Suddenly, as I pictured him running around grabbing stuff at the house, another thought occurred to me. “What about the dog? You didn’t leave Max alone, did you?”
He shook his head and smiled. “Jordan and April are babysitting him tonight and then Michaela is going to take him back over to his doggy camp to see his lady friends again. I heard one of them is a poodle.”
I laughed. “You know, when we first met, I thought you were so hot… then you opened your mouth and said the most complete assholish thing to me.”
“You remember what I said?”
I nodded. “Yup. You said, ‘There’s no reason to be so smiley. We’re serious in QA and you’d better be serious, too.’”
“Wow, what an asshole,” he concurred.
“Right?” I shook my head. “Jedi Boy.”
“Cranberry.”
He ran a thumb over my hand again, then pushed to his feet, sliding onto the bench beside me. He held that hand up to his mouth again, kissing it like an old-timey gentlemen would woo his lady-friend.
“It’s too late for me to give you the wedding of your dreams, but we can have a big fancy party to celebrate… maybe renew our vows, if you want.”
I snorted. “You know me well enough by now to know what I’d think of something like that.”
“Sounds like Hell?”
“You got it. Let’s just have a nice little get together with our close circle and as for our vows… let’s renew them on our own. On a real honeymoon.”
He raised his brows, intrigued. “Hmm that sounds like an interesting idea. Any idea when—or where?”
“I have the next week off. Let’s go now.”
He nodded. “That’s very possible. Where should we go?”
My grin widened, heartened with the idea. “Let’s test our adventurous spirit. I have hardly any luggage and you have none. Let’s just go to the airport and pick a destination when we get there.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “You are absolutely insane.” Then he shouted to the sky, “My wife is insane! I love her more than anything.”
“My husband is too sane. I love him more than donuts. And beer.”
He wrapped his arms around me. “But not tea?”
I grinned. “There are limits. But there’s always room for growth.”
He kissed me again, and we held each other, rocking to the rhythm of the beating of our hearts. He squeezed me to him tight, and I pressed my face to his solid shoulder.
He kissed my hair. “I will never give this up. And I swear to God I will never let you down again. To say nothing of never making you cry. And—”
I pulled back suddenly, staring at him in disbelief. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I held up a hand between us. “Don’t even!” But there was a wicked, wicked glint in his eyes that gave me my answer. “Dude, did you just… rick-roll me?”
“You know the rules…”
I punched him in the arm. “You fucker. I’m so getting you back!”
He grimaced and rubbed his bicep. “But not right now because right now we’re getting a taxi and going to the airport.”
He took my hand and pulled me off that bench. Then he grabbed my suitcase. I tried to get him to skip to the parking lot but he refused. He did sing along with me, though it was Lucas’s least favorite song in the world.
It was now my favorite.
Epilogue
Katya
Forty-eight hours later…
I woke up early in the morning flushed hot with arousal. It was still dark, and I’d only slept a few hours, but my entire body was alive and burning for him. When I felt his searing breath skate across my bare skin, I realized that he’d hiked up my shirt while I was sleeping. Now had his mouth tightly wrapped around one nipple, his thumb and forefinger gently tugging the other one.
It was the most incredible sensation. Without a word, I opened my legs and let him pull off my panties and fuck me slowly, tenderly. His hips swayed against mine and he surged inside of me as our breath swirled and mingled, mixing and melding just like our bodies. I savored the steady, rolling weight of him on top of me, the snug, delicious fit of him inside me. I arched my back and closed my eyes and let him drive this course, happily along for the ride.
This was one of many times to come. And when we both came, it was breathtaking and as natural as the steady rolling of waves against a beach. All in the space of the