Page 144 of The One
“Get over here.”
I laughed as I walked around his desk, setting the bag on the floor before I climbed on his lap. “Hi. Surprise.”
He kissed me. Slowly. And then he nuzzled into my neck. “Lunch, huh? How did I become such a lucky man?”
My head tilted back as he kissed up to my ear and over my throat, his lips making it difficult to think. “I felt like cooking, and you get to be my guinea pig. Since I can’t eat it, I have no idea how good it is—or how bad.”
“You can’t eat it?” His mouth stalled on my collarbone, his exhales causing shivers to run through my body.
“Lasagna with real cheese as opposed to the vegan cheese I would normally use.”
“I’m going to devour it, the same way I want to devour you right now,” he breathed out before he pulled his mouth off my skin. “What I wouldn’t do to swipe everything off my desk and put you on top of it, getting you naked so I could eat you for fucking lunch.” His exhale sounded like a moan while he looked at me. “Mmm.”
“Rhett, you’re at work.” I gently slapped his chest, but the truth was, I wanted everything he’d just described.
“I’m the boss. What I do in my office is my business.” He rubbed his thumb back and forth over my lips. “But you’re right, I need to let this hard-on die because the first time I taste you after all these years isn’t going to be on top of my desk or in a room where anyone else can hear you scream.”
FORTY-FIVE
Rhett
Present Day
Lainey
So … I did something today.
Me
You stopped taking your birth control.
Lainey
Ha! NO. Nice try though.
Me
Tell me.
Lainey
How about I show you instead?
A picture came through, and I pressed on it to blow up the image. It took a second before I realized I was looking at Lainey’swrist. In the center, a black infinity symbol had been tattooed, and in the middle of the loop was anR.
Lainey
I’m your why. But you’re my why too, Rhett. Forever.
I balanced the bottom of my phone on my desk, and after rereading her words several times, I looked at her tattoo once more. At the symbolism she’d permanently inked on her body. At the letter she not only wore around her neck again, but now on her hand that was closest to her heart.
This woman … did she know what she was doing to me?
Every gesture, every surprise, every word she spoke.
It all made me love her even more—when more wasn’t even possible.
Me
