The Beginning of Us (269 page)

“I’m coming!” I yell as I pull my shirt over my head.

I swing open the door to see the most beautiful man, wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a gray t-shirt with a pair of tennis shoes. He walks right in and lifts me up in his arms as I giggle.

“Good afternoon, Angel.” He kisses me deeply, sending chills through my body.

“Good afternoon, baby,” I say breathlessly as he pulls away and sets me down. “I need to put my shoes on real quick and then I will be ready to go.”

“Okay, hurry up.” He swats my butt as I walk away from him.

I stand in front of my full length mirror in my closet, checking my outfit. I have a bright pink t-shirt on with a black tank top underneath that’s longer so that it peeks out of the bottom of my shirt, along with a pair of jeans that are flared and a pink pair of high heels.

As I walk out of my closet, I see him sitting on my bed. He stands and walks towards me. He places his hands on my hips and pulls my body to his. I watch as his brows scrunch together.

“What’s wrong?”

He steps back and holds my hands out to my side while his eyes look me up and down. “Let me see your shoes.” He’s looking down at my feet, but you can’t see them because of my jeans being so long and flared.

I let go of his hand so I can lift one of my pant legs. He starts shaking his head no. “What?” I look down at my heels. They are cute; bright pink with a skinny black heel.

“How tall are those?” he asks, astonished.

I shrug. “Probably four inches. I usually wear four, but I have some that are six.”

He starts shaking his head faster. “You need to wear tennis shoes today. Go change them,” he orders.

Didn’t we just have this talk a few days ago?
He can be so bossy.

I let go of his other hand and cross my arms over my chest. “Why?”

“Because we are going to be doing a lot of walking today, and I want you comfortable.” He crosses his arms over his chest, daring me to argue.

I do.

“These
are
comfortable. I could probably run a race in high heels. Walking around town isn’t going to bother me,” I huff.

“Please, Angel. I want you to wear tennis shoes today.”

“Fine! Give me a sec,” I say unhappily. I turn around before I have to see that victory smile. I walk back out of the closet with my black Nike shoes on.

“Let me see.”

My eyes snap to his as I give him an angry look.

“Please.”

I huff as I lift my pant legs.

“Excellent.” He takes my hand. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going today?” I ask as he opens his door to his car for me.

“We are doing some sightseeing.”

“Have you picked up your truck yet?’’ I ask as he turns off my street.

“No. they didn’t have my tires in stock, so they had to order them. It could be ready tomorrow, or it may be a couple more days before its ready.”

“Are you going to press charges against Jessica?”

He shakes his head. “There’s no way to prove it was her. It would just be a waste of my time.”

I nod in agreement. “How were you able to take off half the day today?”

“I didn’t have much to do. I couldn’t miss the meeting this morning, but the rest of my day would have been slow.” He reaches over to grab my hand, never taking his eyes off the road. “Even if it would have been busy, I still would have taken it off to spend time with you, though.” He gives my hand a little squeeze.

Geez, he makes my insides melt.

“What made you decide to be a lawyer? Did you want to do it just because of your dad?” I look out the window, trying to figure out the direction we are going, but I have no clue where we are.

“I’ve wanted to be a lawyer since I can remember. I can’t say my dad didn’t have some sort of influence on my decision, though, but he is not the main reason. Growing up, he always told us we could be whatever we wanted to be. He was always letting us do our own thing. He was that way in every aspect of our lives. I wanted to play football, Micah wanted to play baseball and wrestle. He and Mom were very supportive. They always made it to every one of our games or matches.”

“You played football?” I shouldn’t be surprised. He just has that look to him. A tall muscular body and a personality that just screams he’s a leader. I can see him getting his team wound up before a game.

“Yep. I started when I was six all the way to my senior year.”

“Quarterback?”

He looks over at me with a cocky smile on his face. “You know it, baby.” He wiggles his eyebrows.

I throw my head back and laugh. He’s a cocky bastard, and I’m sure he used that to his advantage getting girls in bed.

“What?” he asks, offended.

“Nothing,” I say, shaking my head. “I was just thinking about how you probably used that to your advantage to get laid.” I laugh again as he smiles, looking at the road. “I doubt you needed the help, though.” It should make me upset how many girls he’s been with, but it doesn’t. I can’t get mad over something I can’t change. What matters to me is that I have him now. Although, if for some reason any of those girls come back into the picture wanting him now, they will see me go postal on their sorry little asses.

“Why didn’t you play in college?”

“Well,” he sighs, “Don’t get me wrong, I liked football. I just knew I didn’t have a future in football. I wanted to concentrate on my academics. I didn’t want football to take away from that.”

I nod as I turn my face to the road and see the St. Louis arch. I lean down to look up through the top of the windshield to get a better look of it.
Damn, it’s so tall
.

