Yours, With Love: A Sweet Contemporary Romance (Finding Love Book 5)
Page 18
“I brought you some strawberry tea.”
“Be right with you,” he said as he slid out from under the car, his grin widening in appreciation of the picture she made in one of his undershirts and jeans rolled up to her calves. He wiped his face and hands on a towel before taking the glass from her. “Thanks, freckles.”
Her lips twitched. “You’re welcome. How’s it going with the car?”
“I just finished. I was thinking we could get in the pool.”
“Last time we got in the pool, we didn’t do much swimming.”
He laughed as he handed her the empty glass. “We probably won’t do much swimming this time, either.”
“Probably? Is the honeymoon over already?”
He glanced down at his greasy shirt and pants. “You’re lucky I’m such a mess, or I’d show you what I think about that question.”
She stood on tiptoe and kissed the dimple in his chin. “You’re an adorable mess. Hurry up and come inside.”
As he was putting away his tools, the door to the cottage opened and his brother stepped out. “Did you fix the oil pan leak?”
“I did. Now I have to rebuild the carburetor. I’ll need your help for that.”
“No problem. I just finished my next bestseller.”
“I figured you were getting close. The Chinese take-out guy set up a food truck at the end of the driveway.”
Jase laughed. “At least you didn’t have to deal with it in your kitchen. What time is it anyway?”
“Just past three.”
“I gotta get going. I’m supposed to pick up Gwen at five. We’re going to a concert in Macon tonight.”
“This time last year you were ready to propose marriage to a girl who had the same name as your car. Whatever happened to Shelby?”
“She didn’t want to get serious with anyone before she went away to grad school, but we’ve stayed in touch. She’ll be back at Christmas. We’ll see what happens then.”
“How did I miss all that?”
“You were a little preoccupied this time last year.”
“Yeah, I guess I was. Have a good time at the concert.”
Once inside the house, Quinn went upstairs to change his clothes. When he returned to the kitchen, he found Ellen sitting on the counter eating an apple. He walked over and put his hands on either side of her. Then he bent his head and trailed his lips across her ear and down the side of her neck, filling his lungs with her sweet scent.
“Are you going to swim in those jeans?” he asked against her skin.
“Not unless you insist.”
“It’s not nice to play around with my emotions like that.” She put down the apple. This gave him access to her mouth, something he wasn’t slow to take advantage of. “Maybe we should swim later,” he suggested as he teased her lips with soft kisses and slid his fingers underneath her shirt to touch the silky skin of her back.
“There’s something I need to tell you first.”
“Can’t it wait?” he asked, kissing her ear again.
“No, this is important.” He pulled back, his eyes searching hers anxiously. She smiled and touched his face. “Don’t look like that. It’s good news. You see, Quinn, in about seven months our lives are going to change.”
His already pounding heart felt as if it was going to explode. “Are you?”
“Yes. I’m pregnant.”
Quinn pulled her off the counter and into his arms. “I can’t believe it.”
Ellen laughed. “You did take biology in college, right?”
He took a few moments to exact revenge for that remark before lowering her to the ground. Then he slowly traced the curve of her face. “There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not aware of how empty my life was before you came into it. You offered me love and acceptance. You paid me the highest compliment by choosing to be my wife, and just when I didn’t think it could get any better, you tell me that the love you’ve shared with me has made a baby. There aren’t enough words to tell you what you mean to me.”
She drew his head down to hers. “You don’t need words; you tell me how much you love me every day in the way you look at me, the way you touch me, and in everything you do for me.”
The End
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Coming Early 2017: Love At Last (Finding Love, Book 6)
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