War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy (latest ebook reader .TXT) 📕

be blunt. I love you. I’ve always loved you. And even though I fucked up, even though I hurt you, and I have no right to ask for anything, I’m begging you not to give up on us. Not to give up on me.”

Paisley launched herself across the car. Or tried. The seatbelt and console and computer stopped her. “Oh, for the love of—of all the times to not be in your truck with a bench seat.” She unsnapped her seatbelt and stretched far enough to frame his face in both her hands. “I don’t want to give up on us, and I’ll never give up on you.”

He tried to close the distance between them, only to be stopped by his own seatbelt. Swearing, he yanked it off and reached for her, not caring that he bumped his elbows on all the suddenly inconvenient, pain-in-the-ass equipment. He needed to get his hands, his mouth on her.

At the first taste of her lips, Ty nearly drowned in the flood of relief. She wasn’t leaving. She wasn’t giving up on him. He hadn’t lost her to his own fear and stupidity. Burying his hands in her hair, he struggled to get closer. Her mouth open under his, as desperate and greedy as he was to wipe out all the hurt and distance of the last days. He wanted skin, wanted to claim her in every way he knew how. Her fingers scrabbled at his shirt, not managing more than a few buttons before the damned console got in the way. Abandoning the shirt, she reached across to his lap, palming his straining erection.

“Need you,” she murmured on a frustrated moan he felt down to his marrow.

“Likewise.” Starving for the taste of her, he captured her mouth again.

He was on the verge of considering something drastic and skating the line of public indecency when someone honked. Ty jerked back in time to see headlights passing them by outside the steamed-up windows. “This is really not the place for this.” Clearing his throat, he forced himself to release her and settled back into his seat. “Buckle up.” As she did, he hit defrost and put the car back into gear with shaking hands.

“Turn around.”

“What?”

Paisley curled a hand around his arm. “My stuff will keep. Take me home, Galahad. I want to make love with you in our bed.”

He hadn’t let himself dream for years, but here she was, handing him the one he’d harbored in the deepest chamber of his heart. He’d make sure she didn’t regret it.

“Yes ma’am.”

Chapter 16

Paisley knew she should be sleeping. Mentally and emotionally exhausted after the events of the day, tucked safely in Ty’s arms, she should’ve been completely unconscious. But her brain was going ninety miles an hour, careening from one thing to another like a pinball.

Ty loved her. He loved her. He loved her. It echoed through her head like the most glorious refrain. He wasn’t letting her go. He wasn’t ending things. She didn’t want to do long distance. He wouldn’t do as well in the city, and he’d need the continued support of Harrison and Sebastian. She could work anywhere. She wanted to decide all the things, right now, to lock this down so that the warmth of his skin against hers and the feel of his heartbeat beneath her palm was her every night and the mission of making him smile was her every day. No more waiting. No more angsting. But it was too soon for all that. Hours after a kidnapping was not the time to make major life decisions.

“You’re thinking so loud, it’s echoing off the ceiling.” His voice was rusty with sleep.

“Sorry,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to his chest.

He resumed the lazy circles on her back, a gesture somewhere between soothing and arousing that had sent him into sleep after a stupendous and athletic round of makeup sex. She mirrored the motion on his chest. Neither of them could get enough touching. “What’s on your mind?”

Paisley snuggled in closer against him, twining her leg with his. “I want to sell my house.” The hand stroking her back stopped. “I was thinking about it already before today. Yesterday? Whatever. I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to living there after everything that happened.”

“You could always turn it into an AirBnB for a while, to give yourself time to be sure.”

“I mean, maybe, because that would actually be a good investment. But I am sure. You’re here, so that’s where I want to be.” When he didn’t immediately respond, her heart leapt into a frantic tattoo. “Not that I’m forcing my way into just moving in with you without asking. I’m not trying to rush things.”

His bark of laughter interrupted the panic. “I don’t think anybody can accuse us of rushing things. Twenty years is quite long enough.” With a heave, he rolled to face her, tucking her hair back behind one ear. “If you want your own place, that’s fine. I pushed you into moving in with me without actually asking what you want, and you’ve had a lot of stress and changes. I completely understand if you’d rather have some room to breathe. But if that’s just out of some sense that I need space from you, forget it. I’ve had space. I don’t want any more.”

The growing erection pressing against her belly underscored the point. Paisley wriggled against him with a smirk. “I can tell.”

“Minx.” He gently nipped her mouth, wrapping his arms around her. “I want to find our place. We’ll need a bigger one, with a proper fenced yard for Duke, a bedroom with an actual door, a deck for entertaining—”

Paisley tipped back so she could look at him, sure he was being facetious. “You want to entertain?”

“With you? Yes. Everything’s more fun with you. Anyway, there should be a master bath, with a big ass soaker tub for two and a walk-in shower.”

Getting into the spirit of things, she began to