Forever With Me

  With sure fingers, he unzips my dress and pushes it off my shoulders, letting it pool around my ankles.

  “You’re beautiful, cara.” His eyes roam up and down my torso. “This bra is pretty.” His fingertips skim my skin over the light pink cups of my demi bra, making my nipples pucker before he unclasps it between my breasts and it joins the dress on the floor. With his eyes on mine, he hooks his thumbs into my panties and guides them over my hips and down my legs.

  “Step out of those killer heels, please.” He takes my hand in his and leads me to the bathtub, watching as I sink into the steamy water and settle back with my head leaning on the ledge of his vast bathtub. “Here’s your wine,” he says with a grin as he sits on the ledge.

  “It’s pretty in here.”

  “With you here, yes it is.”

  “You’re a charmer.”

  “I’m just calling it like I see it,” he replies with a half-smile, showing off that sexy dimple.

  “I like your dimple.”

  “I hope that’s not all you like.”

  I shrug. “Probably not.”

  He chuckles and drags his fingertip down my cheek.

  “Actually, there’s more to you than the flirty, charming Italian that I’ve known you to be.”

  His blue eyes find mine, and he watches me calmly as I take a sip of wine.

  “You’re not going to ask me what I see?” I ask boldly.

  “What do you see, tesoro?”

  I take his dry hand in my wet ones and plant a kiss to his palm. “I see a professional, intelligent, kind—”

  “Just don’t call me nice.”

  “Sexy, sweet man.”

  “You’re the sweet one, Alecia.”

  “This bath is nice.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  “You’re not joining me?”

  “No.” He sweeps my hair off my forehead with one fingertip. “I want you to relax. Take a deep breath.” He leans in and kisses my head, then stands and leaves the room.

  Damn, he’s sweet.

  I set the wine glass on the ledge of the tub and sink as far into the water as I can without sinking my mouth and nose under the water, take a deep breath, and the next thing I know, strong arms are lifting me out of the tub.

  “No falling asleep and drowning, sweetheart.”

  “I’m getting you wet,” I murmur against his chest and burrow closer to him, my arms around him, my nose pressed to his neck. “But don’t put me down.”

  He chuckles and kisses my forehead. “I have to set you down for a second to dry you off.”

  He dries me off quickly, and before I can get cold, I’m back in his arms, being carried into the bedroom, where he gently lays me in the bed and pulls the covers up over my nude body.

  I watch him with heavy-lidded eyes as he quickly sheds his clothes and joins me, pulls me against him, into him, his arms folding around me and hugging me tightly, as if he’s afraid I’ll roll away from him.

  Not a chance in hell of that.

  I never knew that falling asleep in someone’s arms could be so comforting.

  Because it never has been before.

  I sigh deeply and press a kiss to Dominic’s neck. “This is delightful.”

  “Mm,” he replies and kisses my hair. “Sleep, sweet girl.”

  “We’re not going to have sex?” I ask with surprise, and pull back far enough to look him in the eye. His fingertips dance down that sweet spot on my neck, sending shivers down my arms, just as his other hand takes mine and he laces my fingers through his, then brings them up to his lips.

  “I want to sleep with you,” he whispers roughly. “I don’t mean have sex with you, although I always want to be inside you. I want to sleep with you, in my bed, with your head on my chest and my arms wrapped around you. With my nose buried in your hair so I can breathe you in all night long.” He takes a deep breath and kisses my fingers again. “I want to sleep with you, here in this chilly room, so we have to cuddle closer. No talking, just being here, with you. I just want to be with you, Alecia.”

  I swallow hard, my eyes pinned to his lips as he speaks, and feel my heart trip and my stomach tighten at his words.

  “I can live with that,” I whisper hoarsely.

  “Good. Sleep, cara.” He kisses my fingers again, rests our hands on his chest and guides my head down onto him, where I just seem to fit perfectly, despite our immense height difference.

  I take a deep breath and feel myself relax against him. I feel him grin against my head as his fingertips tickle my neck again.

