“Are you saying we should suffer more?” I want to laugh, but don’t. “Come on, Jens. Haven’t we done enough of that already?”
“Maybe you’re right.” She taps the counter with her nails. “It’s just—nothing ever comes easy for me.”
“I know. Your life has been hard, and I hate that. But maybe sometimes, you’ve also made the wrong choices.”
She smiles at me. “Are you saying you’re the right choice?”
“For you.” I approach her, my hand going to her waist, slowly pulling her closer. “And you’re the right choice for me. When you choose right, it’s easy.”
“I want to believe that so badly,” she whispers, and I can hear the uncertainty in her voice, feel it in her trembling body. “My whole life has been filled with hard choices, most of them wrong. I don’t trust my instincts anymore. That’s why easy feels so foreign to me.”
“Trust yourself, baby,” I murmur, pulling her fully into my arms. I hold her close, my hand cupping the back of her head, her face against my chest. She fits perfectly like this. As if we were meant to be. I truly believe we are. “Go with your gut.”
“What’s your gut telling you?” she asks, her voice muffled against my shirt.
I slip my fingers beneath her chin and tilt her face up so she’s looking at me. “That we belong together. That I’ve fallen completely in love with you.”
Her eyes go wide and her lips pop open on a gasp. “Wait. Are you serious?”
I can’t help but laugh now, not holding it back. “Not exactly the response I was hoping for.”
“It’s just that—no. I’m sorry.” She huffs out a laugh, her gaze dropping down. “I’m messing this up.” She clears her throat and returns her gaze to mine once more. “No one has ever told me they loved me before, beyond my father, and he only told me a handful of times.”
“I’ll tell you it again, every day, every hour if that’s what you need to hear.” I cup her face in my hands and kiss her, my mouth lingering on hers. “I love you, Jens.”
She’s crying again. I can taste the salt of her tears on my lips before I see them. “I love you too, Rhett.”
Her words make my skin catch fire. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear that until she finally said it. “Thank God,” I mutter just before I kiss her again.
We stand in my darkened kitchen kissing for what feels like hours, but it’s only a few minutes. I haul her up so she’s sitting on the edge of the counter, her legs spreading wide so I can step in between them. She buries her hands in my hair, clutching me close while I let my hands wander all over her. Along her hips and waist, across her stomach, around her breasts.
She thrusts her chest into my hands and I cradle her there, my hands kneading, wishing the bra was already gone so I can really feel her. Our mouths are fused together, tongues tangled, lips capturing sighs and moans, sliding my hand down, down, down, until it’s curving around her butt so I can haul her in close, our lower bodies touching as best they can, considering our positions.
“Take me to your bed, Rhett,” she whispers against my lips, just before she starts to giggle.
I sweep her into my arms and carry her through the house, headed straight for my bedroom. She’s slapping my chest, telling me to put her down, but I can tell she loves it. I’m trying to make all of her romantic fantasies come true tonight.
I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make them come true, as long as she lets me.
I kick my bedroom door open and barge inside, heading straight for the bed, where I deposit Jensen, dropping her right onto the middle of the mattress. She lands with a little bounce, glaring up at me for the briefest moment.
And then she starts to undress.
I stop and stare, enjoying the view. Savoring it. She removes her sweater and her jeans, making me smile when I watch her struggle to get them off. She rises up on her knees, wearing a plain black bra and matching panties, a coy smile curling her lips. Hot as fuck and driv
ing me right out of my mind.
She continues driving me even crazier when she starts touching herself. Drifting her fingers across her chest, dipping into her cleavage. “Like what you see?”
“I always like seeing you,” I tell her.
“You certainly have a way with words, Rhett Montgomery.” She bats her eyelashes, her fingers going to the front clasp of her bra and undoing it. The fabric springs apart but not completely, offering me a teasing glimpse of her perfect tits.
“You think so?”
Jensen nods, toying with the open clasp of her bra. “Maybe you should start undressing too.”
Without hesitation I whip my shirt off, then start working on my jeans. I’m standing at the foot of the bed in just my gray boxer briefs in a matter of seconds, my cock already straining against the cotton. Her gaze drops there, lingering, and her eyes go wide.