Page 82 of Bookworm and the Beast
“I sure hope not,” I said.
With a snort of rage, Claudia turned and clicked her way into the foyer and out the front door.
I called out, “Harrison… please call a locksmith. I want someone out heretodayto change all the locks.”
“On it, sir,” came the butler’s reply.
Bonnie looked a bit worried. “I hope that was okay,” she said. “I mean the trick I pulled with the recorder.”
“It was more than okay. It was perfect. You’re perfect.” I took her jaw in my hands, tipping it up for my kiss.
Bonnie tasted good. She tasted like the future.
My lips had missed hers in the past thirty minutes. I needed to do something about that—to make sure I didn’t spend the rest of my life missing her.
When the kiss ended, I said, “Promise me you’ll stay.”
Picking up the recorder, which was still running, I spoke directly into it. “On the record. Bonnie Hamelin, I’m asking you to stay whether or not I meet this deadline, whether or not this book ever gets published or I ever write another book. I need you in my life. Seeing you and Claudia in the same room just underlined for me what I want in a woman. And it’s not her. It’s you.”
I paused, my heart thundering in my chest from a mixture of fear and elation. I hadn’t planned to make any sort of declaration today. But now, I didn’t think I could keep from saying it one minute longer.
“I love you, Bonnie.”
She blinked. Blinked again.
For a moment I experienced sheer terror. She wasn’t going to say it back. She didn’t love me. I was going to lose her.
Then her eyes filled with tears. “I love you, too… you mean old beast.”
Yes.A rush of elation expanded my chest, and I pulled Bonnie against me, holding her tightly and trying to rein in my euphoria so I didn’t crush her.
She felt perfectly right in my arms. Her soft skin, her silky hair, her sweet scent—it was almost too much to take. I didn’t deserve it.
But I took it anyway, tilting her head back to give me access to her beautiful lips again.
Shivering, starving, I kissed her and kissed her and kissed her. I wanted her to understand what it would be like between us, when we were finally able to be together the way I wanted us to be—forever.
Bonnie’s hands came to my chest, my shoulders, slid into my hair, creating an energizing mix of satisfaction and impatience inside of me, making me feel wanted.
Making me feelloved.
Yes.This was it. Everything I’d been missing. Everything I’d longed for without even realizing it. Bonnie was all I’d ever want, and I needed her like I’dneverallowed myself to need a woman before.
When our mouths finally separated, I leaned my forehead against hers, breathing raggedly. “Let’s go upstairs... to my ‘ginormous’ bed.”
She giggled at my reference to her earlier nervous babbling and rolled her eyes.
“Well,finally.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Save Me
Jack
I grabbed her hand, practically dragging her across the library and up the grand staircase to my room.
When we reached the door, I stopped and let her go in first. And not just because I liked to look at her pretty ass. This was a picture I wanted to see and appreciate fully—Bonniein my bedroom—at last.
