Page 48 of Summoning my Grumpy Demon Boss

“Really.” He swoops down for a longer kiss, lingering against my mouth and almost breathing me in. I breathe him in, too, and it hits me how comfortable this feels. Like I want to do this every evening. I want him coming home to me. I love how he came over here without calling or messaging. Love that he didn’t need to. We both just knew.

I’m staring. Luke gives me a quizzical look. “What?”

I can’t help smiling. “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of something.”

“Thinking of what?”

“I’ll tell you later, OK? But don’t worry. It’s good.”

Luke relaxes and lets me go. “Alright then, mystery lady. I’m going to go take a shower. Want to join me?”

I shake my head. I need time to consider how I’m going to tell him. Suddenly, I’m as nervous and excited as I was all those years ago when I saw him through the window of the golf club. Seeing him there, knowing I wanted to be part of his world, and not knowing how to ask.

Well, now I’m older, I’ve got a better idea of what I want, but I’m still just as hopeless at asking for it. Luke will know, though. He reads me so well. It won’t matter if I stuff up the words. I just want to try my best to make this special. To let him know he’s special, the way he makes me feel every time he looks at me.

EIGHTEEN

Luke

I’m a little disappointed when Mia doesn’t join me in the shower. Which is dumb. I’ve got all night to spend with her. I mean, she doesn’t want me in her face twenty-four seven. I should probably back off a bit.

She seems happy enough to have me around, but as we eat dinner, she’s quiet. I go to get up and take the plates to the kitchen, but she stops me. “Hey, you remember I said there’s something I wanted to tell you?”

She looks so nervous. I sit back down and she twists her fingers in the sleeve of the jumper that may as well be hers now while I wait for her to start.

Oh, fuck.

Is this the partwhere she tells me she’s going back to Sydney? The part where she lets me down gently because I might be what she wants right now, but I can’t be what she needs forever?

“I’ve been thinking—”

“Mia, I promise, whatever it is, I’ll be it. I’ll do it.”

“Huh?” She stops twisting the jumper and stares at me. “What are you talking about?”

“You just tell me what you need and I’ve got you, OK? It doesn’t matter what. But don’t go. Don’t give up on this yet. It’s good. I know it.”

Her eyes widen and her mouth parts on a little ‘o’. “No, Luke. That’s not it at all. It is good. So good. I started thinking today how good, and then I realised. You just fit. You fit me like I was supposed to know you all along. Like I’m meant to be here with you. Like something I’ve been looking for all my life.”

What she says leaves me reaching up to brush a phantom obstruction away from my gills. It steals all the breath from my lungs. It’s what I’ve been waiting for her to say. It’s just so much quicker than I ever dreamed.

I grin. “Youaremeant to be here. Or I’m meant to be where you are. Whatever way we do it, you’re right. We fit. Tongue in groove.”

Her brows furrow, but she’s smiling. “What’s that?”

I laugh. “It’s a joint, like one piece fits inside the other and that’s what holds the two bits of wood together.”

Now she’s grinning, too. “That’s us.” Standing from her seat, she comes to sit in my lap, one leg on either side of mine. “Tongue in groove.” She kisses me sweetly and I’m too overcome with emotion to say anything else. How am I such a lucky bastard to have the girl of my dreams right here in my arms?

Eventually, she pulls away and gives me a cheeky smile. “You know, tongue in groove sounds kind of dirty. Are you sure it’s not just some dirty tradie joke?”

“Oh yeah? And just what are you thinking of, dirty girl?”

She giggles, and I swear to God, the sound travels down my spine and tugs at my balls. Mia stands and I slip my hands around her waist, lifting her onto the table in front of me. Automatically, she spreads her thighs for me, which I fucking love. Like she knows that’s my home right there.

I stand. “So what you’re saying is you’re mine? My mate?”

“Huh?” Her voice is breathless and her cheeks flushed.

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