Page 80 of In This Moment
She laughed, her eyes welling, and slowly shook her head. “I love you, too.”
Funny thing, he hadn’t noticed his heart quit beating during his diatribe because he’d been terrified she might not feel the same, or wasn’t on the same page yet. But there it went, thundering in his chest.
“Just remember who lead with the story first.”
Another laugh, the sexy, rough, smoky one that hit him below the belt, and she got on her knees. Leaning over the dog, she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him.
Hell, yes. They needed to ditch work today. They were the bosses. They could do that.
Tilting his head, he went in at another angle, deepening the kiss, stroking his tongue with hers. Her sweet honeysuckle scent invaded his orbit, and he groaned. Joy, untainted imaginable joy, spread from his chest, and encompassed his entire being.
He brought his arm up to wrap around her, tug her closer, but he got a fistful of…
Dog fur.
He broke from the kiss and glared at Twain.
The doofus licked his chin, then hers.
She laughed, scratching Twain’s ears. A pinkish glow lit her features as the sun crested, bathing her in light. “Who’s a good boy?”
“Once more with feeling, I am. I’m a good boy.”
Throwing her head back, she laughed harder. “Yes, you are.” She scratched behind his ears. “You’re a good boy, too.”
Fine. She wanted to be a smartass? Plucking her from her seat, he lifted her and deposited her sideways in his lap. Nothing between them.
Damn, but she was beautiful. He cupped her cheek, stroking it with his thumb. “I liked your blog. Great opener to kick things off.”
She smiled. “Thank you. I had an epiphany in the library last night.”
“Is that where you were?” All he had to do was walk a couple blocks to find her?
“Yes. Time got away from me.” She abruptly straightened. “You’ll never believe what happened.”
She became a whirlwind, hands flying, spouting a tale about lost blog pages and a ghost visiting her. By the time she finished, she was panting.
“Are you trying to have me believe Katherine Valantine’s spirit pulled blog pages you wrote as a kid from multiple books in the library and tossed them to you?”
“Well, when you put it that way, it sounds preposterous. But, yes.”
He laughed.
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t believe me?”
Coming from anyone else, he probably wouldn’t. “I believe you.” He glanced at the tree behind her, golden rays of dawn filtering between the branches, and grunted. He’d be damned. “I made a wish on the tree earlier.”
Up, up, up went her brows. “You’re a true Valantine resident. Grats!”
He rolled his eyes. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I wished for?”
“No. That’s between you and Miss Katie.”
Perhaps it was. Regardless, he smiled at her, brushing his thumb across her pouty lower lip. His sun rose and set with her. His whole world, in fact. His little belle.
“It came true.” This odd sense of fullness encompassed him, until it seemed he’d burst. “My wish came true.”