I watch his jaw work, and I can recognize the frustration in his gaze because I feel it too. So, I focus on the small fingerprint smudge on one of his lenses and breathe while Darren’s fingers dig possessively into my hip. Eventually, though, he gets himself together and then pushes me slowly against the side of the car. But then he looks me up and down in a way that would suggest he’s only just barely reined himself in.

“Darren,” I warn again.

He shakes his head and speaks in a rough voice. “I’m not touching you. That’s enough.”

I smile and have to look away.

“What’s your appointment for?”

God, I forgot just that quickly that’s what we were talking about. “I need to get waxed,” I tell him.

“Okay.” He sounds confused.

I don’t understand how Nadia can survive being with him. How in the world can a woman spend years with a man who is too adorable to get really and truly mad at? Someone who looks at me so openly and earnestly that it makes my heart wobbly with emotion, which has never happened to me before. I roll my eyes and look at him. “I’m getting my pussy waxed, Darren. Do you really want to come with me to—”

“Get in.”

errands

“Don’t make this weird,” I tell Darren.

He sighs. “I can’t even see anything, Jourdan.”

He can’t. He’s sitting next to my head, and he’s not even looking around the room or at me. He’s on his phone. “Who are you texting?”

“The boys. They have practice after school, and I organized for them to get a ride home with their best friends.”

“Who are their best friends?”

Darren drops his phone from in front of his face and smiles at me. “Another pair of twins. They’re on the girls’ team, and they live three houses down from us.”

“Why is everything about your life so goddamn cute?”

He leans down and kisses me softly on the lips. “I don’t know, but you fit right in.”

“I damn sure do.”

We kiss again, just a gentle press of lips together. Sometimes, when I’ve had a really long day at work, on days when I only have enough energy to shove something quick and carby into my mouth before I do my nighttime skincare and crawl into bed — on those nights, I fall asleep wishing I could be in bed with Darren and Nadia, and they could be kissing me just like this. Not too hot, nothing heavy or even sexual, just a light pressure of as many parts of his body against mine as possible. Just so I know that I’m not alone, and someone in this city cares about me. Two someones, actually.

There’s a knock on the door, and we pull apart. “Ready,” I call, a smile on my face.