by J. H. Croix
“Bedroom.”
He graced me with the first smile I’d seen from him in weeks. “You got it, darlin’.”
Turning away, he crossed the room to kick his shoes off by the door before walking down the hallway. I started to get up and follow him, but he was back in a flash.
“All I was doing was straightening the covers. I’m not the best about making my bed every day.”
“I can walk, you know,” I protested as he approached.
“I don’t care,” he replied, swinging me into his arms again.
As much as I wanted to insist, the feel of being held in his strong embrace was too tempting. It was late, going on eleven at night.
“Have you eaten?” I asked. I’d had a not so good hospital meal, but I wasn’t particularly hungry.
“Sure did. While I waited at the hospital, I snacked. I’m just fine.”
He carried me into his bedroom and eased me down onto the bed. “Since I didn’t have a chance to get you any clothes, you can sleep in one of my T-shirts,” he explained gruffly, gesturing to a clean white shirt folded on the pillow beside me.
I didn’t quite know what to make of any of this. Too weary to be tidy, I let my leggings and shirt fall in a pile on the floor. I changed into his T-shirt, leaving on my underwear, and undid the braid in my hair while he stepped into the bathroom. It smelled like him, crisp and clean. They’d let me shower at the hospital, so I was ready for bed.
Lucas returned from the bathroom wearing nothing but a pair of black fitted boxer briefs. I suddenly realized that while I might not be up for an emotional conversation, my body could still have a reaction to his delectable bare chest. Damn. My belly tightened.
He set his smartphone on the nightstand and slipped under the covers. The sheets were cool, and I found myself wanting to burrow against him. While it was hot outside, I’d been in an air-conditioned hospital for hours now.
“I’m setting my alarm to go off every two hours. Here’s the deal,” he began, his eyes canting down to mine. “If you don’t wake up, we are going straight to the hospital, and I’m calling them on the way.”
“They said I was fine. My head hurts a little, but that’s it.” I lifted my hand, gently touching the tender area on the side of my head behind my ear.
“I know. You’re going to be fine,” he said, his words firm.
I was too tired to think about it and cuddled against his side, the tension unraveling slowly inside. His shoulders shifted slightly as he reached over and turned off the lamp beside the bed.
“Lucas?” I asked into the dark room a few moments later.
“Mm-hmm?” he murmured as his fingers sifted through my hair.
“How come you brought me here tonight?”
“Let’s talk about that tomorrow morning.”
That was the last thing I remembered before I fell asleep.
Chapter Thirty-One
Lucas
That night with Valentina was a strange type of hell. I barely slept. I had my alarm set, but it was entirely unnecessary. As the doctor ordered, I woke Valentina every other hour. She reliably woke up, and I felt like I could finally relax as dawn approached.
One thing crystallized in my mind during the night—how I felt about her. I didn’t quite know how it happened, but I suspected it was because I truly hadn’t expected it. Valentina had slipped into my heart, curling around it effortlessly and pulling me straight into love. Perhaps because it was so easy to be with her.
She was so open and so honest, a rare combination of innocent and wise. While I’d thought no one could ever be in my heart again, Valentina shredded that belief with nothing more than a look.
After that night of waiting, I knew my own feelings with certainty. Yet I didn’t know if she felt anything close to the way I did.
The most terrifying part of it all was realizing I had to make myself vulnerable. There were plenty of reasons for Valentina to be wary because I had shut her out.
When I woke her at the last prescribed time, and her blue eyes blinked open, I breathed a sigh of relief. Sagging against the pillows propped against the headboard, I curled my arm around her shoulders, holding her close to my side. “Thank fucking God,” I muttered.
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to break me of worrying about swearing,” she said with a soft laugh.
I chuckled. “I did notice every so often you slap your hand over your mouth when you swear.”
She sighed. “Habit from growing up with my parents. It’s fine. Oh my God, I should call them,” she said, sitting up suddenly.
I handed her my phone. “I don’t know where the hell your phone is. You can call them with mine. I would’ve called them last night for you, but I didn’t have their number.”
“I need to shower first. And maybe have some coffee.”
“Works for me,” I replied.
She shifted, kicking the covers away and swinging her feet off the bed. I was tempted to carry her to the bathroom. As if she read my mind, she said, “I don’t even have a headache. It’s just a little sore where he kicked me. I’m walking to the shower.”
I sighed and nodded, relieved to see her spunk back in full force. I followed her into the bathroom off the side of my bedroom.
If she had any hesitation about changing in front of me, she didn’t show it, stripping down and climbing in as the water began to steam. I didn’t ask if I could join her and quickly slid my briefs off before stepping into the shower behind her.
Valentina looked my way, her eyes flicking down to my arousal. Because, yeah, I couldn’t be around her naked and not get aroused. When her eyes swung to mine, she was smiling.
“Ignore it.”
“What if I don’t want to?” she parried, her eyes darkening.
“Valentina,” I warned.
