Page 126 of Lemon Crush

He turned the shower back on without letting go of me.

“You want to have this conversation in the shower?” I asked.

“We both need to get clean. And water seems to work for us.”

I huffed out a laugh. “What about dinner?”

I’d had a plan for tonight and nothing was going the way I thought it would.

“Dinner will keep. Right now, you need to get naked so we can talk.”

“That’s not how things usually work between us.”

But when he shucked his wet shorts, the sight of his cock at half-mast had me stumbling in my haste to get rid of the clingy yoga pants and my confidence-boosting bra anyway. I joined him in my walk-in shower and the hot water instantly soaked my new hairdo. I was secretly glad Chick had snuck in a picture earlier. It might never look that perfect again.

Wade made quick work of washing himself off, his attention never leaving me. Then he took my pink mesh loofah, added body wash—the human kind—and turned me around so he could scrub my back.

“Not that I’m complaining,” I said, my eyes closed at the blissful sensation. “But I thought you wanted to talk.”

He gently turned me around and started washing the rest of me. Slow caresses that were as arousing as they were cleansing. My legs. My hips.

“I don’t want to assume.” His voice was rough as he watched the loofah slide over my breasts. “So, I’m going to clarify a few things first, Gus. You want us to live together?”

“You don’t have to propose to the man, but you’re well beyond Mrs. Roper territory now and he deserves to know you’re ready for more. Be clear about what you want. Men occasionally need these things spelled out for them. And by occasionally, I mean always.”

“I like this. What we’ve been doing.” I stopped the movement of his hands with mine so he would meet my gaze. “Not the distance you’ve been putting between us the last few weeks, but all the rest of it. Remember how I told you I’ve been working on living in the moment instead of spiraling about the future?”

He dipped his chin, regarding me with hooded eyes, and my mind went blank for a second.

Damn it, I should have written this down first.

I took a deep breath and focused. “So far, all my moments with you are better than anything I’ve ever had before. I know when we started I said I wouldn’t be that girl, and it’s not like I had the best luck the last time I did the living-together thing, but I want to try it anyway. I want the dinners and dogs and, well, whatever comes next. I know neither of us can say what we’ll be doing or even where we’ll be in the future. Until and unless, right? But until and unless, can we give this a shot? Will you stay here? With me?”

He was quiet and unmoving for long enough that I started to worry I’d gone too far. It sounded too much like a commitment, didn’t it? He was going to say thanks but no thanks and pack his bags.

Shit.

“Does that include being seen together as a couple in public? Doing things that don’t relate to Lemons or either of our families?”

He isn’t saying no.“I’m okay with that if you are.”

He dropped the loofah to the floor and slid his bare hands up my rib cage to massage my breasts. “And how would you feel if some romance was involved? You’ve already caved on the puppy and flowers, so I’m just covering my bases here.”

“I don’t need flowers and puppies or soul mates and magic.”

He remembered.

“You’re making it very difficult to concentrate,” I moaned. Not that I wanted him to stop. Ever. “Don’t stop.”

He moved closer, wrapping one strong arm around my back for support while he continued to tease me. “This would be more than sleeping in your bed. It means bringing my things over. Mixing my laundry with yours and letting Wanda chew on your couch. Are you up for that?”

That sounded fine to me. “Yes.”

“It means no one else, for either of us.”

“I thought that was already a given. As long as we’re together, we’re exclusive.”

I was completely breathless now. Desperate to touch him. “You haven’t said yes yet.”

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