Page 76 of The Beachside Rental

A smile tugged at the corners of her lips.“Seems you still like being on my side of the duplex.”

His brows rose.“I can leave if you want.”

“No.You can stay.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.”Her heart pounded.“I love you too.”

“I was really hoping you’d say that.”His hand rose, and the back of his fingers brushed her cheek.

His gaze lowered to her lips, causing her pulse to race.His head dipped, and then he claimed her lips with his own.His touch was tentative at first, until she kissed him back.

Her heart swelled with love.She felt that this was the beginning of forever.

When Simon pulled back, she was disappointed.The kiss wasn’t nearly long enough.

“Stop pouting.I have another surprise for you.”He took her hand in his own.“Come on.”

As they headed down the stairs, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

She had to admit that she was curious.At the bottom of the stairs, he turned to the left, and then they ascended the stairs to his deck.It was there she found a table set for two with red roses in the middle of the table.

She was touched.No one had ever done something so romantic for her.She turned to him, lifted up on her tiptoes, and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

“I take it you like the surprise.”He smiled, erasing the worry lines from earlier.

“I love it, but I love you most of all.”

“Those are the words I’ve been hoping to hear.”

Just then Gus wedged himself between them, as though he didn’t want to be left out.

Her hand moved to pet him.“Yes, Gus.We love you too.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Sleephadbeenelusive.

Every time Simon had closed his eyes, Jenna’s image had formed in his mind.A smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he thought of her.They’d talked.They’d kissed.And they did a little bit of eating.

And so, with the afternoon sun peeking through the windows, Simon let out a yawn.This time it was a good kind of tired.He couldn’t stop thinking about the woman he was going to one day marry.

The thought momentarily startled him.He’d never had that thought about anyone.But as his heart and mind had a moment to let the thought sink in, he knew it was right.

Not that he was going to rush things with Jenna.He didn’t know the course their relationship would go on or the road bumps they’d hit along the way.However, he was confident they’d go the distance.

Gus whimpered, drawing Simon from his thoughts.He set aside his laptop and stood.With a swish of the tail, Gus led the way to the front door.

While Jenna was at work, Simon had been typing some new words on his book.He still hadn’t found his flash drive containing his notes, but he was certain it was somewhere in the beach house.He just had to figure out where.

That morning he’d had to debate the pros and cons of going forward with this book idea now that it had been leaked to the tabloid.In the end, he decided that the public might know the initial premise of his book, but he had an idea about tweaking it.He was going to explore the hero’s relationship with the heroine—the woman he was searching the galaxy to find again.Maybe their relationship wasn’t so straight forward.

At the front door, Simon paused.With his hand on the handle, he turned to Gus.“I’m going to let you out, on your own.But don’t go running off.Do you hear me?”

Gus whined ever so slightly while giving him an innocent stare.