Текст книги "An On Dublin Street Valentine"

Автор книги: Samantha Young

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I pulsed around him, pulling back to look into his eyes as I struggled to get my breath back.

“Well,” I grinned, feeling languid and satisfied, “That was unexpected. The fact that we could get caught made it surprisingly hot.”

He laughed softly, his gaze tender as he brushed his thumb over my lower lip. “It’s always hot with you.”

I smiled, pleased, before I gently rose up. I pouted comically as he slipped out of me and he chuckled. We sorted our clothing with all the comfortableness of a married couple, like we hadn’t just had sex in a public place where anyone might have seen us. It was reckless, it was probably foolish, but fuck it, it was Valentine’s Day and it was hot and sweet and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Feeling more than a little smug, I settled beside Marco on the picnic blanket with all the demureness I could muster. He stared at me as he handed me the pastries his uncle Gio, who owned an Italian restaurant, must have made us.

“What?” I said, curious at his sudden intensity.

He shook his head as he got comfortable, lying down, half on his side, his right elbow holding up his upper body so he could talk and eat. “I just like it that I know more about you than anyone else does that’s all.”

“What? The lady in the street but a freak in the bed part?”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Did you just quote Usher at me?”

I struggled not to laugh. “Maybe.”

“I wouldn’t have put it like that.” He shrugged. “But I have pieces of you no one else has… I like that. Just like you have pieces of me that no one else can or will ever have.”

“I like it too.”

He nodded, happy with that before he took a bite into the delicious food Gio had given us. As we ate in companionable silence, I gazed around me before my eyes locked on the bench we’d sat on all those years ago.

We’d sat there and he’d told me about his uncle who back then had been abusive. He’d mellowed in his old age, but it had taken me a long time to be cordial to the man, knowing how he used to behave around Marco. That night Marco had told me why he’d left the States, about how lonely life had been for him. I’d ached so much for him. We sat there for hours talking about everything and nothing, and one of the things we talked about was our idea of the perfect date. Marco had just said he didn’t date. But he wanted to know what my idea of a perfect date was anyway.

I smiled remembering.

When we first got back together he set that perfect date up for me.

I looked over at him to find him watching me. “You remember everything about that night, don’t you?”

He nodded. “Every word.”

I finished off my pastry, brushing the crumbs off my fingers. “I think we did the right thing starting off as friends.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we were best friends first right. That means when we’re older we’ll still always have that. Our friendship. I think it’s what keeps couples together more than anything else.”

Marco frowned. “What does that mean?”

Sensing he was irritated by the comment I hurried to explain. “Well people get older, passion...,” I searched for the right word, “Dilutes.”

He made a face. “I hate to tell you this, baby, but when we’re old and gray my horny ass will still want yours.”

I laughed at the image I now had in my hand. “I take it that means you don’t intend to give me any peace in that department?”

He grunted and gave me a pointed look. “I think it’ll be mutual.”

Chuckling I nodded as I reached for the sparkling water in the hamper. It was true. I woke him up for sex during the night probably more times than he did me. He always fell asleep before me because I liked to read before going to sleep. “I read a lot of sexy books.” I shrugged.

“And I thank God for that every day.”

***

Sophia and Jarrod were both sleeping when we picked them up from Joss and Braden’s later that night. Although Sophia stirred and whimpered and cried a little as we took them out to the car, Jarrod slept right through. Thankfully, Sophia fell asleep with the movement of the car, and Marco carried her into the house while I carried the soft, warm, pliant bundle of baby joy that was my son.

Once we had them down for the night, we made our way to our own room and got ready for bed. Crawling in beside my husband, I curled up next to him and lay my head down on his chest.

I sighed, content, when his arm came around me, his hand resting on my hip.

“Thank you for the best Valentine’s Day ever.”

He was silent.

I lifted my head to find him frowning. “What?”

“Best ever?” he grimaced.

“Um… yes,” I answered, confused by his response.

“Well how the fuck am I supposed to top that?”

I threw my head back in laughter and found myself rolled onto my back as he braced over me, grinning. I slid my hands around the warm, hard muscles of back. “You don’t need to worry about that for another two years. Next year is my turn.”

“Oh.” He nudged my legs apart as he began peeling the strap of my nighty down. “What do you have in mind?”

“It’s a surprise.” My breath caught as cool air whispered over my breasts as he tugged my nighty down to my waist. My nipples peaked and Marco took it as an invitation. His warm, hot mouth wrapped around my left nipple and I automatically wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him closer.

