Page 17 of First Love

I fucking loved everything about having her that close.

“I feel that connection too, Jasper,” she whispered. “I left Montana today, feeling as alone as I’d ever felt in my life.” She nipped at my jaw. “But thanks to you, I don’t feel like that anymore.”

I squeezed her, never wanting to let her go. “So . . . you’ll stay then?” I hadn’t been this filled with hope since I was a boy on Christmas morning.

“If you’re sure you—”

“I’m sure, Amelia. One-hundred-percent sure.”

She took a step back and met my gaze, her fingers trailing along my jaw then scratching at my bearded chin as if I was a pup.

Why did I like that?

“I would love to stay.” She brushed a light kiss to my lips. “Thank you, Jasper. For everything.”

I had to stop myself from jumping around the house, letting out victory whoops. She was going to stay. Today was Wednesday and her cousin didn’t come back until Monday. That was a good stretch of time to see where this thing between us could go.

A good stretch of time to make use of that box o’ condoms too.

“Can I borrow your phone to call my job though?” Amelia asked. “I owe them an explanation for my sudden departure.”

I walked to the foyer and fished my phone out of the pocket of my jacket she’d been wearing. I didn’t hand it to Amelia right away though.

“Is there something I can do about those bad folks you mentioned?” I asked, wanting to protect her if I could, but not loving the idea that if I did do something, Amelia might decide to go back to Montana.

She shook her head. “There’s too many of them. Besides, I don’t want to go back to Montana. There’s nothing there but bad memories now.” She grinned at me. “The memories I’m making here are a far better choice.”

That was music to my ears.

I handed the phone to her. “I’m going to take Sammy for his nightly promenade around the property and give you some privacy for your call.” I took her free hand and tugged her closer. “Then I’m going to take you to my bed. We’re going to watch some TV, your choice of show, hopefully pleasure each other again, then fall asleep all wrapped up with each other.”

She closed her eyes, a soft hum vibrating in her throat. “That sounds heavenly.”

“I’m so glad you think so.”

After pressing a kiss to her cheek, I walked down the hallway and freed Sammy who gave me the full welcome sequence once again. He followed me to the foyer after I ducked into my bedroom to grab a shirt and some socks. Donning my flannel coat and boots, I leashed Sammy and headed out the front door.

Outside, Sammy immediately relieved himself then strained on the leash so I’d walk around the house and along the property line. I’d set up a little walking path specifically for him, but I had more I wanted to do out here. I’d been so focused on fixing up the inside of the house that I hadn’t done much to the outside yet. The weather was finally starting to get nicer with spring here now so tackling some of the outdoor tasks was next on the agenda.

“What do you think, Sammy? Do you want a fenced in area somewhere so you can go nuts chasing your favorite soccer ball?”

Sammy’s tail wagged like crazy so I took that as a yes. Then his nose went back to the ground where he’d been sniffing. He pulled on his leash, wanting to go into the woods.

“No, Sammy,” I said. “Not now. It’s too dark. We can go exploring tomorrow.” And maybe I could convince Amelia to come with us. A girl from Montana probably liked the outdoors, right? She had been wearing sensible boots after all.

And then she’d been wearing nothing.

I nearly caved to the urge to skip around the walking path. Is that what glee felt like? Like I had fizzy bubbles in my bloodstream or something? I liked the feeling.

After walking for a bit, Sammy tugged us toward the woods again, and I stopped so he’d come back to me. When he did, he let out a little whine and whipped his tail back and forth.

“Don’t be a brat,” I said. “I know today wasn’t ideal with the vet visit this morning, being crated for most of the day, and now a house guest, but I promise to make it up to you tomorrow, buddy. You can come cheer up the folks at the shelter too.”

Sammy loved visiting the shelter, and our guests loved seeing him. They lived difficult lives, but Sammy—and Carla’s cooking—always managed to put smiles on their faces.

Speaking of smiles on faces, I wanted to get back to Amelia’s beautiful smiling face. I figured Sammy and I had been out for about fifteen minutes. Hopefully that had been enough time for Amelia to make her phone call.

“C’mon, Sammy. Let’s head back.”