Page 97 of Dining for Love
Yeah, it’s hilariously weird. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Reid catches my eye as he descends from the tiny stage, popping those delicious dimples and winking at me.
I wink back, even though it probably looks like butterflies are fighting on my face.
He grins wider as he nears. I’m happy to say that even though just about everything he does makes me weak in the knees, especially when he pairs it with a smoldering look that says he’d rather have one of us cuffed in the bedroom, I haven’t fallen in the last month. Not literally, anyway.
Progress.
I jump into his arms when he reaches me, and he emits a grunt. “Nice to see you, too,” he says around a kiss.
The click of a camera shutter goes off, and I pull myself away from my hunk of a man to see Goldie smiling mischievously at us. “Great photo,” she grins. “Too bad Ox is front-page material, or you two would definitely be the news.”
“I can’t believe you’re working for JJ,” I groan, nestling into Reid’s side as he squeezes me close.
“Someone has to take responsibility for moving the paper back to actual news,” she says wryly. “Besides, as much as I love waiting tables, I don’t want to do it for the rest of my life.”
“Well, I, for one, am super proud of you,” Matty says. “I think it’s great you’re the, what was it again?”
“Senior Photographer and Junior Staff Reporter,” Goldie supplies.
I giggle. “Only JJ would come up with that as a title.”
Goldie shrugs. “It works. Now I just have to convince him to pay for mileage when I travel outside Lucky’s town limits.”
Reid leans down to nuzzle my neck. “Wanna go home and let me see whereyourlimits are?”
I hum, goosebumps flying across my body in response to his kiss. “Definitely.”
We leave the town square, nodding our hellos to just about everyone we pass. Tom and Jerry sit on a bench to the side of the clock, and they wave as we pass. “See you tomorrow, Willa!” Tom calls.
Midnight greets us at the front door like always, yowling her displeasure at being left behind. She quiets when Reid produces a new toy from his pocket.
Reid turns to me. “You have far too many clothes on.”
I gesture at him, still done up in full police gear, including the protective vest that he and Ox began insisting everyone on the force wear in the wake of the Bunnies business. “You’re in more than me, Officer.”
His forest-green eyes darken at the term, just like I knew they would, and he reaches around to swat my behind. “Naked. Now.”
I reach around him and lock the door, smirking as I do so and beginning to back up. “And if I resist?”
He pulls his cuffs out, then undoes his utility belt and deposits it on the table in the front hallway. “Then I might have to punish you.”
My blood heats. “Sounds promising.”
Later, when we’re lounging on the couch and deciding what to cook for dinner, it hits me all over again that this is my life. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty close. “Hey, Reid?”
“Hmm?” He looks up from the menu-planning app he’s been obsessed with lately.
“I love you.”
The smile that breaks across his face sends my heart galloping. “I love you, too, Willa Dean Dash.”
I lean over and kiss him. “Just Willa.”
“I love you, too, Just Willa.”