He lifted his head and gave me a slow wicked grin. “Next year. You and me. Alone. In this bed. You naked. Best fucking present you could give me.”

I shook with laughter. “Men are so easy.”

“You know it.”

My laughter was quickly swallowed up in his kiss and we were just getting to the good stuff when Jarrod’s cry lit up our baby monitor.

We froze for a second, our heated, aroused bodies needing a minute to come out of the lust stupor. Marco untangled himself from me and got out of bed, shucking on a pair of pajama bottoms. “Don’t move,” he said to me. “Not one inch.”

“I’m lying like a wanton,” I grumbled.

“I don’t know what that is but it’s sexy as fuck so stay there, exactly as you are.”

“Or what?”

“Just do it.” He disappeared quickly out of the room and a couple of seconds later I heard his deep crooning through the baby monitor as he saw to our son.

My belly melted as I heard him whisper soothingly to Jarrod and I decided I would stay as I was just because he was such a good dad.

A little while later he wandered back into the room and stopped in the doorway. His eyes flared at the sight of me sprawled across our bed, half-naked. “Fuck,” he bit out and I had to bite my lip to stop from grinning.

He saw it anyway and it made him move.

Before I knew it he was naked and in the bed and I was wrapped around him again and he was inside of me, thrusting into me with urgency and need that took me toward climax.

Twice.

Afterward, I curled into him, my body and mind so filled with contentment, sleep came for me easily.

I was almost out when another cry lit the air, this time louder and more feminine.

I moved to slip out from Marco’s arms and he tightened his hold. “I’ll go,” he said.

“My turn,” I whispered, pressing a kiss to his shoulder before I left.

I pulled on my discarded nighty and tugged a robe on around it and padded down the carpeted hallway to my daughter’s room at the other side of the house.

She was sitting up in her bed, clutching at her duvet, the nightlight in the room showing tears in her eyes.

An ache moved through me at the sight and I hurried over to her, pulling her into my arms. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“Mummy,” she hiccupped and clutched me tight.

I could only assume it was the disruption to her sleep tonight that set her off, so I lay back against the headboard and murmured the story of Cinderella to her until I finally felt her warm little body go limp against me. Carefully as possible, I settled her comfortably and tip toed back out.

Not wanting to wake Marco, I slid back into bed and curled up on my side.

Not two seconds later the mattress dipped and I felt his heat along the length of me as he put his arm around me and pulled me into him.

“Angel okay?” he said sleepily.

“She’s okay.”

“Good.” He kissed my neck. “Love you.” His soft snores followed quickly on the heels of those two words.

I smiled, my eyelids drooping with exhaustion. “Love you, too.”

Shannon and Cole

My eyes were boring holes into the wall.

The buzz of a needle had not sounded for the last few minutes and still Cole hadn’t appeared out of his room with the stunning brunette whose eyes had lit up at the sight of him like a kid’s on a present-surrounded Christmas tree.

I grumbled under my breath and propped my elbow on the reception desk and my chin in the cup of my palm. I continued to glare at the wall, the glare turning into a full on glower at the sound of a feminine giggle.

I huffed and pushed back on my chair restlessly, flailing my arms out to balance myself when the chair threatened to topple backwards with the power of my aggressive restlessness.

Everyone else had left INKarnate, the tattoo studio in Leith that we worked in. I was the full time receptionist and would continue to be the full time receptionist until I started art college after the summer. Then I’d drop to part time. Cole, my fiancé, was the manager and head tattooist. Stu owned the place but his visits were rare now. Rae, my best friend and ex flatmate, was the tattooist and tattoo removal specialist, and Simon, gorgeous, alpha-man gay Simon, was our other tattooist and piercings guy.

Both of them had gone home to their respective lovers an hour ago.

Why?

Because it was Valentine’s Day.

Actually it was Cole’s and my first Valentine’s Day together… and he was tattooing some flirty, giggling stunner while I waited impatiently for him to finish up.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glowered out at the street that was artificially lit up by street lights and the headlamps of passing vehicles. Now, I knew for a fact that Cole was not flirting back with the brunette. Somehow, after everything I’d been through, I managed to find the one guy in the world who looked like something out of a really sexy Greek myth (yes, he was that gorgeous), had the principles of a Disney hero, the style and attitude of a biker, the soul of an artist, and the honor and skills of an honest to goodness warrior.

I may have thought about how to describe Cole perfectly a lot. Really a lot.

