‘What’s that grin about?’ he asks.
‘I made a bet with myself driving here.’
‘Oh yeah?’
‘I bet your place would still look as sparse as the year you moved in.’
‘You wanna die on that hill again?’ He laughs and the sound dances through me. I want to hear him laugh more. So much more. ‘Some of us don’t need a thousand cushions to make a place feel lived in.’
‘No, but a throw might be nice. Something soft and cosy.’
His eyes narrow. ‘You trying to soften me up?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Only maybe?’
Okay, I definitely am, and it doesn’t take a genius to work out why.
Ax has never known soft.
He’s lived his life building walls, staying strong, needing them to survive.
But I want him to know soft. I want tobesoftforhim.
Me. Taylor Stone. The woman known for having a heart to match the name.
I laugh at my own absurdity, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
‘Your laugh incriminates you,’ he says.
‘Does it?’
‘Yeah.’
He steps between my thighs, and I hook my legs around him.
‘So what are you going do about it?’ I ask, lifting my chin to hold his gaze.
‘I can think of plenty…’
‘All filthy, I’m sure…’ I say, reading the wild look in his eye and feeling its promise to my toes. ‘But—’ I press a finger to his mouth before he can kiss me. ‘Hold it.’
His brows lift as he traps my digit between his teeth.
I purse my lips. ‘I said hold it.’
‘I did.’
I shake my head. ‘You’re incorrigible.’
‘So they say… but go on, shoot; what is it you want to say?’
‘How about we do something together today?’
‘Did you miss the bit where I said my head was racing with all the things…?’
‘I mean, something outdoors,fully clothed, together.’
