Work In Progress (Red Lipstick Coalition #3) - Staci Hart Page 0,112

like you do Gus.”

A laugh. “Baking your grandma’s coconut cake?”

“Oh no, never that. You’d burn the house down.”

This time, when he laughed, he kissed me. And for a second, I lost myself there in his lips. But when he broke away, his face was serious, his eyes sincere.

“Tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it.”

I shook my head. “Everything’s perfect, Tommy. Everything. You. Us. Tonight. Like I said, I’d trust you with anything. And there’s one thing I’ve been wanting to give you for a while now, but I’ve been too afraid.”

His dark eyes searched mine. “Your heart?”

“Oh, you already have that,” I said softly.

Every hard edge to him softened, his body curling around me. “I have your heart?”

I chuckled, that muscle thumping painfully. “Yes, you do. I don’t know when I gave it to you, but I don’t think I want it back.”

“You have mine, too. You have all of me, Amelia. And I don’t want it back either, not if it means I can have you.”

“You can have me,” I breathed. “You can have all of me.”

He stilled, the two of us a fixed point in a room of motion. “All of you?”

I nodded. “All of me. Tonight, Tommy.”

He didn’t smile. He didn’t speak. He didn’t ask questions or need clarification.

All he did was kiss me, kiss me with a hundred promises and a sigh drunk with love.

A Matter Of Time

Tommy

Tonight.

I held Amelia in my arms, held her in my heart, held the most precious thing I’d ever possessed in my hands and kissed her, hoping she knew how I loved her.

With the close of my lips, I broke the kiss, gazing down at the only girl I’d ever want. The realness of her, the truth and simple kindness of her heart, the gentle love she gave endlessly—all of her called to all of me. And there was no resisting that call even if I wanted to.

“Let’s go home,” I breathed, the words raspy and thick.

A small chuckle, a flush of her cheeks. “Already?”

With a smile, I amended, “Unless you want to stay. I can wait forever, Melia.”

“Well, I can’t,” she said with a wicked smile, stepping back to take my hand. “Take me home.”

“Anything you want,” I promised.

Hand in hand, we made our way to everyone to say goodbye, the girls embracing and kissing cheeks, the guys shaking hands.

Theo got a hard look from me that said, You’re on your own, which he accepted with a nod before twirling Katherine back onto the dance floor.

And with Amelia tucked into my side, we hurried out of the club.

The second we were in the cab, Amelia climbed into my lap, sitting sidesaddle so she could wrap her arms around my neck.

I took the opportunity to kiss that red lipstick off her lips until they were pink and swollen and naked, my hands on her small waist, on her face, on her back and arms and thigh. The air we shared was thick with anticipation, with intention. Hers with determination. Mine with control.

Because my control was the best chance for her comfort.

That long, lazy kiss didn’t stop until the cab did. In a blur of motion, I paid the driver, exchanged some pleasantry that was instantly forgotten, and followed Amelia out of the passenger door. We hurried up the steps and into the apartment, first Amelia, then me.

I almost ran into her when I closed the door, my hands reaching for her shoulders to steady myself at the sudden stop.

Her hands were on her chest, her voice sweet. “Tommy, look.”

I looked in the direction of her gaze to see Gus curled up on the rug in front of the fireplace. And nestled in the curl of his body was Claudius the cat, sound asleep.

I wound my arms around Amelia’s waist, pressed a kiss into her hair as we watched on with smiles on our faces. She leaned back into me, her hands resting on mine.

“They love each other,” she said softly.

“I suppose it was just a matter of time,” I said half to myself and not at all about our pets.

She turned around in my arms and looked up at me in the dim light, her eyes silvery and soft. “I suppose it was,” she echoed.

“Melia,” I breathed, the space in my chest tight and hot and aching. “The world isn’t a safe place—it never has been for me. It’s full of greed, packed with liars, thick with thieves. And they will steal everything important to you, everything you