Now of course he wasn’t perfect. If he was perfect we’d be on our first Valentine’s Day date by now, but he was definitely one of the good ones, which was why I trusted him implicitly.

Even when he had sexy women on his tattoo chair.

“Shortcake.”

 I whipped around to see Cole standing in the doorway of the back hall where the tattoo rooms were. “Yeah?”

He nodded his head toward his room. “My customer is feeling faint. Do you have any chocolate?”

Hmm. The very suspicious part of me wondered how a girl could go from giggling to feeling faint all of a sudden. I swept my gaze over my fiancé, taking in his very tall, very athletic build. The tattoos, the scruff, and that face. And those eyes. Those green eyes that could make my underwear melt right off of me.

Yeah, I wasn’t buying that his customer felt faint.

I smiled sweetly. “I’ll bring some in.”

He smiled back at me. “Thanks, sweetheart. We’ll get out of here shortly.”

I nodded and he disappeared back to his room. Grabbing the chocolate from the mini-fridge in the cupboard behind my desk, I then hurried over to one of the mirrors we had set up in the studio so people could look at piercings or tattoos or whatever. When the brunette had first gone into Cole’s room for her appointment I’d changed into my dress for our date. I’d then covered it up with my coat so Cole wouldn’t see it until we were ready to go.

It was time to disband with that idea. I shrugged off the coat and dumped it on the couch. Staring at my reflection I gave myself a careful nod. I was wearing an LBD. My favorite one actually. Cole liked me in black. This one he’d seen me in but he didn’t get to appreciate it fully because we weren’t together. I wore it to his birthday party last year when there was animosity, misunderstanding and incredible sexual tension between us.

I thought I’d give him the chance to get me out of it this time.

Along with the dress, I was wearing black suede ankle boots that made my short, slender legs look longer.

“Shortcake?” he called from his room.

Oops. I was taking too long.

Clutching the chocolate I sauntered into the back hall, my heels clicking against the tiled flooring. I stopped in the doorway of Cole’s room to see him sitting on a stool and the brunette relaxed on his chair.

There was no sign of paleness to be found.

Cole raised an eyebrow at the sight of me as I walked slowly in so he wouldn’t miss one bit of the dress.

“Chocolate.” I handed it to him, suppressing a smile.

He took it and handed it to his customer without even looking at her. “When did the quick change act happen?”

“While you were in here.” I shrugged and smoothed my hands down the dress. “I wanted to be ready.”

“Good call,” he said, still eating me up.

“Do you have a date for Valentine’s Day?” the brunette asked, her eyes on me as she nibbled on the chocolate.

Feeling faint my butt. What a waste of my ‘for the fainties’ chocolate. There were people who really needed that chocolate!

“I do. But he’s late.”

Cole shot me a look, his lips curling up at the corners. “What an arsehole.”

I gave a ‘well, whatcha gonna do?’ shrug. “Do you think he’ll like the dress?”

“I think he will love the dress.”

“Aye, you look good,” the brunette added before turning to Cole with flirt in her eyes. “What about you? Do you have a date tonight?”

I just stopped myself from rolling my eyes.

Cole wasn’t stupid. He got flirted with all the time. He knew she was flirting with him, and he knew that’s why I hadn’t left the room after delivering the chocolate. “With my fiancé.”

She almost choked. “You’re engaged.” She looked entirely put out, like she had a right to be or something. “Well she’s a lucky girl.”

“She knows.” I wiggled my left hand at her where the beautiful diamond Cole had put on it months ago, sparkled.

And everything finally came together for her. Cole ducked away, hiding his grin as he pretended to clean up.

“Oh, you two.” She gestured between us. “Right. I missed that.” She gave me a sheepish smile. “I guess I’m holding you guys up. I’ll just go.”

“Only if you’re feeling better,” I said with as much genuine feeling as I could inject into it. I did a pretty good job pretending because she now looked guilty.

“I’m much better thanks.” She got up off the chair. “I’ll just pay and get out of here.”

“I’ll take care of that.” I stared at my fiance’s back. “I take it you gave her the after care talk?”

He glanced over his shoulder. “I did.”

“Thanks again, Cole.” She gave him a little wave.

“You’re welcome.” He gave her a chin nod before turning back to pretending to be busy.

As soon as she was out of the door I rolled my eyes at his back and then followed her out.

The brunette’s cheeks were flushed with embarrassment as she paid and I actually started to feel bad for her. Once she’d left I wandered back into Cole’s room and leaned against the doorway.

