Page 55 of New in Town

“I can get it, or you can let me help you in the kitchen?”

She shakes her head at his offer and drifts over to the bottle of whiskey on the table. “You’ve cooked for me on multiple occasions. Just relax.”

He accepts the glass she brings him before returning to the kitchen. Settling back on the sofa, he watches her intently. “This is amazing, sweetheart. But can I ask—why the change in plans?”

Turning around, she leans against the counter and studies him for a moment before answering. “You’ve just put yourself through so much to take me out to all those public places, sometimes multiple times a week. I wanted to do something for you instead,” she replies, spinning again and returning her attention to the cutting board before her.

She acts like she is doing something simple by making him dinner. The reality, though, is that she’s cracked his chest open with the gesture and given him a jolt straight to his soul. She understands him. She sees him and accepts him as he is.

This feels like love, Grey thinks.

“When the timer goes off, can you take the garlic knots out if I’m not back yet?” she asks, pulling him from his revelation.

“Back from where?”

“I need to go change. This isn’t date attire,” she replies, motioning to her worn tank top.

“Seems like the perfect date attire to me,” he says in a husky voice, his eyes tracing her breasts through the top.

He rises from the couch and moves to her, pressing her against the kitchen island. He drags his hands under her top and up her sides, needy to feel her silky soft skin under his rough, calloused hands. When he leans in to kiss her, she pulls back.

“This isnotdate attire; I’ll be just a minute.”

With a quick squeeze of his arm and kiss to his jaw, she flees from the room. Grey leans forward, palms on the island he’d just had her up against. He’s debating between following her into the bedroom or sneaking a bite of the spread she just left on the counter when the timer goes off.

He moves further into the kitchen to take the garlic knots from the oven as directed. As soon as he opens the door, he’s wrapped in a fog of garlic, butter, and parmesan. His mouth waters as he deposits them on the counter. This is what he’ll sneak a taste of.

He’s peeling apart a steaming piece of dough when he hears footsteps behind him. Maddie returns in another version of a tiny sundress, similar to the last one she drove him crazy with. This one has a notch in the bottom side, revealing more of her upper thigh. Dinner be damned, all he wants to do is wrap those perfect legs around him and bury himself in her all night.

They meet in the center of the kitchen, and he pinches the blue floral pattern dress between two fingers, rubbing the material. Thin and delicate. He could lay her down and rip it off with ease. He trails his hand over her hip, and it glides seamlessly.

He raises an eyebrow in question, it was almost too seamless. As if… Grey dips his hand under the hem and drags it up over her hip. “Fuck, Maddie, nothing underneath?” he breathes, primal need shooting through him.

“Another benefit of staying in,” she replies sweetly. “We have some time until dinner is done. Maybe we—”

He lifts her in his arms and sits her on the counter. She’s beautiful, her skin golden from the cast of the candles and string lights. Pressing her legs open, he’s spurred on by how she’s already so wet and ready for him. “Be a good girl and keep these spread for me.”

Dropping to his knees, he brings his mouth to taste how much she wants him. Maddie throws her head back, fingers gripping his hair as she whimpers and pleas for him to keep going.Doesn’t she understand I’d never get enough of her, he thinks. He goes until she reaches her finish and calls out his name, the sound of which has quickly become his new favorite thing in this world.

He can’t tell her, not yet. He has two more weeks to show her that she can trust him, that she can trust this. Two more weeks until she can be his without any conditions. His best friend’s wedding suddenly seems to carry a lot of weight for him.

Maddie

Maddie runs her hand along his jaw, cradling his face and kissing him tenderly. “Was this a good change of plans?” she asks.

He pushes back the empty plate before him and meets her hopeful gaze. “The best change of plans. Thank you for this, Maddie. I appreciate it more than you know.”

“I’m glad. You’ve worked so hard to plan these big, social dates that are stressful for you. I don’t want you to think I always need all of that.” She doesn’t mention the rule about dates needing to happen in public, and she has a feeling he won’t either. Whatever is happening between them has deviated far from her carefully planned rules and she’s terrified of what that can mean.

Nothing feels settled in her life lately. But he makes her feel like she’s still on stable ground. Despite everything she’s ever believed, could this cowboy be her constant?

The feeling of Grey moving her onto his lap pulls her from her thoughts. He trails soft kisses along the ridge of her shoulder, sending shivers down her spine.

“Couch,” she murmurs, arching into his touch.

He obeys, standing and carrying her across the room. Sitting on the sofa, he keeps her on his lap, in his arms. She kicks a foot out and giggles as he dips her back and nips at her neck.

The sound of something clattering to the floor stops them, though. Sitting up, they turn to find Henry’s wooden box and its contents scattered across the floor, her foot having kicked it from the coffee table. Together, they collect the items, and she works to stack the letters back in order.

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