her neck and guide her mouth to mine.
The readers whistle and clap and cheer, and I feel Ayla’s lips curve against mine.
“I love you,” I whisper into her ear. “It’s only going to be you for me.”
“I love you too.”
Fifty-One
Ayla
* * *
“Why’d you change your number?” Rhett asks as we slip into my hotel room after my final book signing. His hands circle my waist, and he kisses my neck.
“I needed to move on,” I say. “I was exhausted from running in circles with you.”
He frowns, lifting his eyes to mine. “You really think, for one second, that you’re capable of moving on from this?”
I sigh. “No. But I was determined to try.”
His hands snake up my sides, traveling beneath the hem of my shirt until he cups my breasts.
“No more running,” Rhett says.
“No more running.”
He kisses me again, his lips pressed against mine until he lifts my shirt above my head and we stumble into bed.
Rhett doesn’t ravish me. He doesn’t tear at my clothes, though I suspect we’ll get to that soon enough. He drinks me in, as if he’s content just to be with me.
“You know, after everything, and despite the fact that I’m wildly in love with you,” I say, “I still feel like I hardly know you.”
He smirks. “Likewise.”
“I don’t even know your parents’ names.”
“Barb and Chet. You want to meet them sometime?”
My mouth pulls up at one side, my stomach filling with butterflies. “Yeah. I do.”
“Locke had a kid,” he says.
“What?”
“Yeah. He has a daughter named Joa. She’s almost one.” Rhett’s face lights when he mentions his niece. “He’s doing the single dad thing.”
“Wow.”
“I know, right?”
“You like being an uncle?” I ask.
“Love it,” he says. “In a way, Joa’s kind of brought my family closer together.”
“Babies do that,” I say. “You like babies?”
His eyes flash. “Are you asking if I like babies or if I want babies?”
I playfully pat his chest. He sees right through me. “Both.”
“Yes,” he says. “I like babies. And I want babies—with you.”
“Can I be honest with you?” I ask.
“Of course.”
“I’m still kind of on the fence about having kids,” I say. “I like them, don’t get me wrong. But I just haven’t decided what I want to do yet. That said, if I picture myself having kids? I can totally see you in the picture. That’s how I know I love you. I’ve never felt that way with anyone else.”
Rhett rolls over on top of me, sliding his arms beneath my shoulders. “We’ve got plenty of time to decide. But until then, we’re probably going to have to practice. A lot.”
“You think?” I chuckle, feeling the outline of his hardened cock against my fabric-covered mound.
His mouth presses into a tender spot just below my left ear, and my body softens.
“I’m so glad you came back.” I sigh, staring up at the ceiling as he travels south.
His hands work the waistband of my leggings, fingers slipping beneath the elastic as he tugs them down and yanks them off me. I reach for his jeans, unfastening them at the fly and pushing them farther down his sides.
“I love you so fucking much, Ayla,” he breathes into my ear, grinding his hips against mine.
Rhett moves to my side, pressing his body against my backside and pulling my leg over his. A moment later, he guides the head of his cock into me, from behind, and slides his fingers up and down my slit as he pumps into me.
Our bodies mold to one another, rocking and thrusting and grinding as his thumb circles my clit and his free hand slides beneath my side, pulling me closer.
“I’m never going to let you go again,” he says.
“Good. Because I’ll never let you,” I say.
We’re bathed in peace, blanketed in contentment.
He is mine.
I am his.
No more, no less.
Epilogue
Ayla
* * *
One Year Later…
* * *
“Are you nervous?” Rhett asks me as I set the table.
“Nervous for what, Mr. Carson?” I love calling him that because it usually gets him to call me Mrs. Carson in return, and I’m obsessed with my new name. Ayla Caldwell still graces my book covers, but legally, I’m his. I’m Mrs. Rhett Carson.
“Our dinner guests, Mrs. Carson,” he says with a wink. I smile. “These two haven’t seen each other since our wedding, and we know how well that went.”
I laugh. “I wish they’d just screw and get it over with. One of these days they’re going to see how absolutely perfect they are for each other.”
“I doubt Bostyn wants a guy