Page 90 of Forty and Fighting Dirty
This conversation was moving way too fast for my struggling brain. “Okay. Thanks?”
His smile was warm, and now it was his turn to reach out and cup my jaw. “I figured you deserve something about the value of half a house, plus the tax you’ll owe on the win and on your salary, plus a little extra because I’m in love with you.”
My breath whistled out of me. “Oh,” I whispered.
“Stay,” he demanded softly.
I blinked, and tears raced down my cheeks. “Okay,” I agreed.
His smile was blazing and bright, and it made the shell around my heart crack into a thousand pieces. My hands moved over his shoulders and around the nape of his neck, and it only took the slightest pressure to get him to lean in and kiss me.
The moment Rhett’s lips touched mine, my entire body relaxed. I melted against him, and he wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me closer. I lost my balance, and the two of us tumbled to the floor. Rhett landed sprawled across the front door, his head nudging the cat carrier. I landed on top of Rhett.Pushing myself up on my hands, I looked down at his dark eyes, his strong jaw, his messy hair.
“Rhett?”
His fingers dove under my shirt to stroke the skin above the waistband of my pants. “Mm?”
“I love you, too.”
A heavy exhale slipped through his lips, and then he smiled a soft, relieved smile. Then he pulled me down and kissed me thoroughly—until we were interrupted by a grumpy meow.
I glanced up at the cat carrier next to Rhett’s head. “Let him out,” I said.
“He’ll scratch the shit out of everything,” Rhett grumped, tilting his head to frown at the carrier.
“Let him out, Rhett,” I replied, laughing, and reached over his head to unhook the latch and let the orange cat out. It took a few seconds for the cat to come out, and he gave us the dirtiest of looks, but he eventually began exploring.
Rhett watched him for a second, then turned back to kiss me once more. Against my lips, he mumbled, “You’ve got three seconds to get up and drag me somewhere softer, otherwise we’re doing this right here, Darling.”
I laughed as he kissed me, squirming in his grasp. “Not by the front door!”
“Three—”
“Rhett!”
“Two—”
I slipped and landed on top of him with a lowoof, and Rhett spun us around so I was under him, my back against the hard, freshly polished floorboards.
His smile was wicked. “One.”
We never made it anywhere softer. Well—not that time. The day was long, and we had a lot of making up to do.
EPILOGUE
PIPER
That afternoon,I picked the boys up from school while Rhett went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. When the three of us walked into a warm house redolent with the smell of onions and garlic cooking in olive oil, I couldn’t help the smile that stretched over my lips.
I could get used to this.
The boys had more important things to think about.
“A cat!” Nate cried.
“He’s stripey!” Alec added, pointing.
Rhett appeared at the end of the hallway, a dish towel slung over his shoulder. “Hi, boys. Careful with the cat. He gets grumpy.”
