“Are you kidding? I fucking love it.”
Solo moved to the wall opposite the bed, where flames danced inside a sleek, modern fireplace. “What about this? Can you imagine spending all night in bed with this baby in the background?”
“Hell yes, I can. It’s perfect.” My eyes trailed up to the framed picture that hung above the fireplace, a picture of two jets side by side in the sky—
“Recognize this?”
I jumped off the bed to get a closer look, and when I realized what I was looking at, I gasped. “How did you… How?”
“I asked Levy to get a shot of us during instructor training. Not bad, huh?”
The angle of the photo meant Levy must’ve been in front of us, because it was a head-on shot that showed Solo and me in F/A-18A Hornets gliding over the clouds side by side. Even though I’d taken the offer with the Blue Angels, I still acted as a guest instructor during time off, which meant going through another round of training with Solo. How Levy had managed to get this shot of us was beyond me, but it was incredible.
“Solo, this is unreal.” I turned, gesturing to the rest of the room. “This is all unreal. I can’t believe you did all this. It’s just…” There I went again. Completely lost for words.
“I’m glad you love it.” A shy, proud smile crossed Solo’s face, and God… I couldn’t love him any more than I did right then.
My fingers twitched; I wanted to grab the ring I’d hidden in my pocket and give it to him right then, but no. I’d had this thing planned for so long that I could wait a little longer for the perfect moment.
After all, what were a couple more hours in the span of forever?
SOLO
PANTHER DIDN’T HAVE to say a word—it was all right there in his eyes. When I’d told him I was taking over the renovation, I knew exactly what he’d love, and no matter the price, I’d made it happen. It had all been worth it to see the look he was giving me now.
“There’s more,” I said.
“I’m not sure if my heart can take much more.” He pressed a palm against his chest and took a deep breath. “Okay, show me.”
“These,” I said, heading over to the glass doors, “are pocket doors. Check this out.” I slid one side open, the door disappearing into the wall of glass, and then I did the same to the other side. The effect was such that it looked like the bedroom was somehow outdoors, the space just one wide-open room.
I stepped out onto the terrace, where the retaining walls were low enough that, even sitting at the table in front of the outdoor fireplace, we’d still be able to see the ocean.
“Now this is heaven,” Panther said as he came up beside me. “Oh, hey, we can have dinner up here when it’s nice.”
“Which is every night in Southern California.”
He grinned. “Exactly. And lounges too, huh? Just how private is this terrace?”
“Damn near a hundred percent, unless there are perverts out in boats using binoculars. Why?”
Panther reached for me, gripping the front of my shirt and moving in close. “I was just thinking about that night we came here and jumped the fence…”
I groaned and, needing him even closer, reached down to grab his ass, hauling him against me. “Trespassing on our own property…”
“It wasn’t ours then.”
“No, but if you ever need a repeat of your one night of criminal behavior, feel free to let me know.”
Panther nipped at my lip, asking for entrance. “I think we could find ourselves enough trouble on this terrace, don’t you think?”
“Fucking count on it.” I closed the gap between us, but barely got a taste of him before we heard a loud thump outside the bedroom door, followed by footsteps, and then a couple of the movers appeared in the doorway.
“Mr. Morgan,” one of the guys called out. “We’ve got a chair here that was marked for the master bedroom. This it?”
I kept Panther right where he was in front of my body to hide my erection and nodded. “Yeah, come on in. There should be two, and they can go on either side of the fireplace.”
“You got it.”
