The question would only have been presumptuous on a first date if the feeling of belonging together and having known each other forever hadn’t been so strong. And if the future and commitment weren’t common things to talk about on match dates. Match dates wasted little time weeding people out based on personal deal breakers. If a man didn’t want kids and you did, there was no reason to go on another date. If living on the island was Knox’s, my answer was easy.
Knox’s heart was in his eyes as he waited for my response. As for my heart, it raced, wildly hopeful and happy.
“I think I could, yes,” I whispered. “Fortunately, I can live anywhere. I commute all over the sound for jobs.”
“Good. Because I’m falling in love with you.” He paused. “Is it too early to tell you that?”
I pressed my hand against his chest. Beneath his sweatshirt beat a heart that had the promise of belonging to me, that was falling for me. What a beautiful thought. “No. Not if it’s not too early to say that I’m falling in love with you, too.” I tilted my head, ready to close my eyes and kiss him.
He remained still. “If you’re falling in love with me and I’m falling in love with you, I don’t see any point on going on match dates with anyone else.” He pulled me tighter against him. “I don’t want to be with anyone but you.”
My breath caught. My body tingled. I wanted to hang on to his every word and this moment forever. To be caught up in him. More than that, I wanted him. “You want to be exclusive?”
“Yes.” He pressed his forehead against mine. “And I want you to be exclusive with me, a reciprocal thing.”
I swallowed hard and blinked back tears of joy. “I see. A reciprocal thing. I have to be exclusive with you, too.”
“It’s a lot to ask,” he said. “You still have five months left in your Pair Us contract. If you find a match so quickly—”
“It makes for a powerful endorsement,” I finished for him. “Pair Us found me a soul mate in only a month. Do you know how many people have been looking for theirs forever? I have. My whole life.”
He tipped my face up to look at his. “Are you saying yes?”
I nodded.
“I’m playing by the rules, Callie.” His voice was ragged. “I have to hear you say it. You know what yes means? I love you. I want you—”
“Yes.” I looked into his eyes. “Yes to all of it.”
He caught my face in his hands and kissed me, gently at first, exploring my mouth, and then more insistently. I sucked his lips and opened my mouth to slide my tongue against his.
He kissed better than any man I’d been with, with his whole soul and being. Or maybe he didn’t. Maybe I only thought so because I loved him and was so madly attracted to him. All I knew was that I wanted to suck his lips and brand him as mine and let the world know. Even if it meant shouting it in a testimonial.
He groaned. “What are we still doing on this beach?”
Evening was receding into night. The shadows were long. The sun was slipping into the horizon.
I couldn’t resist teasing him. “You don’t want sex on the beach?”
“Who said anything about want? Of course I want sex on the beach. I would take you right here on this very beach, if I didn’t have at least one nosy neighbor who’d call us in for public indecency.”
“Some people have no sense of romance.”
“Some people have little kids.”
“That explains it,” I said.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me across the sand to the bungalow.
“So this is the only way I get to see the inside of your home?” I teased.
He kissed me quickly and urgently. “I always planned on showing you the inside. One way or another.” He led me across the patio and into the house through a set of French doors. Neither of us bothered to pull them closed.
There were no lights on. The interior was dim, lit only by the pinks, reds, and oranges of the sunset against the walls and streaming in through the French doors. I was so wrapped up in Knox that I was only dimly aware of my surroundings—overstuffed couches and beachy furniture. The room had been professionally decorated, expensively so, and smelled deliciously like the outdoors, like sand and beach, and Knox.
I expected Knox to pull me to the bedroom. Just inside the house, he pulled me into his arms and into another kiss. Our hands were everywhere. Mine on him. His on me. Our artificial limbs didn’t slow us down. I only regretted that I couldn’t feel him with my left hand.
I sucked and licked and sucked some more. Let my hands trail wherever they wanted. To the hard planes of his chest beneath his T-shirt. I nibbled at his nipples through the soft cotton until he groaned softly.
We each shrugged out of our sweatshirts and shoes. He helped me slide out of my jeans. When I unzipped him and reached into his, he was long, hard, and ready.
“I’ve dreamed of feeling you,” I whispered as I grabbed him and stroked him hard.
He groaned again and caught my wrist. “Careful. I’ve been celibate for over a year. I only have so much self-control.”
“Isn’t that sweet,” I said, letting go of him for the moment.
As he reached for the hem of my blouse, I kissed his cheek, his chin, the corner of his mouth—
He grabbed my face and kissed me with passion that took my breath away. My tongue danced with his. My soul danced with his. Every fiber of my being was wrapped up in him.
“We aren’t going to make it to my bedroom.” His voice was ragged with desire as he pulled my blouse off, unhooked my bra and slid it off, and stared at my breasts in awe. “So you do have nipples. They didn’t show in any of the lingerie pictures.”
“Photoshop. And nipple pads.”
“Damn nipple pads. Real life is better.” He took my breasts in his hands and mounded them together, bending to kiss them and then suck and lick each nipple until my knees went weak.
He caught me behind the knees and lowered me to the floor, kneeling over me as he stripped off the last of his clothes. In shadow, he was perfectly built. The last rays of sunlight lit his hair with orange. He was on fire. I was on fire for him as I pulled him onto me and kissed him.
I didn’t need any more preparation. I was wet and slick and ready for him. The tip of his dick was wet and ready for me. I curled my legs around him and dug my heels into his back, arching against him as he slid his dick inside me.
