Page 24 of Finding Forever

The words swirl through my mind with a rainbow of colors.

I open my mouth, but he stops me with a gentle shake of his head. “Let me finish. Then if you need space, I’ll give it. If I need to fight for this?” A faint smile curves his mouth. “I’m not going anywhere.”

I don’t answer with words.

I grab hold of his shirt, rise onto my toes, and kiss him.

Breathing hard, we break apart, and he murmurs, “Well. That simplifies things.”

Then his mouth is on mine again, and all I can think is that I’ve finally found the man I truly belong with.

***

We’re warm under the covers of my bed.

Luke is on his back, sling discarded, jaw clenched, his hand cupping my hip as I lower myself onto him. My hair forms a loose curtain as I bend forward and my lips cling to his.

My groan reflects pleasure, long and low, that he captures with the kiss. I rise up, then lower myself, taking him inches deeper.

“That’s right, darlin’, take me in,” he rasps.

His thumb slides, back and forth over my hot bundle of nerves, making my breath back up in my throat.

We move together and I take him farther into me each time, his touch hurtling me closer and closer to the edge. He tilts his hips up and he’s fully seated. We pause, gazes locked in the shadowy light, intimately joined heat to heat.

“It’s too much, Luke. I—” My breath hitches.

“Hold on to me, darlin’. I got you,” he drawls as we move again, his hips thrusting in time with his increasingly erratic breathing.

I grip those hips and close my eyes, drawing in the scent of him, the feeling of being utterly consumed. I break first, my body spasming around him, a keening moan echoing from my throat, and then he’s following me over the edge, his body shuddering into mine.

I return to earth as he rubs his hand down my back and over my rear, long, soothing strokes that make me want to stretch like a cat. I rest against his left side, careful of his injury, and slide my fingers through the wiry hair on his chest.

“Tell me about you,” he murmurs.

“Hmm?” I feel loose-limbed and warm, content in a way I’m not used to.

“Your family. How you ended up owning Falls View Inn.”

I gather my thoughts and tell him about my parents and brothers in Southern California, their ambitious careers, the lives they expected me to want. About Ted.

“As painful as it was finding him in bed with someone else, it forced me to take a hard look at my life,” I say. “Then my aunt left me the inn, and suddenly I had the opportunity to build something that felt…real.”

“That takes guts,” he says, his voice a low rumble beneath my ear.

“I’m not sure about guts. I wasn’t happy with Ted,” I admit. “But I don’t know if I would’ve changed anything if I hadn’t caught him cheating.”

“You would have,” Luke says without hesitation. “You’re not built to stay where you don’t belong.”

“I’d like to think so.” I smile against his shoulder. “What about you? Your family?”

He’s quiet long enough I think he might deflect, but then he exhales noisily.

“My parents split when I was eight. Dad moved on fast. He’s reached out recently. Guilt, I think.” His shoulder hitches. “I’m giving that some time, but I’ll deal with him eventually.”

“And your mom?”

“We talk,” he says. “She was having a rough time and sent me to live with my grandparents in Oregon when I was fourteen.”