“My house is boring.”
Try as I might, I couldn’t bite back the snort. “You mean the institutional white walls weren’t on purpose?”
“Smart aleck,” he said before brushing a quick kiss across my lips. “Cold and sterile has been my life for so long that the last few places I rented came furnished and were just as cold and sterile, but even they had some paintings on the walls. I humbly ask for your help in finding a theme for the house that will make it feel less like a hospital corridor and more like a home. Maybe after Christmas, we can visit the Evergreen Acres store and see what they have for artwork or find a local artist who sells prints.”
Hugging his arm, I leaned my head on his shoulder. “I love that idea. There are so many artists in the area, and I know we can find things to make it feel like home.” If he was decorating, he was staying, and I was all for it.
He turned me and we walked back into his room. “My other hope is that you’d have a few things in your storage unit that you’d like to hang up. Things that would make you feel at home. Maybe pictures of you, your dad, and Yaya Riba? I haven’t even seen a picture of her, but I want to. After all, she raised the woman I love.”
“I have so many pictures,” I said, the words laced with excitement. “I’ll be happy to show them to you, but why wouldyou want pictures of my family in your home? I don’t live here.”
“What if I want you to?” he asked. “What if I want it to be your home too?”
“You—you want me to live like here here? Like, not in the cottage but here?” There was no way to hide the tremor in my words when I was so shaken. “Did you talk to Ivy?”
“Ivy? No, why?” I waved my hand as though it didn’t matter, but he took it and pulled me toward the closet. Smack in the middle was my suitcase. “Tell me you have more than that suitcase somewhere?”
“In the storage unit, yes.”
“Good, then this weekend we’ll collect your things and bring them over. There’s plenty of space in the basement to store what you don’t need in the house. No sense paying for a storage unit every month when there’s plenty of space here.”
“You brought my suitcase over?” I registered the ridiculousness of the question, but he just laughed as he pulled me into a hug.
“I did, because I want you to hang your clothes in my closet. If you don’t have a dresser, we’ll pick one up for you this weekend. You can share my bathroom or take the one down the hall for yourself. Whatever you want, but I want you here with me every day.”
“I love you so much,” I whispered, turning and wrapping my arms around his shoulders.
Rather than speak, he captured my lips for a kiss that heated quickly and had us stripping our clothes off in a flurry of arms and legs, until we fell across the bed. Always an unhurried lovemaker, he wanted to take his time and kiss every square inch of me, but not tonight. Tonight, he vibrated with a pent-up emotion that was difficult to describe. I suspected it was the reminder he got in surgery that tomorrow isn’t promised.
He spooned me into him and slid inside, stilling. He held me to him, one hand on my belly and the other across my breasts as he kissed and nuzzled my neck from behind. Soon, my skin was covered in goosebumps, and my groin ached from the pure pleasure of being locked together so tightly withhim. I wanted to move, to offer him pleasure, until I realized I already was. He was taking what he needed and offering me something even better in return. Trust. Honesty. Vulnerability. Slowly, his hand slid down my belly to where we were joined, and with the precision of a surgeon, our slow and deliberate lovemaking reached a crescendo that probably woke the neighbors, but I wasn’t even ashamed.
Laughing, he rolled atop me, kissing me as though I was the most beautiful woman on earth. “So, that long, loud yes I just heard was about moving in, right?”
I swatted at his arm playfully, laughing at his silly grin. “As though I can say no to you about anything, Major. Though I will say, you didn’t mention where I’d be sleeping. Are you picking up a bed for the guest room?”
“Woman, don’t mess with me postcoital. I’d hate to have to fire that bad boy up again and remind you that you’ll only be sleeping in one bed from now on.”
“Am I supposed to be upset about you threatening to fire up that bad boy again because, spoiler alert, I’m not.”
His nip to my lower lip was playful before he kissed the sting away. “Why would I talk to Ivy? That’s a question I can’t stop thinking about.”
The sigh that escaped likely told him that I didn’t want to talk about it, but he was laser-focused on my lips, waiting for an answer. “Hazel called to say that she would likely have an apartment open on the first of February. I told Ivy, and she said that I shouldn’t commit to renting it until I talked to you. In fairness, I was going to. She was worried you might be hurt if I moved out of the cottage when you were kind enough to offer it to me free of charge for as long as I needed it.”
“It’s like she’s clairvoyant,” he said dryly. “I just made a mental note to make a large contribution to New Beginnings so that they won’t rent you an apartment.”
“Hazel called me about it today, so I wasn’t keeping it from you, but I didn’t want to assume that you wanted me here long term.”
“So long term,” he promised, kissing me softly this time, his tenderness kicking back in now that he was confident I wasn’t going anywhere. “You’ve changed my life, Jaelyn Riba,and now I can’t live without you in my house or my bed. Say you’ll stay and make a home with me.”
“I’ll stay,” I promised, running my hands through his hair. “The haters be damned.”
“They’re just jealous,” he whispered, bracing his only knee between mine as he made love to my breasts.
“Good thing you came along and locked me down,” I teased, arching my back when his teeth teased my nipple.
He tangled his fingers with mine and raised my hands above my head while he pressed a kiss to my chest. “It only gets better from here.”
Then he took my lips and showed me exactly how good it could be.
