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Stuck Landing

Page 22

by Lauren Gallagher


  “Okay.”

  Smiling, she tucked my hair behind my ear. “I’ve wanted you since I started working on Wolf’s Landing.”

  “Really?” Maybe it was a good thing it took us this long, though. I slipped my hand into hers. “And here I thought I’d be mortified if you ever caught me checking you out.”

  “I caught you a few times.” She winked. “Why do you think I took you up on the drinks that first night? I had a feeling you were . . .”

  “A sure thing?”

  “Something like that.” She actually blushed a bit. “I was pissed off, and I was horny. And you’re hot.” She shrugged. “So . . .”

  “It worked out. And now, here we are.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  We locked eyes. Yeah. Here we were.

  Now what?

  I swallowed. “For the record, I have no idea what I’m doing.”

  “Neither do I.” She kissed me softly. “All we can do is take it a day at a time and see where things go.”

  Except I know where these things go. They always do.

  I resisted the urge to visibly cringe.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  So much for hiding it.

  I sighed. “Look, this is a new thing for me—trying not to be so in control of a relationship. To say it’s terrifying is . . .” I swallowed. “Just . . . be patient with me. Let me know if I’m keeping too tight a grip on you.”

  Natalya laughed. “Oh, I’ll let you know.”

  After a second, I laughed too, then cuddled closer to her. “Guess I don’t have to worry about that, do I?”

  “No.” She pressed her lips to my forehead again. “Definitely not.” She paused. “And, um, I’ll be more considerate. About how I talk to people.”

  “No.” I drew back and met her gaze. “I trust you.”

  “Still.” She kissed me softly, running her fingers through my hair. “I understand why it bothered you. As long as you can trust me to talk to men and to women, I’ll keep how I talk to them in check.”

  This whole thing still terrified the hell out of me—insecurities were evil little bastards—but for a shot at making this work with Natalya? I took a deep breath and smiled. “Deal.”

  She returned the smile and pressed another kiss to my lips.

  I exhaled. “You know, I think I owe Levi a drink or two.”

  “Do you?”

  I nodded. “He’s the one who sat me down and got my head out of my ass.”

  She laughed softly, taking my hand. “Guess I’ll have to thank him too, won’t I?”

  “Probably, yes.” I paused. “Course, he owed me, considering I’ve had to do the same for him.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. He’s a great guy, but he can really trip over his own feet in a relationship. Carter has the patience of a saint, let me tell you.” I met her gaze, and my humor faded a bit. “Which I guess . . . Well, apparently I can trip over my own feet too.”

  “Anyone can.” She brushed a strand of hair out of my face. “We’ll be all right. You know I’m bisexual. I know you like control.” She shrugged. “If those things become problems, we’ll talk about it.”

  “Before they become problems.”

  Natalya nodded. “Yes.”

  Finally, that uneasy feeling in my stomach started to settle. No, this wouldn’t be perfect or easy. All my insecurities and type A, control freak weirdness wouldn’t go away overnight. But maybe now that it was all out in the open, it wouldn’t be such a disaster when a problem reared its ugly head again.

  Slowly but surely, as we lay here in each other’s arms, my heartbeat slowed and the knots in my stomach unwound. After spending so much time in a relationship that was hanging by a thread, it was such a relief to feel this way. Satisfied. Comfortable. Stable.

  Maybe we’d fallen on our faces a few times at first, and maybe it had taken some time and work to find our footing, but we’d made it here. And none of the stumbling and flailing seemed to matter now.

  Because Natalya was here. I was here.

  And she was right—we didn’t have to stick the landing. We’d fallen on our faces, but then picked ourselves up and dusted each other off. If we crashed again, we’d fix it again.

  It was terrifying, but exhilarating. Uncertain, but promising.

  And I couldn’t wait to see where it went.

  Starstruck

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  Lone Wolf

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  Heidi Belleau and Rachel Haimowitz

  Wedding Favors

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  When to Hold Them

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  Razor Wire

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  The Best Laid Plans

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  The Virgin Cowboy Billionaire’s Secret Baby

  Writing as L.A. Witt

  Starstruck (a Bluewater Bay novel)

  Lone Wolf, with Aleksandr Voinov (a Bluewater Bay novel)

  Rain Shadow (a Bluewater Bay novel)

  Finding Master Right

  Static

  Running With Scissors

  Hostile Ground, with Aleksandr Voinov

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  Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs, #1)

  Covet Thy Neighbor (Tucker Springs, #4)

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  Writing as Ann Gallagher

  Lead Me Not

  Writing as Lori A. Witt

  The Tide of War

  For a complete list, please see gallagherwitt.com.

  Lauren Gallagher is an abnormal romance writer who has recently been exiled from the glittering utopia of Omaha, Nebraska, to an undisclosed location in South America. Along with her husband, a harem of concubines, and a phosphorescent porcupine, she remains, as always, in hiding from the Polynesian Mafia. For the moment, she seems to have eluded her nemesis, M/M romance author L.A. Witt, but figures L.A. will eventually become bored with the wilds of Spain and come looking for her. And when that time comes, Lauren will be ready. Assuming L.A. doesn't have her hands full keeping track of Lori A. Witt and Ann Gallagher, which she probably will.

  Website: gallagherwitt.com

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  Table of Contents

  About Stuck Landing

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Dear Reader

  Also by Lauren Gallagher

  About the Author

  More like this

 

 

 


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