––––––––
“It’s like having a show horse,” Riley decided as he brushed Marla’s flank.
His sister rolled her eyes. “Someone should tell the village we found their idiot.”
Emma kept quiet, but he caught her little smirk. She didn’t think he was an idiot. Over the past several weeks of their double o’seven affair she made him feel more like a god than anything else—sex god, that was.
“I hate that dog,” Rarity grumbled.
“For your information, Marla loves you, Rarity. It’s cruel and hurtful for you not to reciprocate her affection.”
“I still have pictures of that crotch sniffer online, so I wouldn’t get too attached if I were you.”
“Too late.” Slipping Marla a treat, he petted her heavy head. If no one called about Marla by now, she was staying. “There’s a pretty girl. Now go give Aunt Rarity some love. She likes when pretty girls lick her.”
“Don’t be jealous—Oh, yuck!” His sister groaned as Marla shoved her face in her lap, but Riley caught the tender way she stroked the dog’s ears. She was full of crap. She liked Marla.
Lexi laughed. “Come here, Marla. You can lay with me.”
The dog trotted over to Lexi and Rarity rolled her eyes. “You’re as bad as them.”
His focus shifted when he noticed Emma looking for her shoes. “Where are you going?”
She paused at the door. Today she wore a teal sundress with red ballet slipper type shoes to match her cardigan. She looked hot and he wanted to do stuff to her.
“What are you, her keeper?” Rarity asked.
Emma drew in a deep breath, but kept her expression neutral. “I was going to the market to get some groceries. We’re almost out of bananas and I need shampoo.”
“Can you get me some new razors?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah. Do you need anything, Riley?”
He needed her—needed her in a bad way. It had been almost four days since they’d last slept together due to womanly things and he’d grown quite used to their regular schedule. On top of that, Rarity had been monopolizing all of Emma’s time and he was starting to get jealous. “Yeah. I...maybe I’ll just go with you.”
“Really?” Both Emma and Rarity asked at the same time.
“Yeah. I haven’t been to the market in... six years.” He nodded. “I’m due.”
“Okay. Get your shoes.”
Shoving out of the chair, his feet fit into his shoes as he patted his pockets. Phone. Wallet. Golden. He met Emma at the elevator, giddy to finally have some Emma time to himself.
“She’s totally freaked out you’re going with me.”
“Why?” He pushed the button for down. “Lexi’s there. Maybe I just wanted to give them some privacy.”
“Because you never do the food shopping.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I don’t like the raisins you buy.”
She shook her head and stepped inside, pressing the button for the bottom floor. The metal doors glided shut and the elevator moved. His finger stabbed the stop button and the cart jerked to a halt.
“Riley, what are you doing?”
Grabbing her arms, he pinned them above her head on the wall, eyes rolling back with anticipation as he breathed her in. “Elevator sex.” His mouth crashed over hers and she moaned.
He unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants. Hiking up her dress, he reached down the front of her panties and tested her arousal. She was soaked. He chuckled, and bit her lip. “Dirty girl.”
“I’ve been dying to be alone with you,” she breathed, pulling his hair and shoving his face to her breasts.
Elated to be reacquainted with her body, he kissed her and mumbled, “Between my stupid sister and your stupid job I never get to be alone with you.”
She bit his neck. “I’ll quit and become a hobo. We can have all the sex you want, but you’ll have to pay my phone bill and share of the rent.”
He shoved her panties down her legs and she awkwardly stepped out of them. He pocketed the white cotton. “I’ll pay whatever you want. God, I love your boobs.”
He slipped a finger into her sex and she moaned. He chuckled, “Shhh...sound travels.”
“I don’t care,” she hissed, shoving his shirt out of the way and reaching in his pants. He loved when she was aggressive. He sucked on the soft side of her breast as she stroked him. “Lift me up.”
“So demanding,” he teased. Holding her by the ribs, he lifted and she wrapped her legs around him. He aligned their bodies and thrust deep.
