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She straightens, eyes widening. “Truly? That’s all?”
“Maybe it’d be different if we had to get a bigger place or something, but I have expendable income living on my own already. How much do you think I make?”
Her head shakes. “I have no idea. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to say anything about your financial situation. I’m just trying to express that I’m willing to pull my weight and support myself.”
“I appreciate that, but you don’t need to. I’d like you to have the freedom to explore what you want to do with yourself, knowing that—even with me—being a spoiled princess is still on the table. I might not be able to buy you a bunch of jewels or yachts all at once, but I can keep you comfortable. Very comfortable, even.”
“Very comfortable,” she echoes, struck. Her lashes flutter as she lowers her attention. “I want to help. Somehow. I don’t want to be excess weight.”
I set my hot cocoa on the end table beside me and hook a finger at her. “Come here.”
Immediately, she rises, crosses the room, and stands before me.
Taking her hand, I kiss her fingers. “We’ll figure out how you can contribute to the household in a way that makes you feel like you’re a part of it, but I cannot stress this enough, Dece…” I peer up at her. “You are not excess anything. I’m thrilled you’re here with me. I like just being around you. I always have. Cooking, cleaning, working, crocheting tiny animals to sell on Etsy, I don’t—” I swear. “—care what you do. So long as you…” I pull her in, between my thighs. “…do it…” I tug her down, cup her face, and push back the hair that falls over her ears. “…near me.” Noses inches apart, I say, “Got it?”
Blush touches her cheeks. “Got it, Wynn-Wynn.”
“I love you.”
She dissolves into my arms. “I love you, too.”
“It’s gonna be all right. Better, even. One day at a time. You’re loved. Is there anything I can do for you right now?”
She cuddles. “I have the stupidest request, and I completely understand if the answer is no.”
“Anything.”
“Tomorrow, can I go to work with you?”
Tomorrow… I believe I’m scheduled to paint a house and put in a few updated showerheads. Nothing too egregious. I bet Dece’d be good at taping, too. She’s precise like that, what with all her cute journaling and scrapbooking. “’Course you can.”
She pushes up on my shoulders and looks at me. “Really?”
“Yeah. It’s nothing luxurious, but you’re always gonna be welcome wherever I am.”
Her plump lips form a perfect, tempting circle.
I hitch her legs up around my waist and run my hands from her thighs to her hips. “I’ll pay you, too.”
Flushing, she whips her head side to side. “No, no. I’m sure I’ll cause lots of problems while I’m learning. Maybe if I become competent quickly enough, that can be how I contribute?”
“How about we decide right here, right now, that your contribution will be giving me a goodnight kiss. Everything else is a bonus.”
“That hardly seems adequa—”
“We’ll reassess the extent of how you can ‘pay’ me once we’re married.” I run my palms up her body, then back down, reveling in the soft, full curves of her as my hands come to rest at her thighs again. “There’ll probably be inflation by then.”
Shy, she settles, plush against firm. “You’re being incredibly suggestive right now, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
Sinking, she draws her hands from my shoulders up into my hair as she dips into a kiss. Her perusal travels to my jaw, and I rock my head back, so she can taste my throat. Her tongue flicks, and a rough sound pulls from me on the coattails of a curse.
This.
Every day.
Every night.
