Page 105 of Love Notes & Lifelines
Eventually, he rests some of his weight onto his forearms, and I’m struck mute as he takes in every inch of my face.
“That was amazing. You’re amazing. It was?—”
“I blacked out.” My eyes are too big for my head and my mouth is unnaturally dry, but he graces me with that crooked grin that settles everything like a magic potion.
“And you’re relaxed.” He flashes all his perfectly straight teeth.
I laugh, a full, body-shaking laugh that releases my fears if only temporarily.
“I am,” I say through spurts of giggles I can’t control.
“It makes me happy. Let’s get you home. You need sleep, and we have some things to discuss.”
He must feel my body tense because he kisses me, hard. “Talking doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong. It means we’re figuring out how to merge our lives so we can both be happy.”
Beck stands and offers me his hand. I take it, but he doesn’t pull me to stand. He stares at my shoulder, and I leverage his hand to lift myself up. He’s taking care of me even when I forget to. My gaze falls to the sheet that clings to the bench like wet plastic wrap.
“It’s okay. No one else is here.” He leans down to pick up the sheet. “They’ll clean up in the morning, but we can toss this,” he says with a waggle of his brows. “Not sure what they’d say if they knew the boss fucked his fiancée into oblivion in here.”
My jaw nearly comes unhinged.
“I’m kidding.” He laughs. “But they do clean everything every morning before they open.”
A thought occurs to me that bubbles and swirls like battery acid in my mind. “Have you done this a lot?”
He leads me from the room toward our clothes. “Stella, I told you. I’ve never done relationships. This is a very relationship-type thing to do, don’t ya think? I’ve never brought a woman here, to my office, to my home, rarely even in my car. Any interaction with them was a release and nothing more.”
“That sounds…sad.”
He cups my chin, and his expression turns contemplative. “Now that I’ve experienced this, with us, you’re right. It was sad. And I don’t want to scare you, but now that I’ve had this”—he gestures between us—“experienced the magic of us, I’ll never be able to go back. So you’re stuck with me.”
I can’t stop the small smile that tugs at my lips.
“That makes you happy,” he guesses.
I fling my arms around his waist and rest my head on his damp chest. He returns the embrace with strong arms that were made for protecting and I sink into his warmth.
“It does,” I admit without fear or anxiety that he’ll use it against me.
He kisses my head and whispers, “Me too, sweetheart. Me too.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
BECK
“All set?”I ask when Stella steps into the bedroom from the attached bathroom.
We could have showered at Crystal Waters, but exhaustion set in, and she just wanted to get home. Sailport Bay was too far away, so I brought her to my penthouse in Raleigh since it was closer.
And with her next to me, this place finally feels like a home.
She startles in the doorway. “Yeah, sorry, I didn’t see you there. Why are you sitting in the dark?”
I hadn’t realized I was. “I was thinking,” I say.
She walks to the bed with slow, nervous strides, so I hold out a hand to her and she crawls up next to me.
We sit shoulder to shoulder facing the wall of windows. The lights from the city below twinkle against the glass.
