Page 127 of All This Time

“No, it’s fine. There’s some cheese and stuff in that bag that needs to go in the fridge anyway. Start unpacking it and I’ll be right back.” She moves to walk away, but I reach for her hand before she gets too far, spinning her back into my chest. “Fletcher…”

I swallow her words with my mouth, not wanting one more second to pass without feeling her lips against mine. Her mouth opens for me as I coax her tongue with mine, teasing her and drowning in the way this woman makes me fucking feel—like she was always meant to be mine.

“Sorry. I just needed that real quick.”

She rolls her eyes. “You act like you didn’t just see me last night.”

“Yeah, but it’s been almost twenty-four hours.”

“You’re ridiculous,” she says, a quirk of amusement on her lips as she heads back out to her car. I watch her the entire time, and whenshe returns and realizes I’m still standing there holding the bag of groceries, she scoffs. “I told you to unload those.”

“I wanted to make sure you got back inside okay,” I reply, shutting the door and locking it behind her.

“It’s not like someone was going to kidnap me in your driveway.”

“You never know.”

“This is Blossom Peak, Fletcher. Our crime rate is like nonexistent.”

I step up to her and pull her into me by her waist. “But if anything were to happen to you, I’d lose my fucking mind.”

Her eyes bounce back and forth between mine. “Your caveman is showing, Fletcher Adams.”

“Well, you bring him out of me, Laney Hart.”

I release her as she starts taking items from the bag and placing them on the counter. “You know, I’ve survived twelve years without you just fine.”

“Only because you thought you hated me.”

“Who says I still don’t?” she fires back, a playful quirk in her lips.

“Well, the way you were screaming under my hand last night in the storage closet sure didn’t sound like you hated me. In fact, it sounded like you were having the best orgasm of your life.”

She rolls her eyes again. “Eh, I’ve had better.”

“Then you were lying to me yesterday?”

She squeals as I lift her up and place her on the counter.

“Hey!”

Holding her chin between my fingers, I lower my voice. “Just admit that no other man who has had the honor of being with you has fucked you the way I do, Laney.”

“You already know that.” She runs her hands up my arms to my neck, wrapping her arms around me.

“Damn right. And you know why?”

She sighs dramatically. “Why, Fletcher?”

“Because none of them were me. None of them had our history.” I nip at her bottom lip. “None of them has wanted you since they were seventeen…”

And refuses to let you go again.

Softly, I press our lips together, fighting to keep myself from spilling my guts to her this early in the evening. But when I pull back, that’s when I actually take a moment to assess the items she’s brought with her.

“Are you…making spaghetti?”

“Yeah. My mom’s recipe,” she answers so easily, as if she didn’t just make me fall in love with her even more.