“Have you been up to the arch?” Slade asks as I continue to stare at it through the windshield.

“No,” I shake my head at the windshield.

“Good.” I can hear his smile in his voice.

“Is that where we are going?” I ask excitedly.

He nods his head as I squeal.

He parks the car and helps me out. “We are going to eat first. You must be hungry.”

“I am.” I cuddle up to his side and grab onto his arm tightly. He laughs as he wiggles his arm loose and wraps it around my shoulder, pulling me close to his side.

We walk up to Arch View Café. “Would you guys like to sit inside, or on the patio?” A woman asks once she’s greeted us.

Slade looks down to me. “Outside, please.” I want to sit in the sun and enjoy the day.

We follow her out to the back patio where she sits us at a round wrought iron table looking over the river. We can see tall buildings and the arch right on the other side of it. “Your waitress will be right with you guys.”

“Thanks.” The arch looks pretty as the clouds are rolling in. “It looks like it’s going to rain.”

“It’s not supposed to.”

“Never know.” I open my menu to decide what I want.

“Tell me about your college days.” He doesn’t bother to open his menu as I feel his eyes on me.

“The first year was hard.” I look up at him through my lashes, “for obvious reasons.” I look back to the menu. “It got easier after that. I became a wino while in college. I don’t know how I would have survived without wine and Courtney. She came down and visited quite often. Well, she did until our senior year.”

“Why is that?”

“We were both busy with school. The first time I called my mom it was…”

I get so caught up with him that I sometimes want to tell him everything.
But some things a girl just needs to keep to herself.

“...we were both busy with college trying to make sure we had everything we needed, getting ready for graduation. I picked up a few extra classes both semesters, and she had done the same.”

“Where did she go to college?”

I put down my menu, and lace my fingers together as I set my hands on the table.

“She went to OU. We were supposed to go together, but it just didn’t work out. When I decided to get away from my mom, I had been accepted to a college in California and Dallas. I chose Dallas. I wanted to get away from my mom, but not that far away.”

He nods his head in understanding.

The waitress shows up to take our order. He fills me in on what he did over the weekend, and how he went to the gym for the first time since we’ve gotten together. I smile at the fact that I get all of his time when he’s not at work. He is telling me the story of how his father met his mother, when the waitress brings our food.

“You never told me why you chose to be a lawyer,” I remind him before I shove a fry in my mouth.

“I wanted to help people.”
Simple as that.
“The ones that are seen as guilty. Everyone deserves someone on their side. And I’m that man.”
He wipes his mouth with a napkin. “It’s been long hours and hard work, but I love it.” He gives me a big smile.

*****

“Are you two finished?” the waitress asks as she eyes Slade. She hasn’t even looked at me once.

Slade looks up from his plate to me. “Are you finished, Angel?”

I smile, knowing he hasn’t looked at her. He has no idea that she has been staring him down.

I nod my head. “Yes.” I pick up my plate, handing it to her with a smile.

She lays our check down. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

I reach for the check, but Slade snatches it back.

“Slade. Let me get the check.”

He shakes his head. “No.” He pulls out his wallet and lays down some cash. “We have had this discussion. You know I won’t let you pay.”

I give him a hard look, but let it go.

We stand up and walk out of the restaurant. “We’re you really sick yesterday?”

I slide him a questioning look. “What do you mean, really sick?”

“Well, Micah told me you called in sick to work.”

Is that the only reason he came to see me?
Because he thought I was sick?

“Angel.” He stops walking and pulls my face up to look at him. “That’s not why I came to see you,” he says like he is reading my mind. “It is why I stopped and bought you soup, though.”

“You bought me soup?” I smile.

He nods his head. “But I came over because I couldn’t go any longer without seeing you.”

I smile.

“I was going crazy. Josh came over and made me shower and shave.”

I laugh. “I bet you look cute with some stubble.”

“You bet your hot little ass I do.” His smile is cocky, making me laugh again.

“Angel,” he says seriously. “Yesterday, I spent time cleaning out some drawers for you in the dressers and in the bathroom. I gave you some room in the closet.” He runs his knuckles up and down my cheek. “I don’t want to be without you. If you prefer, I will stay over at your house with you. I don’t care where we stay as long as we are together.”

I stare up at him in astonishment.
He made room for my stuff?
I shake my head. I don’t want to be without him, either.

“Thanks, baby.” I give him a hug as he rubs my back.

“Come on.” He grabs my hand and walks us over to the arch.

We walk up to the window to purchase our tickets as I look up. “Wow. That’s taller than I thought.”

“It’s not all that bad.” He pulls out his wallet to pay the lady.

“Slade.” I pull on his shirt frantically as my heart starts beating out of my chest from fear. He looks over at me. “I’m scared of heights.” I shake my head. “I can’t go up there.”

“It will be fine. I promise.”