Page 232 of Hold Me Until Morning

Loved the energy.

Loved the blinding flash of lightning before the crack of thunder followed.

Loved the way the earth smelled afterward, like it was promising something brand new.

It made me think of that night a little more than a year ago when I’d been driving back to my house with plans to kick my boots up on the railing of the porch and toss back a couple beers as I took in that storm.

Instead, I’d found my drenched, hot as fuck new neighbor running through the rain.

My new neighbor who’d held my past and my future.

Popping the cap on the beer bottle, I sank down on the wood rocking chair. I kicked my boots up on the railing, just the way I liked to do.

A satisfied sigh pilfered from between my lips as I sank into the comfort.

Into the beauty.

Into this life that I never could have anticipated.

We’d moved into the cabin two months ago. A cabin I’d built myself.

Blood and sweat, but there hadn’t been a single fucking tear.

Not when I was cherishing every second that I’d been given.

My chest squeezed. For so long, I’d thought I’d been living on borrowed time, and it just turned out my life had been set to pause.

Waiting on her to return to me.

From behind, the screen door opened then clattered shut.

Hailey’s presence washed over me.

Wave after seductive wave.

Strawberries and cream.

All things sweet.

Sex and sin.

My heart’s completion.

My perfect match.

Her footsteps were light as she shuffled across the porch, and I blindly reached out for her, even though I would be able to find my way to her in the pitch of dark.

She eased around the chair and slipped onto my lap, and the woman shifted to her side and curled up against me. I wrapped my free arm around her and tugged her close.

The rain fell around us, a soft, constant pattering at the roof. A whinny echoed from the barn where we kept three horses, one for each of us, though I supposed I’d have to add another soon.

“Is my Button asleep?”

I could feel the press of Hailey’s amused smile. “After she read the same chapter to me four times.”

A light chuckle rumbled around in my insides. “She read me the same one at least seven times before you took over.”

“She’s pretty proud of herself that she can read it.” Hailey shifted so she could tuck her face up under my chin, and she pressed those full lips against my throat. I inhaled the warmth of her breaths.

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