“Yes!”
“It’s gonna be quick, Em.”
“Just do it.”
She rode him hard and fast, her nails digging into his shoulders through his shirt as she panted out his name. It had been six weeks since they’d started sneaking around and their flame had yet to flicker. She was as insatiable and adventurous as he was when it came to bedsport and he’d never been happier.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” Her mouth latched onto his neck as her body contracted around him. Her orgasm milked his release as he pumped into her a few last times, trembling the way only she could make him tremble. Fuck. She was amazing.
He lowered her feet to the ground and caught his breath. “You okay?”
Gazing at him with half lidded eyes, she grinned. “Never better.” She brushed the wrinkles from her dress and fluffed her hair. “Where are my panties?”
“In my pocket. I want them.” When he was with her he was a pervert like that—but only with her.
“Let me see them.”
Disappointed, he handed them over. She bunched up the fabric and used it to clean herself up. “Here you go.” He grinned as she handed them back. She so got him.
Facing forward as if nothing happened, they hit the go button and the elevator jolted. They were so perfectly in sync they glanced at each other and snickered.
On key, once they were a few blocks away from the loft, she laced her fingers with his. He was never one to hold hands, but with Emma, he liked touching her any way he could.
“You know, one stiff breeze and everyone will see your bare bajingo.”
She chuckled, chin high, seemingly unfazed by the possibility. Her confidence, this new level of coolness he’d never expected, filled him with an urge to take her all over again.
When they reached the store he was on an endorphin high. While she behaved like a respectable adult, he acted like a toddler. “Can we get some licorice?”
She rolled her eyes. “Put it in the cart.”
As she selected limes he perused the options and paused, his mouth stretching into a juvenile smirk. “What is this?” He picked up the funny shaped orange.
Tying off her bag of limes she frowned. “Isn’t it an orange?”
“Nope!” He laughed, reading the sign. “It’s a kumquat.” Why this was so hysterical to him he hadn’t a clue.
“Did you want some?”
“Some kumquats? Who doesn’t? Kumquats. Ha. That’s the best fruit name I’ve ever heard.”
She laughed and handed him a produce bag. “Here.”
As they traveled the aisles, she never got annoyed with him, even when he couldn’t stop using kumquat in sentences. It was amazing. Sometimes he watched her and couldn’t figure out why anyone that sweet would want to waste time on him. She could have anyone. Grayson was a dick, but she could easily blend with those upper class yuppies and find herself a better blueblood to take her sailing.
Who was he, a bartender with an unfinished degree? He had no clue where he was going or what he was working toward. The farthest he thought into his future was ten days, max.
He didn’t have a five-year plan or one for however many years people were planning these days. The fact that he was dating Emma could have been deemed the eighth natural wonder of the world. There was simply no rational explanation for such an improbable thing.
When she wasn’t looking he slipped a bottle of lube into the cart next to the obscenely large cucumber he’d snagged in the produce section. This was the shit he needed to stop doing. Emma was a grownup. Sure, she was two years younger than him, but she wouldn’t want to date some man child that got a kick out of oversize phallic produce and lube.
He reached in and she turned. “Do you like this cereal?”
Back stiff, hands innocently at his side, he nodded. He needed to get that crap out of the cart before she saw it. Panicking, he tried to distract her, but she kept piling food on top.
“Will you grab tissues? I think we’re out.”
Abandoning his search he nodded. “Sure. Tissues...” He grabbed three boxes and followed her to the last aisle.
“I think I’m going to make Mexican this week. You like tacos, right?”
“I like your taco.” Fuck. Why did he keep saying dumb shit like that?
She shook her head.
“Sorry.”
She frowned. “Sorry for what?”
“Calling your bajingo a taco.”
She laughed. “Like you haven’t called it a hundred other weird things. I’m used to it, Riley.”
He paused. “Really?”
“Yeah. Why else would I let you name my boobs Starsky and Hutch?”
