Page 58 of Real Good Love
I lower the bowls to the counter and turn to face her, my sweet tooth on hold for a moment. “Are you seriously asking that question?”
Banner nods. “I seriously am.”
“You think there’s a morning where I don’t want to wake up with you in my bed? You think there’s a night where I don’t want to fall asleep with you in my arms?”
Her eyes turn shiny. “Are you sure?”
I come back around the bar and stop in front of her. “You’re it for me, Banner. The one. I’d given up on finding the perfect woman for me, but you showed me I hadn’t been looking in the right place. Who knew I had to go all the way to New York City? I’m not stopping with you moving in. There’s a lot more I want, but I’m not pushing you until you’ve had a chance to come around to my way of thinking.”
“Really?”
I nod. “Really.”
She blinks those tears away just before I slide my hand into her hair and cover her lips with mine. When I pull back, she’s staring at me like she’s never seen me before.
“What, Bruce?”
“You’re the best man I’ve ever known, and you’remine.”
“All yours and no one else’s.”
“You better let me try the cherry cobbler first, just in case it’s terrible. I’m not chancing it now.”
My laugh bounces off the walls of the kitchen. “You could give me food poisoning, and I wouldn’t change my mind about a damn thing.”
Banner presses three fingers over my lips. “Don’t say it. I forgot to check the pork with the meat thermometer. I hope we don’t get trichinosis.”
I kiss the back of her fingers before stepping away. “We’ll be fine.”
Back in the kitchen, I load up two bowls with heaping mounds of cherry cobbler, then find the ice cream in the freezer and add a big scoop to each.
It’s fucking amazing.
When we finish, Banner and I clean up the potato-spattered mess of the kitchen together. I pat my stomach, which is as full as I can remember it being since last Thanksgiving. “I’m going to have to up my gym sessions to five days a week if you’re going to keep cooking like that.”
Banner shoots me a look. “When do you have time to go to the gym anyway?”
“Why do you think I get up so early? I hit it in the mornings, three days a week. You think I look like this from wrenching on cars?”
“I didn’t give it any thought at all beyond appreciating every single inch of it.”
The inches I want her to appreciate are sitting up and taking notice.
Once the last dish is in the dishwasher, I pull her back against my chest. “You know, you might have had a good reason to step in and help me out with the upholstery place, but next time, you need to talk to me about it first, babe.”
“I can manage that.” She pauses. “Does that mean you’re still pissed?”
I squeeze her against me. “I couldn’t stay pissed at you if I tried.”
Her ass wiggles against my crotch. “But you still might want to punish me for being a naughty girl, right?”
I crane my head sideways to look down at her face. Her expression is filled with pure mischief. “I think you want me to punish you for being a naughty girl.”
Her entire body tenses. “I mean, you should make sure I learn my lesson.”
My dick is no longer sitting up and taking notice, but instead is rock hard and ready to punch through my jeans.
“Is that right?” I step back and slide a hand down her back to grip her ass. “If I turn this red, you’ll remember better next time?”
