Page 102 of When Morning Comes Around

He flicked the light on and rested his hands on her shoulders as he looked down into her eyes. A shiver ran down her spine. She wasn’t as interested in talking about money as she was in finally being alone with him.

She gripped the lapels of his jacket and went up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Do you really want to talk about money right now?”

He chuckled as he slid his arm around her waist. “No, but I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while. Do you want a drink?”

She crossed her eyes at him. “I want you.”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “I want you, too, more than I can say. I just don’t want you to feel like I’m dragging you off to bed at the very first chance I get.”

“Okay, let’s have a drink then, and you can tell me whatever it is you want to tell me. Then, will you take me to bed?”

He laughed. “You can bank on it.”

She couldn’t help ogling his ass as he got two glasses from the cabinet and then turned to open the fridge.

Her hand came up to cover her heart when he poured two glasses of Bailey’s. “Aww! Thank you.”

He tapped his glass against hers with a smile. “I wondered if I should maybe buy champagne for us to celebrate spending our first night here together. But this seemed like a better fit for us.”

“It is. I love this stuff. I’ll drink champagne, but I don’t really enjoy it.”

He smiled. “Me neither. Anyway, I don’t need to take all night about it, it’s just that until now I haven’t found the right moment to tell you about the money. Damon and I received an inheritance last year. It was a lot of money. Life-changing kind of money. That’s why I didn’t think twice about renting this place. And…”

She swallowed; he’d told her that he was in a great situation financially, but she hadn’t given it much thought. At the time,she’d considered his finances to be none of her business. Now… Now, she didn’t know how to feel about it.

He took a big gulp of his drink and then caught her chin between his finger and thumb as he looked down into her eyes. “… And if you like the idea, I’m thinking that I can rent this place for a year, while I build us a home of our own down on the water – next to Damon and Jo.”

All she could do was stare at him.

“Shit. Have I killed the moment? Should I have waited to tell you all this?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know what to say.”

He leaned in close, and all thoughts fled from her head. He brushed his lips over hers. “For some reason, I felt like I needed to tell you before… You know, before we go upstairs.”

She laughed. “I don’t know what to say, I don’t even understand why you needed to tell me. But now that you’ve gotten it off your chest…” She glanced over at the bottom of the stairs and held up her glass. “Shall we take these up with us?”

He chuckled. “Yes, we should.” He took her hand but then stopped and handed his glass to her. “Here, you take these.”

“Okay,” she said with a puzzled look. “What are you… Oh!”

He’d curled one arm around her back and hooked the other behind her legs. Before she knew what he was doing, he was carrying her up the stairs.

She laughed as they went. “Wow! The first day we met, you were my knight in shining armor, riding to the rescue. Now, thefirst night we’re going to spend together, you’re sweeping me off my feet and carrying me away to your bed.”

“Is it too much?”

“Hell no! I love it! Keep it up. If I wake up tomorrow and discover that this was all just a dream, it’ll be the best dream I ever had.”

“It’s not a dream, Sadie. This is your new life. You’d better believe it.”

Goosebumps raced down her arms as his lips brushed her ear when he leaned in to add, “I mean it, I want this to be the first night of the rest of our lives, and when morning comes around, I’m going to ask you if you want that, too.”

She tightened her arm around his neck and clung tightly to the two glasses, trying not to spill them. She wanted to tell him that yes, it was what she wanted, but there was so much to take in right now, and in the back of her mind there was still a niggling doubt that he might change his mind.

When they reached the bedroom, he set her back on her feet, and she put the glasses on the nightstand.

“Wow!” She looked around in wonder. “I love what you’ve done with the place!”

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