Page 138 of The Nanny and the Hothead
She cocked her head to the side and gave him her best stink eye. “I woke up in a camper van. What was I supposed to think?”
“It was a luxury camper van with a grande gourmet coffee and two aspirin waiting for you. That’s five-star treatment. Nothing about that screams abduction,” he countered in that voice that made him the epitome of a devastatingly handsome SOB. But she wasn’t playing.
“Mitch, I’m serious! This isn’t like you to plan a surprise.”
He cupped her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers, silencing her inquisition. Again, because this man had a magic mouth, she melted into the kiss, into the warmth of his touch. Deepening their connection, he hummed his satisfaction as he ravished her mouth. The sound went straight to her heart, then proceeded south, setting off a delicious tingle between her thighs.
He pulled back and brushed his thumb across her bottom lip. “We’re here because a couple of hours ago, I overheard someone in line talking about a meteor shower tonight, and it got me thinking about you.”
“Giant rocks hurling through space made you think of me?” She may only have two brain cells that weren’t focused on riding this man’s cock all night long. But those two brain cells were still functioning at a level that let her know his response was damned crazy.
“Yeah, I heard meteor shower and thought of you.”
“Okay.” She chewed her lip. She had heard him correctly.
He twisted a lock of her hair around his finger. “It got me thinking about when you said you liked to photograph the night sky. And how happy it made you if you were lucky enough to capture a shooting star. But it didn’t happen very often.”
Holy good memory!
This man remembered a random comment she’d made weeks ago! The guys she’d dated in the past couldn’t even remember her last name, let alone something as fleeting as a remark she’d made in passing.
Emotion welled in her chest. “It’s hard to get a good shot in the city because of the light pollution.”
His expression grew tender as he released the lock of her hair. “Now you get it.”
She didn’t get it. Those two holdout brain cells must have left her high and dry to jump on thedo-this-manbandwagon. “I don’t, Mitch. I don’t understand.”
“I’m taking you to a place where you’ll get the best seat in the house to view and photograph the sky,” he explained.
“And where is that?”
He grinned. “My other place in the mountains in Aspen.”
She shook her head. “You have another place in the mountains besides Oscar’s cabin in Telluride?”
He cupped her face in his hand. “Yeah, I thought I made the whole rich person thing pretty clear. We have ridiculously enormous houses, fancy vehicles, and access to helicopters. You know, cool shit.”
He was trying to play it cooland keep it light, but she sensed something vulnerable beneath his cocky chef exterior.
“You’re doing this for me?” She had to ask. It was too good to be true.
He gave her a boyish grin. “I mean, I’m trying. You’re kind of putting the kibosh on the romantic surprise element of the night.”
She laughed, blinking back tears. “This is more than anyone has ever done for me.”
“I want to do more for you, Charlotte.” He glanced around the elevator. “I planned on telling you this atop a mountain as meteors soared across the sky, but I can’t help myself. I need to say this to you.”
“What do you need to say?” she whispered, her pulse racing.
He took her hands in his. “Charlotte Ames, I love you.”
Love?
The breath caught in her throat. “You do?”
It was almost too hard to believe. Love was so fleeting in her life. Her friends told her that they loved her, of course. But besides hearing those three words from Penny, Harper, and Libby, she hadn’t heard them in ages—not from her parents, not from any boyfriend. But here was this man, this former hothead she’d despised, saying those three beautiful words—to her.
“I do. I love you, Charlotte,” he replied, his eyes shining. He observed their joined hands. “You once said that when you saw a shooting star, you liked to think that it was meant for you. But you had it backward.”