  “Keep doing that and I won’t sleep,” I whisper.

  “You’ll sleep,” he replies confidently.

  I don’t speak again. I simply lie with him. Be with him, and after long minutes I feel him slip into sleep, but I lie awake for a while, listening to him breathe, listening to his heartbeat against my cheek.

  Listening to the silence around us.

  Is this what it feels like to be in love? This contentment, this attraction? This trust?

  I can’t resist planting a kiss on his chest, and I feel his arms tighten around me in his sleep.

  I’m quite sure that if this is what love is, I’ve tripped over and fallen right in.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Seriously, this is like hot man overload,” Emily whispers to me as we sit in the white chairs before the arbor Dominic’s brothers made for Will and Meg’s wedding. The whole family is here for the rehearsal. All of the Montgomery siblings and their spouses¸ all of the parents, even the kids. It’s a huge family party, and they’re having a great time ribbing each other.

  “And here,” the pastor says patiently, as two of the brothers, Matt and Caleb, snicker at something Isaac whispered to them in the front row. “Is where you recite your vows to each other. Will, you first.”

  Will, with a perfectly sober and serious expression on his impossibly handsome face, takes Meg’s hands in his and stares down at her intently.

  “Megan, I promise to never make you work out with me. I know how you value your laziness.” His lips twitch as his brothers snicker. “I vow to send cupcakes to your work regularly.” He grins wickedly, and I know we’re about to get an earful of something fun. “I vow to remember where all your sweet spots are on that fantastic body of yours, and pay the appropriate amount of attention to them on a regular basis.”

  “You’re the reason we have to put instructions on shampoo bottles in this country,” Samantha calls out, earning a fist bump from Brynna.

  “I’m not going to say the real vows today,” Will says, his eyes still pinned on his bride. “Those are for Saturday.”

  “Your turn, Meg.”

  “I’m not saying mine either,” she says with a grin. “I want to get to the kissing part.”

  “That’s my girl,” Will agrees and leans in to kiss her, but she slaps her hand over Will’s lips and leans away, looking at the pastor.

  “Wait! How are we supposed to kiss?”

  “No tongue!” Leo yells out, making us all laugh.

  “Mmph hump smeethart,” Will says against Meg’s hand.

  “What?” she asks, pulling her hand away with a smile.

  “I’ve never needed instructions on how to kiss, sweetheart.” Will slips his hands around Meg’s waist and pulls her flush against him, bending at the knees to match his lips up with hers, and suddenly they’re in a passionate embrace, kissing with great enthusiasm.

  “Stop it right now!” Jules cries and covers her sleeping infant daughter’s eyes where she’s perched on Nate’s shoulder. “There are children here!”

  Will dips Meg dramatically, never taking his mouth from hers. Dominic turns in his seat and smiles at me, shakes his head, and then shrugs as if to say, “What can you do?”

  “Okay, we get it, you love her,” Steven says as he stands. “Let the poor woman breathe, son.”

  “Sweet Lord, if a man kissed me like that, I’d die,” Emily whispers in awe, making m
e laugh.

  “I hear Blake has been kissing you just fine,” I murmur, and watch her face flush.

  “I was going to tell you.” We watch quietly, not looking at each other, as the Montgomery family stands and chats, the girls fussing with babies and kids, the guys admiring their handiwork on the arbor.

  “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy,” I tell her honestly.

  “I’m happy.”

  I nod once and drop the subject, standing to get back to work.

  “Okay, guys, good job.” I clap my hands as I walk to the happy couple. “Dinner is being served in the tent. We might as well break it in, right?”

  “Alecia, this is spectacular,” Meg says with a wide grin. “It’s so pretty.”

  “If you like it now, just wait for Saturday.”

  “You heard the woman!” Will announces almost urgently. “Food!”

  “Will hasn’t eaten in about an hour,” Isaac says with a roll of the eyes. “He thinks he’s starving.”

