"Certainly in regards to the sex, yeah, but there's still so much that we haven't talked about." He held my face framed in his two palms with so much gentleness as he looked down at me. "We never had our discussion about everything that's happened already, and what you want to do about accessing your trust fund...and…getting married." He stared at my lips. "When are you going to marry me, Winter Blackstone?"
I smiled up at him and bit the inside of my bottom lip in a feeble effort to brush it off as teasing. If James knew how easily I'd agree, I'm pretty sure he'd stop bringing it up.
"What does the lip biting mean, huh? Am I wearing you down at all?"
"If I believed for one minute you wanted to marry me right away I'd say yes and then where would you be?" Let him digest that little tidbit and see how it felt. Tempting me with it was only making me frustrated.
James nailed me with his eyes. "Oh, I know exactly where I'd be, Win." His voice was low, but deadly serious. "I'd be inside you…taking my time to do everything I want to do to you, spread out underneath me in my bed. All. The. Fucking. Time."
A shiver rolled through me and landed right between my legs.
I could tell he still wanted to hear what I wanted from him. I think mostly he just needed some reassurance. "But I think we really solved a lot of our problems last night, don't you? I mean…I know my feelings and so do you."
"Yes, I concur, Miss Blackstone, because we both said things last night…and it pretty much changed everything for us."
The I love yous.
"I know. And that's why I'm so ecstatic this morning."
"I'm going to remember last night for the rest of my life, and how it felt to hear you say you love me." He looked so solemn, gorgeous as always, especially with his just-fucked-bed-head and naked-man-chest on view for me to admire, but still so very solemn.
"I do love you, James. But most importantly, you have to believe that I love you—and I trust you when you say the same." I cupped his cheek in my hand and nodded. "If we have that much love for each other, then I don't think there's much of anything for us to worry about right now. We can figure it out in time, together. I am so relieved that I didn't have to tell you no to your offer of a paper marriage. I wouldn't have been able to fake it with you for even five-minutes."
"Yeah, me either. Everything you've just said sounds right. You're always very smart about what matters most." He gave me a peck on the lips. "Very practical and beautiful at the same time, too. Have I mentioned this lately?"
Yes, you call me "beautiful" all the time.
But he never gave me a chance to answer him because he was too busy kissing me.
And because I was too busy being kissed by my loving, gorgeous man.
Chapter Nineteen
JAMES
Enjoying our new relationship status lasted about as long as it took to power our phones back on. After our morning "talk", we decided to go back to the city without anything more important to decide than where we would be sleeping tonight—her place or mine. Although, having Winter in the shower with me had been very fucking nice. I'd loved that part of our day so far.
Enzo had just pulled out from the Starbucks with our breakfast sandwiches and coffees, had us on the road back to the city, when Winter decided we should check in with the rest of the world after our night away of love-fucking. She was probably right, but man, I was not keen.
"I wonder how many texts are on here about why I left early with you last night," she said with a sigh.
"I wonder if I have any from Caleb or my sister about why I wasn't home last night."
"Oh, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess yes."
Wearing our formal clothes from last night made us look really guilty of doing exactly what we'd done. Winter looked amazing after a night in my bed being loved up by me, her elegant ball gown back on her delicious body once more. I was counting the minutes until I took it off her again. The low cut of her dress didn't cover the hickey I'd made between her neck and shoulder, either. Seeing her marked by me? Off the chain. I checked my watch again; grateful for Enzo being efficient at his job, so I'd know how long I had to wait. So, I watched Winter eat instead. She took a bite from her ham and cheese croissant and moaned in appreciation as she enjoyed the food. Fucking sexy even when she eats.
"You know there'll be comments and teasing from all of them. Honestly, I would just love to blow everybody off and deal with it at a later time. Or maybe never."
"Are you saying that you don't want anyone to know about us yet? Because I'm fine with keeping it between us for now. I'm also feeling a lot selfish with you at the moment. I'd love nothing more than to keep you all to myself for days, without people being nosy assholes about us." I took a gulp of my coffee and realized what a fantasy that was. "But who am I kidding?"
"Right?" She sighed and took another bite
of her sandwich, snuggling in beside me on the seat and putting her head on my shoulder. "I'd happily stay here like this eating a croissant and drinking coffee with you in the backseat of a car, and I'll be content."
I couldn't resist kissing her, cheese and ham and all. She tasted delicious every time my tongue touched her, so I didn't mind. "You took the words right out of my mouth, beautiful. I just want to be with you. That is all I need."
And then we turned on our phones.