Frostbite

“Take off the tie. Leave the rest on for now.”

I pout, which lures a laugh from her.

“What are we celebrating?” I question as I gaze into her dark brown eyes.

“My lost painting is found.” She smiles. “I couldn’t have asked for a better gift.”

I lift my brows. “We should celebrate the fact that I found the artist behind that masterpiece. I never thought I would.”

“You were looking for some guy named Ray,” she points out. “If you kept doing that, you never would have found me.”

“You would have found me.” I surprise myself with the words.

“Fate would have shown me the way here.”

I nod. “I like to think that.”

She kisses me. It’s slow, and as she breathes me in, my heart races. “I’m the luckiest man in Manhattan.”

“You wanted to talk about us.” Her breath flows over my cheek. “What about us, Calder?”

I’ve thought about this conversation all day. I’ve searched for the right words and rehearsed what I want to say over and over.

“I’m crazy about you,” I admit. “Don’t ask me how I can feel this much this quickly, but it’s happening.”

Her eyes stay trained on mine. “I’m just as crazy about you.”

“I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring, and stop me if you think I’m pushing or scaring you.” I pause to catch my breath.

“You’re not scaring me.”

“Yet,” I joke. “I’m only getting started.”

She waits for me to go on.

“I know Amsterdam is still on the table, and even if the appraisals on your paintings come back high, and I’m confident they will, I know you probably crave adventure.” I stare into her eyes. “I’m falling hard for you, Rae, and if your journey takes you across the ocean, I want to visit you. Hell, I want to be with you often as I can because this feeling that’s inside of me is new. I can’t get enough of it or you.”

Tears pool in the corners of her eyes.

“I’m not asking you for anything.” I cup her face in my hands. “I just want a chance. I want to see where this can go, and hell, if it goes the way I think it will, I want a future with you. I want my entire future to be with you.”

I suck in a breath because that is not the fucking speech I prepared. This came from my heart. Laid bare and pounding in my chest, I said what I felt for the first time in my life.

“I’m not going to Amsterdam,” she whispers. “I don’t care if I have to work three jobs like my mom did or paint Christmas ornaments for the rest of my life. I don’t want to go. I want to stay and see if my heart is right because it’s telling me that you are my tomorrow, Calder. I know it’s too soon, but I feel that we were always meant to be. We just took a few detours before we found each other in that snowstorm.”

As if on cue, snow starts falling outside.

Rae glances at one of the massive windows that overlook Manhattan. “I belong here with you, with Dex, with her baby. I want New York City to be my home.”

I test fate and blurt out what I’ve wanted since I saw her on the sidewalk. “I want this to be your home. This studio, the loft, all of it.”

She glances around. “It feels like home, but…”

My stomach clenches in a knot. “Look, if I went too hard, forgive me. I know it’s soon.”

“I’ll stay with Dex and Rocco until the baby is born, and maybe after that, we can talk about me moving in?”

It’s enough for me. It’s more than I deserve. “Agreed.”

“Are you hungry?” She asks, eyeing the pizza box.

“For you, yes.” I slide my hands down her waist. “But, we’ll eat pizza, and then I’m carrying you to our bed.”

Her smile tells me that it will always be our bed. It’s the place we’ll make love, plan our future, and find our inspiration.

With her head resting on my shoulder, we both stare out at the night sky and the falling snow. “You make me happy, Calder Frost.”

“If that’s all I do in life, I’ll die fulfilled with my purpose.”

She glances up at me. “I’m glad you broke my balls.”

I huff out a laugh. “I am too.”Chapter 26RaelynMy breath hitches in the darkness when I feel Calder slide his nude body over mine.

We both left the table as soon as we finished our pizza dinner. He chased me up the stairs, finally grabbing hold of me just as I made it to the bed.

My dress was pulled off with his strong hands before he knelt between my legs and brought me to the edge over and over. I clawed at his hair as he tasted me. His lips sucked my clit. His fingers stroked my pussy, and when I finally did come, he lapped at me, sending me into another dizzying orgasm.