Page 124 of Jace
“Jace.” I laugh softly, half fantasizing, half fearing. “Are we getting ahead of ourselves? Shouldn’t we decide where we’re going to live first? We can’t sleep in my studio forever.”
He teases, voice husky, “Why not? Think of all the pictures we can take of us playing with sex toys.” I angle back to see his grin growing wider. “I sure have.” And wider. “And so have you.”
“Guilty.” I roll my eyes with a sigh, so massively in love. “Fine, we can take kinky pictures, but we can’t live here. Not for long. What are we going to do?”
He twirls a lock of my hair. “Until we have a deal with Ruslan, we stay here. This place is secure, and your house is too exposed, and mine is our last resort. Our secret hideaway and home.”
“Ours?”
He traces my nipple. “Yeah. I bought it for you last year.”
My nipple hardens as my heart hurls itself into a fluttering pace. “For me? But Jace, that’s too sweet. I?—”
“I couldn’t have you, Viv. Not then. But that couldn’t stop me from doing everything for you. For us. So I bought us a house. It’s safe for the risks I take, on a secluded island accessed only by boat. But I swear, the house is so you, Viv. It’s a classic beach bungalow on the Intracoastal, all elegant and white on the inside, fully furnished with baskets and blue ceilings. It’s your vibe with a huge, covered porch facing west, perfect for taking sunset shots, and?—”
“Jace.” I blink back tears. “You bought the house because you thoughtI’dlike it?”
He traces my other nipple. “You and our six cats.”
Six kids.
It’s his dream and mine.
It keeps getting closer.
I crane my neck for his kiss, ripples of euphoria, flashes of our future. He gives me a kiss, making me see it, before he murmurs, “I’m not the only one, am I?”
“What?” I sigh in a loving haze.
“Tell me what you did this past year, waiting for me.”
How does he know?
Then again, how would he not know when he’s lived in my heart all this time?
“I bought a new lens,” I confess. “It’s perfect for beach portraits. It creates a soft bokeh that you can’t get with a wide angle, and?—”
He quizzes, “Bokeh?”
I love sharing this passion with him. “It’s a Japanese term used in photography. It means a haze. The lens softly blurs the background, especially on the beach, putting the focus on the person.” He shared, so I share. “This past year, when I took pictures of parents on the beach with their kids… I secretly wished they were us. So I bought a special lens for when it would be.”
“Oh, fuck, Viv, I love you,” he mutters softly, flipping me over, his kiss not so soft. It’s hungry and heated and aching with all the angst we’ve suffered, melting away with our moans. “I want it too, baby: a family with you,” he rasps. “But we can wait however long you need.”
Wait or want.
My head doesn’t know which way to go.
So I listen to my heart. The one in love with my beautiful best friend. It’s all I can hear pounding when I’m with Jace. “Let’s see what happens this week.”
He lifts from my lips, searching my eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ll take my pills. I’ll finish the packet, but we won’t use extra protection. We’ll let destiny decide.”
“Viv.” He nuzzles his nose to mine. “Are you sure? Baby, I promise, waiting for you was worth it, and I’ll do it again.”
“I know.” I trace the bow on his whiskered lips. “But my mom always says that destiny is what happens on your road to avoid it. And I don’t want to avoid my future with you. Not anymore. Not when I love you so much. Let’s just see what it holds.”
Jace grins, way too beastly, boyish, and cute. “Right now, destiny’s holding my hard dick for you.”
