I study the rectangular building, which seems very boring for someone like Daphne. “I like it.”
She cracks up.
It’s music.
The sound I want to hear every day—every waking hour—for the rest of my life.
I lean over the center console and kiss her again.
Her hands flutter to my cheeks as she holds me there, kissing me back with a desperation that I feel in my bones.
“I missed you,” I tell her.
“Never leaving you in jail evereveragain,” she whispers back, which sends both of us into a fit of laughter.
“God, I love you,” I say as I pop my door open.
I need to get her inside.
Inside and naked.
I can’t keep my hands off her in the elevator. I don’t know how we get through the door.
I couldn’t tell you if her apartment has carpet or wood floors or rainbows on the walls or photos of every animal Daphne’s ever saved.
How we make it down the hallway.
When my clothes all fell off me. Shoes too.
I just know I’m finally where I’ve desperately needed to be—in her arms, kissing her rough and hard and desperately while I thrust my cock inside her until we’re both coming so hard that I might never walk again.
She curls into me afterward, drawing little designs across my chest while we both catch our breath.
“You shaved,” she whispers.
“Last time,” I murmur back.
“Good. I like you scruffy.”
“I like you.”
She reaches around me and tugs at something under my shoulder, then plops a stuffed lobster down on my chest. “Oliver, meet Lolly the Lobster. She’s staying in the bed until I’m sure you’re an adequate substitute.”
I laugh. “You’re not sure I’m an adequate substitute yet?”
“Lolly’s never kidnapped me and gotten me thrown in jail.”
I roll with energy I don’t have, smiling so hard my cheeks already ache.
Daphne grins back at me and touches my cheek. “I love your face. Even when it’s grumpy and scowly. But especially when you’re happy.”
I shake my head at her. “I never expected you to be my happiness.”
“Right?” She kisses me again. “I can’t stop doing this.”
“Then don’t.”
She doesn’t.
