felt pretty bad sweeping up his aunt’s favorite figurines with a broom and dustpan, and although he’d done his best to fix the coffee table leg he’d busted, he ended up taking the table to the dump instead.
But Sandy hadn’t come back to bother him again, and he hoped like hell that she had gotten the message. He was neither interested nor available, and it would be better for everyone if she just moved on to her next victim.
After Wednesday night’s marathon of makeup sex, he and Verity had barely stopped reaching for each other long enough to eat, sleep, and go to work. They were ravenous for each other—sneaking make-out sessions at work on their breaks, racing home to rip off each other’s clothes and jump into bed, and today? Man, today was like a dream. Not that Colt didn’t like having Ryan around. He did. But having Verity all to himself until they had to go into work this afternoon? Now, that sounded like heaven. Unfortunately, the grass wouldn’t mow itself, and the flower beds needed weeding, so as much as he wanted to drag her into his room and try ten new positions before one o’clock, there was work to be done.
He leaned his head back on the seat and shifted his neck just a little to look at her. “Gotta do some stuff around the house.”
She took a deep breath and sighed, then slipped her fingers through his. “I should do some laundry.”
“Won’t take me that long.”
Her breath hitched, and her eyes dilated. “Me neither.”
“Fuuuuuck,” he growled, tightening his hold on her. “I want you all the time.”
She made a small whimpering noise. “Me too.”
How the fuck was he supposed to go about his day, mowing the fucking lawn and weeding the fucking hydrangeas, with her huge, dark blue eyes staring back at him?
As if she could read his mind, she squeezed his hand and dropped it, her lips spreading into that sunshine smile he loved so much. “How about this? The bathrooms and kitchen could use a Sunday cleaning, and I’ll get started on the laundry. You do what you need to do out here and meet me inside in an hour or so. I’ll have lunch waiting, and we’ll still have a little time before work.”
A little time . . . and he knew exactly how he wanted to fill that time.
She reached for the door handle, but he grabbed her other wrist, yanking her back to plant a hot kiss on her lips.
“I love you,” he whispered fiercely, staring down at her.
With her back leaning over the bolster between them, she looked up at him and smiled. “I’ll plan something special for dessert.”
Then she sat up quickly and opened her car door, giggling as he tried to pull her back for one more kiss. His eyes were glued to her ass in white shorts as she walked into the house and let the door close behind her.
Maybe we’ll be related someday.
And that’s when the fantasy truly took hold in Colt’s mind, playing like a movie of his life in fast-forward:
Verity wearing a diamond ring.
Verity saying “I do.”
Verity swollen with his child.
Verity rocking their child to sleep.
Verity in his bed every night and every morning.
Verity with gray hair, still looking like she wanted to jump his bones.
Verity.
Forever.
It was such a strong and potent daydream, it took him by surprise, and his heart raced, as much for the surprise of seeing a glimpse of forever as for knowing that he wanted to spend those years with Verity.
He didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until he exhaled loud and long, still thinking about what it would look like to share his life with her, and liking, so much, how it looked.
Swinging his body out of the car, he trudged into the garage and rolled the lawn mower from its spot in the back, grabbing the gas can just in case. As he passed the bay window, he saw her walk through the in the living room with a roll of paper towels in one hand and a bottle of Windex in the other. Why this made his heart swell with love, he was uncertain, but perhaps because it was so normal. Just a weekend morning on a hot Georgia summer day, and he was mowing the lawn while his girlfriend cleaned the house. For Colton Lane, it was a slice of heaven that he’d never seen on his radar, and now that he had it,