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Her face grew hot and her throat constricted. She wasn’t a happy crier but she damn sure was affected. “Maybe you should be writing the book, not me,” she said, exhaling a long breath. “My idea of romance is opting for silk sheets over rubber.”
“You aren’t writing romance.” He rubbed his knuckles ov
er her cheek. “You’re writing sex. Something you know very well and I’d happily vouch for you.”
“You’re biased but I don’t mind.” She gave him a quick kiss and picked up the notebook. “Here, read it.”
“You’re sure?”
“If I say no, you won’t mention it again?”
“Hell no. I’ll steal the notebook and lock myself in the john.”
She laughed and playfully pressed the notebook’s metal spiral into his chest. “Here. Read. I’m going to go take a quick shower.”
“Okay.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Use lots of that soap I like so I can smell it all over you. And maybe leave me a few bubbles to lick off.”
“And people think I’m a horndog.” She was still smiling as she went to take her shower.
The smile lasted until she returned, bundled in a towel, to find Tony sitting with the notebook on his lap. He’d folded his hands over it and his gaze was focused off in the distance, somewhere she couldn’t see.
Nerves took root in her belly, flapping and fluttering. Did he think it was awful and didn’t know how to tell her?
“Tony?”
He glanced at her, a smile coming to his face so quickly that she did a double take. “I can’t believe how good this is.”
She blinked. Blinked again. “Really? Don’t patronize me.”
“I’m not. It’s fucking amazing. And that’s giving plenty of consideration to the fact that you’re not exactly a natural at this romance stuff. It’s still incredible. Where did you learn to write?”
She reached up to secure the towel around her hair, still certain he was bullshitting her. A man in love could be apt to say any damn thing. And wasn’t that wonderful? “It’s only three pages.”
“So? It’s a start. A great one.”
“But it’s later in the book. Not even the beginning. I couldn’t figure out how to start the book for real so I skipped ahead to where I was at mentally today.”
“Thinking about love.”
“Thinking about you,” she corrected, sitting down beside him and taking his hand. “Feeling utterly scared and shaken that you were meeting with a naked submissive—”
“Diana wasn’t naked when I met with her, Marsh.”
“Still. It threw me. Last night threw me.”
“Yet you didn’t tell me to get lost. You didn’t demand I ante up or go to hell.” He lifted her hand, slipped his fingers between hers. “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”
“Yeah. I trust you, Tony. And I believe in you. I just…” She bit her lip and shook her head. “I need to learn to believe in me.”
“You took a huge step today. You’ll keep taking them every day until you get where you want to go.”
She nodded and raised her gaze to his, held it there. “I don’t know where that is yet. All I know is that I want you with me.”
“You’ve got me. All the way, baby.”
“Thank God.” Heart knocking against her ribs, she got to her knees and inched closer to him, looping her arms around his neck. A couple tugs of his fingers and the towel pooled around her waist. “I have a request.”
“Anything.”
