Chapter 19 #2
“It was for you.” His eyes sparkle with amusement and affection.
“I do know you, Amesie. I knew you were scared, and I understood why. So I invented a date, hoping you’d rush over here and interrupt it.
And I generally suck at big, romantic gestures, but I wanted to try.
For you. So I went and bought out the entire stock of flameless candles at the Home Store n’ More?— ”
“Oh my god .” My brain struggles to catch up. “The candles, the roses on the bed, that was all?—”
“For you,” Robbie confirms. “Of course it was. I love you. Pretty sure you heard me yelling that at Mike earlier. And I wanted you to—” His brow furrows. “Wait, how’d you know about the rose petals on the bed?” He darts a glance down the hall.
Fresh heat floods my face. “I, um… I may have rushed over here in a panic earlier, exactly as you predicted, to save you from Rocco’s evil clutches.”
“Rocco?” His gaze darts back and forth between my eyes. “Your chef? Why would you?—?”
“You mentioned his abs!” I remind him. “Ah, shit. I was really mean to him today. I’m not gonna get a decent boule out of him for a week.”
Robbie’s laughing again, that beautiful sound, and he cups my face in both hands, running his thumbs over my cheekbones. “I love you, Ames.”
Everything inside me goes still. My eyes sting with tears, and I don’t even bother trying to hide it. Not from Robbie.
“Say it again,” I demand softly.
“I love you. You, Ames Axford. I am thoroughly, completely, head over heels in love with you. I love every curl. Every freckle. Every shade of blue in your eyes… including the navy one I still think would look great in my kitchen.”
A wet, shaky laugh burbles out of me. I’m pretty sure I’ve never made that noise in my life.
“I love how your mind works,” he whispers. “I love your temper and your drama. I love how you kiss. I love how fiercely you love. You’re it for me. I am all in . ”
His eyes are so serious as they stare into mine, and I know what he’s trying to tell me… and what he needs to hear.
“I believe you, baby. I trust you. And I love you.”
Robbie kisses me then, and I kiss him back with everything that I have. His hands slide into my hair, angling my head, and I press as close as I can despite my stupid sling, needing to feel his warmth against me.
When we finally break apart, he rests his forehead against mine. We’re both breathing hard, and it feels like another point of connection. His breath flowing into me and mine into him.
“So… fuck. Now what?” I ask finally, a little dazed. “I’ve spent sixteen years yearning for exactly this, and now I have it.”
Robbie grins, and it makes my heart trip over itself, as it always has…
and always will. “Now…” He takes my good hand and leads me over to the couch.
Then he falls backward onto the cushions and gently pulls me down with him, careful of my arm, arranging me on top of him.
“Now we revel in it, baby.” He pushes my hair off my forehead, and his fingers linger there. “Now I get to keep you.”
“Keep me.” I settle more comfortably against him, my chin on his chest. “Like I’m a prize.”
“Yep. No give-backsies allowed.”
I press my smile against his shirt. “Does that mean I’m staying… here?” It’s hard not to sound hopeful.
“I mean, you did make the wreath on the door. And your skeleton does fit in the front yard…”
“And I already know where the spices are in the kitchen. And my favorite flowers are in the yard… ”
“And, now that I think about it, you were the one who bought the sheets on my bed.” His thumb tracks over my bottom lip. “So I think that sort of means you’re obligated to sleep on them. Every night. Forever.”
Happiness bubbles up inside me so bright and overwhelming, it’s hard to breathe through it. I lean down and kiss him—his jaw, his mouth, his chest, everywhere I can reach. He holds my head in both his hands and presses soft kisses to my hair and forehead.
I’ve been kissed a million times before, sometimes passionately and sometimes not. But this is a different kind of passion. The kind that doesn’t only promise orgasms. The kind that promises a whole fucking future—one where we’ll belong to each other. One where we’ll have time.
“I guess I could stay here,” I say sometime later. “But you’re gonna have to help me find a tenant for my place.”
Robbie laughs. “Since it sounds like Rocco will be quitting, maybe your new chef would wanna live on-site?”
I lift my head to glare at him, but the way his hands are sliding up my back under my shirt sort of ruins the effect. “You’re a pain in the ass,” I mutter.
“This ass?” His hands drop lower and squeeze.
I squirm against him, laughing. “I feel like that should be weirder. You squeezing my ass.”
He squeezes again, green eyes darkening. “Because it was always meant to turn out like this. Part of me just wishes I’d figured out how I felt sooner because then I could’ve been squeezing your ass all along.”
I snort. “I guarantee, I wouldn’t have lost any sleep wondering what Jake Palmeri thought your ex-girlfriend had that I didn’t. ”
Laughing, Robbie slides his hand down the back of my pants. “Going out on a limb, I’m gonna say it was boobs , baby,” he teases. “Carrie had really nice ones, as I recall.”
I roll my eyes. “Carli. Her name was Carli . And I’d like to point out that you have now committed yourself to a future with no boobs. None whatsoever. Because I’m just the tiniest bit possessive, and I do not share?—”
In one smooth movement, Robbie manages to sit up and flip our positions, taking care with my collarbone. When I’m lying flat on the sofa cushions, he lifts my shirt and lowers his mouth to my chest, his tongue and teeth worrying my nipple.
“Poor, poor me.” His breath against my wet skin makes my nipple tighten, and a bolt of arousal skitters down my spine.
“For me, attraction has always been about the person underneath the skin. And you… you are my person. My missing piece, who’s never really been missing.
” He lifts his head so our gazes lock. “Getting to have you like this and keep you… it’s everything I’ve ever wanted too, Ames.
Even if I didn’t have the language for it before. ”
I cup his face in my left hand, and he looks down at me with so much open, unguarded love, my chest feels like it’s cracking open… in a good way. In the best way.
I can see our future laid out before us. Camping trips and kids and door-slamming arguments. Pancakes and family dinners and endless teasing. Sweet good-morning kisses that taste like Robbie’s coffee, family to love, and fires to fight. Getting to do it all with my favorite human on Earth.
“Hey, Amesie, remind me again about Rule Number One,” Robbie teases as his mouth finds its way back to my chest and then lower… and lower still. “Something about not assuming every gay boy is in love with me?”
I laugh. “I never said there weren’t exceptions,” I say, tugging his hair gently. “Because this gay boy is definitely, irrevocably, absolutely in love with you.”
The soft smile on his face is filled with affection, and I realize it has always been this way. Robbie loves Ames, and Ames loves Robbie.
The way it was always meant to be.
He teases me a little longer with kisses and nips before glancing up at me with dancing eyes. “I need you to know I’m always in your corner, Ames. And now, I’ll also suck your dick.”
I nearly choke on outraged laughter, then flip us both over to pin him underneath me—a move I probably couldn’t have executed in my injured state, except that Robbie curls himself protectively around me and rolls with me once he realizes what I’m doing.
“I can’t believe you just said that!” I say, sucking a deep bruise into his neck I hope the guys at the station tease him about later.
“You saying that’s not what you want, Amesie?”
I never did answer him with words, but I showed him with my fingertips, my lips, and the languid stretch of my body on his that it was everything I’d ever wanted. And so much more.