Until there was only Shane and Bobbi.
When they finally pulled apart, they were both breathing heavily and Shane rested his forehead on hers, his arms still around her so she wouldn’t fall.
“Bobbi, we need to let go of the past. We need to call it even.”
She nodded, too emotionally wrecked to say anything.
“We need to live again. We need to be together again.” His hands moved from her waist upward and he cupped each side of her head and he moved her enough so that she had no choice but to look into his eyes. So that she could see the emotion behind his words.
“Don’t you get it, babe? I love you. I love everything about you.” A small smile graced his lips. “Even the annoying shit. I don’t care about anything that happened before this moment. None of it matters. All that stuff, the good and the bad made us who we are today but none of it matters. Not really. It’s just filler, the stuff that filled in the spaces.”
She attempted a smile but failed. “Since when did you start to sound so philosophical?”
“Huh,” he said. “Since I started listening to my, dad.”
“But Shane, we might never be able to have kids.”
He kissed the top of her head and held her like she was the most precious thing in the world. “Let’s just play that part of our relationship one day at time. Hell, if you want to throw Pia in a stroller and take her to the park, I’m down with that. I’m down with anything as long as we’re together.”
A throat cleared and they both turned, Shane still holding Bobbi, who desperately needed to feel him because she was afraid if he let her go she would never be able to get warm again.
Herschel stared at them in surprise. He scratched his head and glanced down at his boxers. The same boxers that usually ended up around his ankles.
Bobbi held her breath as her gramps hauled them up and kept everything covered that should stay covered.
“We were just,” she began and then stopped because she wasn’t sure what to say.
“What was that?” Herschel asked.
“I just came to get my girl,” Shane said, his hand on the small of her back. “If that’s alright, Sir.”
“Bah,” Herschel said gruffly. “You don’t need to be asking me permission. We all know that Bobbi doesn’t do anything unless she wants to.”
“That’s true,” Shane whispered near her ear. “But before you answer you gotta know that my place is forever. I’m not interested in any of this part-time bullshit. I don’t want to get a text telling me that you’re too goddamned tired to come home. I want to be your home, Bobbi. I want to be your everything.”
She turned in his embrace and whispered, “Your forever, everything.”
He bent low and pushed her hair away from her neck. He licked the Celtic tattoo that was there. The tattoo that symbolized, forever. “Is there any other way?”
“No,” she answered slowly, with meaning, and then she rested her head against his chest and listened to his heart. She closed her eyes and smiled. There were going to be things to work out. Her father’s illness. Billie’s pregnancy. And what the hell was up with Betty?
But she had Shane in her life again and as she listened to his heart, as she listened to his soul, she knew things were going to be alright.
Is there any other way?
She shook her head and murmured, “For us, there isn’t.”
Bonus excerpt!
Please read on for an exclusive look from the first book in my hot new series for Sourcebooks, The Bad Boys of Crystal Lake….
Molly O’Keefe, author of Can’t Buy Me Love, says, “Everything I love in a book: A hot and tender romance and a bad-boy hero to die for!”
Sometimes the best place to find love is right back where you started…
Falling asleep in a different bed every night has made it easy for Cain Black to forget his past. It’s been ten years since he packed his guitar and left Crystal Lake to chase his dreams. Now tragedy has forced him home again. And though Cain relishes the freedom of the road, one stolen moment with Maggie O’Rourke makes him wonder if he’s missing out on something bigger than fame.
For Maggie—single mother and newly settled in Crystal Lake—love is a luxury she just can’t afford. Sure, she appreciates the tall, dark and handsome looks of prodigal son Cain Black. But how long can she expect the notorious hellion to stay?