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“I love that.” She tilts her head up, and I press a soft kiss to her tempting lips. “Why are you so perfect?”
“I’m far from it.” I want to stay wrapped around her, but this is only the beginning, so I step back and link our hands. “There’s more. Come.”
“More?”
I guide her down the hall to my bedroom. “Eyes closed, Princess.” I move her in front of me, covering her eyes with one hand while I open the door with the other. She holds my forearm as I urge her forward. My reflection stares back at me from the full-length mirror across the room. Aurora’s cheeks are flushed.
Nervous anticipation makes my chest tight, but I need her to see how serious I am. I drop my hand to her hip. “You can open your eyes.”
They flare as her nails bite into my arm in the most delicious way. “Oh, Hollis.” She spins in my arms, awe on her perfect, stunning face. “You did this for me?”
“For us,” I correct. “It’s decidedly self-serving.”
“It’s incredible.” She pushes up on her toes to kiss me, then scans the bed.
“You bought throw pillows.”
“I know you like them.” She has a ridiculous number on her bed. I’ve discovered they can be useful and not just a nuisance.
She flits across the room and grabs the one in the middle. “You got me a princess pillow.”
“I did.”
“You like me a lot.”
“I definitely do.”
She hugs the pillow to her chest with one arm and follows me across the room to the new dresser. I open the top drawer. I’ve already folded and put away all the things she’s left here over the past few months. “Those are yours. I didn’t want to clear a couple of drawers to make room for you. I want this to feel like it’s as much yours as it is mine.” I skim her cheek, needing the contact to ground me. “I know this is all very new and we need time to figure us out, but I’m also aware that Rix is moving out, and your sublease is only a year. Whenever you’re ready to be here, here is ready for you. But no pressure. It’s okay if you need more time than that.”
She sets the pillow on the dresser top and settles her palms on my chest, her soft smile warming me. “You bought me a dresser.”
“You have a lot of clothes,” I point out. I hope this isn’t too much.
“This is true.” She runs her hands over my shoulder. “You’re really serious about me, aren’t you?”
I swallow past the lump in my throat. “Too serious?”
She shakes her head. “The perfect amount of serious.” Her smile grows soft. “Tell me something real and true.”
“Loving you is so easy. But hiding that feeling, denying you, was the hardest, most painful thing I’ve ever done, and I’m so glad I never have to do it again.” I tuck her hair behind her ear, tracing the delicate shell. “Tell me something real and true.”
Her chin trembles as she rests her palm over my heart. “You settle my soul, Hollis. Your heart is my home, and I never want to leave it.”
Our lips meet, a gentle brush, a wordless promise. The wash of need is sudden and consuming as we press closer, hands gripping hair as we angle our heads and deepen the kiss.
She untucks my shirt and pulls it over my head, then does the same with hers. “You know what I want to do now?”
“I have a pretty good idea.”
She unclasps her bra and tosses it aside, then pops the button on her jeans. “I bet my ideas are better.” She shimmies her pants and underwear down her legs and kicks them off, leaving her in a pair of socks with a blue and black stripe around the top.
She tucks her fingers into the waistband of my pants and tugs me toward the full-length mirror.
“You planning to tell me what this better idea is?” I ask as she adjusts my position.
She shakes her head as she slides my belt through the buckle and pulls it free from the loops, dropping it on the floor at my feet. Her tongue drags across her bottom lip as she opens the button and pulls the zipper down. And then she grabs the princess pillow and tosses it at my feet, sinking to the floor.
She smiles up at me. “I’m going to show you with my mouth how much I appreciate your thoughtfulness.”
