Page 152 of Bachelor Bad Boy

His mouth slanted over hers, hot and hungry, an assault on her senses. He tasted of champagne and a firestorm of passion that made her ache for more. God, she’d missed his kisses. The beat of his heart under her palm. The sound of hisbreath hitching when her tongue danced with his. The feel of his hands skimming across her skin.

As his lips abandoned hers, she moaned the loss.

“I love you, Jo,” he whispered, his voice gravelly with emotion, “and I want it all with you—kids, as many as you want, and a fucking picket fence. I’ll give you anything, everything, if you’ll let me.”

“I don’t need a picket fence. I just need to know you’re not straddling it anymore, and you’re on my side.”

“I don’t know what that means, but I’m definitely on your side.” A slow grin pulled at his mouth. “And I finally figured out something else.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“I want to be your glue.”

Sliding her arms around his neck, Jo stood on tiptoe and kissed him, slowly, softly. “I love you, Avery Preston.”

A loud crash broke them apart. The band screeched to a halt. Everyone on the dance floor turned as one toward Georgia’s wailing.

The tent had caved in, taking down the table with the three-tiered cake Jo had stayed up all night decorating. Georgia sat in a puddle of white tulle, her veil covered in icing and cake smeared across the front of her dress.

Lydia was screaming at Walt to do something. He tried to help Georgia up, but Lydia pushed him. He tripped over Georgia, grabbed Lydia to right himself, and over they both went, landing in the first and second tiers.

“Somehow, this will be my fault.” Jo rolled her eyes and sighed. “Welcome tomylife.”

Avery laughed and shook his head, then hooked a thumb toward the opposite side of the tent. Seated around a table, Avery’s parents, Laine and Connie, and the rest of his family—Nick, Spencer and Melody, Marcus and Charlotte—lifted their champagne glasses in a toast of smiles and the promise of a loving family.

“No, Jo,” he tipped her face to his and looked at her with all the love he’d expressed and a shimmer of naughty bad boy, “welcome to mine.”

~*~