Darkness Before Dawn

not to roll my eyes at him.
    We spend most of Saturday morning packing up his house, which he was finally able to sell. I'm sure he didn't profit from the sale because he hasn't mentioned it to me, but I don't have the heart to ask, even if he says it doesn't matter.
    "Let's go to the city for lunch," he says after taking the last box of things downstairs. The only thing left is the clothes in our closets. The mention of food makes my stomach rumble in anticipation.
    "Sure," I reply, giving myself a once over in the full-length mirror beside me, and shrugging when I decide that denim capris and a T-shirt should be fine.
    "Nope, you have to change," Cole says, interrupting my thoughts. I purse my lips and raise an eyebrow as I wait for him to elaborate on that. "We're going somewhere after lunch and I know you would kill me if I let you leave dressed that way. Just put on whatever cute little dress you have in the closet."
    I gape at him. "Are you serious? Whatever cute little dress I have in the closet? I only have a handful of things here and half of them are cocktail dresses!"
    "So wear a cocktail dress," he replies with a shrug.
    "It's three o'clock in the afternoon!"
    "So wear what you're wearing. Let's go," he says with an eye roll.
    I return his eye roll and place a hand on my hip. "Umm...no. I'll change, thank you very much." I disappear into the closet and angrily sort through my wardrobe, dismissing everything. Everything either makes me look fat, is for cold weather, or isn't cute enough. I wish I hadn't decided to join him on his trip so last minute.
    "Cole," I shout from the closet. "Can we go to a store and buy something that I can wear?"
    His laugh resonates through the almost bare room and I hear his footsteps approaching.
    "Blake, it's not that big a deal, I shouldn't have said anything. Just wear what you want," he says with a comforting smile.
    "Except you did say something and now that's it, the seed is in my head and whatever I wear isn't going to be good enough," I reply, throwing my hands up in frustration.
    He strides up to me, backing me against the wall, making the wire hangers clink and the clothes scatter to the floor. He cups my chin and looks straight into my eyes, his green eyes warm and serious.
    "Anything you wear is good enough. Anything. You make everything look good. Just wear what you're wearing," he says before dipping his head to kiss my lips softly. When he pulls back, he brushes the hair out of my face and taps my nose, walking back out.
    "Yeah, but you're wearing a sports jacket," I mutter at his back. He shakes his head and shrugs off the jacket. "You're still wearing a nice Polo," I say, looking down at myself again. I'm wearing an old Kiss shirt, capris and a pair of flip flops. I look like a bum compared to him. He pulls his shirt over his head and I am momentarily frozen, torn between running up to him and jumping on his muscular back so I can bite his shoulder blade or letting it go because I'm starving, for food. The way his wide back looks and his jeans hang off his hips makes thirty different scenarios of us naked and sweaty cross my mind. He twists his body around, the movement causing my eyes to trail down his rippling abs and back up to his face slowly.
    "One track mind," he teases with a smirk on his face, before turning back around and continuing his walk out. I drop the dress I have in my hand and break into a sprint, jumping on his back and circling my legs and arms around him before biting his shoulder, his neck and placing a wet kiss on his cheek as his body shakes in laughter. I bury my face in his neck and squeeze him as hard as I can.
    "I love you," I murmur against his neck before sliding off slowly.
    He turns around and smiles softly at me. "I know, baby. Now let me go dress like a bum." My mouth pops open as he laughs and gives me a hard smack on the ass before turning back around.
    Once we're both dressed casually in jeans and T-shirts, we leave the house and take a train to the city. Despite his original plans, I convince him to take me to Serendipity because I am dying for a deep fried Oreo ice cream. We eat and he humors me by pretending to be John Cusack while I pretend to be Kate Beckinsale, because I mean, isn't that what the cool kids do at Serendipity?
    "You suck at remembering lines," I say with a smile and an eye roll.
    "That movie is way ahead of my time," he says with a deep chuckle.
    "Oh please, how many times have you watched it?" I