Page 93 of If Tomorrow Never Comes

He’d have snorted if he wasn’t so turned on. Instead, he tangled one hand in her hair and traced his other thumb just below her ear, a spot he knew drove her crazy.

They’d been intimate for only a week, and already he knew her body so well. As he knew she would, she let out a low moan.

“Shhh,” he teased. “Quiet.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Elliott

Elliott woke up before Jamie. She considered tucking herself under his arm and going back to sleep, but the aroma of freshly brewed coffee pulled her from the warmth of the bed. She cast a quick look at the man sleeping there before she opened the door.

Jamie was on his stomach, his arms forward and hands buried under the pillow, feet hanging off the edge. The comforter was perfectly positioned to expose most of his toned legs and muscled back, and when her eyes traveled back up to his messy, dark-blond hair, the temptation to curl back up with him was dangerously strong. But she hadn’t seen her parents in a while, and it might be nice to have a little alone time with them.

She crept downstairs and found her mom at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Hank, who had slept downstairs next to Dodger, immediately greeted her, his tail going crazy.

“Morning,” Elliott greeted her.

“Good morning. Coffee’s fresh.”

Elliott was already reaching for a ceramic mug. “Smells divine.”

“Got it at this new coffee shop down the street. They roast it in-house.”

After pouring liquid gold to the brim, Elliott joined her at the table and took a sip. “So good.”

“I think so, too.” Her mom eyed her over the rim of her own cup. “How’d you sleep?”

She kept her eyes on the table. “Great, thanks.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Elliott scrunched her nose and scratched her temple. “Anyway, what do you think of Jamie?”

“I like him.”

“Yeah?” Elliott grinned. “You didn’t like any of the other guys you met. All two of them.”

“They weren’t good enough for you.”

“Jamie is, though?”

“He’s as close as a man could get, I think.”

“What about women?”

“Same answer.”

Elliott ducked her head, her smile widening. “I think so, too.”

“He looks at you like you invented beer and baseball.”

Elliott looked up at that, a laugh of pure joy slipping out. “He does?”

Her mom nodded. “I don’t think I’ll accept anything less on your behalf ever again. It’s like you’re everything he’s ever wanted.”

That’s how Elliott felt about Jamie, no question. What did others see on her face when she looked at him? She’d never been good at hiding her emotions, and she wondered how she’d gotten by those first few weeks in Omaha without every single person knowing how hung up on him she was.

Elliott wrapped her hands around the warm drink. “It hasn’t been easy for us. At the beginning, anyway.”

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