Page 51 of The Mr. Right Checklist

He tucks my hair behind my ear, kissing me softly. “You may say that, but I don’t think you mean it.”

“Yes, I do. When I hugged you hello, you could have said you’d been thinking about kissing me all night, and I would’ve done a happy dance and told you to kiss me right then. You could’ve saved me hours of overthinking and saved yourself hours of acting guarded again.”

“In what world do friends greet each other by revealing something like that?”

“I don’t know. It sounded good in my head.”

“I bet it did,” he says playfully. “But let’s take that Destiny Amor greeting one step further and assume my interpretation of your texts was correct. If that were the case, and I’d said what you just suggested, you would’ve felt like I was pushing for something you didn’t want. See the issue?”

“Hm. That does make sense, but I still think talking about things is better than not.”

“I’ll try to work on that.” He kisses me again. “I’ll be right back.”

He climbs from the bed gloriously naked. He has a ridiculously fine ass, and each cheek is marred with my scratches. “Thanks for the inspiration,” I call out as he saunters toward the bathroom.

He looks back at me and lifts his chin in question.

“I’m adding MUST HAVE SQUEEZABLE PEACH to my checklist.”

He grins and shakes his head as he disappears into the bathroom.

I flop onto my back, giddily happy, and roll onto my side before slipping off the bed. I pull his T-shirt over my head, getting a whiff of his spicy scent, and those hummingbirds take flight in my chest again. I’m picking up my panties when he comes out of the bathroom, his formidable cock hanging between his muscular thighs.

“You look cute in my shirt.” He pulls me into his arms and kisses me. “Shirt Thief.”

“Do you mind? Mine’s downstairs.”

“Not at all.”

“Good, because it’s soft and I like that it smells like you. I’ll be right back.” I turn toward the bathroom and he smacks my ass. I squeal and try to glower at him, but it’s kind of hard when he looks so relaxed and happy.

After using the bathroom and washing up, I take a good look at myself in the mirror. I feel so light inside, I expect to look different, but the only difference I see is an unstoppable smile. When I come out of the bathroom, he’s wearing shorts, but he’s still shirtless. Thank you, Lord. I do have a thing for his chest. It’s broad and strong, but not too muscular, and that dusting of chest hair is irresistible.

I go to him and run my fingers through it. “Thanks for showing me what I’ve been missing.”

“My pleasure.” He lowers his lips to mine in a deep, delicious kiss. “Are you hungry?”

“Starved. Want me to whip something up?”

With a wolfish grin, he tugs me closer. “The only thing I want your hands busy with is me.” I’m gifted another toe-curling kiss.

“You won’t hear me complaining.”

“How about we order a pizza?” He fishes his cell phone out of his jeans.

“Yum. My favorite feel-good dinner. Pineapple and steak, please.”

“Is that even a combination option?”

“If you ask nice enough it is.” As we head for the stairs, he puts a hand on my back. You’d think after having his hands all over me that touch wouldn’t feel so intimate, but it does, and I revel in it.

“Please tell me you don’t greet your pizza delivery guys the way you suggested I greet you.”

“Only the cute ones.” He smacks my butt again, and I run down the last few stairs, only to be met with sloppy doggy kisses. I giggle and crouch to love Molly up.

“What the hell?”

“She’s just happy to see . . .” My voice trails off as I push to my feet and see shreds of my shirt and bra strewn across the living room.