“I love it here,” I continue. “And the only thing I'm lacking is the sight ofyoudriving away. So, please, if you care for me even a little bit, go now and never come back. The only reason I don’t regret meeting you is because I might not have moved here and met the real love of my life without your shitty behavior."
Elliot's shoulders sag, and he looks at me with a mix of surprise and disbelief before narrowing his eyes. "Fine. I'll go. Have a shitty life."
“And I’m blocking you on social media!” Mariah calls out from the porch. “It’s the only way he could’ve found out where you are,” she adds when I turn a confused look her way.
Muttering a bunch of obscenities under his breath, Elliot throws up his hands and stalks back to his car, slamming the door shut with a loud bang before peeling out of the driveway.
“Good riddance to bad rubbish!” Mariah calls out before grabbing her cell and jabbing away at the screen like she’s on a mission. I’m guessing that’s her blocking him like she said.
"You OK, flick?" Josh asks, pulling me close once the car has sped off and vanished from sight.
I smile up at him and nod, wrapping my arms around his neck. "I'm more than OK. Some hunky guy just got into a fist fight for me."
He belly laughs. “Wasn’t much of a fight.”
“Still, it was pretty hot. I’ve never had someone care about me enough to fight for me before.”
He leans his forehead against mine and smiles, taking my hand and pressing his lips to my knuckles. “I would fight the devil himself if it meant being with you, Regina.”
I close my eyes and press my hands to his cheeks, feeling the warmth of his skin beneath my fingertips. "I have never loved a man the way that I love you, Josh."
“I heard. You just said you’re gonna write that book with me.”
My cheeks are starting to hurt from smiling. “I’ll do more than just that with you, Joshua Oliver. I want it all. I’m ready.”
“Then I’m gonna hold you to that,” he says, sweeping me into an embrace and pressing his lips to mine, kissing me for only a brief moment before Mariah calls out from the house.
“OK. So I did post about coming to see you, but I didn’t mention where. It looks like he found out where you are though, because I have my snapchat maps on. It doesn’t help now, but I’m so very sorry for that oversight. It’s switched off, so no more giving up your address accidentally.”
“I know you didn’t do it on purpose, Mariah,” I say, giving her a reassuring smile because I’m sure she feels awful right now. “And it all worked out for the best, right?”
Mariah grins. “Oh yeah. I hope you’re going to put that punch out scene into your book. It was pretty hot.”
Josh chuckles as he takes my hand in his and we make our way up the porch steps. “I know I was gonna leave you two ladies for some quality girl time, but I’d feel a heck of a lot better if I stuck around a while longer. Hope that’s not cramping your style.”
“Not at all,” Mariah says with a bright grin. “I wanna talk more about that punch. Like, on a scale of one to two hundred, how good did it feel to have the smarmy bastard’s face crunch beneath your fist?”
Josh gives Mariah an amused look before he answers, “Two hundred.”
“I knew it!” Mariah crows, walking back into the house with Josh and I following close behind her. I lean into him and let out a happy sigh. For the first time in years, I feel safe and loved, and I know that no matter what I face, I have a partner in Josh to help get me through it all. He’s my forever.
JOSH
My alarm goes off at dawn, but the last thing I want to do is get out of bed when there's a woman snuggled against me who's not only naked, but the girl of my dreams. And what’s even better, last night she agreed to two things—co-authoring a book together and spending the rest of her life with me. Not so long ago, she said she wasn’t sure she could do either of those things. But it seems my luck is coming in. We want the same things.
"Can't the sheep go feed themselves?" she mutters, her arms tightening across my chest.
I chuckle as I kiss her on the forehead. "Kind of. But we need to let them out into the field, and it's my turn to do that. So..." I start extricating myself from her warm body, but she wraps both arms around my middle and clutches on.
"I'm not letting go. You can't leave."
I laugh and try to wrestle my way out of her grip, but she just tightens it further, adding in her thighs around my legs to make it almost impossible for me to do anything but relent. My girl wants to play dirty. I can play dirty too.
Grabbing hold of her hands, I roll on top of her, pinning her in place with her arms above her head. “Is this why you want meto stay?” I murmur, holding her gaze as I grind my rock-hard cock against her silken slit.
“Part of it,” she whispers, lifting her hips slightly to respond in kind. “I also just really fucking like you. You make me feel whole, farm boy.”
All of a sudden, the gravity of the moment hits me, and I feel like I could drown in those sparkling emerald eyes, lose myself forever in her welcoming body. She is mine, and I am hers. And the faster we make that official, the better. I want the world with her. Love, life, babies. I want to laugh with her and fight with her over stupid shit then laugh again when we’ve made up and made love, because no matter what life throws at us, this woman is mine and mine alone. I won’t ever leave her.
