different.
I leaned over slowly, brushing my lips over his waiting ones and went to pull back but didn’t get very far. He pulled me close, deepening the kiss with a sense of urgency, our teeth clashing together as we both opened our mouths. His hands slid down the sides of my body, settling at my waist, and he moved even closer. His tongue slipped inside, it was sweet and warm, but nothing like kissing Justin. With Justin everything just seemed so right, like we were two pieces of a puzzle made to fit each other.
I stuffed those thoughts down and let myself be in this moment right here, right now. Nash pulled back, staring at me with hooded eyes as we both breathed heavily. Glancing at the back seat to see a sleeping Madison, he threw the truck in reverse. “I think we’re actually lucky that Madison was here. I think that would have gone a lot farther if she wasn’t, and I want to take things slow with you, Della. I want to make sure you’re ready for this, truly ready.”
I didn’t know the answer to that, so I just grabbed his hand and gave it a small squeeze, looking out the window as if the answer to that would be somewhere out there because I really didn’t know if I was truly ready for another relationship.
Nash pulled his truck into my grandparent’s driveway, leaning over to give me a hesitant kiss on the cheek after putting it into park. “Thanks, Nash. I had fun today with both of you. Maybe we can do something like this again soon.” I moved to open the door but he grabbed onto my elbow to stop me.
“Della, do you think we could meet up later tonight? I know Callie and Zoey are staying over but I was wondering if you could sneak away for a bit. I wanted to take you somewhere.”
“Um…” I really don’t want to ditch Zoey and Callie again but those brown eyes looked so pleading, and I gave in almost immediately. “Sure. It’s not too far though is it? I don’t want to keep ditching them the whole time they’re here.”
“Not at all,” he answered with a smirk. “Meet me out back around ten.”
Once I got back into the house, I found Zoey and Callie just getting up for the day and that relieved some of the guilt that was eating away at me for leaving them. They quickly got ready and we all piled into my car, heading towards campus.
My phone rang as soon as I pulled out of the driveway and I groaned when I saw Mia’s name pop up on the screen. After her and my mother’s visit at Christmas time, I wasn’t exactly her biggest fan. She had basically flirted with Justin right in front of me the whole time, acted like a bitch towards me, and was rude to my family. Mia had definitely changed since the last time I had seen her from the perfect model child my parents had made her into be. But she was my stepsister after all, albeit a little evil.
“Hey, Mia. What’s going on?”