Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,97
back?” he said, threading his hand around her neck, holding her hair.
Cassie climbed over his lap so she sat astraddle his thighs. “I am, Jake. You don’t have to leave the distillery. You should probably let Em and Liv know.”
He took her hand and laid her palm across his chest. “Can you feel how fast my heart is racing?”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be. This. You here. It’s enough. It’s everything.” He pulled her face toward his. Nothing else mattered beyond holding her body close to him, feeling her lips move over his.
Cassie suddenly pulled out of his reach. “Wait, there’s one more thing.”
“Honestly, love, I don’t know how much more my heart can take, and my dick is feeling kind of anxious he hasn’t been involved in this reunion yet.”
Her laughter was music to his ears. “This might involve your dick along the way.”
“He’s all ears. So am I.”
“I have stuff. Lots of stuff. Still in New York. My rent is good until the end of the month and I can sublet to a friend of Orla’s for the rest of the contract, but I do need to find a way to get all my stuff home. I thought about renting a U-Haul, but I just wanted to get back here. But then I thought, you know, if you don’t mind. Those days you were saving up for us to visit over the next four months. Is it possible we could do a road trip?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you need to chat with Liv and Em? It’ll mean a week, I guess, to—”
“Love. It’s fine. We’ll go. In, like, twenty-four hours when I’ve gotten over the shock you’re actually here, sitting on my lap, talking about living here and staying here.”
“Thank you.” Cassie rested her hands on the button of his jeans.
“Is that the talking portion of the evening concluded?” Jake asked. “I mean, there was a lot of detail. I feel like I only captured about half of it. But if the summary is you're coming home to take over your dad’s business and live with me, and you need me to go grab all your stuff from New York with you, then I have enough to go on for tonight.”
Cassie laughed. “Yes, we can conclude the talking portion there.”
“Good.” Jake wriggled to the edge of the sofa and stood with her still in his arms. “Because the rest of the evening will be composed of grunts and moans and gasps and a few Oh my God, I’m comings all executed in my bed.”
Her arms tightened around his neck. “Sounds perfect.”
Jake laid her down on his bed. Their bed. Where she belonged. Okay, perhaps not as caveman-ish as that sounded. But she belonged here, in his life, with him.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Cassie asked, quietly. “I just took on a whole lot of debt buying the business off Dad.”
He took her in, those blue eyes that saw straight through him, the ink black hair he loved. “Yeah, Cassie. I’m more than okay. This might be the most okay I’ve ever been. We’re in this together. Every messy and imperfect step of the way.”
Still fully clothed, he lay down next to her and pulled her into his arms. “My dick can wait. I just need to hold you and reassure myself this is all real. I’m terrified I’m going to wake up in the morning and this has all been a fucked up dream because I had too much cheese on my pizza.”
Cassie placed her hand on his heart, her presence anchoring him. “I’m here, Jake. And I’m not going anywhere. I’m sorry I caused you so much distress. I should have realized all of this earlier.”
Jake kissed the top of her head. For some reason, despite his absolute relief she was here, he knew she needed him to accept her apology. “Thanks for saying that. But I guess this was the way it had to happen to get to this point. It’s what it takes to break free of inertia. Even though you’re here, I don’t want my life to carry on as it was, just with you in it. I want the sum of us to be greater than our parts, Cassie.”
“It will be, Jake. How could it not be?”
Jake turned onto his side and kissed Cassie. He kissed her as images of them down the line floated into his head. Their proposal, wedding, kids. The big things in life. And hikes, dogs, hanging the lights outside the house