He turned around, giving me a thorough once over that made me instantly overheated.

“You really need to make it clear to them that you’re not single.”

Cole grimaced. “Shannon, I wasn’t flirting back with her.”

“I know that. But you should have seen her face when she was paying.” I winced. “I actually felt sorry for her. She was mortified.”

“What can I do?” he shrugged. “If a woman didn’t flirt back with me I would take it to mean she wasn’t interested. You’d think any sane person would get the hint.”

“Oh really.” I stepped into the room, my arms crossed over my chest. “Because I distinctly remember not flirting back with you and you still coming on to me.”

Cole raised an eyebrow. “Shortcake, you didn’t need to flirt back with your words. You were practically panting.”

“Ugh. You are so arrogant. I was not panting.”

“You were panting.” He nodded, still grinning that ridiculous but sexy as sin grin.

I narrowed my eyes on him, ignoring the tingles of arousal between my legs and in the swell of my breasts.

This made him grin harder and then he raised both eyebrows suggestively. “I’m making you hot right now, aren’t I?”

“Yes, but that’s beside the point.” I turned on my heels and walked out.

“Where are you going?”

“To get your Valentine’s Day gift. Perhaps it will distract you from your ego.”

I heard his laughter as he followed me out into the main studio.

Unlocking the cabinet drawer behind the desk I pulled out his present and handed it to him.

Cole took it with a curious smile on his face. “What is it?”

“Open it and see.”

My stomach fluttered with excited nervousness as he carefully tore the wrapping off. He raised his eyebrows as he stared down at the gift in his hands and I had to stop myself from crying out, ‘Well?’

He looked up from the photograph I’d had framed. “How?”

Cole had these really cool black and white photographs in his flat. The one above his bed was my favorite. It was taken from the backseat of a classic American convertible. The driver was turned in profile. He wore dark aviators and smoke billowed from his lips as he seemed to stare out at the world in boredom, and beyond the car was a deep canyon, giving the impression that the car was mere inches from the edge.

As cool as Cole’s photographs were, none of them were personal.

The one in Cole’s hands was.

It was a candid shot of the two of us at a beach in Longniddry, a coastal village just outside of the city. We’d visited there last autumn with Cole’s sister Jo, her husband Cam, their daughter Belle, and their best friend Nate and his wife Olivia and their kids. Cam and Nate grew up there and their parents still lived there. It was a gorgeous place.

Anyhow, Nate was a photo journalist and a bit of a camera nut. He’d taken lots of pictures that weekend and when I was scrolling through them I found one of Cole and me that was so cool I asked him to save it for me. He’d gone one further and printed it out and had it professionally framed.

I’d kept it for a special occasion to give to Cole.

“How?” he said again, his eyes filled with tenderness.

“Nate.”

“Of course,” he murmured and looked back at the photograph, stroking the image of me with his fingers.

I shivered. “You like it then?”

“I love it,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

The image wasn’t your typical cheesy, lovey-dovey shot of us cuddling or kissing or anything like that. Instead I was sitting on a stone-built wall that ran along part of the beach, my legs dangling, my hands gripping lightly at the stone at either side of my hips. My coat was open and billowing slightly in the wind and my hair was billowing more than slightly behind me, wild and free like always. I was staring up at Cole, my expression soft, curious.

Cole was standing on the sand, just a little in front of me, his hands burrowed in the pockets of his jeans as the light jacket he wore didn’t have any. He wore a beanie cap that Nate had given him to borrow and he was staring contentedly off past the camera at what I knew was the water.

We looked young and cool and interesting and if I may so myself… kind of hot.

“I thought you could hang it in the flat.”

“Definitely.” Cole looked up at me and grinned. “This is fucking cool.”

I giggled and nodded as he pulled me into him with his free arm. “I thought so. I thought it would be nice to have it so when we’re old and gray we can look back and remember how we were.”

He kissed me softly and pulled back to say something just as the studio door opened.

I frowned, turning around to tell the intruder we were closed when I stopped short at the sight of our boss, Stu.

“Right on time,” Cole said.

On time for what? “Stu?” I looked from him to Cole and then back to him. “What are you doing here?”

“Wee fairy.” Stu grinned. “How are you doing, lass?”

“I’m fine. Confused but fine. You?”

“Glad my wife hates Valentine’s Day as much as me.” He chuckled to himself and looked past me to Cole. “Ready?”

