Hooked on You: An Annapolis Harbor Series Prequel, Lea Coll [love letters to the dead .txt] 📗

because she loved having the windows open and I couldn’t say no to her.

I was going to wait to ask her but seeing her here in my house these last few weeks I never wanted her to leave. “When are you going to move in?”

“Oh? I didn’t think you’d asked.”

Technically, she was right. When I showed her this house, I said I’d like her to live here someday and there was no time like the present to get started on that wish. “Taylor Leeds, would you please move into my home with me?”

She giggled and shifted in my arms. “I’ve never heard a better offer. Yes, I’d love to live here.”

“You’d make me the happiest man ever.” I kissed her then, her mouth immediately opening and allowing me in. I’d never get enough of her. I shifted until my weight covered hers.

“It would make happy too. Especially, with our crazy schedules. I like knowing that you’ll crawl into bed with me at the end of the night.”

I kissed her nose and then her mouth. “Me too. Now, you’re wearing entirely too many clothes.”

I shoved up her silk nightgown kissing her stomach and palming her tits.

“I love you, Gabe,” she said breathlessly.

“I love you.” Then I sucked her nipple into my mouth with her nightgown at her neck.

“So much.” She arched into me, trying to make contact with my cock.

“Not yet.”

She groaned. “I need you now, Gabe.”

I moved down her body, spreading her legs with my shoulders, and breathing in the sweet scent of her arousal. “Not as much as I need you.” Then I sucked her clit into my mouth. I had an insatiable need for her mouth, her body, her brain—everything. Once I added my fingers, she detonated, her spasms squeezing my finger. I moved up her body, lining my cock with her pussy.

“Inside.”

“You’re needy tonight.”

“I’m always needy around you.” I entered her in one stroke, the walls of her pussy closing around my cock. I never knew what I was missing before I met her. Sex was so much better with someone you cared about—someone you loved. And the feeling I got when I was around her? I was a better man in her eyes. Our life together would be amazing no matter where we lived, as long as we were together.

Bonus Epilogue

GABE

Eighteen Months Later

The fan on the ceiling turned slowly, the moon casting shadows across the bed. I turned the smooth curve of the ring in my hand, the light catching the edges of the diamond. My heart beat a steady rhythm under my ribcage.

I bought the ring shortly after Taylor agreed to move in with me. I waited to ask her. I wanted to give her an out if she changed her mind about me. A part of me always believed I wasn’t good enough for her, yet we’d only fallen deeper in love.

Now, the desire to make her mine officially overrode any lingering doubt. I wanted my ring on her finger, and when she was ready, my baby in her belly.

I closed my hand over the ring.

Taylor came out of the bathroom, the light illuminating her from behind so that I could see the silhouette of her body through her pajamas. She smiled at me, flicking the switch off. I lifted the sheet so she could climb into bed with me.

Her head found her usual spot on my shoulder as I wrapped my arm around her. Her silky pajamas were smooth and cool over my thigh where her leg covered mine. Could she feel my heart beating rapidly?

She kissed my chest. “You seem tense.”

I drew in a shaky breath. What if she said no? What if living together was all she’d ever want? We talked about the future, eventually moving back to Annapolis to be with her family, and the possibility of kids, but those were dreams. What if she didn’t want that to be her reality?

She lifted her head to look at me. “Are you okay?”

“I have something to ask you.” I barely got the words out before my voice gave way.

Worry filtered across her face.

I wanted to reassure her, tell her it was nothing bad, but that wasn’t part of my practiced speech. “I’ve thought about this moment many times, what I would say, how I would say it, what your reaction would be. I can’t wait any longer, worried this isn’t what you want. I have to know.”

Taylor pushed up to sit, the sheet falling away, her nipples visible beneath her camisole. Despite the concern on her face, she’d never looked more beautiful.

Before she could jump to any conclusions, I sat up, taking her hand in mine. “I love you, Taylor Leeds, and against all odds, you love me. I was a shell before I met you. I thought I was unworthy of love, of someone like you. You saw beneath my layers to the good inside.”

“It was always there to be seen,” she said softly, her voice tight with emotion.

Her gaze dropped to the ring I held between us, the diamond shining from the light of the moon.

She covered her mouth with her free hand. “Gabe.”

The speech I’d practiced in the mirror so many times flew out of my head until there was nothing left but this overwhelming feeling of love. “I want to be with you forever. I want to move wherever you want to go. I want to have babies with you. I want to be the man by your side, lifting you up, supporting you when you need it. I want to be everything for you.”

She nodded, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. “I want that too, so much.”

“Will you marry me?” My voice cracked.

She dropped my hand, climbing into my lap, her knees resting on either side of my hips, her arms banded around my neck. Her lips by my ear, she said, “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

I squeezed my eyes shut against the tears stinging my eyelids, pulling her tight to me. There was nothing