Page 188 of Reckless

She slowly turns in my arms, like she’s not entirely sure her legs will hold the movement, and I keep her steady with a hand at her waist while she settles against my chest, her forehead dropping to rest just below my collarbone. I feel her heartbeat starting to slow beneath my palm, feel my own doing the same, the two of us standing there under water that’s long since gone lukewarm, neither one of us in any hurry to move.

“Hey?” she says quietly after a while, tipping her face up to mine.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve been trying to think of something witty to say.”

“And?”

She wrinkles her nose. “I’ve got nothing.”

I smile against her hair. “That bad?”

She looks up at me, her smile soft and completely unguarded. “That good.”

I press a kiss to her forehead and pull her in closer, and for once, neither of us says anything else at all. We just stand there together until the water finally runs so cold that even I can’t ignore it anymore.

She turns in my arms, tipping her face up to mine, the teasing smile easing into something softer. I brush a damp strand of hair away from her cheek.

“We should get out,” she murmurs against my mouth, not moving an inch.

“Why? I like looking at you naked.”

She giggles. “Because I’m pretty sure the whole clubhouse knows exactly what we’ve been doing.”

I shrug, leaning in for a kiss along her wet collarbone. “They’re adults.”

“So?”

“So, it’s a clubhouse, and sex happens, Sage. They’ll cope.”

She laughs and stays exactly where she is a good while longer as the water from our bodies slides down between us. “You’re doing the thing,” she says, tipping her head back against my shoulder.

“What thing?”

“The thorough thing. Where you refuse to move on until you’re certain.”

“I like being certain.” I press my mouth to the curve of her neck and feel her breath catch. “Especially about you.”

She laughs, and the sound of it undoes something in my chest that’s been wound tight since I stood at Travis Cole’s gate this morning. I turn her slowly until she’s facing me, water running between us, and I kiss her again, deeper this time, and whatever she meant to say next gets lost somewhere between one breath and the next.

And I keep going until she stops complaining altogether.

Then I pull back and look into her eyes. The words I have been wanting to say to her, but have been holding back, are now on the tip of my tongue.

“You okay?” she asks, her brows furrowed. I bring my hand up, cupping her face as I stare into her beautiful eyes. “Ghost, what’s wron—”

“I love you,” I blurt out, somehow growing the balls to tell her finally.

Her breath catches, her eyes instantly welling as a slow smile crosses her face. “I didn’t know if I would ever hear those words from you. You know because you’re so emotionally disabled.”

I groan, dropping my hand from her face, and I look away from her. “I can take it back—”

“No,” she quickly states, both her hands grabbing my face, forcing me to look back at her. “Don’t you ever take it back. Say it again.”

My heart thumps in my chest as I stare into her eyes, my hands moving to her waist to hold her closer. “I love you, Sage… and I’m claiming you as my Old Lady. No objections.”

She smiles wide, the biggest I have seen from her, and she leans in. “No objections.” She presses her lips to mine, kissing me hard. Our tongues dance passionately, and my cock begins to stir again before she dramatically pulls back, breathless. “Shit, sorry… I love you too!”