He tells me more about what I do to him—heated, passionate words that make my body ache even more with need. Words that tug me upward, making heat and moisture build at my core until finally, I burst out yet again with his name at my lips and a moan escapes me that doesn’t even sound human.
And this time… oh, this time I get to feel him reach that point with me, speeding up his pace until he thrusts into me one last time.
It takes at least ten minutes before either of us recovers enough to form words.
“That was a lot more fun than I’ve had on a Wednesday night in a long time.” He is the first to break the silence.
I like the idea of that—the subtle hint that maybe he’s not out doing the bar scene on his weekdays and bringing other women to this bed.
“It makes me wish the weekend was a lot closer than it is.” I snuggle into his chest. I’m silent again for a while, with my ear pressed to him, simply enjoying this feeling of closeness—so close that I can hear his heart thumping.
Precious heart.
Stop it, a little voice in me whispers.Don’t go there.
And yet, I’ve already gone there as I feel this undeniable swell of emotions that can only come from love.
Love? Oh no.
I almost shiver at the thought and then quickly say, more to drown out all the thoughts congealing in my brain, “Oh—and speaking of the weekend, my sister-in-law and nephew are coming for a visit. You don’t have to hang out with them, but I know she’d at least love to meet you. Would that be all right?”
Yes. Good idea. Talk about family. The weather. Hell, I’d break all the rules and talk about politics right now if it would stave off these nesting hormones that are playing with my emotions. Because I can’t love him.
But I do.
“Of course. How about I give your nephew a surfing or paddleboard lesson if his mom is okay with it?”
I smile, and my first thought is how sweet he is to offer that. And then my second thought is what a great dad he’d be. And then my third thought is that all I want right now is to utter the words that are in my heart.
“I think he’d love that,” I say instead. “I’ve heard he worships you Special Ops guys.”
“Wish his aunt would feel the same way about us.” He gives me a wink.
“I’m starting to,” I admit. “In fact, I’ve kind of—” I cut myself off.
Yet I don’twantto cut myself off. Maybe it was the fancy dinner with white tablecloths and candles that aren’t citronella. Or maybe it’s seeing him in his uniform… followed by seeing him take it off. Or maybe it’s the way he jumped to offer to give Nicholas a surfing lesson.
But, whatever it is, I nearly said I’ve fallen in love with him.
“Kind of what?”
“I—” I stammer. “I’ve kind of changed a lot, with you in my life,” I hedge. Do I really do this? We jumped into this thing together with a set of rules—rules that I made. It’s like I started playing a game of checkers and halfway through, I decided I wanted to change from red to black.
But rules be damned, maybe I should.
He smiles. “I hope in a good way.”
“I think so. You just make me think about things in a different way. It’s like a lot of my old baggage doesn’t look as big as it used to. And I—”
His phone rings and he moves to retrieve it from the pants he’s left in a pile on the floor. “Sorry. I have to check this.”
He lifts the phone and reads the text that waits for him.
I see it too, since my face is right next to his.
Just two simple words that make my brow rise.
“Green Toyota?” I can’t help reading it and laughing. “Okay, I have to ask, what the heck does that mean?”