This was the most delicious moment of the act, that point when two became one. I gasped with pleasure as he drove in and our shadows made love on the wall behind us. The rug beneath me was plush and thick. With each powerful thrust, he drove me into it. I cried out with pleasure.
He covered my cries of pleasure with his kisses and drove deeper and deeper until he pulled his mouth away and moaned, too. I took his shoulder in my mouth and sucked and bit and let the waves of pleasure match the pounding of the waters onto the shore. The waves built. I could feel the tension in his back and body. My legs shook with the force of holding him tight.
“Callie,” he said. “Oh, Callie—”
I squeezed him with my legs and everything inside me and let myself ride the waves with him. I pictured us in the surf, with waves of passion crashing around us. I held him as he shook and finally stilled.
“Wow.” I was breathless as I unwrapped my shaky legs and lay still beneath him.
He balanced himself on his arms, taking his weight off me. “You look beautiful beneath me, with your hair splayed out beneath you. I’m done falling in love with you. I am in love with you.” He kissed me.
“I love you too.” I smiled into his eyes. “That was a quick progression. That isn’t just the sex hormones talking?”
He stroked my cheek. “That was just me being honest. The other was me not scaring you off.”
I kissed the tip of his nose. “You could never scare me off.”
Later, after he showed me the house, and I decided I would catch the ferry home in the morning, we made a fire on the beach and roast
ed marshmallows for s’mores. He sat behind me, arms around me, a blanket wrapped around us both.
I rested my head against his shoulder and looked up into the starry sky as I licked melted marshmallow off my fingers. “It’s beautiful here. Perfect. I could stay here forever.”
“Then do.” He kissed me upside down.
“Just how exclusive are we?” I said, heart full.
“Headed toward a lifetime of it,” he said.
“I think so, too.” I sighed happily. “When should we tell Ashley?”
He grinned suddenly. “I say we do a joint date postmortem and tell her then. Ambush her by showing up together. That’s going to be a hell of a postmortem. For once, I won’t be in the doghouse.”
“And I’m going to suggest you do some testimonials with me,” I said.
“We’ll see about that.”
I snuggled into his arms and took a bite of s’more. I had the best job ever. Falling in love was the best job ever.
17
Lazer
I threw a party at Lazer Lodge under the auspices of celebrating Knox and Callie’s exclusivity agreement. Ashley and I invited all the guys and their women for the weekend. Only Dex came solo. As strange as it sounds, I did not invite Knox and Callie. No. This wasn’t a party in their honor. It was a party to honor our genius, out-of-the-box thinking, some damn good programming, true friends, true love, dedication, and the finest matchmaking in the universe.
I pulled out all the stops. I had the best of everything. I could afford the best, but I had a special reason for it tonight. Ashley and I had an announcement to make.
We partied on the back patio by the pool, where I always felt like I was flying. The infinity pool was the perfect background to our announcement.
After dinner, I stood and got everyone’s attention. Ashley was seated next to me. I grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.
“It’s become the thing to do to send out save-the-date cards to friends and family.” I beamed at Ashley and pulled her close. She leaned her head against my shoulder. “But we aren’t traditional. This is more than a simple celebration of our success, this is a save-the-date party—”
Our friends clapped and whistled.
“You all helped make it happen. I can’t tell you how much that means to me, us. How much Ashley and I love all of you. You’re our best friends. We wanted you all to be the first to know. We’ve set a date and we have a venue. Mark your calendars for—”
The peal of congratulations drowned me out. Our friends were on their feet, cheering, hugging us and each other, kissing Ashley, slapping me on the back. I had the woman I loved, and would love forever, by my side. She was going to be my wife. It was a perfect night.
NEXT UP: If you haven’t read the rest of the Jet City books start at the beginning.
Get A WEDDING TO REMEMBER .
Justin and Kayla’s love story. Book 1 in the Switched at Marriage series.
Also by Gina Robinson
The Jet City Matchmaker Series
Mr. Accidental Hero
Mr. Accidental Cowboy
Mr. Accidental Rival
Mr. Accidental Groom
The Jet City Kilt Series
Almost Jamie
Almost Elinor
Simply Blair
Simply Austin
The Billionaire Matchmaker Series
Lazer Focused
Harte Strings
Pair Us
Dating Lazer
Match Point
The Billionaire Duke Series
The Billionaire Duke
The Duchess Contest
The Temporary Duchess
The American Heir
The Switched at Marriage Series
A Wedding to Remember
The Virgin Billionaire
To Have and To Hold
From This Day Forward
For Richer, For Richest
In Sickness and In Wealth
To Love and To Cherish
The Billionaire’s Christmas Vows
Gina Robinson’s Contemporary New Adult Romance Series
The Rushed Series
Rushed
Crushed
Hushed
The Reckless Series
Reckless Longing
Reckless Secrets
Reckless Together
About the Author
Gina Robinson is the bestselling and award-winning author of the popular Switched at Marriage, Billionaire Duke, and Billionaire Matchmaker romantic comedy series, featuring a billionaire in a surprising marriage of convenience, a billionaire who inherits a British dukedom, and a billionaire who partners with a matchmaker, the Reckless and Rushed contemporary new adult romance series, and the Agent Ex series of humorous romantic suspense novels. Her books have delighted readers and received praise in Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Romantic Times Book Reviews.
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www.ginarobinson.com
Mr. Accidental Groom Page 16