I smile a little. He found my note. His eyes are still always formidable, but his tone… It betrays his insecurity. He’s worried I don’t want him anymore.
“I think I’m ready to hear both of us now,” I tell him. “You?”
He nods. “I needed to learn it, too,” he explains. “I needed to hear myself. I’m sorry…it took so long.”
I smile, and he dives in and kisses me. I circle my arms around his waist, warmth coursing down my body instantly.
Kaleb…
He kisses slow and then fast, dipping his tongue in and then nibbling and tugging my bottom lip. “I go where you go,” he whispers between kisses.
“Will you be happy?”
I would love to settle back in Chapel Peak—or better yet, at that cabin someday. Albeit with some renovations and expansions. But I have things to do first. Is he coming into the world with me?
He stops and looks down into my eyes. “I won’t be happy without you,” he states. “I know that.”
And that’s all I need to know. As long as we’re together, we’re home. It doesn’t matter where.
“I love you,” I tell him.
He touches his nose to mine. “I love you, too.”
My chest shakes, and I try not to sob like an imbecile. It feels so good to hear that, though. Finally.
We kiss and hold each other, and I’m already making plans in my head of how we’ll spend the months until design school starts. “Keep talking,” I beg.
I love his voice.
He chuckles, low and heady. “What should I say?”
“Anything.” I smile. “Read to me, I guess?”
He grabs the backs of my thighs and lifts me up, wrapping my legs around his body.
“Show me your books,” he murmurs against my mouth.
“They’re in my bedroom.”
He catches my lips between his teeth, a promise in his dark tone. “I was hoping they were.”
I smile and hug him to me as he carries me into the house.
Kaleb
Five Years Later…
I run my thumb over her lips as she moves on top of me, grinding and taking me inside her.
God, this girl loves tents. Fucking hell.
Her back arches and her hair falls down her spine as she rides me, and I lean back on one hand, holding her hip with my other.
Fuck, baby. I groan.
“Kaleb,” Tiernan whimpers.
She digs her nails into my shoulders and comes in, kissing me, her taste and heat making my fucking head spin. This is the second time in six hours, her climbing on top of me and stirring me awake at the crack of dawn just ten minutes ago.