Page 67 of Stolen Kiss

I shrugged. “You know what happened with Elliot and his nanny, right?” She nodded. Before Evelyn came to work for Jace as their nanny, Elliot had another woman to look after him. But she left him alone one afternoon to run a personal errand that resulted in a police investigation and child services.

“I guess I’m a little paranoid about something like that happening with Elodie,” I told her.

She nodded. “I see.”

“It’s not too bad,” I continued. I had expected things to be a little hard the first few years with Elodie in my life, but everything had been manageable so far, and I was lucky, because I had the resources and help from the many adults in Elodie’s life who loved her.

The conversation was pretty light after that, and then we got Elodie ready for bed. I watched as Emilia helped Elodie clean up and put on her unicorn pajamas. That feeling of something gripping my heart was back, but this time it was much more bearable than the first. We tucked Elodie in and read her a bedtime story from a book called Mother Hen before Elodie fell into a deep sleep.

I grabbed the baby monitor and placed my hand on the small of Emilia’s back, leading her out of there. She didn’t move away, but instead stepped closer to me, her head nearly tucked under my chin.

We walked to the kitchen and cleaned up the mess in content silence.

I could see us living like this for the rest of our lives. There was happiness in the simplicity of it. The words I had wanted to say to her since that first day at her dance studio weighed me down.

She noticed me looking at her while she dried the dishes. “What?”

I shook my head and walked over to her. She moved back a step before she thought better of it and held still.

I grabbed her waist and carried her up, placing her on the kitchen island. She wrapped her arms around me.

“Jensen,” she uttered. My name had never sounded so sweet from such a feminine voice.

I moved my lips down her neck.

“You’re beautiful,” I muttered against the soft skin there. “Have I ever told you that?”

“Yes,” she breathed, her grip on me tightening.

“Good. It would be an atrocity to not let you know.”

She shook with laughter and I pressed my smile against her skin. She moved her hands up to my hair and ran her fingers through it.

“What are you doing to me?” she whispered.

“I should be the one asking you that,” I said, moving my lips over her again and again, not quite kissing her. I wanted to tease her. I wanted to drive her crazy, and I had the feeling it was working when I felt her grip on my hair tightening before she pulled it roughly.

“Jensen,” she moaned. “Don’t play with me.”

“Oh, but I want to play with you,” I said wickedly.

I was able to elicit another groan from her when I traced her lips with the tip of my tongue.

“Kiss me,” she demanded. “Touch me.”

I flexed my hands around her waist. “I am touching you.”

Her movements grew stronger, and she pulled on my hair once more, to the point of pain. “Not what I meant, and you know it,” she gritted.

I took mercy on her and kissed her. She went slack against me and gave in fully to the kiss.

My hand moved up to cup her face before I pressed my thumb down on her chin. She opened her mouth and let me in, and I deepened the kiss. We both groaned when my tongue touched hers. I glided against the slick velvety feel, moving in closer to her body, and even so, it wasn’t close enough.

I couldn’t get enough of her.

I wanted more and more still. I wanted all of her. Every day and every night that I got to spend on this earth, I wanted it to be with her by my side.

“Jensen,” she gasped when I pulled away.

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