Page 16 of Forever Mine

Her lips are swollen from our kiss, and all it does is make me want to kiss her again, but by the death glare she’s giving me, I know she’d be resistant. “Has it always been like this?”

She leans in closer, still whispering, “Has what always been like this?”

I reach for her hand and lace our fingers together. “Everywhere you go, men hit on you…”

She pulls her hand from mine. “Is that what this is, Beau? You don’t want me until you find out someone else does? If that’s the case…”

I cross my arms on the table to stop myself from reaching for her. “That’s not the case. I’ve always wanted you. I should have known, though, that men were into you like this. I should have paid better attention.”

She shrugs and leans back in her seat. “What does it matter? Just because men flirt with me doesn’t mean that I’m into it. I would never—”

I cut her off before she finishes. “I know you wouldn’t, but that’s not the point. All this time, and I’ve had no idea. I haven’t treated you right, Nat.”

She takes a deep breath. I know she wants to say something, but she’s holding back. “So are we going to eat? I’m starving.”

I want to ask her what she’s thinking. It’s obvious her thoughts are weighing heavily on her shoulders, but since she changed the subject, I don’t want to push. Not yet. “Well, dig in. I got you the quiche Florentine and of course, your favorite, the apple fritter.”

She looks at everything on the tray and smiles. “I can’t eat all this. I’d have to work out for five hours to burn all those calories.”

She picks up her fork and takes a small bite of the quiche. She’s eyeing the fritter as she chews the egg and cheese. It’s obvious by the look on her face what she’d rather be eating.

I pick up one of the two fritters, and her eyes follow as I take a big bite, chew, and swallow. “You know that I love your body.”

She starts to choke but recovers quickly, putting a hand to her chest. “Excuse me?”

I shrug. “I know you enjoy eating healthy and working out, but I thought I should tell you. It seems that there are a lot of things I haven’t told you, and I need to fix that. I. Love. Your. Body. I love everything about it. I love the curves of your hips, the softness of your belly, I love the way you fit in my arms as if you were made just for me. I love everything about you, Nat.”

She drops her fork to the plate and looks at me with a tear in her eye. “You love me?”

My mouth falls open. What the fuck? Surely, I’ve told her I love her. I know I have. I think back to the last time I said it, and I can’t remember. I can’t fucking remember. Oh my God. “Nat, honey, of course I love you. I obviously haven’t said it enough, but I’m going to fix that now.” I get up and move around the table and get on one knee in front of her. I cup her face in my hands. “Honey, I love you more than anything. I’m sorry that I haven’t said it, and I’m sorry that you obviously have doubted my love for you, but I do. I’m going to say it… fuck, I’m going to show you. You’ll never doubt me again.”

Her arms go around my neck, and I kiss her, putting every emotion I have into our lips meshing together. How did I fuck this up so badly? I’m not sure, but I know I’m going to fix it.

When a table from across the room starts whistling, I know I’ve taken it too far, so I pull back, smiling. “You okay?”

She laughs. “You lay that kiss on me and then ask if I’m okay?” She curls her hand into the shirt on my chest. “Yeah, I’m good. I’m better than good.”

I get off my knee and make my way back to my seat. “So eat up. We need to get to the book fair before it closes.”

She nods, and when she reaches for the apple fritter and takes a big bite, I know for the first time in a long time that I’ve done something right.

Chapter10

Natalie

I’m standing in the aisle at the book fair, and to anyone else, I look as if I’m enthralled by the shelf of books in front of me. However, they are all a blur because I’m not thinking about books right now. No, I’m thinking about my husband and the fact that he told me he loved me in a room full of people. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. He never, I mean ever, publicly displays affection, so the fact that he did has me second-guessing everything.

“Do you see any you like?”

Beau’s voice is deep, and he’s standing right over my shoulder. I act as if I’ve been debating on which book to look at and grab the first one I touch. My face is red when I pull the book out and look at the cover. The shirtless man has his hand around the neck of an almost naked woman. I’ve read the book before and loved it. Heck, I love all this author’s books, but I usually read them on my Kindle to keep the cover to myself.

Beau clears his throat, and without looking at him, I know he’s pushing his glasses up his nose. I try to be quick and put the book away, but he covers my hand with his. “Wait.”

His breath is hot on my neck, and I close my eyes, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole. He pulls the book back out of the stack and holds it up in front of me. He moves his body so that my back is pressed to his front. He lifts his other arm and encircles me in his arms with the book still held out in front of us. His voice has deepened. “What do you think this book is about?”

“Fantasies… she has fantasies, and she wants him to fulfill them.”

His hips lift, and I feel his growing bulge pressed into my backside. “What kind of fantasies?”

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