“They do have streetwise mannerisms and sometimes perky moods.”
“Exactly. I get it.”
Feeling relieved, he asked, “It doesn’t get on your nerves?”
“What?”
“My...immaturity?”
“If you’re immature, so am I. Look, stop freaking out about whatever you’re stressing over. We’re fine. You’re happy. I’m happy. You’ve got my underwear in your pocket. I’m shopping for tortillas commando. Sounds like a recipe for bliss if I’ve ever heard one.”
Coolest. Chick. Ever. Maybe she was right. Maybe he was freaking out over nothing.
They waited in line at the register and he fidgeted the moment the guy behind them started unloading his cart. Grocery stores made him claustrophobic. He continued to help her unpack their items on the belt while mentally telling the guy crowding his six to back off.
When she discovered the enormous cucumber she held it up and arched a brow. “Did you put this in here?”
“Uh...maybe.”
She shook her head and tossed it on the belt then reached in the cart again, this time holding up the lube. “And this?”
His neck prickled as the guy behind him scrutinized their order. “I’m a sophomoric man child,” he mumbled.
She glanced at the bottle and picked up the cucumber again. “We can try it, but I don’t wanna hear you crying when you can’t walk right the next day.”
And there it was...he loved her.
She winked, tossing both items on the belt, careless of their proximity and what the clerk might assume. She was priceless, taking a practical joke and turning it back on him. A champion of sarcasm and wit, a master in the sack as well as the elevator, and sexy as sin with her Jessica Rabbit curves and tiny, deformed Frodo toes. In a word, she was perfect.
Several things became incredibly clear as he acknowledged his love for Emma. One, he couldn’t let her go. Two, he needed to make sure he didn’t ruin this. Three, he had to play it cool so she didn’t freak out. And four, he wanted to hold her and smother her like a stage five clinger and do a million and one non-masculine things with her that definitely broke guy code.
The bottom line, this relationship was suddenly the most important thing in the world to him, but could run so much smoother without him there to jeopardize it with all his stupid tendencies. Tendencies she was slowly learning to tolerate. Could she really be immune to all his idiosyncrasies? Perhaps find them cute, or would it only be a matter of time before he screwed up the greatest relationship he’d ever had?
****
The moonlight slipped past the curtains and colored her skin a silver shade of blue. “How do you get your pillows to smell so good?”
She chuckled and curled into him. “I wash them.”
“I wash mine too.”
“I do it regularly.”
He breathed in the soft scent of her hair, loving the fact that he’d smell her on his skin well past morning. “Em?”
“Yeah?”
He kissed her ear. “Are you happy?”
“Of course I’m happy.”
“With me?”
She turned and faced him. “What’s going on, Riley?”
He didn’t like needing this much reassurance. “It’s been almost two months since you and Becket broke up.”
“So?”
The plan was for her to move out and marry the guy. How did she adjust from all that to this so smoothly? He was coming from the total opposite end of the spectrum and it was definitely surreal finding her in the middle. Yet she seemed to just accept what they’d created as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. But to Riley, it was extraordinary.
“You probably would’ve been apartment hunting by now.”
She scowled at him. “But I’m not.”
“Doesn’t that bother you?” She had to feel something in regard to how much her life wasn’t moving in the direction she’d planned.
“Well, apartments are really expensive and we would’ve needed a big one—for me, Becket, and all the other women, so no, I’m not bothered. I’m relieved.”
“Okay.” But was she relieved because she’d dodged a bullet or because she found something better? He wanted to be better than that preppy little shit.
She brushed a hand over his hair. “What’s bothering you, Riley?”
“I don’t know.” I think I’m turning into a chick. “I can’t seem to get a handle on my feelings.”
“What sort of feelings?” She sat up. “Are you freaking out? You promised to talk to me if you started having second thoughts about us. Oh my God, is that what this is? Are you having second thoughts?”
