Page 86 of From Grumpy to Forever
“So good.” My heart raced the way it always did when he looked at me like that. With hunger in his eyes that would never be satiated. I wanted to jump into his arms and show him exactly what that look did to me, but we were still standing in the middle of the street. “Come on.” I forced myself to pull away from him before things got indecent in public—again. I grabbed his hand and, before he could protest, tugged him in the direction of home.
Just as I suspected, he didn’t resist. But to my surprise, when we finally made it to the front porch, instead of walking me through the front door and pushing me up against the wall to have his way with me, he took my hand and led me to the swing.
“Sit.”
“I thought we could?—”
“Oh, sweetheart. Make no mistake. I have big plans that involve making you scream out my name over and over again. But first, I would like to sit and have a nice quiet glass of wine with my wife.”
I would never get tired of hearing him call me that.
“Will you allow me that?”
How could I say no? “Of course.”
He kissed my cheek. “I’ll be right back,” he said. “I’m going to grab a bottle and a few glasses. Don’t go anywhere.”
“As if there were anywhere else I’d rather be.”
His face softened. He blew me a kiss and disappeared inside.
The stars were out, lighting up the sky. It was one of my favorite things about being in the mountains. You didn’t get stars like this in the city. I exhaled slowly and dropped my head back to take them all in.
For the first time in a long time, I felt completely at peace. There were no looming deadlines. No inheritance battles to fight. No fake marriage to untangle.
Not that I was looking to untangle it.
Not even a little bit.
It was something Reid and I hadn’t talked about. Not really. We’d just…kept on doing what we were doing. Only it was better now.
“You look like you’re thinking about something,” Reid said a moment later when he reappeared with a bottle of chilled sauvignon blanc and two glasses.
“Not really.” I looked up. “Only how nice this is to be here with you without all the…” I waved a hand in the air, and he laughed. Reid poured us each a glass before joining me on our swing.
I tucked my legs up under me and let Reid push us gently back and forth while we sipped at the wine.
“You know,” I said after a few moments. “This is my favorite place in the whole world.”
“The inn?”
“No.” I shook my head and dropped my head to his shoulder. “This swing. On this porch. At this inn. In this town. With you.”
He didn’t respond right away, but he didn’t need to. I felt it. After a moment, I heard him blow out a breath. “This is my favorite place, too. And you are my favorite person.”
I smiled to myself as he sat up and turned so he faced me on the swing. “These last few months have been crazy.”
“The craziest.” I laughed. “Do you ever think about how this all started with a simple lie?”
He let out a low whistle. “Honestly?” He looked me in the eyes. “All the time.”
“You do?”
“Absolutely. And I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“No?” That surprised me. I knew he didn’t like lying to his family.
“No,” he said with certainty. “Because if we changed even one little detail, then I don’t know if I’d be here with you right now. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”
