CHAPTER68
LARISA
Wait a second. I haven’t said yes yet?My head was spinning, but I couldn’t believe that I’d gotten so caught up in him that I’d forgotten to give him my answer out loud.
“Yes, Tanner,” I murmured against his lips. “I’ll move in with you. Of course I’ll move in with you.”
I didn’t even have to think about it. There were things I was worried about, sure, but deep down inside, I knew we’d be able to work it out if and when the time came. While I was hesitant to jump in too fast, saying yes also just felt right. Too right to argue about it with myself any longer.
It wouldn’t matter if I did anyway. What he’d suggested had been my heart’s deepest, secret desire since I’d first found out that he’d bought a house that could become a family home. For so long, I’d wanted him to be as serious about me as my feelings were for him, and now it seemed he was.
The changes he’d made to the house already made it feel like my home, and if removing all touches of the bachelor life from it wasn’t showing me how badly he wanted this, I didn’t know what would. Plus, he’d done it himself. Without my help, he’d managed to pinpoint everything I’d put in for that phase of his life and he’d taken it all away seemingly without a second thought.
Moving in here with him would be a leap of faith, but I was ready to take it. In a way, I’d been ready to throw my lot in with his a long time ago, and there had never really been a choice. From the word go, I’d been drawn to him, and hearing that he’d felt the same way shot joy straight to the core of my being. The words burrowed their way into my soul and made a safe, cozy little nest there that made me feel warm from the inside out.
“I love you, too, Tanner,” I said, breaking the kiss for long enough to murmur the words I’d been keeping from him for weeks now. “I love you so much, and I’ve been finding it difficult to let you out of my sight, too. Not because I don’t trust you, but because I want to be with you all the time.”
He sucked in a breath when I told him I loved him, but then he chuckled against my lips and propped himself up on his forearms, lifting his head a few inches to look into my eyes. “Do you think that’s ever going to change? Is it going to become easier to face the prospect of a day apart?”
“Probably,” I said, playing with the short hairs at the back of his neck as I drank in every bit of the love shining so clearly from those bright blue eyes. “Part of me hopes it doesn’t, but evidence suggests it will. All newly in love couples probably feel like this, but somehow, people still manage to go about their lives, go to work, or go out with friends without their significant others.”
“I know this is probably going to sound like a massive cliché, but what the hell? I’m going to say it anyway,” he murmured. “I don’t think there’s anybody out there who’s felt the way I feel about you right now about somebody else. If they did, they wouldn’t be going about their lives separately. I’m going to hate it every time one of us has to leave this house.”
“So am I, but I think that’s why it’s called the honeymoon phase.” I giggled. “Soon enough, you’re probably going to be dying for some time away from me.”
“Not fucking likely.” He rolled his hips against mine and moaned as he kissed me again. “Let’s just stay here, never get dressed again, and forget the outside world even exists. We can have groceries delivered, and if anyone wants to see us, we can video chat with them. We’ll just have to make sure the camera is trained above your chest.”
I laughed and planted a trail of kisses on the stubble growing on his jaw. “That sounds good. Unrealistic but good.”
“For the rest of the week at least?” he asked hopefully, his hands running up and down my sides before settling on my hips. “You’re not meeting with a client tomorrow or something, are you?”
“It’s already tomorrow,” I said, glancing at the glowing letters on the clock on the nightstand. “To answer your question, though, no. I’m not meeting with a client today. I do have a ton of work to do, though. I also have to get my phone back from your mom’s house.”
“So that’s where it is,” he mused. “I’ll send a courier for it in the morning. If you have a lot of work to do, I guess we’d better get some sleep.”
He made to roll off me, and I laughed, hooking my legs around his hips and keeping him in place. “Not so fast, mister. We’re finishing what we started.”
“Look at you, being all insatiable.” He ground his long, rock-hard cock into me again. “Want to tell me why you smelled like sex earlier yet? Because I’m pretty sure you’ve already gotten off tonight.”
“That was last night,” I said, ignoring the heat that was creeping up on my cheeks. “It’s after midnight now, remember?”
“Good point.” He kissed me hard and moaned into my mouth as he got an intoxicating rhythm going with his hips. “I’m still waiting for you to tell me what you did.”
“You already know.” My breathing became labored as we spoke between heated kisses. “What I will tell you is that it was all your fault. You got me all hot and bothered with that kiss in your old bedroom, and then you left me hanging.”
He barked out a laugh and nipped at my lower lip. “You weren’t the only one who got all hot and bothered, but you are the only one who’s had a chance to do something about it.”
“Poor you,” I teased. “Here, let me help you with that.”
Without warning, I nudged at him and started rolling us over. He followed, landing on his back and gripping my hips as he stared up at me. “How are you planning on doing that?”
I tucked my hair behind my ears and I pulled his shirt up over his head. He lifted his shoulders to let it pass. “I’ll show you. Don’t worry about it.”
Sitting on his thighs, I bent down to pepper his neck and chest with open-mouthed kisses. I scooted down as I needed to, eventually parting his legs with my own and kneeling on the mattress between them.
Still kissing him, I ran my hands up and down his thighs, feeling the wiry hairs of his happy trail under my lips as I opened his pants. I considered teasing him for a while by leaving his underwear on, but we’d both had a long night and I wasn’t in the mood for games.
I loved him, and all that mattered to me right then was showing him how much. I pushed his pants and his boxer briefs off, and he raised his hips so I could pull the fabric free.