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Chapter 18

I frowned, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  “What do you mean?” I asked, pulling back to look at him fully.

I think he heard the hurt in my voice because he quickly tightened his hold on me.  “No, no, that’s not what I mean,” he said quickly.  “It’s just that…I don’t want to be just your friend.  I want to be something more.  I’ve always wanted to be something more with you.”

A slow smile started to spread across my face as I realized what he was going to ask.  “What are you trying to say, Ian Macpherson?” I asked.

He took another deep breath, like he was nervous.  “Would you ever consider being my girlfriend?” he asked. 

I laughed.  “Is that what you were getting at?” I asked. 

He groaned.  “Just answer the question, Charlie.  Please,” he said. 

“I would never consider being your girlfriend…” I started.  I watched as his face fell.  “That’s because as of right now, I am your girlfriend.”

The smile on his face was so big that I had to smile back.  He picked me up so that my face was level with his and kissed me.

“Scared you there, didn’t I?” I asked, laughing, when he finally put me down.

“Yeah, you did,” he said, and he grinned again.  “You can’t do that to your boyfriend.”

“As your girlfriend, I can,” I said, and kissed him again. 

Well, we might have spent a little more time in the gazebo than we thought we did even after it stopped raining.  So when I pulled out my phone when we got to our cars, I was surprised to see that it was past six o’clock. 

“Oh, crap,” I said.  “I didn’t know it was this late.”

Ian laughed and pulled me to his side, kissing my temple.  “They’ll understand,” he said. 

Just then my phone started ringing.  And when I looked at the caller id, it was Freddie. 

I rolled my eyes and answered. 

“Hey,” I said. 

“Where are you?  You do realize that you’re supposed to be home, right?  Dinner is almost ready.”

“Alright, alright,” I said.  “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“You went running, didn’t you?” he asked.  “Ugh, you probably smell horrid, don’t you?  I’m going to have to smell you all through dinner!”

I laughed.  “I don’t smell,” I said.  “I smell fabulous.”

Ian snorted from beside me and leaned in to kiss just below my ear.  “I can agree with that,” he said.

“Oh, God,” Freddie said.  “You’re with Ian now, aren’t you?”

Ian apparently heard him and took the phone from my hand.  “Hey, Freddie,” he said quickly and then handed it back to me. 

I rolled my eyes.  “Yeah, I’m with Ian.  But I’ll be home in a few minutes,” I said, and then hung up before he could say anything more. 

“Why can’t we just go out for dinner?” Ian asked.  “We could make it a date?”

I laughed and gestured to both of our clothes.  “Dressed like this?  I think not!” I said. 

He grinned and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.  “Then how about tomorrow night?” he asked.  “We can go to dinner?”