He cupped my face and ran his thumbs over my cheeks as he smiled down at me. “I missed you so fucking much, you have no idea.”
I swear there were stars in my eyes when I smiled up at him. “I have a pretty good idea since I missed you, too.”
“Fuck, baby,” he rasped, “all I could think about all day was kissing, tasting, and loving you.”
“I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things we did either,” I admitted. “In fact… how about we skip pancakes and go right to your house?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure? You just got off work and you have to be starving.”
I gave him a cheeky grin. “I’m starved for you. Food can wait.”
Jake shook his head and laughed. “You have no idea how badly I wish we weren’t in the work parking garage right now. I’d have you bent over the hood of this car in a heartbeat if we were home.”
“So then take me home,” I teased.
He nodded and kissed me again, briefly.
“We’ll compromise. I’ll call Caddy’s and order the pancakes to go. After I take care of your first craving, I’ll feed you.”
“That’s a plan I can get behind.”
When we got to the diner to pick up the pancakes, Meg wiggled her eyebrows and gave me a knowing look. I knew I was blushing when I shrugged as if to say can you blame me? Her bark of laughter told me she got it.
* * *
The first thing I noticed after we took off our shoes and Jake closed the door behind us was the scent of flowers. This was because there were two massive arrangements of pink flowers on the foyer table. I’d never seen so many roses, hydrangeas, peonies and gerbera daisies at once in my life.
I dropped my sandals into the basket and gasped as I looked around and took it all in. “They’re beautiful.”
“Not even half as beautiful as you. I wanted you to have flowers here, too. I put the arrangement from yesterday in my bedroom.”
I had to swallow past a lump of emotion. No one had ever made me feel like I was their number one priority before. “Jake,” I murmured. “This is… I’m blown away. You didn’t have to do this.”
He set the bag that held our food and my overnight bag down on the console table against the wall before he came and hugged me tightly.
“I wanted to do this,” he said softly. “You’re my everything, Amber. I’ve waited my whole life to feel like this. Now that you’re here, I never want you to doubt the way I feel about you.”
“How could I doubt it?” I asked softly. “It’s in everything you do. I know some people would tell me this is crazy but I don’t care. I waited my entire life for you and I didn’t even know it. Watching my mom go through men the way she did, I never believed in fairytales or happily ever after. When Caroline and Rob fell in love, I was happy for her but also jealous because I knew she had something I never would experience. Now I know that wasn’t true at all. You found me regardless of the fact that I didn’t believe.”
He smiled as he ran his hands up and down my back. “Fate’s funny like that. I stopped looking, you never started, but here we are.”
I nodded and agreed. “Here we are. How about we take this party to your bedroom. I’ve been waiting to be naked with you all day.”
He had me up and in his arms so fast I barely had time to blink. I let out a little shriek of laughter as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and held on. He moved us through the house swiftly, his husky laughter music to my ears as he sat me down on the edge of the bed. Things went from silly to sensuous as he stood between my parted thighs and set his hands on my neck, his thumbs resting atop my pulse points.
“You’re already excited,” he rasped.
I felt myself blushing as I bit my lip and nodded. “Apparently this is my body’s natural reaction to you,” I confessed.
He slid his hands up my throat and gently tilted my chin back with his thumbs. Right away I was so lost in his enchanting navy blue eyes.
“Put your hand over my heart, baby.”
I held his gaze and set my hands against his lower torso before I slowly glided them up his chest. When I stopped over his heart, I smiled. His heart was beating double-time and I had no doubt mine was as well. He kissed me then, the slide of his tongue against mine creating a tidal wave of sensation that made me wet and desperate to feel him inside of me. I moaned into his mouth as he came up on the bed over me, both of us shifting positions without ending the kiss. In no time he was flush against me, my legs around his waist as he ground against me. He tore his mouth from mine and dropped his head to my neck, suckling softly against a spot that made me gasp.