Page 53 of Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend (Catching Feelings #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

KAYLA

I ’m not sure whether I like falling asleep in Sean’s arms more or waking up in them. I’m greedy enough to demand both, though.

The sun peeks in through the blinds in our bedroom, and Sean’s arm is slung around me, and even though I kind of need to use the bathroom, I’d rather stay here and cuddle for as long as possible.

So I bask contentedly in the feel of his embrace—my back pressed against his chest as we spoon, taking up less space in bed than should be possible. I smile. I sigh.

And I really have to use the bathroom.

I try to gently slip out from under his arm, but his grip around me is just firm enough that I can’t. I wiggle, and he only tightens his arm around me more. I try lifting his arm, but it won’t budge.

I bump him with my elbow, and he moans in my ear. “What are you doing?”

“I need to use the facilities,” I say delicately.

He makes a grumpy sound of protest. “Just come right back. It’s too early.”

“It’s 6:43 a.m.” I say. We’re both such early risers that this is almost criminally indulgent.

He kisses my head, gives me a squeeze, and then releases me. “Come right back,” he commands.

I grin, slip out of bed wearing one of his t-shirts, and then spin to give him a quick kiss on his cheek before escaping for the bathroom.

Yes, I brush my teeth before rushing back.

The second I slide back under the sheets and into his arms, Sean complains. “You brushed your teeth.”

I laugh. “Obviously.”

“Now I have to brush my teeth.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Letting go of my wife is a bad thing.”

“Letting go of your wife so you can brush your teeth is recommended by ten out of ten dentists. And wives.”

He gives a pained moan and then rolls out of bed. He comes back a minute later with minty fresh breath and a wicked glint in his eye.

I expect him to get into bed, but instead, he throws the covers off me, grabs my ankles and pulls me.

“Ah! What are you doing?” I squeal, laughing.

“We’re going for a run. I’m in training.”

I give him my most sinister scowl, but it bounces off of him like a ping pong ball. He pulls me to my feet and gives me a long, deep kiss that makes my toes curl and my fingers tug on his beard.

“You woke a sleeping bear. You knew what would happen.”

“Believe me,” I grumble, “I really didn’t.”

But I get changed and slap his butt as we leave the house.

We normally run through neighborhood streets, but today, Sean takes a different route out of town, toward the ridge. It’s a smooth enough path, but the hills make the run tougher.

It takes me longer than normal to hit a good stride, but I blame Sean, and I tell him that.

“Come on. Where’s my girl?”

“Back in bed waiting for her husband,” I say, and he laughs. Then he turns abruptly, picks me up, and throws me over his shoulder, hauling me up the steep incline that leads up to the ridge.

“Put me down,” I say. “I’m not letting you injure yourself just to prove how tough you are, you sexy caveman.”

I feel his chuckle in my gut. He sets me down, plants a warm kiss on my lips, and then we take the rest of the run up the ridge slowly and carefully.

When we reach the top of the ridge, we’re both panting. Sean tucks me under one sweaty arm, and I wrap my arms around his barrel chest. His heart beats hard and fast against my cheek, but steady, too. You could set your watch to Sean’s pulse, it’s so consistent.

You could build your life around him, he’s so constant.

“I can’t believe you’re mine.”

Did he say that out loud or did I think that?

But before I can ask, he’s pulling away, grabbing my hands, and dropping to one knee. I give him a confused laugh.

“I think we already did this part.”

“I know,” he says, his eyes fixed on mine.

“But I need to tell you something so you don’t think this was backwards the whole time.

” He takes a deep breath. “I didn’t want to marry you to help you out.

I feel selfish admitting this, but I wanted to marry you so I could have a chance at something real with you.

I was already halfway in love with you, and I wanted time to fall the rest of the way.

If you left town, I was afraid I’d never get the chance. ”

This man!

“Sean, I didn’t say yes because I cared about the team. Not really.” He gives me a look of such skepticism, I have to laugh. “I’m serious! I told you before—I could have fought the residency issue in court and won. We both know it.”

“So why did you say yes?”

“Because I loved the way I felt around you. I loved myself around you. No one outside of my family had ever made me feel so confident before. And no one in the world ever made me feel so … delightful. Does that make sense? I started craving the sound of your laugh after the first time I heard it. And once I heard it again, I was hooked. So you see, we’re both selfish. And I think that’s a good thing.”

I tug him to his feet, and he tucks an errant curl behind my ear before wrapping his arms around me. “How do you figure?”

“We never felt safe to think about what we wanted until we met each other.”

“That’s one way of looking at it,” he says. The light morning breeze stirs his hair. I wonder if him being on a non-Mullet Ridge team will mean he stops growing a mullet during hockey season.

He’s hot with or without it.

“What’s the other way?” I ask. And because I can’t handle it anymore, I press my lips against his neck, letting his soft beard tickle my nose and cheeks as I breathe him in.

He spreads his hands across my back and presses me closer. “The other way is that I never knew what it was to want someone until I met you.”

I smile against his jaw. “I like that.”

“I like you.”

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“That,” I tell him, kissing his mouth now, “is impossible.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree,” he says before kissing me back.

“I don’t agree to that.”

He chuckles and squeezes me, grinning so our teeth bump while we kiss. “This is a hill I’ll die on.”

I laugh, my lips on his.

“Till death do us part.”