Seth grips her hand tight. He doesn’t deserve this. He doesn’t deserve her. Not when she’s vulnerable as hell, recovering from being hospitalized for an infection that could have killed her, and still wanting to talk about them.
“I just ... after last night ... I ... like ...” Seth runs a hand over his mouth, trying to hide a smirk. He can see it’s hard for her to get out the words. An inhale. An exhale. And then— “I like you, Seth. I like you more than ... than what we’ve been doing in Nashville.” Her eyes narrow, snagging on Seth’s grin. “Are you laughing at me?”
“No, I—ow!” He rubs his arm where she’s socked him in the bicep.
She gives him a look, her face flustered. “This is hard for me.”
His face turns serious. “It’s pretty damn easy for me.”
Lacey sighs. “Then what is this? What do you want?”
He knows. After last night, he damn sure does.
No more drunken Nashville nights. He wants more with Lacey. Dates, holidays, Sunday Suppers. He wants to call her his girl, introduce her to his parents, get her on that red carpet, show her off, take her on tour. But most of all, he wants to make it official. Make it a life.
Their life.
Because she is someone he needs. She burns just like him. Found, but still lost, grappling for that purpose in life. The conversations they’ve shared, the way she understands him, has been there for him, he’s never found somebody else like her.
He’s never felt this way about anyone. He doesn’t want to pass up this chance.
But he doesn’t want to scare her by moving too fast. He can see this is hard for her, letting her heart out. It wouldn’t take much to wall it back up. But he wants her to see that they ain’t gonna know what they are unless they try it.
“You, Lace,” Seth says, and her green eyes widen. “You. You’re who I want.”
And then he’s drawing her beautiful face into his hands and kissing her cool lips, kissing her like she’s his only one because she is. Seth shuts his eyes against the hunger, the curl of heat charging up between them.
Lacey drags her hand through his hair, her touch like velvet. She lets out a small gasp and pulls him closer, stroking her tongue over his. It’s her answer. She wants to do this as much as he does.
With a hungry groan, Seth cups the back of her neck, sliding his hands into all her silky hair, pulling her against him, loving the way she fits in his arms, like she’s always belonged there.
He can’t get enough. She’s gonna set him on fire they keep doing this.
When they finally draw away, their breaths are harsh explosions in the small space between them.
“Why?” Lacey’s question comes out wobbly, tears shining in her eyes. She grips his shoulders, trembling against him.
He cups the arc of her cheekbone. “Why, what?”
“You kiss me like you’re running out of time.”
He grins, stroking a thumb across her cheek. “Why the hell not? We wasted too much time already.”
She drops her gaze. Seth stiffens as he feels the creep of her hand up his shirt, her graceful fingers fanning out over his stomach.
“We got time for that too, Lace,” he says with a laugh, which earns him a disgruntled growl from Lacey.
But he understands. He’s impatient, not to mention hard as hell. He wants a night with her. As soon as her stitches heal up, he’s taking that girl to bed.
Seth’s phone buzzes. Lacey’s pings.
They pull away from each other, check their phones, then look up at each other and laugh.
Lacey lets out a long breath, flushing. “It’s Sal.”
Seth raises his eyebrows, his phone. “It’s Luke.” He groans. “Son of a bitch.”
No doubt inadvertent payback for all the times he and Lacey cramped Luke and Sal’s time together. With a slow chuckle, Seth pushes off the bed, adjusting himself. He leans down and kisses the top of her head. “I’ll let y’all talk.”