Page 158 of Worth Every Penny

I kneel opposite him, the bubbles surrounding us. “Yes. Just promise me we’ll have loads of sex.”

He grins, pulling me flush against him in the water. “I promise.” Then his eyes turn serious. “But Kate…”

“Yes?”

“You’re it for me. I might not be proposing, but I know I want to. Not today, but one day. I don’t want to live my life without you by my side. I want to wake up beside you every morning and fall asleep beside you every night. I want to share everything with you.”

A warm, fizzing sensation swells in my chest, up my throat. “I want that too,” I say softly.

His smile is warm and kind and sexy all at once. “Great. Now, where were we…”

“We were promising to have lots of sex.”

“Oh, yes.” His hand eases inside my bikini bottoms so fast that I can only laugh, even as desire spikes through me hotter than the water. He kisses the side of my neck. “May as well begin as we mean to go on.”

His fingers slide inside me, right where I want them, but I’m wary.

“Jack’s in the house,” I remind him, eyes flicking towards the back door. “Mum’s going to be back any moment…”

The heel of Nico’s hand presses against my clit and I stop talking.

“This will only take a minute.” His whisper is hoarse against my throat.

I pull back, my arms still around his neck. “Oh, yeah?”

“Mmm-hmmm,” he says, as his other hand snakes around the back of my neck and loosens the halter tie on my bikini so it slides off my breasts and into the water.

I glance back at the house. “Nico—”

But my voice catches in my throat as he takes one of my nipples in his mouth, slowly pumping his fingers in and out of me, drawing the crest of my pleasure closer and closer to the surface.

I dig my fingernails into his bare shoulders. “Oh, fuck—”

“Thought you might want to make new memories in here,” he says. “Better memories.”

He plays my body like an instrument, drawing out the sweetest tune as the tightly coiled pleasure at the base of my spine unwinds, rippling out through every part of my body like a slow rolling clap of thunder.

Riding the waves of my orgasm, I cling to Nico like he’s going to save me from drowning. As my breathing returns to normal, he chuckles against my neck. “Told you it would only take a minute.”

I lean back and splash water in his face, and his laugh rolls out like a stream of pure joy. I reach behind my neck to fix the strings of the bikini in place.

He grabs my hand to stop me. “Wait.”

I still beneath his grip, one strap of the halter neck pinched between my fingers, my breasts exposed above the water level. And then he looks at me. Really fucking looks, his stare grazing over every inch of exposed skin. It’s exactly what I wanted him to do all those years ago when I stupidly tried to seduce him right here in my parents’ back garden.

He nods slowly. “It took a while, but you’re worth every second of the wait. I’d give you the whole world if I could. Now”—he gives me a serious look, but his lips tilt in a smile—“put your fucking clothes back on.”

Laughing, I fix my bikini back in place and stand. As I get out, Nico grabs my hand again. “Hey, Kate?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

I look down at his face, so indescribably gorgeous that it makes my next breath catch. “I know.”

“Forever,” he adds.

“Yes,” I agree, my heart bursting with emotion. “I love you too. Forever.”

THE END

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