Page 69 of First in Line

I let go, and she immediately gasps. “We have a proper bed!”

“We do.”

“With a headboard!”

“Yes. I couldn’t find the exact one you saved from Pinterest, but it’s pretty close, isn’t it?”

“It is! And you even got the sheets!”

I lean forward, bringing my temple next to hers while we both stare at what essentially took me the whole day.

“Do you like it?” I whisper.

“I love it! It was about time we had a nice bed.”

“Damn right it was. Sorry it took me almost a year to get it.”

She turns around and rests her arms on my shoulders, looking very cute in her Dairy Mill uniform. “It’s okay. I’m a patient girl.”

“I’m well aware of that, yes.”

When I dive in for a kiss, she rises on her toes. If her enthusiasm is any indication of her appreciation for the gift, safe to say she’s thrilled with my surprise.

“And you don’t even know the best part yet,” I playfully say, lifting her into my arms with her legs on each side of my hips.

“What’s the best part?”

I walk up to the bed and let us fall onto it. She shrieks with surprise, then giggles when the soft mattress absorbs the shock.

“I picked a very good mattress,” I explain, kissing the side of her throat.

“I can feel that.”

“And it has a little bounce to it.” I demonstrate with a few rhythmic swings of my hips.

“Oh, that’s going to feel great,” she responds before pulling me in for more kisses.

Pecking her throat, I busy myself with the buttons of her uniform, eager to unveil her body to my eyes.

“Did you get new pillows too?!”

“Yes. And a duvet, too. Everything’s new.”

“We’re going to sleep so well tonight, my gosh…”

I halt my journey down to look up at her. “I’m not here tonight,” I remind her.

“What?!”

“The team bus leaves for Atlanta in four hours, so we can be there in the morning to prepare for the qualifying race.”

“I didn’t know that. I thought you didn’t have to be on the track until later in the afternoon.”

“Yeah, but I still have to leave with the team.”

Her very visible disappointment makes me realize how poor my timing was. I’m getting us a new bed and won’t be in it for the first four nights. I probably should have waited until I came back, but I wanted to leave her with something nice for this long weekend apart.

“Princess, I’m sorry. I thought I told you that.”