Page 46 of Late Harvest

Bash smiled. His heaven-sent Scrub Angel. His queen. He lost himself in the soothing cadence of her breathing.

Then… His fucking ADHD brain flashed to the choking episode, his heartrate ticking up at the scary memory.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, the apology muffled by his mouth pressed into her hair as he brushed a small kiss there. Maybe that was too familiar, too…husbandly. But so be it. And she hadn’t pulled away.

“Why are you apologizing? You’re the one who saved me.” Always so pragmatic, his queen.

“But you wouldn’t have choked if I hadn’t been teasing you. You almost died—on our anniversary.”

A small sound that suspiciously resembled a laugh squeaked out of Arabella. Leaning away from him, extricating herself a bit from his tight hold, she reached out to him, then paused, her hand frozen between them, indecision written on her face. Then her eyes softened and she finished the movement. Placing a hand on his cheek, Arabella rubbed it along the scruff.

“I’m fine, Sebastian. I promise. And it wasn’t your fault. It was random. But what wasn’t random was the way you saved my life.” Her eyes danced between his, then crinkled in the corners as she broke into a smile that illuminated his very soul. “And on our anniversary. How will I ever top that gift?”

Bash didn’t know whether to howl with laughter at her wit, tug her back into the world’s most epic hug…or something else.

He chose something else.

Bash removed Arabella’s hand from his face, kissing her palm and each graceful finger. In addition to her scrubs, he’d developed a kink for her surgeon’s hands. Their competent warmth on his face had been intoxicating.

“Arabella,” he whispered. “I know the best anniversary present you can give me.” Here goes everything. “You can kiss me.”

Instead of hauling off and smacking him, she surprised the hell out of him. A frown creased her forehead and she shook her head sadly. “I mean, I feel terrible for how belated my gift will be.”

Then she fucking winked at him.

He smiled so hard his cheeks hurt. His queen had acting chops!

“I forgive you,” he intoned, playing along while his heart just about burst in his chest out of sheer anticipation and adrenaline. She was going to kiss him. He was more anxious and more excited than a teenager about to French kiss for the first time. “Just make it worth the wait.”

She scanned his face, blue eyes dancing. Then she leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his, exhaling a small shaky breath as she did, the air they breathed commingling.

He was utterly destroyed and rebuilt.

Bash couldn’t help it. He took over the kiss.

Arabella’s lips were like satin, and incredibly soft—so regular and natural compared to the over-injected lips he usually kissed. He brushed his mouth back and forth against them. The top one. The bottom. Both.

He could hear the frenetic beat of his heart racing in his ears.

Gently, he traced the seam of her plush lips with his tongue and she opened for him, touching the tip of his tongue with hers.

Bash sipped small kisses against her lips, brief tastes where their tongues would tease and then part. Over and over. He cradled her head, threading his hands into her satiny tresses.

Just as he’d imagined, they were a sensory treasure, gliding between his fingers. A tiny whimper from her ignited the flame higher and he tipped her head to the side, sliding his tongue into her mouth and deepening the kiss.

Their tongues tangled and played. Touching and twisting until he wasn’t sure where he ended and she began. Arabella’s hands gripped his shirt, tugging him closer, and she’d somehow managed to twist her entire upper body toward him. He pulled her tighter, almost groaning at the sensation of her breasts on his chest as their torsos melded.

He was quite sure theirs was the most divine first kiss ever to happen.

Bash sucked her lower lip into his mouth, gently torturing it with his teeth and soothing it with his tongue. Her moans went straight to his cock, which strained against the confining fabric of his jeans.

“Inside, Sebastian. Take me inside,” she murmured against his lips.

Her words brought Bash out of the deep, drugging paradise of their kisses and back to reality. He became conscious of the spring afternoon sun beaming into the panoramic sunroof. She hadn’t pulled in the garage.

Ice went down his veins.

Not good.