“No.” He sat up too. “I’m not...I’m not having second thoughts. I’m...” He didn’t know how to explain what was happening to him. “The other day I heard a Luther Vandross song and it made me emotional. I get home from work and I can’t wait to climb in your bed just to watch you sleep. I worry about shit I never cared about, like should I have a 401K, and do you prefer the suburbs to the city? Then I panic, because I don’t know the answer. Do you like one over the other? And what about children? Do you want children? Some women have a timeframe for that stuff, because their gynecological clock is ticking. Is yours? And if so, how many? Does it piss you off that I’m just a bartender? And what about the way I dress? You never rag on me for the way I dress—”
“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Riley, take a breath.”
He did, big and slow. “Sorry. It’s like everything started piling up on me at once.” When he looked at her she was smiling.
“First of all, it’s a biological clock and mine’s not making a peep. I’m twenty-four and not even thinking about kids yet. Second of all, why would I care that you’re a bartender? I spend my day picking up people’s dry cleaning, making coffee, and getting lunch orders together. Third, I like the way you dress. Fourth, maybe we should both look into 401K’s. I’m not really sure what they are. And lastly, I absolutely love the fact that you watch me when I sleep.”
“Really? That’s not creepy stalker boyfriend territory?”
She shrugged. “It might be to others, but I think it’s sweet. If you were my ex and breaking into my place, then yeah, that would be creepy, but you’re invited. I think it’s romantic.”
He grinned. “Sometimes you snore and get this little bit of drool—”
“Ruining it.”
“Sorry.”
She leaned forward and kissed him. “Why is all this suddenly bothering you?”
“I just...” Honesty? He took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to be embarrassed by me.”
Her brow crinkled. “Embarrassed by you? Why would I be?”
“Well, we’ve been seeing each other for almost two months and the holidays are right around the corner. What are we going to do for Christmas? I don’t want to do separate things and pretend we’re just friends. I want to share the holidays with you as my girlfriend. I don’t know why we’re still hiding our relationship, unless it’s because you’re ashamed of me or maybe it’s just a fling thing to you. I want to introduce you to my friends, but I don’t know if you want to meet them.”
“I’d love to meet your friends, Riley. You should have said something.”
“You would?”
“Yes. And this is not just a fling thing for me. I just didn’t want Rarity knowing about us because we were new and I wasn’t sure if you were using me, or what, and I didn’t want her cramming reality down my throat. If we were making a mistake I wanted the freedom to make it.”
Her words were reassuring until she said that last part. “Using you? Are you serious?” Insulted, he waited for her to explain.
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t. Emma, I would never take advantage of you.”
Flustered, she waved out her hand. “How was I supposed to know that?”
“Because you know me and the kind of person I am.”
“Don’t get mad, Riley. I’d just gotten over a five-year relationship that ended with me engaged to someone who regularly slept with another woman. I’m still working out some trust issues. I know nothing lasts forever, but I wanted you, even if it was for a blink of forever. Your sister never would’ve understood that, because it was the first time in my life I wanted something enough to not care about the risks.”
She sighed and cupped his face. “Hey. It doesn’t matter to me what anyone else thinks. As long as you get me and I get you, that’s all we need.”
He nodded, but needed her to really get him in that moment. “Some things last forever, Em.”
She shook her head. “Nothing lasts forever, Riley.”
Sadness for what Becket had done to her took hold of him. She should believe love could be unconditional and last forever, even if it was a crock of shit or not in their destiny, it was definitely something she should believe was possible. The truth was she made him believe in such things. She had her whole life ahead of her to become jaded.
“If nothing lasts forever, then I’m glad I was your risk. But I’d rather be your nothing and last forever.” Kissing her he toppled her to the pillows. “Can I be your nothing?”
Her lips curved under his. “You’re not nothing, Riley. You’re everything.”
“You’re everything too.” His body stretched alongside of hers as he nibbled her shoulder.
