VALOROUS (A Quantum Novel)(70)

I gather him into my embrace, holding him close.

“Love you so much, Nat. So, so much. Every guy in that room tonight wanted to be me because you’re so amazing and beautiful, inside and out.”

“So are you. And we’re even more beautiful together.”

He lifts his head to look out the steamed-up window. “We’d better get ourselves together. We’re almost to Malibu.” Smiling down at me, he withdraws and produces tissues from a box that came with the limo.

“They’re prepared for backseat hookups, huh?”

“Don’t think about the leftover DNA on the seats.”

“That’s gross. You need to get your own limo so the only DNA on the seats will be ours.”

His eyes get wide and animated. “Other than you, nothing turns me on more than being told I need to buy another car.”

“Because the sixty you have aren’t enough.”

“Never enough.” He pulls up his pants and lands on the seat next to me. “Seriously, baby, new cars make me hot. Not as hot as you make me, but pretty damned close. That smell… Mmm… I can only think of one thing on this earth that smells better than a new car.”

“And you are not going to say what that is.”

Offering a wolfish smile, he says, “Okay, I won’t say it.” He pulls my panties from his pocket, brings them to his face and takes a deep breath.

I’ve never seen anything so earthy or erotic in my life.

“Do I shock you terribly?”

“No.”

He tips his head, eyeing me skeptically.

“You make me feel like I’ve been half-asleep my whole life until I met you and came alive.”

“That’s the most incredible thing you’ve ever said to me.” The panties return to his pocket. He puts his arms around me and holds me and kisses me until we arrive at Hayden’s beach house.

“I think it’s probably safe to go home to my place tomorrow,” he says when we’re inside, where a very enthusiastic Fluff greets us like we’ve been gone for six months. She even seems rather happy to see Flynn.

“She must’ve been watching tonight when you made her famous.”


“Maybe we’ll be friends now.” Flynn goes to answer a knock on the door. “Thanks a lot.” He returns holding two bags.

“What’s that?”

“Dinner from In-N-Out. Best burgers in LA.”

“How did you pull that off?”

“I texted the security guys and asked some of them to stop on the way home. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate tonight than with some In-N-Out,” he says with a dirty wink.

“Are we still talking burgers?”

“Of course we are. What else would we be talking about?”

Flynn lights the gas fireplace, and, still decked out in formal attire, we enjoy a picnic on the living room floor.

“I gotta say, this burger is amazing.”

“Told ya,” he replies, his mouth full. He dips fries in ketchup and holds them up to feed me, slipping a couple to Fluff, too.

Burgers and fries have never tasted better than they do tonight. I reach over to wipe a dab of ketchup off his lip. “Is this what happy feels like?”

“Sweetheart,” he says gruffly, clearly moved by my question, “this is what ecstatic feels like.”





“I have to go into the office today,” Flynn says in the morning, “even though I’d much rather be with you.”

“It’s okay. I’m going to sleep some more and then get organized with some foundation stuff, not to mention a ton of laundry that needs to be done and packed to go back to your place. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy. Don’t worry about me.”

“I will worry about you. I’ll always worry about you.” He sits next to me on the bed. He’s freshly showered and shaven and is dressed in a formfitting black T-shirt and faded jeans that hug him in all the right places. As always, he makes my mouth water just looking at him. “This’ll be the first time we’ve spent apart since we got married.”

“We can’t spend every waking minute together. What about when you’re filming in some exotic location?”

“You’ll be there with me.”

“What if I get my job back?”

His brows knit with what appears to be consternation, but he quickly shakes it off and bends to kiss me. “We’ll figure it out, sweetheart. I gotta go before Hayden has me killed.” After one more kiss, this one longer and more involved, he groans and pulls himself away. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. There’re security people right outside. If you want to go anywhere, just check in with them. They also have the code to get back in here.”

“I’ll be fine. Go to work, dear.”

“We’re going on a f*cking honeymoon,” he says as he leaves the room. “A long-ass f*cking honeymoon. As soon as we possibly can.”

“I thought we’ve been on our honeymoon?”

“No way does hanging around here count. We’re going somewhere awesome.”

“This has been pretty awesome as far as I’m concerned.”

“I can do better than this.”

He leaves me with a big silly smile on my face as I snuggle under the covers, hoping to go back to sleep after having been up half the night making love to my insatiable husband. I’m on my way to dozing off when my phone rings.