Page 12 of Mr. July

Jake

My heart stuttered.Who the hell said our date had to end after this? That had been the most satisfying, wild sex of my life with a woman who I wasn’t even sure was attracted to me until she came back looking for me, and now she wanted to be done?

One and done?

Women did that too?

No. No. No.I was already shaking my head, pulling out of Liberty and trying to clean myself up while not exposing her entire bottom to anyone that might sneak up on us. Somehow, I didn’t think she’d care if she did.

Something about this girl had me questioning what I wanted from my life.

Where I wanted to go from here.

With her.

How she had ended up in my life on this festive day and with a name like Liberty Belle. It was fate. Pure and simple.

I wanted her, and I wasn’t about to let this evening head into one-night-stand territory.

With both of us back in a presentable position, I started to help with the blanket. “Be honest. Do you want this to end tonight? I don’t.”

Liberty stopped folding her side of the blanket. I gripped my two corners like it was my lifeline.

“You don’t?” she asked.

“No. God no. I didn’t earlier, before I had you in my arms. I sure as fuck don’t now that you’ve been in my arms.”

“But this wasn’t the plan.”

I stepped toward her and took her folded corners of the blanket. “I know. But sometimes the best things in life are unplanned. I’m down with this if you are. In fact, I’m quite jealous of Lewis that he got to spend so much time with you.”

That made her laugh. “Don’t be jealous of him. I’ll let you in on a little secret.”

“What’s that?” I carried her blanket in one hand and gripped her hand with my other.

“I like you way more than I ever liked Lewis. Or even my last real boyfriend, for that matter.”

“You do?” I strutted like I was back on the catwalk. “I am quite the catch. So what you’re saying is you’re willing to give this a go? The two of us for as long as the wind will carry us?”

“Yup. We’ll be making memories every Fourth of July from here on out.”

Five days before, I would have balked at that admission. But hearing it made my heart happy, like it had found its home. “That’s perfect. You can be the Mrs. to my Mr. July.”

“That’s a happy Fourth of July to me.”