She sighed and looked into his eyes with such intimacy. “I don’t care if we tell Rarity about us now.”
He sat back on his heels. “Really?” Immeasurable relief derailed his progress to her panties.
She laughed. “Yeah. I trust what we have.”
He jumped out of bed and grabbed his pants off the floor.
“Where are you going?”
“To tell Rarity about us.”
Her eyes widened. “It’s four in the morning!”
No time like the present. “It’ll only take a minute.” He didn’t want her to change her mind. The secrecy was making him insane. Marching down the hall, he knocked on Rarity’s door.
Marla barked from the bed as he entered. “Rarity?”
She jolted upright and gasped. “What? What is it? Is something wrong? Fire?” Lexi lay in a comatose heap by her side.
“No. I just wanted to tell you Emma and me are sleeping together. There’s nothing you can do about it and we’re done keeping our relationship a secret. I love her and that’s that.”
Her eyes made a slow transformation from startled relief to comprehending fury. “What?” his sister shouted, her voice waking her girlfriend.
“We’ll talk about it in the morning, but I thought you should know. Goodnight.” His sister gaped at him and he grinned, quickly shutting the door.
He returned to Emma’s bed, grateful he wouldn’t have to sneak out before dawn. His smile faltered as he noted the look of shock on her face. “What? You said I could tell her.” Did he misunderstand?
She blinked, but didn’t move. “You...love me?”
Fuck. Had he said that out loud? Sighing, he put all his cards on the table. “I think I’ve been in love with you since you farted over the goat.” She didn’t laugh, so he threw out a, “Hashtag baa farts” and stamped it with a finger pound sign.
Okay, this was bad. She swallowed and blinked again only now her eyes were glazed with tears. He rushed to the bed.
“Hey, wait. Don’t cry. Shit. Emma, I’ll take it back. I don’t love you. Most days you make me crazy and I want to throw you off a skyscraper, but I’d race to the street and catch you before you hit the ground, because deep down I know I can’t live without you, but that’s not necessarily love. I mean, when good things happen and you’re not around, sure, I wish you were there, but that’s normal. And some days I look at you and think you’re cuter than a pigmy marmoset, but that’s just my dirty lust. Blah!”
A tear fell and he really panicked.
“It was an accident! I fell in love with you before I realized it. I don’t even really like you. I can’t stand the way you always pick an animated film over a movie with actual people. And you have this strange fascination with bad 80’s television. Perfect Strangers was not that funny! I can’t stand when you get the remote first and I hate when you’re quiet, because I don’t know if you’re mad at me for doing something stupid, which I probably did, and I get this horrible knot in my stomach. I never had these problems before you came along. It’s really hard dating you, but I can’t stop, because...”
Christ, he was sweating. “Fuck it. I fucking love you, Emma. I’m sorry if that makes you cry, but it’s the truth and I swore I’d always be honest with you. I love you. I’d do anything for you. You’re the syrup to my pancakes.”
She was really crying now, the ugly cry she saved for movies like E.T. and Steel Magnolias. That was never a good cry. “Please say something.”
She sprung and knocked him to his back, her mouth finding his as she kissed him deeply. “I love you too, you stupid, stupid man.”
Heat exploded in his chest as all tension shifted to shock. “You do?”
“Yes. God, Riley, don’t you get it? You saved me. I didn’t realize how many days passed without a single smile until you made me laugh so much my cheeks hurt. I can’t go back to the girl I was. She was so sad and insecure. The girl I am with you, that’s the real me. That’s who I want to be. I like her and I love you for introducing me to that side of myself.”
“Wow.” He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “That’s a lot of credit, Emma.”
She nestled into his shoulder. “It’s the truth.”
His pride was unfathomable. She loved him. “Say it again,” he whispered.
The soft curl of her smile pressed into his chest. “I love you, Riley.”
Content, the most content he’d ever been, he sighed with a new level of gratification and hugged her. “You’re the mashed potatoes to my gravy.”
