Page 118 of Three Pucking Words
Max would have decided something like this without me. He would have told me we were moving and wouldn’t have given me the opportunity to think about it. And the sad part? I always went along with whatever he wanted just…because. Not because Iwantedit, but because I didn’t let myself think about how Ididn’twant it.
Bodhi is letting me choose. Better than that. He’s letting me bepartof the conversation.
“God, you’re…” I shake my head and move my hand to cup his jaw. “You’re really something.”
His face settles into my face. “Is that a good thing? I can’t tell.”
I laugh lightly. “It is. You make me happy.”
His smile comes easily, and it transforms his face. “You make me happy too. That’s why I want you to tell me what you think. We wouldn’t be far from your family. You could visit them if you wanted to. Gemma would have to switch schools if she lived with us, but I think we could handle it as a team. And her grandparents would be even closer than they are now—right over the border, so they wouldn’t need to move and could still have her part time if they wanted to. I think it—”
“Bodhi,” I say with a laugh, pressing the pad of my thumb against his lips. “Can I speak?”
He moves his head up and down, letting my thumb brush against his lower lip.
I say one word. “Yes.”
His eyes flare. “Yes?”
I nod. “If this is what you want, then yes. Because I want it too. To be part of a family. To be part ofyourfamily.”
He inhales slowly, as if he’s somehow mesmerized by my response. “You have no idea how nervous I’ve been feeling over this.”
Really? “It’s not like you’re asking me to move to a different country for you. Like you said, we won’t be that far away from where we are, and I don’t love living in the city. I never have. This could be good. For all of us. And…” I’m not embarrassed at all for what’s about to come out of my mouth. “And the idea of us all living together does something to my heart. If I can’t have my own kids, I’ll do everything in my power to be the best mom to Gemma. I swear it.”
His throat bobs, moving his Adam’s apple with it. He really was nervous. It’s sweet. “I have no doubt in my mind you will, Honor.”
I thread my fingers through his hair. “Thank you,” I whisper, earning a look of confusion. “For thinking of me. For wanting to hear my opinion.”
He shakes his head. “You don’t need to thank me for that. It’s common courtesy.”
“But it’s not what I’m used to.”
Bodhi understands what I mean. “I’m going to change that for you. As long as you let me, honey, I’m going to show you what it’s like to be with a real man. One who communicates. One who shows you that he cares. I meant what I said. I’ll do whatever I can to prove to you what it’s like to be happy. What it’s like to be a family.”
Those words mean everything to me.
They also ignite a fire in me fueled by a newfound confidence. I use my hand to lower his head to mine and whisper, “Please. I need to feel you inside me. I can’t wait any longer.”
And the sound he makes right before his lips are on me is feral. Hot. Hungry. Needy. It’s everything I’ve read about in romances, and nothing that I’ve ever experienced in real life.
Not before him, anyway.
Suddenly, his hand is up my shirt, cupping my breast and toying with the beaded nipple that greets him from under the silk cup of my bra.
“Christ,” he moans, arching his hips into me. There’s barely anything between us save two thin scraps of fabric that I want nothing more than to disappear. “We should move. I should take you to the bedroom. Somewhere else.”
“No.” I hold him to me. “Here.”
He looks around at the floor we’re on. “Honey, you deserve—”
“If you play your cards right, Bodhi Hoffman, you can have me in a lot of different places. But I need younow.Here.” To emphasize my point, I strip my shirt off so all that’s left is my bra. Also basic, though his gaze makes it look like it’s encrusted in gold.
He sucks in a breath as his hand leaves my breast and moves around my back. “You’re trying to kill me with those words.”
His fingers make quick work to undo my bra, letting it fall and reveal my full chest. My skin feels ablaze when his eyes do a thorough scan of every inch of exposed skin.
Without a word, he dips his head and takes one of my nipples into his mouth, sucking lightly and using his tongue to brush the tip until a long, drawn-out moan escapes my lips. I never knew I was sensitive there, but he’s proving that to be very, very true.
