"You're not old," she protests.
"I'm sixteen years older than you."
"And I don't care." She props herself up on one elbow, looking down at me. "We’re both adults. What matters is how you make me feel. Safe. Wanted. Cherished. Like I'm the most important person in the world."
"You are." I cup her face, thumb stroking her cheek. "The most important person in my world. And I'm going to spend every day proving that to you."
"I love you," she whispers. "I know it's too soon to say it and you probably think I'm crazy but I've loved you for three years and I can't hold it in anymore—"
I cut her off with a passionate kiss. When I break away, I'm grinning like an idiot.
"I love you too," I tell her. "Have for three years, too. Been driving myself crazy trying to hide it."
She laughs, the sound bright and happy. "We're idiots."
"We really are."
"But we're idiots together now."
"Best kind of idiots." I pull her back down for another kiss, already planning our future in my head.
It won't be easy. There will be challenges and compromises and difficult conversations. But I don't care. Because I've got Nicole Waters in my bed, in my arms, in my life.
And I'm never letting her go.
Chapter 9 - Nicole
I'm wearing Boone's flannel again.
After our shower, which turned into another round against the tile wall that left my legs shaking, he insisted I put it back on. Said he loved seeing me in his clothes. That it made something primal in him satisfied to have me marked with his scent.
I didn't argue. Mostly because I love wearing it too.
We're in the kitchen now. He's making scrambled eggs and bacon while I sit on the counter. The same spot I sat last night when everything was uncertain and terrifying and hopeful all at once. Except now everything's different.
Now I know what his cock feels like inside me. Know what it sounds like when he comes. Know that he loves me and wants a future with me and isn't afraid to fight for us.
"Stop looking at me like that," Boone says without turning around.
"Like what?"
"Like you want me to fuck you on this counter."
Heat floods my face. "I wasn't—"
"Yes, you were." He glances over his shoulder, smirking. "And if you keep it up, these eggs are going to burn and I'm going to bend you over this counter and make you scream my name again."
My pussy clenches. "That's not exactly a deterrent."
He laughs. "Eat first. Fuck later. You need energy, sweetheart. I plan on keeping you in bed all afternoon."
God, I love him. Love this playful side of him I've never seen before. Love that he's comfortable enough with me to be dirty and sweet and everything in between.
The eggs are almost done when I hear it- The sound of truck tires on gravel. Two trucks, from the sound of it.
Boone hears it too. His shoulders tense slightly.
"Expecting someone?" I ask.