She hummed and squeezed him tighter.
“The moose to my squirrel,” he added, in his best Russian accent.
She tapped his chest. “I get it.”
“The bees to my honey.”
“Riley.”
“The Abbott to my Costello.”
“That’s enough.”
“Sorry.” He held her as he stared happily at the ceiling, basking in their new found—“The Frodo to my Sam.”
“That’s it.” She grabbed her pillow and stood.
“Hey, where are you going?”
“To sleep. I have work in a few hours.”
He glanced out the window as the dark sky gave way to shades of plum and sapphire then followed her to the couch. “Let’s go to the roof and make love as the sun rises.”
Her grin was exquisite. “You have a romantic soul, Riley Lockhart.”
He kissed her nose. “I can be charming.” He took the pillow and laced his fingers with hers as he led them to the roof.
****
“She’s fucking awesome, Rarity.”
“I know. Why do you think I picked her to be my best friend?” His sister bit into her falafel and mumbled, “I should cut your dick off.”
“Please don’t. My dick’s very happy at the moment.”
She wiped her mouth. “Seriously, Riley, if you hurt her—”
“I won’t.”
“But if you do—”
“I swear on my balls, I’m not going to hurt her.”
She lowered the sandwich and dropped all facades. “I love her, Riley. I mean, I really love her, like you’re lucky she’s not gay because I’d take her from you in a heartbeat.”
“I love her too—and I’m very grateful she doesn’t like girls. Trust me, we talked about it at length. There are no threesomes in my future.”
“Don’t make me puke.”
He paused while Marla sniffed a mailbox. “Are you mad?”
“That you fuckers kept this a secret from me? Yes.”
“Seriously, Rarity.”
She sighed and tossed her napkin in the trash. “No. I’m hurt. Emma’s my best friend and she fell in love with someone and I didn’t know until two months after the fact. Not like. Love. I don’t even think she loved Becket, Riley. This is a big deal.”
“She was afraid,” he explained, not wanting their relationship to cause problems. “It was new, she was in a delicate state, and she figured you’d warn her away from me.”
“I would have.”
“See?”
Rarity took Marla’s leash and directed them to a bench. His sister’s usually jovial eyes showed the strain of worry. “Am I that judgmental of a friend that she couldn’t tell me?”
They hadn’t kept their relationship a secret to hurt Rarity and it upset him that she felt slighted. “No.” He nudged her with his shoulder. “She was fragile. We didn’t plan it. I swear we were just friends for a minute there, but then... Nothing ever came as natural as loving her, Rare. It’s the easiest and the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
“I guess.” Her lips twisted as they sat on a bench. “I’m just sulking because I feel left out.”
“Emma looks at it like she might’ve been making a huge mistake with me, but she wanted to make it anyway. If anyone should be sulking it’s me. I was brought in as the mistake.”
“I guess.” She scrubbed the side of Marla’s face with her fingers, putting the dog in a pleasure coma. “So, you two are serious serious?”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
“What?”
Her mouth hooked into a half-grin. “I’m impressed. You don’t typically have ‘girlfriends’.”
His chest tightened. “What can I say? She makes me want to be a grownup.”
“Look Geppetto, I’m a real boy,” she teased in her best Pinocchio voice.
They sat silently as people exited the glass doors of the law firm. He hated that Emma still worked with Grayson’s father. She’d applied for a couple other jobs, but nothing had panned out yet.
“There she is.” Rarity stood.
As Emma spotted them, her expression transformed with a smile. “Hey! Isn’t this a nice surprise?” Marla nearly knocked her over with an enthusiastic greeting. “Hello, pretty girl.”
He leaned in and kissed her. “Missed you.”
She stilled, cheerful, but nervously glanced at Rarity. It was the first time they’d openly displayed affection since informing his sister of their relationship.
Rarity scrunched up her nose. “It’s just weird. Come on, I think Marla has to poop again and I’m out of bags.” She turned and gave them some space.
