By the Book (Meant to Be #2)(67)

Izzy tried to say something, but for once, she had no idea what to say.

He brushed her hair out of her face, and his fingertips lingered on her cheek. “I told her that she’s right. That I’m very glad to have you. That it was the luckiest day of my life when you knocked on my door.”

Izzy stared at him for a long moment. She noticed the flecks of green inside his golden-brown eyes. He was looking straight at her, in a way he never had before. It made her so happy, and so scared, all at once. She knew she should pull away, get up, break this moment between them.

But she’d been wanting this for so long. And from the look on his face, she thought he did, too. She let her hands move up his shoulders. And then, slowly, she leaned forward and kissed him.

He kissed her back, at first softly, gently. And then the kiss changed, became urgent, insistent. She could tell, from his kiss, from the way he pulled her closer, that he wanted this as much as she did.

They kissed for a long time as the sun set in front of them, until finally, Beau rested his forehead against hers.

“Do you know how long I’ve been wanting to do that?” Beau asked. “The answer is, a very, very long time.”

She pulled back and looked into his eyes.

“I didn’t know that, no,” she said. “I kind of thought I was all alone in wanting to do that. I didn’t even really let myself think about it, because I thought…”

He laughed and dropped a kiss in her hair. “I’m not sure whether to be glad I hid my feelings so well from you or to be furious we wasted so much time when we could have been doing this.” He brushed his fingertip over her bottom lip. “But mostly, I’m just happy to be here with you right now.”

Izzy leaned forward and kissed him again. “I’m really happy to be here with you right now.”

They sat there for a while longer, holding each other, kissing, talking about nothing, kissing more. Finally, Beau stood up and reached for her hand.

“Those snacks aren’t going to eat themselves, you know,” he said.

She laughed and grabbed his hand as she stood up.

They held hands on the way back to the car. Izzy smiled as she put on her seat belt.

“What is it?” Beau asked.

She shook her head. “I’m just happy. That’s all.”

He put his hand on her cheek. “Me too,” he said.

Beau put on his seat belt and started the car. Izzy felt like she was tempting fate, she was so happy. She tried to temper herself, push down her smile, just in case. And then she thought to hell with that, and she smiled so big out the window that strangers smiled back at her.





When they walked in the house, Beau reached for Izzy and pulled her close.

“I just needed to be able to do this again, when we were all alone,” he said, his voice muffled against her hair.

His words, his touch, went straight to Izzy’s heart. She couldn’t believe this had actually happened, that she’d kissed Beau on the beach and he’d kissed her back, that he’d said those things to her about how long he’d wanted to kiss her, that they were back here in the house together, like this. She rested her head against his firm, broad chest and felt his arms around her, and it felt so good. But then, suddenly, it wasn’t enough, and she lifted her face and pulled him down to her, and they were kissing again, and it was immediately more than it had been on the beach. Faster, closer, more intimate. His big, warm hands moved up her back, and the way he held her, kissed her, touched her, made her feel like the whole world had just sparkled from black-and-white into color.

Finally, he pulled away. She was glad he was breathing as hard as she was.

“We have to pace ourselves, Izzy,” he said. “We only made it just inside the door.”

She pulled him back down to her and kissed him softly on the lips before she took a step back. “I prefer to think of it as making up for lost time, don’t you?”

He gave her a slow, very sexy smile. “Mmm, that’s a very good way to put it.”

She smiled at him. “But also, I’m starving.”

He laughed and moved toward the kitchen. “Me too.”

She turned to go with him, but he shook his head and steered her toward the staircase. “I’ll get the food ready, you go up and change,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t like my dress?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Oh no, I’m not going to get caught in that trap. Number one: Your dress is great, but this is only the second time I’ve seen you wear it, and I don’t want to be the jerk who spills one of the assorted dipping sauces we’re going to have with dinner on it. If you’re thinking, ‘Does that mean Beau has been paying that close attention to what I’ve been wearing?’ the answer is yes. Which leads us to number two: You always change before we have dinner.”

This was only the second time she’d worn this dress, and she did always change before dinner.

Beau grinned at the look on her face. “See? Also, both of those things lead to number three: I was hoping you might wear one of those little tank tops tonight that have been driving me wild for weeks.”

Well, when he put it that way.

She lifted her chin and smiled at him. “Mmm, I’ll see what I can do. Meet you in the TV room in twenty minutes?”