Taste (Cloverleigh Farms, #7)(87)

“Is this a trick?” I sobbed. “Are you going to make me drive you to the airport after this?”

“No.” He laughed softly and hugged me tighter. “No more tricks. This is the real thing, Ellie. I’m here, I’m staying, and I’m yours—if you want me.”

“I want you.” It felt so good to say the words out loud. I looked up at him and said them again. “I want you.”

He crushed his lips to mine, and I threw my arms around his neck, clinging like I’d never let go. Without breaking the kiss, he swept me off my feet and carried me up the stairs and into his bedroom. Gently, he placed me on the bed, then braced himself above me. “Is this okay? I don’t want to hurt you or squash our baby lime. It deserves a chance to become a plum.”

I laughed and kicked off my shoes. “We’re both fine.”

“I’ll be gentle,” he said, but he was already ripping off his sweatshirt and T-shirt, then my sweater and camisole, then wriggling out of his jeans and yanking mine down my legs.

When I was naked under his gaze, I felt a moment of self-consciousness. “My body is already changing. Maybe you can’t tell, but—”

“Your body is even more gorgeous than it was before,” he said, his hungry eyes traveling over my skin. “Which I didn’t think was possible.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

“I’m serious, Ellie. I don’t know if it’s the pregnancy or what, but I’ve never felt like this before.”

“Like what?”

He looked puzzled for a moment. “It’s this weird combination of wanting to fuck you like an animal and also wanting to build a tower to keep you safe from filthy-minded beasts like me down below.”

Smiling, I reached for his broad, sexy shoulders and pulled him closer. “You are the only beast I’ll let in,” I whispered. “I promise.”

“Do we have to hurry?” he asked, burying his face in my neck and kissing his way down my chest.

“I have to be back at work by one at the latest,” I told him, arching my back as his tongue stroked one hard nipple. “But it’s only ten, right? We have plenty of time.”

“That’s only three hours, Ellie.” He switched his mouth to my other breast. “And there are so many delicious places on your body that I’ve missed.”

“Well, guess what?”

“Hm?” He filled his palms with my tender breasts, teasing the tightened peaks with his thumbs, and I slid my hands into his thick, dark hair.

“We can always come back after work tonight.”

He picked up his head. “Would you? Come back and stay the night with me? Not because you have to because there’s a blizzard or my car is dead, but because you want to?”

“Gianni, sweetheart.” I tightened my hands in his hair so hard he winced. “Your car was never dead.”

He laughed as he moved down my body, pushed my knees apart and settled between my thighs. “I’ll make it up to you,” he said, giving me one, slow stroke up my center. “For three hours straight.”

He definitely didn’t last three hours, but he did go slow, using his mouth and his fingers and then his cock, both of us moaning with pleasure as he slid inside me completely bare. “Oh God,” he whispered. “I forgot how good this feels. No wonder we didn’t stop in time at the motel.”

“We don’t have to worry about that anymore,” I said, rocking my hips beneath his. “At least not for a while.”

“Good.” He moved deeper inside me. “Because I never want this to end.”





“So wait a minute,” I said. “You’ve known for how long that you weren’t going to leave?”

“Six days.”

I picked up my head from his bare chest and looked down at him with my most menacing glare. “Six days? You let me walk around miserable and sad and pining for you for six days?”

“I didn’t know you were pining for me,” he said, pulling me close to him again. “You just kept pushing me away and telling me to leave.”

“That’s because I was scared.” I snuggled up against his side again, breathing him in. “I didn’t think you wanted me like I wanted you.”

“I did. I just didn’t know how to get you to believe it.”

“You nailed it today.” I kissed his chest.

“I had help,” he confessed.

“From who?”

“Your favorite person—my dad.”

I laughed. “You’re my favorite person right now. But I do like your dad. And your mom.”

“They both adore you.” He paused. “I also told your parents.”

I sat up again. “You did?”

“Yes. I had to tell them because I want to keep the job at Etoile. Which I love, by the way. The minute I quit the show, I was relieved. It was so obviously the right decision.”

“We could do some cool things together,” I said.

“We could. Starting with the cover of Tastemaker magazine.”

“What?” My jaw hung open. “What are you talking about?”

“I reached out to Fiona Duff and pitched a story about the two of us. I had to spill the beans about the baby—I swore her to secrecy—but she absolutely loved the idea of a power couple cover. We’ll shoot it next week, if you say yes.”