Love's Second Chance (Second Chances #1)(39)

“Why don’t you just move in with me?” Galen whispered in my ear. His arms felt warm and protective, wrapped tightly around my waist, holding me close, as we lay in bed. I pretended to still be asleep, but I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. Ever since he came home from his business trip, I’d been there every night. The week he wanted me to stay there turned into two weeks, then three, and now the whole month. The only times I’d been to my condo had been to grab more of my things and leave.

He nudged me playfully in the side, but I ignored him, trying desperately not to laugh. “I know you’re not asleep, Kori. Why don’t you answer me?”

I snickered into the pillow and turned my body so I could face him. “Because I like making you sweat.” I giggled.

He smiled, but then his expression changed. “I’m serious,” he said while staring deeply into my eyes. His fiery blue gaze conveyed all of his emotions in that one stare. Love, passion, determination. “I want you with me, always. You can easily break the lease on your condo.”

“What would you say if I said no?” I asked curiously.

Shrugging his shoulder, he let out a sigh. “I guess I would have to respect your decision. Why, are you saying no?”

I ignored the question and continued on. “What would you say if I said yes?”

He narrowed his eyes at me and grinned, knowing full well what game I was playing. “Then I would have to say that you were the luckiest woman on earth,” he taunted playfully. He stifled a laugh when I hit him in the arm. “So are you saying yes?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

“Of course I’m saying yes, goofball. I would love to move in with you, but I do disagree with you about one thing.”

“What would that be might I ask?” he added.

“I think it would make you the luckiest man on earth if I moved in here,” I countered back.

“I believe you may be right,” he acknowledged. Galen took my lips and caressed them with his own, all loving and possessive … claiming.

“You’re mine,” he said with complete conviction. The husky tone of his voice and the possessive look in his eyes said that he’d never let me go, even without him saying the words. I didn’t want him to. “You will always be mine.”

“Yes, I will,” I promised whole-heartedly. The rays from the morning sun began to peep through the blinds making me squint from the brightness. It was going to be another beautiful spring day, so I asked, “What do you want to do today?”

He smiled wickedly at me and confessed, “Well … I know it’s a Saturday, but we have to do some work today.” I began to groan, but he put a finger to my lips. “You didn’t let me finish. Anyway, I thought we could make the experience a little more enjoyable and discuss things over a picnic.”

“That would be great! It’ll be like old times,” I squealed happily.

“Yes, I know,” he agreed. “I wanted to bring back all those fun memories we had together.”

“Do you remember the time you locked the keys in Big Blue and it started to rain?” I asked softly. That moment in time had been branded in my mind. Galen let out a breath and ran a finger down the side of my cheek.

His warm breath tickled my face when he spoke. “How could I forget, love? That fateful day in the rain was the first time I told you I loved you,” he kissed me tenderly before continuing with his thought, “and then we made love in that rain.”

With a twinkle in his eye, he pulled back to smile at me, and I could see that the playful Galen was back. “Maybe it’ll rain today. Wouldn’t it be fun to make love in the rain again?” He wiggled his eyebrows and hopped out of bed.

“Where are you going?” I pouted, pursing my lips.

“I need to make the picnic while you get ready. It takes you a lot longer to get dressed than it takes me.” Throwing a pillow at him, he ducked successfully and dodged it. “It’s the truth! Now hurry so we can go.”

“Fine!” I gave in. Even though we had to work, it would still be fun having our picnic. Thirty minutes later I was dressed and ready to leave. Walking outside, I could see that Galen had already packed and loaded everything up into Big Blue.

“Come on slow poke!” Galen called out. Rolling my eyes at him, I casually strode over to the truck. He opened the door for me and kissed my cheek before I got in. It was the little things like that, that got my heart racing.

“So exactly where are we going for this picnic?”

Galen smiled mischievously at me and winked. “It’s a surprise, but I have to warn you, it’s about an hour and forty-five minutes away from here.”

I jerked my head around to look at him incredulously. “Wow! You know we could have just had a picnic in your back yard. You have an amazing setup out there with a great view of the lake.”

Galen shrugged and started up the old truck. “I know, but you’ll understand why when we get there. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

I was intrigued and unfortunately I had no clue what Galen had up his sleeve. Once we got on the road, I could tell from the direction we were going that we were probably headed for the mountains. Galen knew that anywhere in the mountains was my slice of heaven. There was just something about them that called to me and brought me peace. “Do you know where we’re going yet?” Galen inquired.