We ended up gutting the inside of the pool house and installing more windows on the other three walls for natural light, and Rhys has installed every type of shelving and storage I’ve asked for. Where the wet bar used to be, he put incustom storage racks for my canvases based on a picture I showed him on Pinterest.
He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
The past couple of months have been tense for him at work. He’s been the interim AD while the investigation into Dunn and Sanders is active, which means late nights and some weekends.
He’s been working so hard.
They brought in agents from the field office in Oklahoma City to go through all the evidence. Rhys has been cooperating with them and proving just how perfect and indispensable he really is. But I think I might be biased.
Turns out, Dunn’s been straddling the line of corruption for a long time. His reports over the last twelve years are falsified, with missing money. Rhys says it coincided with the illness and death of his wife, but it looks like he just got greedy after that.
I pegged Sanders right from the first. He’s just a dumbass, but once Dunn caught him stealing, he put a noose on him and blackmailed him at every turn.
The glass door slides open, and Rhys steps up behind me, wrapping his arms around me from behind, his spicy scent and familiar warmth cloaking me, to look at my progress. “Looks good. Is that the last of the boxes?”
Looking down at his exposed forearms and tattoos to his wrists, I immediately think about how good he looked yesterday in his jeans and t-shirt. His back was to me most of the time as I watched his muscles move and ripple as he drilled in brackets and lifted wooden planks.
He had me so hot, I was on him like a monkey in heat as soon as we got in the house.
“Mm-hmm, I’m officially moved in, you’re stuck with me now.” I hug his arms to me and let my head fall back on his collarbone. “You’re home early, easy day?”
Dipping his head to kiss my neck under my ear, I tilt my head to give him access as his lips brush against my earlobe, his warm breath moves across my cheek when he asks, “You’re the one who’s stuck, I’m never letting you go. You up for going out tonight for a nice celebratory dinner?”
I squeal as I turn in his arms and grab his shoulders. “You got it?”
His smile splits his face, and his arms snake around my middle. “You’re looking at the new official Assistant Director Abbot.”
Jumping in his arms, he grabs my ass as I wrap my legs around his hips and pepper kisses across his face.
“I knew you would get it! I could have told them in the beginning you were a shoe-in!” Sliding my fingers through the short hair on the back of his head, I kiss him again.
He smiles when he moves his head back. “You did, huh?”
Lifting my eyebrows, I nod. “I did. I’m so happy for you.” Grabbing his face, I kiss him again.
“Mmm.” He leans his head back again. “You mean happy for us?” His dark eyes are glued to mine.
“You put in all the work; I only kept you up too late after long days, pleasuring myself with this perfect body and big dick.”
His face softens, and his eyes shine with affection. “It was those late nights with you that kept me going through the long days.”
Rubbing my nose against his, I give him my most mischievous smile. “I’m always happy to help.”
Turning serious, his smile falls as his eyes volley between mine. “I’m serious, baby, you’ve become my reason behind everything. I don’t want to ever be without you.”
Shaking my head with a chuckle, I say. “Like I said, I’m not packing that stuff back up again. You’re stuck with me.”
“I’m serious.” He pauses, his eyes holding mine captive and his hands tight under my ass. “Marry me.”
My hands freeze on his neck, and my heart is beating so hard, it feels like my chest is shaking with each thump. To be honest, in the past three months, I’ve wondered more times than I could count if Rhys is the one for me, and every time I’ve answered that question with a solid yes.
“Are you sure?” The words flow over my lips in a whisper with no thought behind them. I don’t even know why that came out instead of one of the thousand ‘yeses’ that are making a wave in my head like they’re in a baseball stadium.
Disappointment flashes in his eyes, but he answers my question anyway. “That first night I kissed you, I knew you were different. I didn’t know what it meant then, but I felt it. I know what it means now, I would go to the ends of the earth for you, babydoll. You’re it for me.
“I don’t have a ring yet. I was waiting until the investigation into Dunn was over to buy one and ask you over a nice dinner, but fuck, Kinley, I want to start our life together now.”
Tightening my legs around his hips, I cup his face between my hands, and he slips his arms around me to hold me tight against him. “I’ve known for a while you’re the one for me, I just need you to be sure because if you ask me to marry you, Rhys, and I say yes, that’s it. There’s no going back. You can’t decide a few months from now that I’m too much and change your mind.”
