Page 65 of One Last Thing Before You Go

Knox wraps his other arm around my waist and tackles me when I try to sit up, rolling effortlessly on top of my body. Caging me between his arms, Knox starts kissing a line down my neck and chest. With a laugh, I put my palm to his forehead and push him away.

“Knox,” I plead.

He sighs like I’ve just taken his favorite toy away from him, and rolls onto his side, resting his head on his elbow as he looks at me with a broad smile, dimples popping. “Still early. Around seven.” He takes my hand in his and brings it to his lips, kissing each finger softly. I suck in a breath, trying not to get distracted by the tenderness of the moment, by the dangerous look in his eye. Not because it’s the same predatory one he used before taking me, but because of the depth of the emotion I can see in them.

Knox’s boyish grin makes another appearance before kissing the palm of my hand this time, pulling me away from the intense feeling building in my chest. “I had a lot of fun last night.”

Throwing caution and restraint out the window, I roll into him, wrap an arm around his shoulders, and burrow into his chest. “Me too,” I whisper.

“I wish we could stay in bed all day.”

“Same,” I breathe.

All too soon, he pulls away, reaching for something on his nightstand. I groan, pulling at him. “Come back.”

He laughs softly at my whining. “Hold on, I want a picture of this.”

“What?” I shriek, pulling the comforter up to cover myself.

Knox rolls his eyes at me, camera at the ready. “I’m not talking about photographing you naked. Although I’d be totally into that if you’re interested. I just meant this moment right here.” He aims the camara at me, although not quite directly at my face. Adjusts the zoom a few times, and snaps away.

“What moment? There is no moment.”

“How can you say that?” He looks over at me, a smile in his eyes though he’s completely serious. “This, right here. This is a moment. I wanna remember it always. I want there to be a record of this. You and me, waking up together for the first time.” He makes it sound like we’ll have a thousand more mornings like this, and I want them all.

My heart tightens in my chest, and suddenly I find myself at a loss for words. Panic creeps up my throat, tightening my airways. Does this behavior fall in line with “casual”?

But then he buries his face in my neck, inhaling the scent of my hair while holding the camera above us and I can barely think.

“And if I don’t want to remember?” It’s meant as a joke, but my voice comes out colder than expected.

He flinches for a second, pulling away. But his eyes are gentle when he says, “You’re just gonna have to fight me on it, I guess.” Knox launches himself at me after that, covering me with his entire body. With a squeal, I struggle to get away, laughing, but he holds me down, straddling my hips. With one hand, he takes hold of both my wrists and pins them above my head; with the other, he snaps another picture. “I’ll keep you tied here all day if you don’t cooperate.” He laughs softly, hiding behind the camera.

“Stop, I give up!” I laugh, and he releases me, lying back down to flip through his photos with a gentle smile on his face.

“Can I at least see them?”

He smirks, glancing between me and the camera. “I don’t think you’re ready for what the camera has to say yet.”

“Oh, yeah?” I sputter a laugh.

“Yeah.”

“What, exactly, can a camera say, then?”

“Sorry, have you never heard of the expression a picture is worth a thousand words? It can say a whole lot.”

Laughing, I roll to sit on the edge of his bed and stretch. I feel the heat of his chest against my back, his lips on my bare shoulder, inching up towards my neck. Strong arms wrap around my waist in a vice-like grip just as I turn my head just in time to meet him with a kiss.

“Don’t go,” he whispers gruffly against my lips. “Stay all day in bed with me.”

I moan, pressing another kiss to his lips. “I can’t. Have to open the store in a couple of hours. I need to go home and change before I meet with Luke again.” I hear the slight rumble in his chest at my ex’s name and suppress a smile.

“Easy, cowboy. We have to start building the new shelves and stuff, so there’s a lot to review. I have responsibilities, you know. Grown-up stuff.”

He releases me from his possessive grip, and I almost beg him to pull me to him once more. “And I’m not a grown-up? I seem to remember doing very grown-up things to you last night.” His hands travel down my sides and to my front to cup my breasts.

I smirk, playfully slapping his hands away and getting to my feet, quickly pulling the tee he wore last night where it lay on the floor over my head. I sneak a deep inhale of it, snorting the scent coming off the softly worn fabric like an addict. “You know what I mean.”