Page 20 of Surrender

“I feel you on that. My loft is sizable, but we wouldn’t be comfortable.”

“Do we even want to live together right away?”

He was quiet for a moment. “How about this? We can alternate weeks at each other’s space until we find a home?”

I nodded. “I can do that. I do have to warn you, I’m very particular in the way I keep my space. I can’t stand clutter.”

“I’m not gonna lie and say I keep things pristine. It may be a little unorganized. I might have work items all over the place at times, but I do clean up after myself.”

“That’s all I ask. Do you cook?”

He chuckled. “Don’t I look like I can cook? I’m a big man, and I love to eat.”

His eyes passed over me as he licked his lips when he said that. I didn’t miss the slight grip on my thigh as he said it either.

“You cook?” he asked.

“Very well.”

“So we should have fun in the kitchen then. You teach me your favorites, and I’ll teach you mine.”

“That means we need a house with a big kitchen. And a nice dining area for family dinners. That is important to me. We always ate dinner together as a family when I was growing up.”

He smiled. “Us too. Look at that. We’ve established our first tradition.”

I giggled. “I guess we have.”

For a moment, we stared at each other. I had a feeling that this was going to become a thing. I couldn’t help it. He still wasn’t real to me. It would take a good minute before any of this really set in.

For what seemed like hours, Jacob and I sat on that couch, talking and getting to know each other. We shared stories about our childhood and college days. We talked about our careers. We even talked about our past loves and what led us to Arranged Hearts in the first place. The more we talked, the more I realized we were alike.

It was around two in the morning when my eyes started getting heavy, and I started yawning. I wasn’t ready to lay it down, but my body was wearing out. We decided to call it quits. Standing in the middle of the living room, Jacob peered down at me. he brushed a stray hair away, before cupping my face and pressing his lips to mine.

“Goodnight,” he said softly.

“Goodnight.”

We shared another kiss before parting ways, with him going to one room and me going to the other.

I’d been tossing and turning for a good hour now. As tired as I’d been before I came to bed, I was restless now. The bed felt too big. It felt lonely. I kept thinking to myself, it was crazy to sleep alone when my husband was right down the hall. In just a few hours, I’d already felt closer to him. I felt comfort and safety in his arms.

Tossing back the covers, I climbed out of bed and left my room. I made my way down the hall to the other room where Jacob was. I tapped softly on the door. When I didn’t get an answer, I gently pushed the door open. In the soft moonlight illuminating the room, I could make out his silhouette in the bed. He snored softly as he slept shirtless with one hand tucked behind his head and the other thrown across his stomach. He’d taken the bun out of his hair, so his locs hung freely.

I stepped into the room. As I got closer, I could see that his upper body was almost completely covered in tattoos. The covers stopped at his midsection, showing off the sexiest set of abs. God, he was beautiful.

Kneeling next to the bed, I lightly tapped him. “Jacob… Jacob?”

His eyes slowly opened, and he looked over at me. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. I just… I can’t sleep. I was wondering… can I sleep with you?”

He immediately moved over and pulled back the covers for me. I stood and slid in next to him. He positioned himself on his side as I got comfortable on mine. For a moment, we gazed at each other in silence. I swallowed hard as my thoughts raced through my mind.

It was my wedding night.

He was here. I was here. Would it be wrong to take things to another level? I mean, we were married. The bed of marriage was undefiled. Maybe it would be weird because we were strangers. Part of me felt like it was giving one-night stand vibes, but shit. This was the man I’d be having one-night stands with for the rest of my life. I was attracted to him. He was attracted to me. He was my fucking husband.

Nothing was wrong about that.