Immortal Ever After(115)

“Wait! What are you doing?” Valerie cried, clutching at his shoulders.

“I’m taking you to my—our house,” he corrected himself and then reminded her, “I promised that if you said yes, I’d rip your clothes off and make love to you until you couldn’t stand and I intend to keep my promise. But not here.”

“No, definitely not here,” Valerie agreed, flushing. She wasn’t exactly quiet when he made love to her. Besides, she liked the idea of having him all to herself.

When Anders paused beside his SUV, Valerie grabbed the door handle and opened it for him.

“See, you’re perfect,” Anders said with a grin as he set her on the passenger seat. “I didn’t even have to ask. We’re a good team.”

Valerie just shook her head and laughed.

Smiling, Anders stepped back, and glanced down, saying, “In, Roxy.”

The dog jumped up at once, settling on the floor between Valerie’s legs as she had when they’d brought her back from Cambridge. She was smiling at the dog when Anders’s face suddenly appeared before her as he leaned in. His lips brushed hers, then he whispered, “Seat belt,” before closing the door.

Valerie did up her seat belt and watched him walk around to get in beside her to do up his own seat belt and start the SUV.

Anders reached for the gearshift, but paused when he saw that she was simply sitting there smiling at him. Tilting his head he asked, “What?”

“You know this is madness, right?” Valerie asked cheerfully. “We’ve only known each other a handful of days.”

Anders pulled his door closed, and eyed her uncertainly. “Scared?”

“A little,” she admitted.

“Second thoughts?”

“Oh, no, definitely not,” she assured him with a laugh.

Relaxing, he leaned across the open space between them to give her a quick peck, but when he started to straighten again, she caught his face in her hands and whispered, “I do love you.”

“And I love you,” he assured her, and then kissed her again, this time a slow, soft, sweet kiss that left them both hungry for more. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “Home?”

“Home,” she agreed.

Anders shifted the SUV into gear and Valerie turned to peer out the front window and toward their future . . . together.