I climbed over her, bracing my hands on either side of her shoulders. “You talk too much.”
“I was making helpful observations.”
“Sure you were.” I dipped my head and kissed the curve of her neck, fucking obsessed with the way she shivered underneath me.
Good. Serves her right for thinking a man can’t own more than one of the same flannel.
“Actually,” I murmured against her skin, “I need to lay down some ground rules.”
She pulled back, blinking as she frowned up at me. “What now?”
I kissed just under her ear and she gasped softly, but I just kept going. “First, you’re never carrying your own bags into this house. That’s my job.”
“Bossy,” she whispered, but she didn’t sound mad about it.
I kissed a trail along her jaw. We were both already breathing a little harder than normal. “Second, you’re notborrowingone ofmytrucks. You’re using one ofourswhile you decide what car you want, not whether you need a car at all.”
I brushed my lips over hers and her hands curled around my shoulders, but then I paused because I needed a breath and also what I was about to say lived in a part of me I didn’t let anyone touch. I had to take a moment to access that part, prying it open with an emotional crowbar as I looked down into her eyes.
By the time I’d shattered the internal cage I’d kept my feelings locked in for so long, I was pretty sure I had sweat dotting my forehead from the effort, but I managed to say the words. “Third, I’m in love with you. I’m going to need you to accept that, Charlotte. Believe it. I’m not going anywhere.”
Her mouth dropped open, absolute incredulity shimmering in her eyes, but then her lips curved into a smile and her head cocked. “Is this how the most eligible bachelor in Texas confesses his feelings?”
I laughed, my heart hammering as I dragged my nose along the length of hers. “Don’t start.”
“I read that article,” she teased quietly, wrapping her legs around my hips and catching my cheeks in her palms. “There was an entire spread of glossy photos, the broody cowboy heir with the vision for the future and abs women across the state would commit crimes for.”
“Please stop talking.”
She laughed, and damn, it felt good. I kissed her to shut her up and her hands slid into my hair, drawing me close, pulling me down until I was kissing her the way I’d wanted to since the second she’d walked into that cafe back in Chicago.
“You love me,” she murmured against my lips, her hips bucking slightly when I fit myself between them.
I bit back a moan, my rigid cock much too excited about this development. “I do. You’d better get used to having me around, Charlotte Shepard.”
“I already am.” She smiled up at me, her fingertips sliding under the hem of my shirt and her touches so light that they were driving me all the way up the fucking wall. “I love you too. I really, really do.”
CHAPTER 49
CHARLOTTE
I’d never seen Trent look well and truly stunned before. Usually, he was the very definition of composure, steady, calm, but firm, the kind of guy who could walk into a vicious bar fight and end it with a single raised eyebrow.
But right now, he was utterly frozen. Happily, not in fear or hesitation. This looked like pure, wondrous awe as he stared down at me like he was afraid to blink in case it wasn’t real. Finally, he seemed to remember how to breathe, his hand tightening on my waist.
“Say it again,” he murmured, his voice so low that it was almost rough. “Say. It.”
I smiled a little wider, breathless and a touch overwhelmed at the look in his eyes right now. “I love you, Trent Shepard. Did you really not know?”
He didn’t answer me, letting his forehead drop to mine instead, and I felt the smallest shake in his muscles. It was barely there, but it was still enough to make my heart do an Olympic-level cartwheel. Then he kissed me like the words had unlocked something in him that he’d been holding back for months and couldn’t anymore.
I kissed him back, slow, deep, and tender, my fingers sliding into his hair as heat curled low in my stomach. He whispered between fierce kisses, “I love you, Charlotte. God, I love you so fucking much.”
It kind of felt like he needed to say it as many times as it took to undo every scar on my heart, and maybe part of me needed to hear it that many times too. The storm outside kept tapping at the windows, but the room was warm and cozy, like a cocoon.
Right now, it didn’t feel like the external world existed. There were no expectations on either of our time, no Gregory-shaped pressures or societal demands. Just Trent, his hands, and the way his body folded over mine like he’d been built for this moment.
For me.
