Page 29 of Pick One
“Not bad for a guy you once called ‘nice’?” I snorted.
“Shut up. Youarenice,” he insisted. “You’re the best man I’ve ever known. That’s the first thing that drew me to you.”
“Really?” I turned my head to the side so I could grin at him.
“Yeah. That… and your big hands.”
“My hands.” I trailed my fingers through the cooling release on his stomach. “Tell me more.”
“I wanted them all over my body.”
“How convenient, since that’s exactly where I’ve wanted them, too.”
“Since the first day?” Teagan asked, his eyes shining.
“Since the first minute,” I confirmed.
He grabbed my wrist in both his hands and trapped my hand against his chest, sighing happily.
“I don’t suppose this had anything to do with your big news, did it?”
“Oh, my God!” Teagan inhaled sharply. “I still haven’t told you. You remember the book series Molly and I were working on?”
I frowned. “Of course.”
“Well… Molly actually finished up the final illustrations a few weeks ago. And she has a friend or a friend from college who works at a literary agency, and… they really like the book and want to represent us.”
I lifted my head off the pillow. “Baby, that’s incredible.”
“I know. Iknow. And it’s still not the biggest news of the day.” He lifted our joined hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to my palm.
“I love you so much.” I couldn’t believe I got to say that to him finally.
“Yeah, well, wait until you read the books.” He grinned. “The first one is about a boy on a quest for good-luck charms who falls into a patch of poison ivy.”
I groaned. “You did not immortalize that.”
“We so did! If I hadn’t loved you already, I would have fallen for you the day I heard that story,” he said staunchly. “And in the end, the boy realizes he’s smart and brave on his own.”
I shook my head. “Well, it’s definitely not drawn from my life, then. If I’d had the courage to tell you how I felt a year ago…”
Teagan’s mouth twisted up in a lopsided smile. “Yeah, I dunno about that. I might have pushed too hard, too fast. I definitely wouldn’t have trusted that it was real. I might have been waiting for the other shoe to drop once you got to know the real me.” He rolled into me and pressed a kiss to my lips before flopping back down. “I definitely wouldn’t have thought we could be friendsandbe in love, since I’d never experienced it before.”
“We definitely don’t have to pick one,” I teased.
“As it happens, we don’t.” He grinned. “So I’m not going to regret the year we spent as friends. But we will have alotof sex to make up for. Just to kinda warn you about that.”
“I appreciate the warning,” I said solemnly. “I will start addressing that this very weekend. In fact, we can address it again in about… hmm.” I gauged my own exhaustion level, my refractory period, my age, my lack of sustenance, and Teagan’s need for another shower and calculated eight hours. Then I looked over at the naked perfection beside me, his hair spilling like red flames across his pillow, and realized that things with Teagan would never go according to the numbers. “Thirty minutes,” I said hoarsely. “Maybe sooner if you let me tell you my dirty fantasies about your couch.”
His laughter shook the bed, and I mentally revised thirty minutes to twenty.
Then he grinned. “Speaking of weekends… we’re gonna have to spend ours in Vermont, least for the next little while, since Molly won’t be able to travel with a newborn, and we’re gonna have lots of work to do. You up for that?”
“Oh. Ha.” I cleared my throat. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten. “Now that you mention it…” How could I tell him about the job opportunity without upsetting him? I didn’t want him to think I had any regrets about choosing him.
I didn’t. Not one, not ever.
“Now that I mention it…” He looked at me expectantly.
