The conversation evolved from Maggie’s accomplishments to talk of her parents’ honeymoon, and then to last minute instructions for her while they were gone. I could see how much it frustrated Maggie that they treated her like a child. But, she handled it like the amazing woman I knew she was.
We saw them off and then went back into the hotel to gather our things and check out. Maggie was quiet throughout and on the drive back to her house. I reached across and laced our fingers together, setting them on her thigh.
“What’s on your mind, baby doll?”
She sighed and stared out her window. “What if they won’t accept us as a couple?” she asked worriedly. “I’ve been as responsible as an adult for more than half of my life and now that I’m actually one legally, they treat me like I’m twelve.”
I squeezed her hand and brought it to my lips for a kiss. “If they don’t take it well at first, they’ll come around eventually,” I assured her.
We pulled into the driveway and I put the car in park before turning to face her. I unbuckled her and lifted her over to straddle my lap. I kissed her forehead, nose, and lips.
“I don’t care if they don’t. I choose you, Harrison,” she said almost shyly. “If you want me.” She added the last part as pinked tinged her cheeks.
Smiling tenderly, I brushed her hair away from her face. “Of course I want you. I love you, baby doll. Once they see that, I have no doubt they’ll be okay with us.”
Maggie’s eyes widened to the size of saucers and her jaw dropped. I closed it gently and kissed her, pouring all of my love into it. When we came up for air, I rested my forehead against hers.
“Tell me, Maggie,” I demanded, keeping my tone soft so I didn’t sound harsh. I leaned back and she still looked a little shell-shocked. “Say it.”
She shook her head a little, as if to shake away clutter in her mind. “I love you, too.”
Inside my head, a caveman was beating on his chest and shouted out that his woman loved him. However, what I actually said was, “Good girl.” Then I kissed her.
Chapter 8
Maggie
“Honey, I’m home!” I called out as I walked through the front door of my house. I’d always loved the home I shared with my mom, but I’d found a new appreciation for sharing space with Harrison over the last eight days. I’d kind of expected it to be awkward since I’d never even had a boyfriend before. Moving from a complete lack of a love life to basically living with my boyfriend—for a lack of a better term since in no way, shape, or form was Harrison a boy—should have been a major adjustment. But it really hadn’t been, at least not in a negative way. Harrison and I just seemed to fit together.
“Hey, baby doll,” he mumbled distractedly. He was sprawled out on the couch in the living room with his laptop perched on his knees. His hair was mussed, like he’d been running his fingers through it, and he was dressed in a dark T-shirt and athletic shorts. It was his usual choice when he was hanging around the house, at least until he stripped out of them because he much preferred being naked in bed with me. And on the couch. In the kitchen. Pretty much anywhere and everywhere.
Naked sexy time was a regular pastime for us, but I couldn’t help wondering what was going to happen when my mom and Stanley returned from their honeymoon. Their trip was already more than half-way over, which meant my alone time with Harrison was flying by in a blink of an eye. We only had six days left.
“How was school?”
“Same old, same old,” I answered, bending low to give him a quick kiss on the lips. When I tried to lift back up, he shifted his laptop onto the cushion next to him and pulled me onto his lap.
“You didn’t really think I was going to let you get away from me that easily, did you?”
“Hmmm,” I hummed against his lips. “You didn’t really think I was trying to get away from you, did you?”
I felt his deep chuckle as it rumbled up his chest, and then his lips claimed mine for a deep, wet kiss. His tongue swept in my mouth to tangle with mine as his fingers slid up my neck to the base of my skull to hold me in place as he plundered my mouth.
“Well played, baby doll,” he rasped when he lifted his head. “Do you have a lot of homework to do tonight?”
“Not much. I did most of it while I was there.” It’s what I’d done all of last week, too. I didn’t want to waste any time while I was home with Harrison. So I finished it up while I was already away from him.
“You sure that’s cool with your teachers?”
“Yeah, no worries. They all love me.”
“Oh, they do, do they?” he growled, flipping me over until my back was on the cushions and he hovered over me. “Do I need to visit your school to make sure none of these teachers are guys who’re getting the wrong idea about my woman?”
“Nope.” I made a popping sound on the ‘P.’
“Good, cause I’d hate to have to kick some ass at your school.”
His possessive caveman act shouldn’t have turned me on, but it did. Then again, it wasn’t like I could point any fingers in his direction about it since I was just as bad whenever women flirted with him right in front of me, which happened way too often for my liking. Keeping our relationship under wraps until my mom and Stanley got home was starting to drive me crazy. As scared as I was about how they’d react, I’d reached the point where I was ready to shout about us from the rooftops.
Sliding my palms down his side, I jabbed my fingers into his waist and tickled him. He’d mentioned he had one place where he was ticklish, but I hadn’t managed to find it yet.
“Good try, but that’s not it,” he laughed.
“I’m going to find it sooner or later,” I grumbled.
“I’m sure you are, since you’ve got a lifetime to look for it.”
I beamed up at him, my heart lifting at how open he was about his feelings with me. How he always talked as though we’d be together forever. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, baby doll.”
His stomach growled, ruining our romantic moment.
“Didn’t you eat anything while I was gone?”
He levered off me, reaching a hand down to pull me to my feet too. “Shit, I totally forgot. I was wrapped up in work stuff and didn’t even realize what time it was until you got home.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I put my famous chicken taco recipe in the crockpot before I left this morning. It’s amazing what you can do with chicken breasts, a drizzle of oil, and salsa in one of those things.” As we walked into the kitchen, I lifted my nose and sniffed. “Although, I have to admit that I’m worried about your sense of smell. How could you have forgotten to eat with all this yumminess in the air?”
“That’s a damn good question,” he chuckled, following behind me to lean over my shoulder and peer into the crockpot when I lifted the lid. “I spent most of the morning reading through assignment proposals from my editor. I narrowed it down to a couple that sounded the most promising and spent the next couple hours doing some research on them.”
“What kind of assignments?” I tried asking it as nonchalantly as possible, but my voice wavered at the end. Harrison’s work usually took him all across the globe, but I was stuck here until graduation. The thought of being separated by so many miles this early in our relationship scared the crap out of me.
He nuzzled his chin in the crook of my neck, his breath hot against my skin. “What do you think about alligators?”
“I try not to think about them usually.” I tilted my head to smile up at him. “Even though that’s hard to do when I spot one at least once a month or so.”
“But they don’t completely freak you out, right?”
“Nah, I’m a Florida girl after all.”