She laughed when she toppled over the edge, tears spilling from her eyes as her body shuddered and split, breaking apart every part of her until she had to become something new, something transformed.
Garrett didn’t wait for her to come down before rolling her onto her back, spreading himself over her and driving harder, faster, as he buried his face in her neck. An endless stream of words spilled from his lips between kisses, praise and affection andoh fuck so good,words she collected and memorized even as her body built towards another release.
His release seemed to surprise him, as he bucked into her and held, his cry broken and joyful, the pulsing of his cock the final urging for her release to claim her, far less urgent than the previous climax but no less satisfying as she shared it with him.
Together.
As the last pulse left his body, Garrett collapsed on her, pushing what air remained out of her lungs with anoof.She nudged his shoulder with hers. “Darling, I need to breathe.”
He rolled to her side with a grumble and pulled her close, pressing his chest to hers. “Will you call me darling now? I think I like it.”
Her cheeks heated as she pressed a kiss to the space where his heart still thrummed. “A slip of the tongue. Think nothing of it.”
“Oh no, you said it. Darling and Sweetness, a pair for the ages.”
She swatted his arm, then pressed a kiss to the underside of his chin. “A pair for the ages, so long as you never call me sweetness in public.”
“I’m going to insist you call me darling at every opportunity. Perhaps I’ll make others call me that as well.”
“I’ll print calling cards for us.”Perhaps with a different last name for her?
The idea should have caused panic, but it soothed her, buffed away the rough edges of her soul. Whether or not her name was tied to his,togetherwas all that mattered. She would chase it, fight for a future with him. And so she allowed him to hold her tight, to care for her, as she tumbled into sleep.
Chapter 11
Garrettdesperatelyneededtouse the restroom. The urge to sneeze was overwhelming with Sadie’s hair tickling his nose, and at some point his toes had slipped past the edges of the quilt and had gone numb.
But an act of God himself couldn’t move him from this bed. Sadie had stretched out on his chest, her leg thrown over his and her cheek pressed against the thrum of his heart. Periodically she would let out a little snort-laugh and smile, the effect so charming he had to resist the urge to wake her up and ask what she was dreaming about.
He hoped it was him.
Making Sadie happy would be his life’s work… if only he had a way to make some income while doing it.
He should have told her ages before now, but he’d kept up the ruse for long enough that the secret became something larger than it needed to be, an indomitable weight that sat on his shoulder. He knew Sadie wouldn’t think poorly of him for walking away from soul-stifling employment, but that was before, when they were nothing more than colleagues. His plans for his own future, a way to use his financial knowledge to benefit the world, were still in their infancy. Unless he found someone willing to invest significant capital in his dream, he would hardly be able to support himself, let alone Sadie. She wanted a future with him, and a life together required more than hiding in a backroom of a firehouse and making love, surviving on whisky and cheese.
Although that would be an excellent way to ride out the rest of his days.
So lost was he in his thoughts that he thought he was imagining the rattle of keys in the front door, the low thrum of voices in the firehouse’s entrance.
Oh shit.
He wiggled out from beneath Sadie, relieved when she mumbled in her sleep and settled back down without stirring. He tugged on his long johns and reached for his shirt and trousers—remembering too late that he’d left them by the boarded window.
Alongside Sadie’s chemise.Oh shit.
The voices were clear by the time he scrambled out to see Ben and Rose examining his makeshift repair of the broken window. Spotting the discarded chemise, he kicked it under a nearby table and out of sight.
Ben swung around and his dark eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”
“I was working late when the storm hit. Has it cleared?”
“Mostly. We came to make sure the building wasn’t damaged. Are you alright?”
Garrett swallowed as his face heated.Better than alright. “Of course, I—”
“What’s this?” Rose had picked up a length of wool and held it in one delicate hand.
Sadie’s stocking.Oh. Shit.
