Flirting with Forever: A Hot Romantic Comedy(89)

“Thank you.”

“I’m also sorry for the big romantic gesture. But I had to.”

I ran a finger down his chest. “You’re lucky you’re so cute.”

He smiled. “What happened with the article, anyway?”

“One of the editors decided my article wasn’t clicky enough and it was going to impact her bonus. So she wrote her own and turned it in as mine.”

“No shit?”

“Unfortunately. So I quit.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Damn.”

“I know. Maybe it seems rash but my boss approved it knowing it was going to make me look bad. She didn’t care because she knew controversy would generate traffic.”

“I’d hate to see what kind of comments it’s getting.”

“They pulled the article already and I didn’t look before they took it down. I don’t really want to know.”

He pulled me closer and I nestled against him. “It’ll pass. It’s not like there’s a shortage of things for people to be outraged about online.”

“True. Now I have to figure out what to do about a job.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

I sat up so I could look him in the eyes. “We?”

“Yeah, we. That’s how this works.”

He touched my chin, bringing my lips to his for a kiss.

We. I never would have thought that simple word could mean so much or feel so right. But it did. This wasn’t temporary or fleeting. It wasn’t a pleasant distraction that would run its course. Dex was so much more. He was everything.

And my heart whispered another simple word.

Forever.





37





NORA





The backyard was chaos. Beautiful chaos.

Dex’s nieces and nephews ran around with squirt guns, yelling at the top of their lungs, and jumped in the bounce house Gillian had rented. Their parents managed the pandemonium with practiced ease, all while sipping drinks. Smoke rose from the grill and the spread of food was impressive.

Corban and Cox stood chatting with Dex and his brother, Dallas, while Dex manned the grill. Shepherd was engrossed in conversation with Dex’s dad, Joel. He held his daughter, a wary eye on the other kids, as if he were concerned she might get run over if he put her down.

Everly and Sophie chatted with Dex’s sisters, Maggie and Angie, and Hazel had an in depth conversation with Dex’s sister-in-law, Tori, and his mom.

We’d decided to invite everyone over for an end-of-summer barbecue and it was every bit as crazy as I’d thought it would be. But I loved it.

Somehow, I’d unofficially moved in with Dex and Riley. He’d started by inviting me to stay over every night. Soon, more and more of my things seemed to find their way next door. Now most of my wardrobe and personal items were in Dex’s house, as was about half my kitchen—including my bar and wine glasses—and my entire home office. He’d cleaned out his spare bedroom and moved my office over when I’d taken Riley to the spa with my friends last weekend.

Sneaky.

Not that I was complaining. I loved sleeping next to Dex every night and waking to his touch in the morning.

And I had plans for my house next door. Eventually—probably sooner rather than later—my move would be official and I’d turn my house into a rental.

I brought a fresh tray of watermelon outside and set it with the rest of the food. The kids went through it like crazy. Within seconds, two of Dex’s nephews had already grabbed slices and run off with them.

“You’re welcome,” I called.

“Thank you!” they both said, mouths full of melon.

Dex caught my eye and winked. I smiled back. I loved that man.

Someone touched my elbow. “Hello, darling sister.”

“Jensen. You actually came.”

My brother was dressed as if he were planning to take a woman out on a date, not come to a backyard barbecue. Suit jacket, no tie, the collar of his shirt unbuttoned.

He handed me a bouquet of multicolored flowers. “Of course I did.”

“This is suspiciously nice.”

“No suspicion necessary, love. And I know, you already told me, the women here are all married.” He rolled his eyes. “You could have thought of me when you put together the guest list, but I’ll forgive you this once.”

“That’s very generous of you, Jensen.”

“I’m a generous man.”

“You’re a ridiculous man.”

He grinned. “That too. How’s work now that you’re back to being an independent woman?”

I’d been able to get the rights to my blog back. Living Your Best Life was once more under my creative control. I was working on hiring a small team to help me run it and putting out more varied content to build my readership. Fortunately, the crappy single dad article had blown over. In fact, my love letter to dating a single dad had been the first article I’d published after leaving Glamour Gal and it had jump started my new venture in a big way.

Dex had framed it and put it on the wall in my new office.

“It’s good. I have a few more interviews this week, but I’m close to hiring someone.”

“Excellent.” His gaze swung around the backyard and he gestured toward Gillian. “Who’s that lovely woman?”