Page 71

“We’ll figure it out, right? Find the best solution, one that works for us. That’s a job, a paycheck. What we have is more, so whatever comes our way, we’ll face it together.”

He’s nodding, seeming to absorb every word. “Together. We’ll be together.”

I smile, the certainty I have in us more powerful than the threat of being long distance. “Together, Nick. No matter what.” He kisses me with all the pent-up passion from our time apart, and this talk of the future has me returning his embrace. His fingers weave into my hair, and then he’s leading me back into the house and down the small hall to a bedroom facing the ocean. Although the view is incredible, his eyes never leave me as if I can compete with Mother Nature.

Sitting on the bed, he rests back, letting his gaze take a leisurely stroll along my body. I’m not sure if he’s here as an observer and plans to participate until he says, “Strip for me, beautiful.”

It’s not the first time I’ve gotten naked for a man, but it’s the first I’ve done it completely sober in broad daylight. With him, I’m not embarrassed or shy. When he looks at me like I’m the sexiest woman he’s ever seen, I believe him. It feeds my ego, and I pull my shirt over my head and then start on my jeans. He’s not bashful by the way he lets his eyes roam my body. The heat of his stare warms my insides, emboldening me, and I go to him. With his eyes set on me, I stand and unclasp my bra. The straps come down one by one, exposing my breasts to him.

Cupping both as if testing the weight in his hands, he then leans forward, taking my areola into his mouth and teasing my nipple with his teeth. When it’s puckered hard and wet, he does the same to the other one. Sitting back, he squeezes them, kneading, and runs his thumbs over the buds.

When he kisses the skin between them, I lean in, causing his legs to spread farther as I slink in to take up space. Rubbing my hands over the back of his head, I can tell my body is ready for him, silently begging for fingers or his dick. I’d be happy with either filling me until I come. “God,” I pant, helpless to letting my thoughts run wild as his lips delight in every inch of my skin.

Flipped by my hips to the mattress in a sudden swift motion, he finds the straps that keep me covered. The last scraps of fabric are pulled down over my ankles and lost in the frenzy of his mouth replacing the lace. He slides his tongue between my lower lips, causing my back to arch off the bed, and a moan escapes me.

“So fucking good.” His words are warm breaths against the apex of my legs. The sensual kisses he’s giving send me into bliss, and I catch up to a release that I couldn’t find when we were apart. My body tightens and then tremors under his lips.

While my body recovers, he’s fast and stripping off his clothes. This time, he came prepared. I’m tempted to laugh, but I feel too good to move, anticipating the second round to be better than the first.

Dropping over me, he kisses my mouth, and then whispers, “You and me, baby. Always us.” My body blooms as if he’s the morning sunlight, and he fills me. We’re slow at first, but then I wrap my arms around him, and he starts thrusting.

“Always us,” I repeat through jagged breaths. You’d think we’d been apart for months or years and not just a few weeks. Our insatiable craving caught up in each other. The push and the pull, we tumble until I’m on top. Resting my hands on his chest, I rise up and slowly sink back down. I ride him until his fingers dig into my hips, and he takes control, fucking me right back.

I feel that delicious tightening deep inside me that I know leads to a glorious release. I move back and forth, chasing it down until it catches me instead. Striking like an earthquake, it rocks my body until my insides are clenching around him. “Oh God, Nick. Yes.Yes.You make me feel so good.”

Every last quiver is fucked from me, and then I’m held down on top of him until his release dissipates as my name is repeated. I lie down, tilting my head to the side and listening to his thundering heartbeat. It might be arrogance, but that I can make this man’s heart race like he makes mine has me smiling with pride.

Tracing figure eights on his shoulder, I stretch to kiss his chin. Catching my attention, he rests back enough to make eye contact. “What if?—”

“I thought we weren’t doing what-ifs anymore?” I tease, still smiling like a goof.

“Bear with me.” Even through the closed windows, the ocean insists on being heard. That may fill my ears, but I see Nick’s Adam’s apple bob in this throat from a heavy gulp, and it just about does me in. Again. Sexy bastard.

He rubs my bare back, the change in his demeanor is sudden, and his eyes full of passion. “I know this sounds crazy, but I need you to hear me out. Okay?”

I hold his hands just as tight and look into his pleading eyes. “Okay, I’m listening.”

“We barely know each other in the scheme of things. We haven’t met each other’s families. Hell, I know you’re a professional gift giver, but I don’t even know the name of your company. These are things I should know. I should know your ring size and your favorite food. What’s your favorite song, and if you could go anywhere, where would that be? How many kids do you want, or do you not want any at all? What movie always makes you cry, and did you grow up with pets? Are you a cat or dog person?Fuck.”

He squeezes his eyes closed and rubs them like he’s been asleep for his entire life until now, and he’s seeing things for the first time. I lift up, not wanting to miss any of it.

When he looks at me again, he continues, “There’s so much left to learn about each other, but what I do know is that I’ve never felt like this about anyone else before. My feelings are true and run deep, and although I’m no psychic, I’m willing to bet my future on you. I could promise you forever, and I wouldn’t be lying.” He sits up next to me. “We can go to Mexico or Vegas or even Catalina Island again. We can be together. I’ll live wherever you want to, and we’ll make it a home.”

“What are you saying, Nick? Are you asking me to move in with you?”

Taking my hand, he says, “No. I should be asking you all those other questions and a million different ones to get to know you better. Instead, I’m asking if you want to get married?”

25

Natalie

Yes.

I wish I could give him that answer, but that word doesn’t cross my lips. Thoughts run through my brain on overdrive, not giving me a second reprieve to catch up.Did he just ask me to marry him?

Still looking at me with nothing less than a desperation to love me, his fingers graze over the top of my bare ring finger. “I don’t have a ring, but you can pick out anything you like, or I can surprise you. I think I have a good idea of what you’d like. I just want to be with you, tied to you in ways that no one can tear us apart. Will you marry me, Natalie?”

“You want to get married?” I ask, blindsided, the words like a fumbled football as they leave my tongue. “I don’t understand why you’re saying this. Are you running from the law, or did you do something wrong?”