Free Her Little White Lie (BWWM Romance) by Cj Howard

up with a girl. I mean, how low can you stoop?”
    “Well was it better to string her along and make her think that I was serious about her?”
    “I guess not. Okay you're not such a bastard as I thought you were.”
    The waiter put our hot chocolates on the table. I put my hands on the cup to warm them. Mikey sipped his straight away and burned his tongue.
    “Shit!” he said, poking his tongue out of his mouth and wincing like a baby.
    “What am I always telling you?” I said. “Wait until it cools down. Or at least have the sense to blow on it, Mikey.” I shook my head.
     
    It was busy in the coffee shop. Lots of people stopping for a break in their last minute shopping the day before Christmas.
     
    I had no shopping to do. Tomorrow I'd be sitting in my pajamas eating a frozen pizza and watching television.
     
    “You see, that's my problem. I don't have any sense,” Mikey said. “I could kick myself sometimes.”
     
    “Sometimes? Mikey you never wait till it's cooled down.” I smiled at him.
     
    “That's not what I'm talking about. It's something else.”
     
    “What have you done this time, Mikey?”
     
    “It's what I haven't done. I know I'm not very good at saying how I feel. Last week you gave me a perfect opportunity and I just blew it.”
     
    “Last week?”
    “Yeah, Grace. You didn't throw yourself at me the other day round at my place. I wanted it as much as you did. The problem was, how much.”
     
    “What do you mean, Mikey?”
    “I mean, I like you, Gracie. I mean more than that. I mean, Jesus, I wish I could just say it.”
    “Then just say it.” I rested my hand on his so he could stop fidgeting. He put his other hand on top of mine.
    “I think I'm falling in love with you,” he said, very quietly.
    I sat up and stared at Mikey.
    “Since when?”
    “Since the day I put that ring on your finger. I don't know why it was, but I started seeing you differently that night.”
     
    “I did too, seeing you differently, I mean.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah. But we're so dumb. Why didn't we do anything about it?”
    “I was kinda seeing Delores,” he said. “So I felt awkward. I was confused. Then after the hospital with Mr. Iglesias and everything you said, remember? You just wanted to be friends?”
     
    “That's because I thought you wanted to stay as friends and I didn't want to risk losing you from my life.”
     
    “So we nearly lost each other because I was a jerk?”
    “We were both jerks. It's hard to make that transition from friends to...”
    “Lovers?”
    “Yes.”
    “Let's get out of here.”
    We stepped out into the busy late afternoon and began to walk. Mikey held my hand just like girlfriend and boyfriends do. I didn't notice the crowds of people pushing by us, the temperature dropping below zero or where we were walking to. I just kept looking up at Mikey by my side and he just kept looking down at me.
     
    Finally we came to a stop.
    “Do you know where we are?” I asked him. “The Empire State Building. This is where I told the guys at the hotel we met.”
     
    We looked up.
    “Really?” said Mikey. “I told them The Statue of Liberty.”
    We both started laughing, all the way to the subway back to Brooklyn.
    We got to my apartment. It was dark by then. I went over to turn on the tree lights as Mikey took off his jacket.
     
    “Ta da!” I exclaimed.
    “Nice work, Grace. You decorated this all yourself?”
    “Sure, why?”
    “You sure you didn't have about a million elves with bad taste do this for you while you were sleeping?”
    “Creep,” I said to him while pulling him towards my bed in the corner.
    We stopped by the side of the bed. Mikey held my face in his hands and kissed me gently. I took off my coat, hat and scarf and let them fall onto the floor.
     
    “It's cold in here,” I said.
    “Let's get in.”
    We climbed into bed, fully clothed. We kissed long and passionately, touching and holding on to the other as though one of us might