Page 122 of Foreplay on Words

“At least you’re here now. I kind of like having my own stress relief on call.”

“Is that all I am to you?” I smiled against the skin of her shoulder. “Stress relief?”

Chase shook her head and pulled my arms around her. “No, that’s just one of the perks.” She sighed as she turned to the side to look up at me. “You...you’re.” It wasn’t like her to be short on words, but I let her formulate her thoughts unhindered. “You’re everything.”

My heart swelled at her words. She was my everything too. Kissing the side of her head, I tightened my hold on her. “I love you, too. So much.”

We sat quietly in the bath until the water started to cool. Chase got dressed and returned to her laptop as I started dinner. Our cohabitation was something I was still getting used to, but I wanted to wake up with her every morning and go to sleep with her every night.

We’d already informed Is and Adrian that we’d only need one room for each stop on the book tour. We weren’t hiding our relationship from anyone, and I think the publishing house liked that we seemed to be a united front on this one.

“Any preference on meat?” I called out to her from the fridge.

“Your meat never fails to please,” she snickered, looking over the back of the couch.

“That’s for after dinner...”

She gave a dramatic sigh. “Oh, alright. I guess I’ll have to settle for putting another kind of meat in my mouth.”

“Dirty girl,” I teased. She couldn’t resist the naughty flirtatious banter.

“That’s how you like it.” She was right.

“Do you have everything you need to go back?” I was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for Chase to finish packing her bag.

We were headed back to Boston. The official launch party for our book was in two days, and we needed to head into the office to go over the final schedule details with the promotional marketing team.

We’d be spending tonight at Chase’s condo, but the publishing house had agreed to put us up in a suite at the hotel where the party was being held for the next two nights.

“Can I leave some of these clothes here?” she asked over her shoulder while she stood at the dresser. Her open suitcase was sitting beside me on the bed, but it was empty.

“You can keep whatever you want here. I’m hoping after the tour is over, I can convince you to come back here with me.”

“You won’t be sick of me by then?” Her smile was warm. She already knew my answer to that question.

“If I was going to get sick of you, I’m pretty sure it would have happened already over the last five months.”

“Has it been that long?” she winked at me with a smirk.

“Not that I’ve been counting or anything,” I shrugged. I totally had.

“Sure, mmhmm.”

“Fine. Stay behind in your lonely condo. I don’t mind going back to being allowed to use my covers.”

“I’m not the one who steals covers!” she yelled as she spun back in my direction.

“Tell that to my frost-bitten parts.”

“Pretty sure I keep your parts plenty warm.” She grabbed one shirt from the stack in front of her before putting the rest back into the drawer and shutting it. I wanted to ask her to move in with me permanently, but after the last time I lived with a woman, I was a little gun-shy. Chase was nothing like Simone––although she’d been different, too, before we lived together.

“Can I leave my toothbrush here?”

Following her into the bathroom, I pulled her back into my chest and rested my chin on her shoulder. “You can leave whatever you’d like here. As long as you come back with me, I want this to feel like home to you.”

We shared a meaningful look in the mirror, and I knew my strong feelings for her were reciprocated. “Wherever I go, it feels like home as long as I’m with you.”

Smiling, I squeezed her tighter, placing a lingering kiss in the crook of her neck. “You should write that one down.”

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