Page 165 of Spicy Ever After
Her brows leap. “You do?!”
“I swear, I do.”
She frowns. “How can you be sure?”
I bark an incredulous laugh. “How can you be sure?”
Hattie snorts. “I’m sure because I can’t stop myself from saying it. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“I love you. See? I can’t stop from saying it either.”
Her narrowed eyes are skeptical, but she does me the courtesy of pulling the covers down from the rest of her face.
“When would you have said it? I mean, if I hadn’t blurted it first?”
I shrug, smiling down at her. “I could’ve said it last night. A thousand different times. But if you need proof, your mom banged on the door this morning, ready to barge in. I wasn’t about to let her.”
Her eyes snap wide.
“That’s one way of saying I love you.” I nod toward the filling tub. “Another way is with a cup of coffee and a hot bath. So, technically, I said it first.”
I start to push myself off the bed—I need to shut off the water—but before I clear the mattress, Hattie grabs me by the robe’s lapels and gives me a little shake.
“As soon as I’ve brushed my teeth, I’m kissing the hell out of you.”
She keeps her word.
And the only thing in the world that stops me from ending that kiss by tossing her back on the bed is the threat of her mother returning to bang on the door.
Instead, I hold her hand while she steps over the high wall of the copper tub and sinks in. She leans back and closes her eyes with a moan.
“This is the best way to wake up.”
With her neck long and her hair falling over the edge of the tub, she could bring any man in history to his knees.
Which means I’m the luckiest man of all time.
But I can’t keep staring at her. So I fix her coffee instead. Extra cream and extra sugar.
“Hattie…” I murmur her name, holding out the mug.
She peels her eyes open and a lazy smile spreads over her face. “I was wrong.” She reaches her hands out of the water and takes it from me. “This is the best way to wake up.”
She takes a sip. “Mmm. This is perfect.”
Maybe it’s the hot water, but her cheeks flush. She takes another sip. Then?—
“Beck?”
“Yeah, honey?”
“I could get used to this.” She sounds almost shy.
I sink down into a squat by the side of the tub and peel one of her hands away from the mug.
“Hell, yeah.”
Her smile is epic. “I love it when you say that.”
