Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
And that was when he realized she might have mentioned Deke and Maddie, but she’d been talking about them. She was talking about the fact that he wouldn’t open himself up and spill all his mistakes. She’d listened to Big Tag and only thought that purging every emotion he’d ever felt would make him happy and whole.
He had to show her she was the reason he was happy and whole, and they didn’t need the past. They only needed the present and the future.
The past was over, and replaying it all again would do nothing but cause problems between the two of them. He wasn’t the same man who’d made all those mistakes. He was better and she was the reason.
He thought he needed to make their first time together perfect, but he only needed to make it right, to show her how he felt.
He knocked on the door to the guest room she was using. She’d concentrated on work all afternoon, explaining she couldn’t talk at the moment because she was monitoring what was happening at Maddie’s office.
But now he knew Maddie had Deke to watch over her, and Drake had taken Boomer to a buffet for lunch, so they had hours and hours alone. And probably one restaurant owner in LA was about to go out of business as a sacrifice to his relationship with MaeBe.
The door opened and MaeBe stood there, a stubborn look on her face. Like she’d known exactly who was on the other side of the door. She wore her usual uniform of leggings and a dark T-shirt with some snarky saying on it, but she’d taken off her combat boots and her hair was down. The stubborn look quickly faded and she schooled her expression to as neutral as MaeBe could get. He could still tell she was irritated, but her lips formed an approximation of a smile. “Is the Boom man ready for dinner? Where are we heading? I have to get my bag. I figured with Deke watching Maddie we could get out of this place.”
He followed her and closed the door, sliding the lock into place, though it was more of a warning than any kind of real deterrent to any of the people who might come through. “Boomer and Drake went to lunch, and then they’re going back to the club. We’ll order a pizza or something. We don’t have to be at the club for hours. Until then, it’s you and me.”
She turned, and her eyes had gone wide. “What is that supposed to mean?”
The time for talking was over. They’d talked for months and months. If he hadn’t been gone on assignment so much, they likely would be sleeping together and she wouldn’t question why he didn’t talk about unimportant things. They had needed time, but it was obvious to him not being together physically was starting to wear on them both.
He moved in, his hands going to cup her face and tilt her head up. “You can tell me no, MaeBe, and I’ll back away, but I don’t want to. I need you. I wanted to wait until I could make it perfect for you, but then you picked Disneyland and I realized perfection isn’t happening.”
She laughed, the sound so fucking magical to him. “Disney is perfect.”
“It’s not, baby.” He adored this woman. She lightened his soul. She made him remember who he’d been all those years ago. “It’s going to be full of kids, and I don’t know how well I’m going to be able to fuck you if Mickey is watching.”
She bit her bottom lip. “I think you’ll manage, and besides, I thought we would also probably play at The Reef if Kay will let us. I might have mentioned I was going to seduce you while we’re here in LA. And I talked to Hutch, and he approved my time off. Do you really want to take a vacation with me?”
It was time for some serious honesty. He needed to be real with her. “I want to take every vacation with you. I want to be with you all the time. When we’re not together, I’m thinking about you. I’m going to tell my uncle I want to move into investigations so if I go into the field, I can take my tech with me. I don’t want to be apart. I hate it when we’re apart.”
He kissed her.
He’d kissed her before, playful pecks and meaningful caresses over her cheeks and forehead. But he hadn’t trusted himself to really kiss her, to let himself devour that gorgeous mouth of hers.
Now he was sure he’d been right because the minute her mouth softened, he couldn’t help but dominate her. His tongue surged in, and he held her still so he could taste her, lose himself in her.