Chapter Twenty-Five #2
We stumble through the door, kissing one another, our hands already undoing buttons and sliding down zippers. He backs me toward his bedroom as he rips off his shirt, and I take off my skirt and blouse as he opens the door and leads me to the bed.
While he divests himself of his jeans, I glance over at the bedside table. A few books lie on the surface. I’d expected something like Ben Macintyre’s SAS: Rogue Heroes or a history of World War II. Instead, I see The Practical Kiwi Gardener, and The Tui New Zealand Vegetable Gardener.
“Gardening?” I query as I undo my bra.
“I’ve been talking to Maddie Rutherford about her new soil restoration model,” he says, pushing down his boxers. “It got me interested in growing my own veggies one day.”
“That’s a lovely thought.” I think about the house by the sea we’d discussed, about having a vegetable patch, and growing our own lettuce, tomatoes, and strawberries. The idea makes me so happy that tears prick my eyes.
When he sees them, he pulls me toward him. “You still want a future with me?” he murmurs, kissing me lightly.
“I really, really do.”
His lips brush mine. “Thank you.”
I smile, stroking his back. “What for?”
“For being proud of me.” He kisses my cheeks, my jaw.
“You’re the bravest man I know,” I say honestly. “And you saved my life.”
He rolls his eyes. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“I would. The way you took Kai down…” I study his mouth, feeling a flare of lust. “Quite turned me on, it did.”
He laughs. “Everything turns you on.”
“If you’re involved, it really does.” I kiss him again. “I want to make love with you every day for the rest of my life.”
“At least twenty-one times a month,” he says, nibbling my ear. “Don’t want to have prostate trouble.”
I giggle, then sigh as he strokes his hands up my sides. “We should be experts by the time we’re in our eighties.”
I thought he’d laugh again, but instead he gives me a look of such affection and love that it makes me catch my breath. “Forever with you,” he says. “I didn’t think it was a possibility. I still can’t believe it’s true.”
I blink away tears of happiness. “Forever with you.”
He lowers his head and kisses me, and we continue to love one another, enjoying just being together, being close.