Page 169 of Small Town, Big Storm
This time my giggle escapes.
Those gray eyes fill with humor.“You’re lucky I love hearing you laugh.”
“You’relucky I told Riley to lock the door on her way out.”
Instantly humor is replaced with heat.“Yeah?”
I hold up my cast-free hand.“Remember what the doctor said about PT?”
“I don’t think jerking me off can reasonably count as PT, Poppyseed.”A wicked grin.“But don’t let that stop you.”
Grinning back, I wrap my arms around him and kiss him.
But before things can really get going, he scoops me off the table.
“Storm!”I gasp, but he just tightens his arms around me and kisses me until my lungs protest.
Only then does he release me—or my lips, anyway.
My body he carries across the floor.
“We have to clean?—”
“Later,” he mutters, jabbing at the keypad then slanting his mouth over mine again.
A heartbeat later, we’re upstairs.
And a moment after that, we’re in bed, the door locked.
“I was proud of you tonight,” I say as he lowers himself over the top of me, slowly nuzzling at my jaw, nipping at my throat.
“Mmm.”He tugs up my tee, drags it over my head.“Because I mixed those Cedar Hollow Kisses all on my own?”
My lips twitch, but I catch his face in my hands.“Yes.”A beat.“But no.”
He turns his head, kisses my palm, then looks into my eyes and waits.
“You didn’t run,” I whisper.
“Except I kind of did, baby.”
“You taking a breather in the parking lot is a bit different than you hitting the highway, Stormy.”
A scowl at the nickname, but his touch when he brushes his knuckles over my cheek is gentle.“Maybe.”
“It is,” I press.“You stayed and you figured it out and…” My eyes well up.“You trusted in the family we’re building.You can’t know how much that means to me.”
“I know.”He says, stroking his finger down my throat.“I do know it, baby.”
He does, I realize.
Hereallydoes.
And then time stretches, our eyes connecting, a thousand things passing between us—joy and love, hope and happiness, connection and…forever.
A heartbeat, a minute, an hour later, our bodies move as one, our lips finding each other, and he kisses me lazily.
As though we have all the time in the world.
