She turned over to look at him. “It’s that easy?”
He shrugged then wrapped his arms around her. “Why not? I’m in this forever, Laine. I’m not going anywhere – apart from Val D’Isiere in six weeks, but you’re coming anyway, so that doesn’t count.”
They’d booked a skiing holiday. To say she was excited about it was an understatement.
“So you want to move in together?”
He frowned. “Why would you think I didn’t?”
She slipped her hands under his T-shirt. The man’s skin was always so warm. “I don’t know. I know we’ve talked about it, but we’ve never planned it.”
His chuckle vibrated through her. “I thought talking about it was planning it.”
“Men think so differently.” She sighed dramatically. “It makes sense.”
“It doesn’t need to make sense, Lainey-babe. It just needs to be what we want. Then we make it make sense.”
Now she laughed. “We practically live together anyway. Having all my stuff in one place would be better. And then you wouldn’t have to scare the shit out of Holly by running back here naked like you did the other day.”
“She’ll get over it.”
“Not sure if Josh will.”
Jake laughed again. “Do you want to live with me? Share a home? Make joint decisions on furniture and bills and electricity providers and all the crap that goes with it. It’s not just about seeing me naked every morning for the rest of your life.”
“I think I do. Do you?”
“What?” He flipped her onto her back. “See you naked every morning for the rest of my life? Hell, yes.” His T-shirt that she was wearing was now off and his mouth had found its way to her breast, making her thing all of this was a very good idea.
“Want to seal the deal?” She breathed the words out as that mouth started to make its way south to where she was beginning to ache.
“There might be a few other agreements to broker as we go.”
She didn’t ask. Her underwear was now on the floor, and Jake was working his magic with his tongue, tasting her as if she was his favourite meal. He knew exactly how to play her body by now, knew what made her explode quickly or how to drag out an orgasm into a symphony of pleasure.
Tonight, he was torturing her, taking her to the edge and holding her there, until she became feisty with frustration. A rustle of clothing and he was naked over her, his cock positioned perfectly at her entrance, one of her ankles over his shoulder and a look of sheer devilment on his face.
“I will never get tired of this, just so you know.” He sunk deep into her in one fluid movement. “You are the centre of my everything. I will do what I can to keep it that way.”
She smiled, lifting a hand to stroke his cheek. “I love you. Now show me exactly how talented you are, Jake Maynard.”
His grin was wicked, as was his next thrust, moving his body in exactly the right way to take her to exactly the right place.
With exactly the right man.
He’d sweetened everything.
Epilogue
He wasn’t entirely sure they were placed right, but it was the absolute best he could do, and he was no interior expert. But they looked pretty.
Summer was in full swing. The campsite was fully booked, there wasn’t a glamping pod or yurt free until the end of September, and his grumpiest cousin and Keren had just had a healthy baby boy to add to the ever-growing next generation of Maynards.
Next week, the barn would be used for Sadie Grace Graham’s birthday party, and would no doubt incur more damage than any future teenage shebang, but right now, it was going to become the location of his greatest – and probably most nerve-wracking – adventure yet.
Fairy lights hung from the beams, spiralling down the posts to the ground, bales of hay had been arranged to make it look cosy, there was champagne in a bucket with the best glasses he could find and a blanket spread out with cushions on the floor. A picnic hamper filled with all Lainey’s favourite foods was next to it, with a cool box containing anything else that he thought she might like.
He wiped his hands on a towel he’d remembered to pack and pressed play on the playlist he’d set up for the occasion.