She put a palm on my chest, pressing me against the tile wall. With steam cloaking us, water rolling over her curves, and her tight nipples pressing against me, I didn’t know if I had the willpower to stop her.
“Darlin’, I want to get this right, and a quickie in the shower wasn’t what I had in mind,” I managed to choke out.
“A quickie in the shower is exactly right. I’ve never had one.”
After that, I was a goner. When she leaned up to kiss me, I dived into the warm sweetness of her mouth as my hands slid over her slick wet curves.
Moments later when I was buried inside her with her back against the tile and her legs wrapped around my waist, her tight pussy nearly sent me over the edge instantly. I held still, feeling the silky clench of her channel rippling around me.
“Look at me,” I murmured.
Her eyes fluttered open, the blue bright against her freckled cheeks. “What?”
“I love you.” Saying a mere three words had my heart pounding so hard it almost hurt.
She held my gaze quietly. She lifted her hand, her finger tracing around my mouth. “That’s a good thing,” she said softly, “because I love you too. I might not be an expert, but I do know what love is.”
My forehead fell to hers as I tried to breathe through the emotion racing through me. “I didn’t expect you to tell me the same. Are you …?”
Valentina shook her head slightly. “You know me. I say whatever’s on my mind, and I definitely mean it.”
Swallowing, I lifted my head slightly to press a quick kiss to her lips. I had no more words.
“Sometimes I say too much,” she added.
I laughed a little, recalling that fateful afternoon on her porch when I heard all about why she ordered a pink vibrator.
No more words were necessary. The water sluiced over us. I held her tight and rocked into her until I felt her tighten, and she cried my name. Only then did I let go, my release slamming through me so hard it was a good thing I had my hand on the wall to hold me up.
After that, we used the shower for its original intention. We dressed, and she made me breakfast. I discovered she could make amazing waffles. Rylie was due home
soon, and I was toying with what I was going to say. I looked over at her, and asked, “How do you want us to handle this with Rylie?”
Valentina was refilling our coffees and turned back, two mugs held in her hands. Her gaze was sober, and she was quiet as she returned to the table. “Slowly. One step at a time.”
Much as I wanted to rush, her answer was exactly what I needed to hear. I would’ve rushed, but that was why my heart knew Valentina was perfect.
Epilogue
Valentina
A year or so later
* * *
I was folding laundry. If I was ever bored, laundry was forever there for me. Lots of it. Between Rylie and Lucas, it was endless. I closed Rylie’s dresser and carried the laundry basket into the bedroom I shared with Lucas. A hint of bright pink winked at me when I opened our shared underwear drawer.
That vibrator was a favorite one for us. Grinning, I put away Lucas’s boxers and my panties. Just as I closed the drawer to our dresser, I heard the front door open and close. Puzzled, I walked down the hallway, only to stop in my tracks when I saw Lucas.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my heart stumbling and tripping a little.
It didn’t matter I’d only seen him a few hours earlier because every damn time I saw him my pulse took off and butterflies twirled in my belly.
His gaze swept over me, making my skin prickle all over. “The group I was supposed to take on a hike today cancelled. I thought I’d come home for lunch.”
Somehow, I sensed his idea of lunch had nothing to do with food. Cocking my head to the side, I asked, “And what do you want for lunch?”
His lashes brushed against his cheeks as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again slowly, the look contained there stole my breath. “You.”
There went the rest of my day. Or at least the next hour.
Sometime later, Lucas was propped up against the headboard while I trailed my fingertips over his chest, marveling at the hard, muscled planes. My eyes flicked to the clock across the nightstand behind his shoulder. “We have to get dressed,” I murmured.
“Do we now?” he asked in reply. He caught one of my curls between two fingers and pulled it out, letting it bounce against my cheek.
“Rylie gets off the bus in a half hour.”
I lifted my head. His teasing expression was suddenly gone. He’d already left me boneless and sated, but the intensity in his eyes now set my heart pounding all over again. “What?”
The sound of his swallow was audible in the quiet. His chest pressed against my breasts when he took a deep breath, and his hand tightened slightly in my hair and loosened before he spoke. “I’ve been thinking.” There was a long pause, and I started to get nervous. “Things with us feel good, really good. I keep telling myself nothing is perfect, nothing is forever, but I don’t care. I meant to make it an event, but now just seems like the time. Because I can’t imagine life without you.”
Blood rushed through my ears at the ragged, hopeful beat of my heart. I could hardly catch my breath. Emotion clenched in my chest, tightening in my throat. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I want you to marry me.” His words came out husky, a hint of uncertainty contained in them.
“Are you sure?”
Lucas was a man who held his emotions so close that it was hard to imagine he had tears in his eyes. But I was pretty sure that was what I saw. “Of course I’m sure.”
I rose, straddling his hips. “Yes! One hundred percent yes.”
“Oh, thank God,” he murmured as he pulled me close, his forehead leaning against mine. “For a second there, I thought you were gonna tell me no.”