  “Be nice to my boy,” Gail, their mother, admonishes Isaac as she lifts Luke and Natalie’s daughter, Olivia, into her arms and kisses her cheek, then follows the others toward the tent, where the servers have set up a vast buffet spread. A DJ is playing soft music, and the twinkle lights have been turned on, giving the space a dreamy glow.

  Emily marches ahead, talking into her earpiece, alerting the kitchen staff that we’re moving into the tent and ready for drinks.

  I bring up the rear, but before I can get far, Dominic joins me and brushes his fingertips down my neck, in that way he does that sends shivers down my spine.

  “How are you?”

  “I’m great. Meg and Will are happy, that’s all that matters.” I grin up at him as he takes my hand in his, kisses my knuckles, and walks with me into the tent.

  He and I hang back, taking in the scene before us. The tables have been set up for Saturday, and five of the round tables have been covered and dressed prettily for tonight’s dinner. The flowers Meg chose as her wedding flowers, tiger lilies, roses and calla lilies, serve as centerpieces. The lights hanging above are pretty and cast a glow about the room.

  The parents are seated at one table together, laughing and talking, some holding babies. Steven has his arm wrapped loosely around his wife’s shoulders, and he’s watching her with loving eyes as she tells the table at large a story.

  The others are scattered about the other tables. Meg and Will invited their entire family, including Meredith’s best friend Jax and his fiancé, Logan.

  It’s a smaller party, but full of love and fun.

  Will is already seated with a heaping plate in front of him, eating and joking with his brother Caleb at the next table.

  “Dude, you totally slipped Bryn the tongue when you got married!” he says.

  “Hell yes I did, and I’d do it again.”

  “You’re all disgusting,” Jules grumbles, but smiles at the server who delivers her a drink, almost making him stumble over himself. “Oh, thank you. You’re my newest friend.”

  “Don’t flirt with the waiter, baby,” Nate says with a chuckle. “You’ll make him trip.”

  “He’s fine,” she says and waves Nate off. “Alecia! Come sit by me.”

  “Oh, I have to work.”

  “No.” Meg shakes her head and points to the empty chair next to Jules. “You worked already. It’s beautiful. Now I want you to be my guest.”

  I frown, but Emily speaks into my earpiece, “I got this, boss. Easy peasy. Enjoy yourself.”

  “Excellent idea,” Dom agrees, and plants his hand on the small of my back, guiding me to the table with Jules, Nate, Luke, and Natalie. He pulls the chair out for me, and when I sit, he leans in and whispers in my ear, “I’ll go get you something to eat.”

  I frown up at him, but he’s already marching away toward the buffet.

  “This is weird,” I announce, and gaze around the table. “I’m supposed to be working.”

  “You’re our friend,” Natalie says with a smile and kisses her infant son’s cheek. “We want you to celebrate with us. You’ll be busy enough at the wedding.”

  I nod and gaze around the room, taking in the way Matt’s hand rests on his girlfriend, Nic’s neck. It’s a gentle touch, yet almost…commanding. The beautiful woman is smiling at Stacy, Isaac’s wife, as Stacy and Brynna discuss which of Nic’s cupcakes they enjoy the most. Isaac, Caleb, and Matt are watching their girls with contented smiles.

  It sounds like the tiramisu is winning the cupcake contest.

  “I’ll take one of those lemon drops martinis, Linus,” I say to my young server, who is still blushing from Jules’ attention.

  “Daddy!” Olivia calls from Gail’s arms across the room, holding her hands out and grinning at Luke. “Kiss you, Daddy!”

  “I think that means she wants you,” Nat says, as Luke stands and crosses to his daughter, lifting her easily into his arms and burying his face in her neck, blowing raspberries.

  Seriously, that might make my ovaries explode.

  That might make any woman’s ovaries explode.

  Luke Williams, former movie star, is maybe the hottest thing on this planet.

  Not that I’ll ever admit that out loud.

  “We need to discuss Stella’s first birthday party,” Jules says to me.

  “She’s not even six months old,” Nate says, as he brushes his hand down his wife’s hair. “Let her be little, Julianne.”

