Call Her Mine (Harmony Pointe #1)- Melissa Foster Page 0,27
he wanted to eat her alive—which made her entire body clench with anticipation.
“I have been waiting for the right time, but fuck the right time. Be mine, Aurelia,” he said demandingly, still holding her body against his. “I’m an asshole for not telling you how I felt sooner. I don’t want a temporary anything. I want you in my life, by my side, constantly.”
B whimpered, and they both looked down at her. It was then that Aurelia caught sight of Piper standing a few feet behind Ben, her jaw agape.
“Piper . . .”
Ben’s head whipped in the direction of his sister.
Piper was closing the distance between them, peering around Ben’s big body with a stunned look in her eyes. “I don’t know what I’m more mesmerized by, that fucking-hot kiss or the baby my brother carried in here.”
CHAPTER SIX
THE LAST THING Ben wanted to do was let go of Aurelia and deal with Piper when Aurelia was looking at him like she wanted to either fuck him or kill him. It bothered him that he couldn’t tell the difference. Her lips were swollen from their kisses and her cheeks were red, he assumed from embarrassment, given that everyone in the damn store was staring at them. He glared at the workers, who respectfully turned away.
Holding Aurelia tightly, he said, “Let’s go upstairs and deal with Piper, and then we can deal with us.”
“Us?” came out flustered and tentative, like it was a foreign word.
They’d always been an us, just in a different context. Fuck everyone else. He wasn’t going to let this chance to be clear about his feelings slip away. He was done letting anything come between them. He framed her beautiful, flushed face between his hands and looked determinedly into her eyes so there was no mistaking his intentions as he said, “Yes. Us. You and me, Aurelia. Everything else, except B, is just noise right now. I know my timing sucks, but this is about us as a couple, and I want that. Got it?”
“In the animal kingdom that kiss was the equivalent of peeing on Aurelia,” Piper said. “I think everyone in here got it.”
He glared at Piper. Then, refusing to be deterred from the person who mattered most, he shifted his gaze back to Aurelia and said, “Why don’t you take B and Piper upstairs. I’ll grab the rest of the stuff and be right up.”
She nodded, but her fingers dug into his arms like she couldn’t let go. That was how he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, she was still reeling from their kiss, not regretting it.
He couldn’t resist pressing his lips to hers again, softer and reassuringly. She returned his efforts, and he felt like a freaking kid at Christmas, reveling in her affection. It was about damn time they took this step. He touched his cheek to hers, whispering for her ears only, “In case you have any doubt, there’s going to be a lot more of that coming your way . . . without an audience.”
A needy sound escaped her lips, and it was enough to make his blood burn even hotter.
“Great.” Piper picked up B’s carrier and said, “Whatever that was rendered her completely useless. Nice move, bro.”
She grabbed Aurelia’s arm and dragged her toward the door that led up to her apartment. Aurelia looked over her shoulder and bit her lower lip, trying to stop a clearly unstoppable smile.
After they disappeared through the door, Ben had one more thing to tend to. He strode over to his burly competition and extended his hand. “Ben Dalton. You’ll be seeing a lot of me around here.”
The guy laughed as he shook Ben’s hand. “Kase Force, and I did not ask her out. I might have in another day or two. But, dude, the minute she saw you, I knew she wasn’t single.”
Ben nodded, and then he went to gather his things. He carried the bags up to Aurelia’s apartment and set them down inside the door on the knotty hardwood floors. She’d only just moved in, and already it felt like her—organized but not oppressive, light and spacious but not empty. The brick walls were painted white. A light gray sofa, which Ben had slept on more than a dozen times in the last year alone, was covered with throw pillows in muted rust, pale green, peach, and dark gray, as were the pale yellow armchairs. Her loft-style apartment was open save for the two bedrooms and the bathroom.