Page 184 of The Nanny and the Beefcake
Swoon.
And that was just what they did with the Gummy Bears. Things got scorching hot with the licorice.
Her nipples hardened into taut pearls. “Sounds like quite a treat,” she replied, playing coy and doing her best not to get too hot and bothered.
He slid his hand into her hair. “I like the idea of dreams becoming a reality.”
“Me too,” she whispered.
“You’re not curious about where we are, Libby Lamb?” he asked, propping up onto his elbow.
She exhaled a wistful breath as her pulse thrummed. She didn’t want to open her eyes—not yet. She wanted to remain in this perfect in-between world where it was just the two of them. “I’m more than curious. I don’t want this to end.” Her teasing tone had disappeared. Whatever this was, wherever they were, she couldn’t remember ever being this blissfully happy.
“Open your eyes, plum,” he whispered against her lips.
She complied, blinking a few times. But it wasn’t hard for her eyes to adjust. It was still dim in the jet’s cabin. She slid her gaze to the window and was met with a veil of darkness. Wherever they were in the world, the sun hadn’t risen.
“Look at me, Libby,” he coaxed.
A ripple of trepidation passed through her as she turned toward the man.
He dusted her lips with butterfly kisses. “It’s not going to end, plum.”
She pulled back a fraction, stared into his gray eyes, and traced her fingertips down the scruff of his chin. He was a gloriously beautiful man, so much more complex than she’d ever imagined, and she wanted to believe him more than anything. For the first time, she wanted to put her trust in a man.
No, not any man.
This man. Her beefcake of a boxer who happened to be a driven athlete, a devoted father, son, and grandson, and possibly the man who’d protect her heart.
But what had sparked his change of heart? Was it the thought of her with another man, or was he telling the truth? Did he sincerely want her beyond their sixty-day arrangement?
Had the pendulum swung from enjoying a temporary lust to desiring a lasting love?
Love.
He hadn’t dropped theL-word, but when she’d peered out the window of the Victorian and saw him rooting around, pulling wildflowers out of the earth like a deranged gardener, her heart had swelled in her chest.
He loved her.
She’d sensed that immediately.
And in those few seconds, clarity had taken over.
It was as if the universe were pointing her toward the future—her future. As if it needed her to see that she had a choice, and that choice was whether she would take the chance to trust her heart with the sexy beefcake of a boxer who could tear up a patch of wildflowers like nobody’s business.
She’d never seen Raz so earnest, and when she’d walked out onto the back porch and called out to him, a cataclysmic jolt fired through her. Every chakra in her body recalibrated to balance with the man holding a slew of flowers, scraggly roots and all, and covered in bits of earth and flower petals. The frenzied energy pulsing between them had made her both lightheaded and completely grounded.
Every path is the right path for me as long as I walk it with you.
She could still hear his words echoing in her soul—words that kindled hopefulness in her heart.
“Plum?”
“Yes?”
“We have to get off the jet foritto start.”
She nodded, then left the warmth of his embrace and sat up. “You’ve been very vague about theit,beefcake. And when I say vague, I mean, you haven’t told me anything about what’s going on. We’ll be back for Sebastian’s birthday, won’t we? We can’t miss it.”