  “She’ll need a great party,” Jules insists, but leans into her man’s touch.

  “She’ll have one,” I assure her. “But he’s right. Let her be little for a while.” I gaze at the pretty baby with the pink bow on her head, her little pink dress and big blue eyes staring back at me.

  “Would you like to hold her?” Nate asks, as Luke returns with Livie.

  “Oh, I don’t think—”

  “Here.” Jules passes the baby to me, and suddenly I’m sitting here, at this party that I planned, that I’m supposed to be working at, with a gorgeous baby in my arms and my man setting a heaping plate of food before me.

  “Who do you have here?” Dominic asks as he sits next to me. He kisses Stella on the cheek, then pays the same attention to me. “Hello, bella,” he croons to the baby, “il mio dolce bambino.”

  “I love it when you call her your sweet baby,” Jules says with a smile. “It sounds pretty.”

  “She’s pretty,” I murmur and instinctively cradle Stella against my chest, kiss her head and bury my nose in her wispy blonde curls, inhaling her baby smell. “Babies always smell so good.”

  “Not always,” Jules says with a laugh.

  “Well, I don’t have to change their diapers,” I reply with a smile.

  “You look good with her,” Natalie says, and sips her drink.

  “Let me take her, tesoro, so you can eat,” Dom says, and smoothly takes the baby from my arms.

  “What did that mean?” Nat asks.

  “What did what mean?” Dominic asks and smiles at Stella. “Goodness, you’re getting big, bella.”

  “You called Alecia tesoro,” Jules says. “We’ve never heard that one. You always call us bella or cara.”

  Dom rubs his nose against Stella’s and then laughs with the baby, barely paying attention to his sisters. “Tesoro means my treasure,” he says, and glances over at me with warm eyes. “I’m calling her my treasure.”

  I feel my eyes go round as I swallow the bite of food I’d just taken and gape at him.

  His treasure?

  His treasure.

  Well, if that doesn’t spark butterflies, I don’t know what does.

  And then it occurs to me, he’s been calling me his treasure since the first time we made love.

  “Charming Italian,” I whisper, earning a laugh from Jules.

  “Oh, he’s definitely that,” she agrees.

  “I think it’s very sweet,” Nat says with a smile. I can feel Dom watching me as I focus on my food. “Why does this make you shy??
?? she asks me.

  I shrug a shoulder, frown and drink the rest of my martini, then gesture to Linus for another.

  “We know you’re seeing each other,” Jules assures me happily, and I want the floor to open up and swallow me whole, but I smile brightly, not wanting anyone to think I’m uncomfortable. I had no idea we were making our relationship public. “And, can I just say, it’s about time.”

  “Excuse me,” I murmur and stand.

  “Are you okay?” Dominic asks.

  “Of course.” I smile again and nod. “I just need to check on a few things.”

  I make it out of the tent and around the store building, where the hills roll, full of grape vines as far as the eye can see and take a long, deep breath.

  His family knows we’re seeing each other.

  Isn’t it too soon for that?

  “Here she is,” Natalie says as she and Jules come around the corner and stand on either side of me, flanking me, staring out at Dominic’s land.

  “It’s gorgeous here,” I say.

  “Do you often have the undeniable urge to leave a party and stare at the scenery?” Jules asks, as she drops her arm around my shoulders.

  “Maybe,” I reply primly.

  “We didn’t mean to scare you off,” Natalie says.

  “I just needed some fresh air,” I lie.

  “We scared you,” Jules says. “Is it because we know you’re doing the nasty with our brother?”

  “Well, I’m scared now,” I reply and shake my head ruefully. “I had no idea that you guys chatted with your brothers about who they have sex with.”

  “Ew.” Jules scrunches up her nose and shivers. “We don’t do that. But we can tell that you’re doing the sex stuff.”

  “Sex stuff?” I snort. “Is that the scientific term for it?”

  “He’s been interested in you for a long while,” Natalie says softly, watching the horizon, as she slips her hand in mine. “There were times I’d see him watching you with so much want in his eyes, it was almost painful.”