“Oh my God, Mari.”Her eyes stung.“I didn’t say anything about forever.I said I wasn’t spending the night here.”
“Soon as you’re ready, he’s waiting for you, Gracie.”
Grace already knew that, and quietly admitted, “I’m in love with him.”
“I know, and when you’re ready, you’ll make sure he does, too.”
She was ready and had been thinking about how life would work with Callum since the moment he had left her and Hayden in her parents’ front yard.
Grace packed an overnight bag and loaded it into her car.A permanent car.One that she’d picked out, negotiated, and signed the paperwork for without asking for anyone’s input.A silver sedan.Practical.Comfortable.Not flashy but had a good vibe.
She drove to meet Callum in the parking lot, and they checked into the hotel not too far from her house.She ignored the uncomfortable feeling that these meetups were too similar to untethered trysts.She had nailed everything else down.Now she was ready for the final touches of permanence.
Callum opened their hotel room, dropped their bags, and wrapped her in a kiss that melted rational thought from her mind.
“Wait, wait, wait,” she said against his lips.“I want to show you something.”
“It can wait.”
“No.It can’t.”Grace dissolved into a fit of giggles as he tossed her onto the bed, covering her with his body.“It will just take a second.”
“Fine,” he grumbled with his lips against her neck.
The amount of internal strength required to roll away from his mouth astounded her.But it would be worth it.
She rifled through her bag and retrieved the paper.“Look.”
His lazy gaze laser-focused as soon as he saw the picture printed at the top corner of the page.“What is this?”
“A real estate listing.”
He snatched it from her, read, looked up and down again, then held out the paper.“You want to see it?”
“I don’t even need to see it.”The little white Craftsman house was within walking distance of Main Street in Granite Creek.“The pictures are cute.There’s a garden in the back.Flowers in the front.Just looking at it makes me smile.”
“It’s everything you want.”
“Almost.”She tossed the real estate listing aside.“I want to be there with you.”Her heart slammed in her chest.She didn’t doubt he wanted that too, but saying it aloud nearly stole her breath.“We could make it our home.”
She didn’t need Callum to find her a house or to make that decision.She needed to find herself.He’d understood that before she had and given her the space.
Callum was everything her ex hadn’t been.More than that, he was everything without comparison.
He sat on the edge of the bed and squeezed her hips and pulled her close between his legs.“Is that what you want?”
Nearly eye to eye, her grin hitched.“I mean, that’s not all I want.But it’s a start.”She lifted her arms into the air for him to strip off her shirt.“Back to our regularly scheduled programming?”
His fingers toyed with the hem, and his stormy bourbon eyes reflected the two meanings of the here-and-now in the hotel room and their life together.
Their life together stayed in his mind; she was sure of it.Callum undressed her like a present, taking his time with every touch and tease until she ached for his mouth on hers again.His clothes came off with significantly less fanfare, and she didn’t care.
His hands roamed her body.His mouth tasted every part of her until he’d wound her tight enough to scream.This was insanity.The craving for him.The desire for the way he filled her, fucked her, brought her to the edge of the universe, then gave her more.
Gloriously naked, he covered her with his body of carved muscles, and caged her, pinning her between him and the bed.
She moaned for more.“I need you.”
His cock rubbed against her tender flesh.She needed Callum in every sense.The heavy weight of his erection stroked against her wanting pussy.Grace lifted her hips and locked her legs around his thighs.She did everything to coax him into her.Nothing changed the torturously slow teases.
