Written by a Woman

Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

ZAID

“You’re telling me,” Signe stepped in front of me, matching my pace and walking backward so she could give me her playful narrow-eyed look, “That you wouldn’t even consider starring in a hypothetical movie adaptation?”

I chuckled and shook my head, allowing her to continue her backward walk down the hallway of my building, “Absolutely not,” I reached out to grab her hand before she walked past my door, typing in the code to unlock it, “I’m not meant for the big screen.”

“Have you looked in a mirror recently?” Signe asked, “There’s a reason you got written into my book. But fine, would you at least consider narrating the audiobook? I know from personal experience it’ll do well. ‘I need you, I’ll die without you’. Ugh, I can see the download numbers now.” Her deep voice mimicking my own made me lower my head to laugh at her theatrics, holding the door open for her to walk through.

“Do you really want readers to hear me read your words…” I paused, closing the door behind me as I turned to face her, toeing off our shoes in the entryway, “Or would you like to keep all the dirty things I say to you between us.”

She froze what she was doing, her clear hazel eyes widening as she looked up at me. One of her hands was braced on the wall from taking off her shoes without bending down.

After a tense moment, a grin spread across her luscious lips, “That’s a good point. I want you all to myself.”

I grinned back at her, “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged out of her jacket and hung it up on one of the hooks, before stepping towards me to help me out of mine.

I exhaled at the feel of her hands brushing past my shoulders as she took my jacket and hung it up right next to hers.

“That’s a relief,” I sighed, walking up behind her and pressing a kiss behind her ear. She turned around and laced her arms around my neck, stretching up on her toes to kiss my lips. I groaned; my body was still not quite used to being so intimate with her. I shifted my hips, letting her know exactly what she did to me.

Signe pressed her hips against me in response, making me wonder if we’d actually get around to eating dinner tonight like we’d planned, before she whispered against my mouth, “Are we gonna do it in Captain America’s bed?”

I chuckled and gave her ass a light slap in reprimand, “I will let you decorate my bedroom however you like, Ms. Lange,” I lowered my voice to that tone that I knew drove her crazy. I used my hold to encourage her to wrap one of her legs around me, so that I could grip her thigh, letting me grind up against her.

“I’m not against doing it in a condensed version of Comic-Con,” Signe giggled after I peppered more kisses on her lips, “But like… how permanent is it?”

“Probably until Zeki doesn’t care about superheroes anymore.”

I was dragging my lips on her jaw when I replied, and Signe made a choked sound that made me stop what I was doing and immediately pull back to see what was wrong.

Her eyes were wide, and her bottom lip was out, and I was so confused.

“What?” I asked.

“You can’t be serious,” Signe somehow widened her eyes even more at me, “You decorated your room like that to impress your three-year-old nephew?”

I lifted one shoulder, smiling at her reaction to such a thing, “He’ll be four soon,” I added, kissing her cheek because I swore, I was addicted to kissing her, “That room is the vision of a man in his thirties with no girlfriend and no eye for design, who really wanted to make his nephew smile every time he came over.”

“Oh my god,” she reached up to grab the back of my neck, taking a turn to pepper kisses all over my face, “I love you so much I think I might explode.”

“Maybe we should actually take this to the bedroom then,” I caught her lips with mine, savoring the feel of her warm mouth underneath mine, when I suddenly heard the beeping sound of someone typing in a code to the front door, “What the—” Suddenly the door flew open, smacking into my back and squishing me and Signe against the wall.

“Bisbous!” I heard my mother’s voice, making my own eyes widen in alarm as I panicked with the knowledge that I was just dry-humping Signe before she intruded.

“Mama, what are—” the door pulled back, and to my horror, both of my sisters and my parents were now filing into my apartment. Everyone carrying bags of groceries, except for Raina, who had pulled the front door closed and revealed Signe and me. Signe, who still had her one leg wrapped around my waist.

“Oh shi—” Signe scrambled off of me, her own face turning beet red just as I felt my own embarrassment coat my skin.

