we need to communicate and figure things out together in the future.”
“Agreed.” There’s a smile in his voice. Though it’s gone when he says, “What are you going to do about your apartment back in LA?”
“I think it’s time to let it go. I’ll ask Mom and Dad if they wouldn’t mind packing it up for me. It’s not like there’s that much there.”
“Are you sure?”
I nod and the tension of the night dissipates. All of the anger and confusion and everything. And thank God for that.
“Question,” I say. “Why did you stop calling me wife after I arrived in Denver?”
“Answer. I don’t know exactly.” He pauses for a moment. “Guess I got superstitious or something, worried I was jinxing us. I decided I should wait to call you that until you are actually that.”
“I think we need to get this dating and living together thing down before we attempt getting married. Though that’s a pretty good answer,” I mumble, tiredness creeping into my voice.
“It is?” He sounds surprised. “Phew. Glad I got something right tonight. Of course, I was tempted to keep going with it, just to see what shade of purple Grandma would turn.”
I just grunt. It’s the most I can manage.
“Hey, one last thing before you go to sleep,” he says, rubbing his face in my hair and sniffing at me like a pervert. An adorable one, but still. “I L you.”
“You L me?”
“It could be like. It could be love. I honestly can’t tell anymore.” His teeth bite softly into the tender flesh of my neck. Just enough to get my full and utter attention. As if his selection of a letter hadn’t done it already. “There’s just this whole mass of feelings inside me about you so I figured I’d put it out there. Full and frank disclosure and all that.”
“Beck…”
“‘I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.’”
Despite the tight hold he has on me, I wriggle around, turning over to face him. There’s going to come a day when I look at him and instead of the rush of giddy hormones I’ll see the face of my best friend. Of my longtime beloved. Maybe I wasn’t certain we’d get there an hour ago. But I am now. Also, in the meantime, the hormones sure are fun. “Nice use of Austen. I L you too.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“We’re starting over.”
Beck leans against the refrigerator, clad in only a pair of loose gray sleep pants. His bare chest is a thing of beauty. He’s all hard body and perfect skin apart from a few small white scars. From climbing, probably. Or his childhood hobby of skateboarding. Visually the man is a work of art. Not that I don’t respect him for his mind and all. Though there’s no hiding suddenly hard nipples beneath my thin T-shirt.
“Why are we starting over?” he asks, shoving a hand through his messy hair. “I didn’t think we’d been doing that badly. Is that bacon and eggs you’re cooking?”
“Yes. Take a seat.” I wave the spatula in the vague direction of the stools on the other side of the kitchen island. “And we’re starting over, despite already having been cohabitating, because I’m no longer being weird about the money and you’re no longer keeping secrets.”
He takes a seat. “Right. Got it. I think.”
“Here. Drink some coffee.” I hand him the cup I just made for myself before prepping the espresso machine for another. “Your brain will work better.”
“Thanks.” His gaze stays glued to where his T-shirt, the one I’m currently wearing, brushes against the top of my thighs (thick thighs save lives). It’s like his hand is on automatic, lifting the cup of coffee and bringing it to his lips. “I know you’re not wearing a bra, beloved, but I’m also pretending you’re not wearing any panties.”
“Whatever makes you happy.”
“I don’t know about happy,” he mumbles. “But it makes me hard.”
Previous to this morning, he’s always been up before me. Off to the gym and work to build his empire. Even on the weekends. Guess he’s still catching up on the time he was away. But eventually he’s going need to slow down some. Still, it’s interesting to see him in those first few moments when he’s just woken. Beck all rumpled and sleepy with stubble on his cheeks is a delight.