Page 51 of Needing You

“For?”

“For letting me in on that secret fantasy of yours about tying me up. We’re definitely circling the fuck back to that one.”

My cheeks flamed and I laughed. “Shut up.”

“Seriously, though, also thank you in advance for everything else we’re gonna do. Because holy shit, woman. There is a hell of a lot of fun in our future.”

Cuddling closer to him, I closed my eyes and hummed quietly. “I can’t wait.” And then, because the words I’d been wanting to say to him couldn’t stay inside me for a second longer, I whispered, “I love you.”

His breathing hitched under my cheek, so I turned my head in order to rest my chin on the hard planes of his chest. His eyes were soft and hard at the same time as he stared back at me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.

Was it wrong for me to say that? Was it too soon, even though it felt a little like it was too late, given what we’d just shared?

Before I could ask him any of the questions whirling around in my brain, he reached up with one hand and smoothed his thumb between my brows. I felt my frown relax from the coaxing pressure and a smile pulled up one corner of his full lips. “I love you too. I never stopped.”

My heart squeezed with both pain and happiness at that, and I hoped he could tell the same was true for me. But since he’d hoisted me up so he could kiss me, I didn’t have a chance to tell him. Not with my words, anyway. In fact, we didn’t do much talking for the rest of the night. Not unless you counted him huskily urging me to boss him around, of course, which I wasveryhappy to do.

24

WILL

Two weeks had passed since Brenna’s wedding—aka the best night ever. I could say that because Kate and I had not, in fact, managed to have a sex-a-thon like we’d had that night since then. Also, hearing the woman I never stopped loving and had only fallen harder for since reuniting say she loved me naturally ranked above all other nights in existence.

Did that mean I was deprived? Thank god, no. Since I worked late nights and she worked early mornings for the breakfast shift fairly often, we’d figured out a sweet spot to snag some afternoon alone time before Jackson got home from school. And next week, I was going house hunting and soon enough we would have a place of our own.

Hearing Kate say she loved me had done something to me. I’d already been thinking about our future, but those three words from her lips sent whatever came next barreling toward me.

I wanted nextnow.I might be an impatient son of a bitch, but I also recognized that we’d lost so much time. I didn’t want to waste another minute pretending I didn’t want everything with her.

House. Seeing Jackson grow. Maybe even having a chat about more kids, though I had no idea if she wanted more. If not, Jackson was more than enough to make our lives full and awesome.

She’d spoken of the future in ways that made me think she wanted it all with me too. Even that night, she’d said, “I can’t wait,” like she anticipated as many nights and days of making love as I did. But there was more—comments that gave me hope that she saw us together physically and emotionally. She loved me, yes, but she’d also said a few things like having Christmas dinner at my mom’s house.

Of course it was a small, off-handed mention, but I clung to it. And soon, I wanted to look her in the eye and ask her to marry me. Just thinking about it made me a little queasy and restless, but the reward of asking would be worth any nerves that preceded it.

Eric peeked into my office as I finished up an email. “Good swap on the supplier. Thanks for figuring that out.”

“Sure thing. Glad we got it nailed down.”

He nodded, patted the doorframe twice like it was a normal way to end a conversation, and left. I spun around in my office chair and watched him walk down the hall toward his office, relief at our current dynamic flooding in. Kate’s advice had been sound. I’d approached him and, far from being unreasonable, he’d been grateful I’d come back with alternatives and willingness to discuss it again.

He’d also apologized for being harsh, and I could tell he was a little embarrassed about losing it with me. I was the fiery, tempestuous twin. He was the even-keeled one who kept the ship righted.

Not for the first or even tenth time, I wondered if he ever got tired of it. He certainly seemed to enjoy his work and taking care of our mom and whatever else he spent his days doing, but I knew for a fact he had no social life beyond the family. Between Jake being engaged, me hopefully being engaged soon, and Sammy taking every available woman for a ride on his bike, so to speak, we didn’t actually see each other socially except for the sacred Sunday dinners.

My phone rang and shook me from my thoughts about Eric. I didn’t recognize the number, but it was a Colorado area code, so I picked up.

“Is this Chef Will Walker?” a man with a friendly, confident voice asked.

“It is.”

“I’m Jason Cole, a rep for Forks and Knives Group of Denver.”

I leaned back in my chair, waiting for the so what. “Okay.”

“I’ll get right to it. We’re opening a new restaurant here in the city, and we want you as our head chef. You made a name for yourself in New York, and it makes no sense to hide that skill away in some small town.”

I blinked at my computer screen, not seeing it. “Uh, sorry. I’ve taken a position at—”

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