“What are you two, sixteen?” Raina asked with a raised brow.

“We weren’t—well—” Signe flapped her hands a little bit before holding her hand out to my sister, “I’m Signe.”

“I know,” my sister replied, supporting my newborn nephew wrapped to her chest with a hand under his rump, and using the other to shake Signe’s hand, “I have been following you since day one.”

“Oh god,” Signe turned to look at me with a look of horror, which made me throw my head back and laugh at the hilarity of this moment.

“Tariq!” Raina called over her shoulder, “Come meet my brother and his girlfriend while they’re stuck behind the door here.” A young, tall black man with dark, short hair, dressed in a white t-shirt and cargo joggers stepped up beside Raina, resting one of his hands on her shoulder while smiling nervously at Signe and me.

“Nice to meet you,” he nodded at the two of us, before turning to my little sister and murmuring, “Let them out, you monster.”

“Zaid!” My mother gasped, gently pushing my sister and her boyfriend to the side, and opening her arms wide, before hesitating and noticing the state of us. “Were you not expecting us?”

“Uh, no,” I shook my head, “I was not expecting visitors.” I stepped forward to place a hand on Signe’s lower back. My mother didn’t appreciate a lot of visible PDAs, even when my sisters gave quick kisses to their partners in greeting or farewell, she always looked away. I had only seen my parents kiss a few times in front of me growing up, usually when they thought they were alone.

“Susu!” My mother called, making my sister snap her head up from whatever food she was preparing at my kitchen island, “You didn’t tell your brother that we were coming?” My mother placed her fists on her hips with her question.

“Whoops.” Salma winked at us, making Ben chuckle as he stepped next to her to help her with the food.

I leaned down towards Signe, whispering in her ear with both of my hands on her shoulders, “Is this okay?”

She placed both of her hands on mine, something my mother noted when she turned back around to face us, “This is fine,” she turned to look up at me, “Should I go home?”

“No, no, no,” my mother stepped forward and took hold of Signe’s hands, pulling her out of the entryway and into my kitchen with the rest of my family, “I want to officially meet and get to know the woman my son was hiding from me.”

I furrowed my brows at her wording, “I wasn’t hiding Signe from you,” she stopped to give me a disbelieving look, to which I rolled my eyes and admitted, “I just didn’t want you to scare her off too soon.”

“If you would have told me you were seeing someone,” my mother wrapped one of her arms around Signe’s shoulders, “I wouldn’t have paraded another young woman in front of you both.” At that, my mother turned to face Signe. They were similar in height, and neither had to look up or down at each other, “If I had known my son was in a relationship with you, I would have never done such a thing.”

Signe gave her a small smile with a nod of her head, “That’s okay, I appreciate you clarifying that.”

My mother smiled, wrapping Signe in a tight hug and saying, “I just want him to be happy.”

“I do, too,” Signe replied, sending me a grin over my mother’s shoulder.

I felt my body relax little by little, having Signe meet my family and having them accept her with open arms. I wasn’t sure if my mother knew exactly what brought Signe and me together, and frankly, it was fine if she never really did.

“Stop hogging her,” Raina complained from her spot at the island, chopping vegetables with my dad and Ben on either side of her, “I want to talk to Signe, too.”

Signe blushed again before the excited squeal of Zeki filled the space. We all turned down the hallway, where he was running towards her with one of my Spider-Man action figures in his little hands.

“Signe!” Zeki squealed as he lifted his arms up to be held.

She laughed and obliged, pointing to his toy, “Who is that?”

“Spida-man,” Zeki held the action figure with both of his chubby hands, bouncing in Signe’s arms with the energy of a three-year-old who was still deep in his superhero phase.

“He’s a pretty cool guy,” Signe smiled up at me, and the sight of her holding my nephew so comfortably on her hip made something warm bloom in my chest. A vision I would love but wouldn’t push her for. She knew where I stood, and I was more than willing to wait for her to decide whether that was part of our future.

I had already waited this long to have Signe in my arms, and nothing, absolutely nothing, was worth letting her go.