She snuggled into his chest. “I love you too, Gunnar.”
“Thank fuck, because if you didn’t, I might lose my mind.”
She turned around until her back was to the bed, and walked backward, bringing him with her. “Let me show you how much.”
“Thought you’d never ask…”
He followed her down, and after, she wasn’t sure who showed who, but as she drifted off to sleep, Jorja knew this was where she was meant to sleep for the rest of her days. “Gunnar?”
“Yes, baby?”
She rolled over in his arms and peered up at him. “When can I come home?”
“How fast can you pack?”
Had he not seen all her knickknacks? “Not as fast as I’d like.”
“I have three days before I have to be in Paris for a meeting,” he said drowsily. “After that, I have a fast trip to make home. I can fly into here from Baltimore on my way back. Will that work?”
“I don’t mind driving down.”
“I hate you driving all the way through Europe by yourself.”
“Bossy.”
“When it comes to your safety, beautiful, you betcha I am.” He tightened his arms around her. “We’ll talk about it later. Now we nap, then it’s my turn to show you how much I love you… deal?”
“Deal.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
One month later
Jorja could feelthe bubbles of excitement in her belly as she took the final turn onto the street which led to the compound. It really was happening. She’d spent the last month since Gunnar had left to go to his meetings sub-leasing her apartment, packing up her stuff, and letting her clients know she was no longer in the acquisition business and giving them references for people she trusted who could help them going forward. There had been so many phone calls between them since that she knew this move was the right one for them both.
God, I hope Remi wasn’t recording any of those calls, or if he was, someone better have taken a photo of his blushes.
All the way through Germany and Switzerland, it still hadn’t sunk in that she was upping sticks and moving. But now, seeing the huge electric gates sliding open for her, her nerves dissipated and excitement was firmly in lead position at the polls of her emotions. She slid the car into a parking spot and barely remembered to yank up the handbrake as her door opened and Gunnar filled the space. For a momentthey stared at each other with big stupid smiles on their faces, until Gunnar swooped down to kiss her.
Just when she was almost at the point of beating him so he’d allow her to breathe, he pulled back and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, smoothing it into place. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
As they smiled up at each other, the other guys were already unloading her car. The trunk slamming shut made her jump, and Gunnar chuckled softly. “Come on, let’s go in.” He slung one arm over her shoulder and tugged her into his side.
Jorja paused when something brushed against her knee and she stooped down to ruffle Zombie’s ears. “Hi, puppy wuppy. I missed you.” She was rewarded with a long lick across her cheek. “I know. I saw you being all badass and stuff,” she whispered to him. “I promise I’ll never tell anyone you just love belly rubs and ear scratches.”
“Does that go for me too?” Gunnar quipped as Zombie flopped over on his side for her to give the aforementioned belly rubs.
“Nope, you’re not a puppy wuppy,” she teased, and after one last pat on Zombie’s belly, got to her feet. “You’re a big growly bear.”
“As long as I’m yours,” he told her seriously, “I don’t care what you call me.” He tugged her with him to his place. By the time they’d made it up the stairs, all her luggage was piled between the window and the TV. He led her toward the bedroom.
“Gunnar, as much as I love you, if you don’t let me pee and have coffee or wine before you take me to bed, we are going to have problems.”
“Not yet, beautiful.” He brought her hand to his lips, turned it over, and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm. “I want to see if what I fixed works for you.”
“What did you do?”
