Page 66 of Last First Love
I don't need cake and dancing. I need to get out of this freaking dress and tell this man how I feel about him.
The entire way home, we hold hands in silence. The mood feels heavy, probably because we've both spent so much time thinking about tonight as the beginning of the end of things between us.
But even thinking those words is enough to make nervousness spark in me. What if I'm too late to tell him how I feel? I squeeze his hand a little and he squeezes back exactly the right way.
When we get to his place, he comes around to open my door and help me out of the car. And then when we're finally inside, he kisses me as if his life depends on it, reaching for my hair and pulling and tugging at the artful arrangement that had taken nearly an hour to get through.
We kiss each other like we're starving for one another's touch, and I suppose we are. Even after weeks of this, it still feels so impermanent and like it's all going to come to an end at any moment. And that leads to another worry for me. What if the passion between us is only there because of the expiration date on our current situation?
Well, there's only one way to find out. I ease out of the kiss and run my hand up his body until I'm cupping his jaw.
"I have to tell you something."
He goes still, then nods. "Okay. Let me hear it."
"I've been doing a lot of thinking about what happens next. My job in New York starts on Monday." I wait for him to show some emotion, but he's completely walled off right now. Okay, let's see what happens next.
"What if I were to fly out to New York for work, but come home in between?" I pause and look carefully at him, willing him to say or do something.
His face and shoulders slowly relax as a smile spreads across his handsome face. "Do you mean home as in Valentine?"
I lean forward and kiss him gently. "I mean home as in wherever you are. I love you, Ken Daniels. And I'm not going to live a life of regrets by choosing anything other than being with you from here on out."
He crushes me against him, kissing me with fervor that leaves me breathless and weak-kneed. "Are you sure about this? This is really what you want to do?"
"Yes, but with this godawful dress off. I feel like I can't breathe in this thing."
His nimble fingers find the tiny hook and zipper and soon the fancy dress is in a fancy puddle on the floor, leaving me in my underwear and heels.
His eyes light up with interest at me in my lingerie and heels, and he gives me a wolfish smile. "I think this calls for a celebration."
I press up against him. "I hope it's the naked kind of celebration. Otherwise I'm going to be very disappointed."
"The only celebrations we have here at House of Daniels are the naked kind. And guest satisfaction is our number one priority." His voice drips with sex, and I clench my thighs together in anticipation of what happens next.
"In that case, I'd like to discuss the possibility of an extended stay at House of Daniels. I've heard that your guest satisfaction ratings can't be beat."
"Damn right," he mutters, and swats me on the butt as I sashay toward his bedroom.
Then he proceeds to address the issue of my satisfaction three separate times, one of which involves nothing more than his very talented fingers.
"I love you," I murmur, sleepy and satiated when we finally collapse against each other, spent.
"I'm never going to get tired of hearing that. I love you so much Lily." I can practically hear him smiling, even with my eyes closed like this.
"This is going to be perfect," I mutter as I snuggle up against his sculpted chest.
He makes a noise of disagreement though. "It won't be perfect all the time. But I promise that we can try every single day to always be great at one another, no matter what life throws at us."
And honestly, that sounds more than perfect to me. Having the man of my dreams, the right man, beside me every step of the way--well, it's not going to get any closer to perfection than that in my opinion.
"We'll make it work," I sigh at him, barely awake at this point.
"I'm definitely going to seal the deal with you on that one, Lily." He kisses me as I drift off into sleep, feeling as content and happy as I've ever been, safe in the arms of the man that I love.
Epilogue - Ken
I've never been to a fashion photo shoot other than the firefighter calendar project, but today's situation is special. Lily's doing a cute beachy shoot where the models get to play with rescue dogs. This particular product line is donating a portion of their proceeds to a national animal welfare organization, and it was Lily's suggestion to incorporate some rescue dogs into the photographs. And after seeing the sales and donation results she'd gotten during our calendar photoshoot with the county shelter’s stray puppies, there was no way the designer would settle for anything less.