I pressed my lips to his, pulling away just far enough to speak. “There was never any doubt.” Pausing, I dragged my fingertip along his stubbled jawline. “My parents will be thrilled, you know. They try not to badger me, but I know we’re probably the source of extra prayers since we’ve been living in sin.”
Lucas chuckled. “Your father has mentioned it more than once, but that’s not why I’m asking.”
“I know, but you do have Rylie and plenty of reasons for waiting.”
“I want you. This. Us,” he said firmly. “The next part is telling Rylie. She’s been asking me for a while.”
I was stunned. I loved Rylie. She was getting to be a bit of a handful because she was a spirited girl. I felt so blessed to be able to share this time with her, yet I had tried so, so hard not to make any presumptions about what Lucas and I had.
“Really?”
He nodded, one of his slow smiles unfurling and making my belly clench. “Of course. You’re her mother in every way that counts. Melissa will always be the mother she had first, but Rylie doesn’t remember her.” Lifting a hand, he slid his fingers through my curls, the heat and love in his eyes almost undoing me. Seeing as we were still naked in bed, my body had its own thoughts as I felt his cock swell slightly under me.
“We have to get dressed,” I said firmly, scrambling off his lap.
His low chuckle followed me into the shower where we might have wasted a little more time.
Lucas
Another six months later
* * *
Opening the front door, my eyes veered toward the kitchen. Valentina’s dark red curls were up in a messy ponytail, and Rylie’s hair was falling loose from its braid.
Valentina stood at the kitchen counter, chopping vegetables. Rylie was standing on a wide stepstool beside her, one I had built for her to be able to help in the kitchen. Valentina was getting dinner ready while Rylie was working beside her on the cookies for dessert.
My heart clenched. I loved coming home to them every night.
They appeared to hear me at the same time. Valentina set her knife down and glanced over her shoulder, calling, “Hey, you’re home a little early.”
She stepped to the sink to rinse her hands. Meanwhile, Rylie clambered down, not bothering to wash her hands, and ran across the room to fling her arms around my waist. She added a few handprints of flour to my dusty jeans.
“Hey there,” I murmured as I pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“Hey, Daddy,” she said, spinning immediately around and hurrying back to her cookies.
Valentina approached as I let my bag fall to the floor. Stopping in front of me, she lifted her hand, brushing her thumb across my cheek. “You have dirt on your face,” she observed with a slight smile.
“And you have flour on yours,” I countered, brushing my knuckles across the powdery white streak along her jaw.
I pulled her close, dusting kisses at the corners of her mouth. “Remind me I get to come home to this every night,” I murmured softly.
“Consider yourself reminded. Always.”
Having loved and lost once, “always” had a different connotation for me. But I would take every single second I had with Valentina.
Thank you for reading Wait For Me - I hope you loved Lucas & Valentina’s story!
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Up next in the Swoon Series is Break My Fall - Dawson & Evie’s story. Dawson is a player, and Evie has no intention of falling for him. Absolutely not.
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Dawson thinks he’s immune to love. Just won’t happen. Yet, Evie brings him to his knees. It’s a scorching hot friends to lovers romance. Don’t miss their story!
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Keep reading for a sneak peek!
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Excerpt: Break My Fall
Dawson
A waiter weaved through the crowd, a tray of wines and beers in hand. He paused beside me, and I snagged a pint of beer. The hum of conversation carried on around me. Usually, I was in my element like this. I could dive in, drink a little too much, party a little too hard, and flirt like there was no tomorrow. Preferably, a night like this would end with a warm and willing woman in my bed.
<
br /> Lately, I was clinging to the concept of “fake it until you make it.”
An unmistakable voice drew my attention. “Oh my God!” Evie Blair exclaimed.
Following the sound, I saw Evie nudge some guy in the shoulder as he smiled down at her. By the angle of his eyes, I surmised he was catching a healthy glimpse of her cleavage. An entirely irrational streak of possessiveness jolted me. I didn’t get possessive, much less jealous.
Shaking the feeling off, I took the moment to absorb her. Evie was lovely, although not in any typical way. Oh, she had glossy hair dark that fell straight down her back and stunning rich, blue eyes. I couldn’t look into them for too long, it felt as if I were diving, straight into the deep sea. I never knew if I’d be able to come up for air. With her slightly crooked nose, lopsided smile, and a dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose, she was downright endearing. She was short with hips that swung with every step.
I dragged my eyes away from her, lifting my beer to my lips. I lowered it a second later and turned to set it on a counter along the wall behind me. I had no interest in drinking. All of my usual tricks were failing me.
“Hey man,” a voice said over my shoulder.
Glancing to the side, I found Wade Ellis standing there. “Hey,” I replied, forcing some semblance of a smile on my face.
“Not even drinking tonight,” he commented.
Shaking my head, I shrugged. “Nah. I’m here to support the lodge, but that’s about it.”
Lost Deer Winery, a premier winery in the Blue Ridge Mountains, was hosting a fundraiser for Stolen Hearts Rescue, an animal rescue program on the run by the same place I worked.