“Was that weird?” Emma whispered. “It felt a little weird.”
“We’ll adjust,” he said, taking her hand.
When they reached the apartment, Emma changed into comfortable clothes like she usually did after work. He followed her into her room, enjoying that he could openly be with her whenever. “I wish I didn’t have work tonight. You should come by the bar.”
“I can’t. I promised Rarity we’d have an us night. No you. No Lexi.” He admired her ass as she slid off her stockings and jumped into a pair of sweats.
When she glanced over her shoulder he shook off his ass trance and rejoined the conversation. “What do you guys do?”
“Pillow fights, lingerie, practice kissing, the usual.” She stuck out her tongue and winked.
“Not funny.” In any other case it would be, but not with his sister.
She laughed. “We’re going to order food, watch a movie, and drink cheap wine.”
Jealous, he plopped on her bed and distracted himself with a throw pillow. “What movie?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith. A little Brad for me and a little Angelina for her.”
“Oh.” He pouted.
She stilled and faced him. “What’s wrong, Riley? Rarity and I always do stuff like this.”
He tossed the pillow aside. “What are your plans this weekend?”
“Brace yourself, but I have none.”
Perfect. He sat up. “You do now. I’m taking you out. We’re going on our first official date.”
Her face split with a smile. “We are?”
He loved that smile. “Yes. Expect to be dazzled.”
“Where are we going?”
He didn’t have all the details figured out yet, but it was going to be badass. “It’s a surprise.”
Leaning over, she kissed him. “I can’t wait.”
When they returned to the kitchen Rarity was observing them from the couch. He had to leave for work in a few minutes so he was on Emma like white on rice.
Rarity made an obnoxious gagging sound. “All right, enough! I get that you two are all ‘in love’—”
“I find the air quotes insulting,” he quietly stated.
“—but I cannot share an apartment with Morticia and Gomez. We’re going to have to set some ground rules. Anything beyond a casual cuddle is bedroom conduct. There will be no public displays of affection, no French anything, and abso-freaking-lutely no sex on any common area surfaces. Is that clear?”
He cleared his throat and pointed to the couch. “We did it there.”
“Oh my God!” she jumped up.
“And there.” He pointed to the windowsill. “And basically on every other horizontal surface in the loft. Some vertical ones too.”
Emma smacked him on the arm.
Rarity wore a look of absolute revulsion. “We’re bleaching everything.”
He laughed as his sister stomped into her room and slammed the door.
“You’re rotten,” Emma said as she flipped through the takeout menus.
He grabbed her wrist and spun her into his arms. “Cara mia.” He kissed a trail down her neck. “You are dearer to me than all the bats in all the caves in the world.”
Her eyes creased with laughter. “You’re going to be late for work, Gomez.”
He kissed her. “I know. I really gotta go.” He grabbed his jacket. “But hey, that windowsill... we should do that again soon. I think the neighb’s appreciated the show. They thought you were cute too.”
“We’ll see. Have a good night.”
Working opposite schedules sucked. Leaving was always a process, the internal battle to let her go never easily won. He wondered if time would make it easier, but hoped not. It was exciting being this addicted to another person. Their time apart made the return that much sweeter.
He kissed her one last time. “Good night. Don’t have too much fun without me.”
“Never. Have fun at work.”
He chuckled. “Never.”
Entering the hall, he pressed the elevator key. The distant hum of the lift grew as it approached. Anxiously tapping his hand on his thigh, he pivoted and raced back to the loft. Storming through the door, catching her by surprise, she jumped and gasped.
Pulling her into his arms, he dipped her back and kissed her deeply. “I love you,” he whispered, taking one last breath of her soft skin.
Winded, her soft gaze met his as she whispered, “I love you too.”
The elevator pinged and he walked backward to the door, not letting their fingers unlace until he absolutely had to. He’d take the image of that last smile with him all night, like a mental postcard.