Do You Take This Man (94)

“I know.” His hand flexed at my waist.

“Are you done?”

“Yeah,” he said, as the chorus of the song began. He dipped his face close to mine.

“And?”

He smiled, a real smile that was just a bit of his normally cocky attitude. “Will you stop talking so I can kiss you?”

His lips brushed mine, his tongue gliding along my lower lip and his hand cupping my neck. Our bodies aligned, and I sank into the kiss with the waves crashing behind us. The pressure and sweetness of his lips, of his tongue seeking entry, left me breathless. “I don’t want to call you Ruthie, though.”

“Why not?”

He lowered his face to mine again, our noses grazing. “I didn’t fall in love with Ruthie. I fell in love with RJ.” He dotted kisses on my cheek, my jaw, the corner of my lip. “Sweet, nice, gentle, badass, won’t-admit-when-she’s-wrong, drives-me-up-a-wall, doesn’t-want-anyone-to-know-she’s-kind RJ.” He looked into my eyes, our foreheads touching.

I stroked the skin at the nape of his neck, and my own heartbeat filled my head at his words. “Even though I love you, too, I probably still won’t always admit when I’m wrong most of the time.”

His face cracked into a smile again, and he kissed me, nipping at my lip. I love that smile. I love him. The playful kiss heated, and he trailed his mouth over my jaw and to that spot just below my ear, dragging his tongue along the sensitive skin before nipping at my earlobe. “We’ll work on it together.”

“So, we’re doing this. A real relationship?” I let out a stuttered breath as his lips trailed down my neck. It felt good—it always did when he found that spot below my ear—but it felt right, more right, like those kisses were a punctuation mark on something.

“A real relationship,” he said against my skin, pulling my body to his. “If you push me away or if I get scared, we’ll make time for each other and talk about it.” Of the two of us, he was always more conciliatory, and him drawing this clear expectation squeezed my chest. “I didn’t talk about things enough with my ex. I didn’t think I could, but you’re worth the risk, RJ.”

“We’ll be honest and talk about things.” I caught his lips against mine, relishing the sweetness of the kiss. I’d never come close to this conversation with Case or any other ex. “I like talking to you.”

“I like talking to you,” he said, dropping another kiss to my lips, this one deeper, his tongue sweeping against mine. “And I like not talking to you.”

I grinned against his kiss. “We’re good at not talking.”

Lear’s hair blew in the breeze when he pulled back from my neck. “You want to keep the benefits, then?”

My skin tingled under his touch, and I wanted nothing more than to wake up with him tomorrow, sated and warm. “I do.”





Epilogue



RJ NUDGED MY hip with hers at the sink in her bathroom, where we stood brushing our teeth side by side. I nudged her back and we jockeyed for position. “I would kill for two sinks,” she said, pulling a tube of moisturizer from the cabinet. I’d grown up with a sister and lived with my ex, but the sheer number and variety of products and creams she owned still baffled me.

“You won’t miss brushing our teeth together in a new place?” I set my toothbrush next to hers in the mug by the sink, the one I’d gotten her for Valentine’s Day that read You Bowl Me Over and pictured pins swooning next to a bowling ball. RJ shot me a rueful look, and I laughed, kissing her shoulder. “We’ll make sure the Realtor knows we want dual sinks.”

She turned and gave me a peck on the lips, the worn cotton of the law school T-shirt she slept in grazing my bare chest. “You’ll add it to the spreadsheet?”

“How did you know I made a spreadsheet for house hunting?” We walked into the bedroom together, removing the pile of throw pillows from the bed and stacking them elsewhere.

“You’re not that complicated,” she said, pulling out her scarf to wrap her hair. I loved watching her do it, the way her hands worked quickly to tuck and smooth fabric. “Musicals, spreadsheets, and sex, and you’re a happy man.”

The sheets were cool, and I settled into the comfortable bed, where I would fall asleep in a minute after the long week of events. Penny’s business had expanded, and I’d decided to stay on permanently. Sometimes I still missed working for a team, but weddings and the few non-wedding events we did were always a challenge, and I was happy. And every now and again RJ would surprise me at the end of a rehearsal. I really liked those surprises. “Are you calling me basic?”

RJ climbed into bed next to me after turning off the overhead light. We both loved space when we slept, but before that, when she spooned against me, her back to my chest, I was never more comfortable. RJ wiggled against me and linked our fingers. “Totally basic.”

“I missed you,” I said, tightening my hold around her waist. She’d been traveling with Gretchen, working on some high-profile case. Caitlin told me she’d asked Gretchen to make sure I didn’t get my heart broken once RJ and I shared we were a couple. Gretchen responded that RJ was too smart to let me go . . . unless I deserved it.

“I missed you, too,” she said, stroking her thumb along mine. “We need a vacation from work.”