Page 117 of All for Love

Sighing she rested her head flat on my chest again, smiled dreamily, and closed her eyes. “This is the best morning I’ve had in a long time.”

“I don’t want to get up either, but my stomach is going to start eating itself soon. Do you want to start teaching me now? We could make breakfast together.”

“Let’s do it,” she said, rolling off me after another beat and donning my T-shirt from the floor.

She put it on, lifted her hair out of the collar, and then took off without looking back, but I stood still for a minute, absorbing the fact that I was now officially one of those guys. The ones who wanted to jump their woman as soon as she wore his clothes.

Who knew it was that fucking sexy?

Swallowing hard, I shook myself and put on my sweats, then followed her to the kitchen and found she’d already discovered a bag of dry pancake mix and a bowl to make the batter in. We cooked together and made coffee, and once we were done eating, we headed to my TV room.

“Why do you have cards?” she asked, spotting the deck on the bookshelf next to my TV. “Can we play?”

“Sure thing. I host a poker night here once a month. That’s my spare deck.” I paused as she sat down in front of the fireplace—still wearing my shirt and only my damn shirt.

“What?” she asked, cocking her head as she looked at me.

“You’re gorgeous.” I strode over to join her after grabbing the cards, openly ogling her now that she’d caught me in the act anyway.

Those long legs spread out from under the hem, curvy and shapely, and I suddenly wanted nothing more than to feel them around me. The mounds of her breasts filled the shirt out in a way I wasn’t used to but was quickly growing to love. Her nipples got a little hard under my stare, and she started laughing as she covered them with her arms.

“What are you looking at?”

I grinned. “The rest of my life.”

“You’re a sap, Kody Wagner,” she said, but I saw the soft smile on her lips and the sudden shyness in her eyes.

I tossed the cards aside and sat down behind her instead, pulling her closer between my legs before wrapping them around her so she couldn’t get away, and then I started tickling her. She squealed when she realized she was stuck, wriggling and trying to pry my arms away from her. I didn’t let go, but I did catch her mouth with mine as soon as she twisted toward me.

She kissed me back, and I stopped tickling her, sliding my hands up her ribs and cupping her amazing tits instead. She giggled into my mouth. “Oh, so that’s what you were really looking at.”

“Well, I mean, yeah, but also, no. I really was looking at the rest of my life.”

Her breath caught and she broke away from me, still sitting with her body wedged against mine but her head far enough back that she could look clearly into my eyes. “You weren’t kidding?”

“Nope.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yep.” I looked back at her, hoping that she saw how much I meant this. “I’m in this for the long haul, Mercedes. I know we haven’t really talked about the future aside from the fact that we wanted to be together, but you should know that this isn’t a fling for me. It’s not a fleeting thing. I’ve never felt like this before and I’m pretty sure this is it.”

“Do you really see a future for us, then? The other night when you said it, I didn’t really know if you were just saying it or if you meant it.”

“I meant every word. My future is with you. I know it as well as I know my own name.”

Surprise registered in her eyes as she went quiet for a minute. “If you can see it so clearly, what does it look like? What do you want?”

Shit. I should’ve known this was coming. In fact, I did know this was coming, but now that it was here, I didn’t know how to tell her what I wanted without sounding like a sappy idiot. “You just called me a sap and now you want me to share?”

She chuckled, her expression soft as she nodded. “I thought you were joking when you said that and I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”

“Okay. Why?”

Her gaze caught on mine, and she chewed her cheek for a moment before she shrugged. “You’re you, Kody Wagner. I’m still kind of struggling to believe that this is all really happening, let alone that you actually want to settle down with just one woman. The fact that the woman is me…”

She trailed off and mimed an explosion going off around her head. I laughed, laid my head on her shoulder and groaned out loud. “You better believe it, but fine. What I want is a family. A happy home full of laughter, and games, and dancing around the kitchen. You.”

“I want all that too.” She smiled, then held up her left hand and waggled her eyebrows at me. “And a ring, of course.”