Loan Shark Love

And now, I’m in bed beside the man I love more than anything else in the entire world. I know I could sleep peacefully again at this moment, perfectly content. The baby in my belly is a reminder that I’m forever connected to this man, and we are entangled completely in this new life together and we always will be.

I gently run my fingers through Grey’s thick hair, bringing my hand up and playing with the inky locks. Grey keeps his eyes shut, enjoying the peaceful moment with me.

“This is one of those moments,” I whisper, my fingers curling around a smooth lock of my husband’s hair. “That’s just absolutely perfect.”

“I would have to agree with you, my Rosie,” Grey says, smiling as he moves up and presses his lips against my neck.

“Don’t start on that again,” I scold him playfully. “I’m Mrs. Kingston now, you know.”

Grey laughs, pulling back from my neck and propping himself up on his elbow so he can see me completely. He’s so beautiful.

“You will always be my Rosie,” Grey tells me in that soft voice that always sends shivers down my spine. My toes curl, and I let out a breath.

I will always be his Rosie.

“I think I could live here and be happy for the rest of my life,” I tell my husband because I might cry if we start talking about sentimental things. These pregnancy hormones are killer.

“Well, my love,” Grey says, only half kidding. “If you want, I can buy this villa for us.”

“That seems a little excessive,” I tell him in a mockingly stern tone. “But it would make me happy.”

“Hmm,” Grey says, trying not to smile. “I may have to make some arrangements.”

“But what about the home you just bought in the Hudson Valley?” I ask him as he brings one of my hands up to kiss my palm.

He shrugs, letting out a carefree laugh. “I guess we’ll have to live in both of them.”

I let out a laugh, and Grey leans down to kiss me. He smells of the ocean and of the clear blue sky above the villa’s lofty roofs. I reach up for him and cup his face, my fingers splaying across his cheek so gently that I barely touch him.

“And how is our little one today?” Grey asks me, tracing a hand over my belly.

“Growing,” I answer him, smiling softly at the way his fingers glide across my skin.

This soft, beautiful side of Grey is so endearing, so attractive, that I can’t get enough.

I remember our first meeting very clearly, and I marvel at the fact that we’re here now and tied to each other forever. That first week with him had been a whirlwind of danger and affection, but now we have a baby on the way, and our love is only growing.

My thoughts dance with the memories of our first kiss, our first time tangled up together. Grey is the first touch I’ve ever had from a man and the only touch I ever want to keep. I don’t ever want to leave his side, and I know that I need to be his forever.

There is beauty in our love, and that beauty seems to reach out and touch every other part of our lives. My dad’s bakery is flourishing now that the obstacles are out of the way, and Natalie is so very happy with Anderson and her event planning business.

Today feels like the first day of the rest of our lives, and Grey is my cornerstone.

And after all that we have been through, both the good and the bad, we are now here together, in a beautiful little villa in the Italian countryside. There is nothing in the whole world except for us in this moment in time, and it is complete and utter bliss.

I look at Grey, and he moves back up to kiss me again, holding my cheek in his hand. I let my tongue drift over his without urgency. We have all the time in the world to love one another.

“I love you,” Grey says, breaking the kiss. I stare into the bright green eyes of my one and only love, and I’m filled with the purest sense of finally being at peace with everything in my life.

“I love you too,” I say right back, smiling up at him for only a moment, before pulling his lips back to mine and kissing him senseless.

As night falls over the villa I lay on the mess of white sheets. The room is lightly lit by the silver moonlight that shimmers in through the billowy curtains that surround our king-sized bed by the window.

Natalie planned the entire honeymoon, and she did an amazing job. From the bed I’m lying in after my dip in the big pool outside, the view of the lush valley below the window is perfectly stunning.