“For what?” I pulled out of Cole’s arms, hoping my Valentine’s Day wasn’t about to be ruined.

“Your present.” Cole carefully placed the photograph on the reception desk. “Stu is tattooing your name on my chest.”

At that grand announcement he and Stu started striding toward the back rooms.

My name? Across his chest?

“Are you crazy?” I hurried after him, trying not to slip on the smooth tiles in my heels. “Cole!” I caught up with them just as they were getting organized in Cole’s room. “Can we please talk? Just for a minute. In private.”

“Shannon—”

“Please.” I pleaded.

He sighed. “Stu, I’ll be a minute.”

Stu grinned at us knowingly. “That’s right. You talk some sense into him, wee fairy.”

Ignoring that I grabbed Cole’s hand and dragged him back out into the main studio. “You’re not doing this.”

Cole immediately glowered at me. “I was hoping for a better reaction than this. Something along the lines of ‘that’s so romantic, Cole, I can’t believe you love me enough to get me etched permanently across your chest’.

“It’s so romantic.” I squeezed his hand in reassurance. “I love that you love me that much, but… let’s be serious here. Anything could happen. We have no idea what will happen. And yes, I hope to God that in fifty years time we still have the photograph,” I gestured to it on the reception desk, “and we’re looking back at it together. But we don’t know with one hundred percent surety that we will. A tattoo, Cole. It’s forever.”

“But we’re forever. We’re getting married”

I melted. “I know. You know I love you. But a tattoo seems like a bad idea. Almost like you’re jinxing us.”

“Jinxing us?”

“Mmmhmm.”

He huffed out an exasperated sigh. “I’m not jinxing us, Shannon. You and I are forever. I’m not going anywhere. Are you?”

“No, of course not!” I moved into him, slipping my arms around his back and tilting my head back so I could meet his gaze. “I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”

In answer Cole wrapped his arms around me so tightly every inch of me was pressed against every inch of him. “I’ll never regret anything about you.”

As I found myself melting into him again, giving in, a sudden thought occurred to me and I blurted out, “Make it an ‘S’!”

Cole’s head jerked back in surprise at my outburst. “What?”

“The tattoo.” I patted his chest where his heart was. “Just make it an ‘S’. We’ll know it stands for me but if anything ever happened you could easily change it into another word.”

“Nothing is going to happen, but—” He covered my mouth with his hand knowing I was opening it to argue again, “If it will make you feel better about the whole thing, I will just get a stylized ‘S’.”

I grinned against his skin and he moved his hand, returning the smile.

“I just thought of something,” I said, trailing my fingertips over his chest. “This is a two-fold present.”

“And how’s that?”

Heat moved through me at my dirty thoughts. “You need to watch your new tattoo tonight… which means I get to be on top.”

Cole shook with quiet laughter. “It was all in my plans.”

“I’m sure it was.” I stood up on tiptoe to kiss him. “Hurry and then let’s skip dinner tonight.”

***

“Lie down on your back.” I stood at the foot of the bed in my skimpy black dress and heels with my hands on my hips.

Cole’s lips twitched with aroused amusement as he sat on the bed before me, wearing nothing. I’d just gotten done ordering him out of his clothes, which he did with a sensual amount of teasing that had me more than hot and bothered.

He stared up at me with those gorgeous green eyes of his, and I think he knew I was itching to touch every inch of him. Every inch but the square on his chest that was covered with cling film, protecting his new tattoo. A beautiful stylized ‘S’ right across his heart.

I forced myself to stop smiling at the tattoo and reiterated my demand.

“Are you getting undressed first?” he said.

“Not until you’re lying across that bed ready and willing.”

He chuckled and did as I asked, his hard-on straining to full attention.

I licked my lips, feeling the wet slickness between my legs. “My turn,” I whispered, feeling my nipples pebble against the fabric of my bra as I unzipped my dress.

Cole braced his head on his hands and watched me with hot eyes.

First I slipped the dress off and stepped out of it, wearing just my bra and underwear and the black heels. My hair tumbled around my shoulders and I let Cole look his fill for a moment before I reached down to unzip my boots.

I kicked those off and then unclasped my bra.

My breasts swelled under his darkening gaze and my nipples tightened into hard points.

“Fuck,” he said softly, his body tensing and his arousal throbbing and straining more toward his stomach.

I pushed my underwear down my legs and then crawled up onto the bed, moving over him on my hands and knees, my fingertips trailing across his skin as I worked my way upwards

Until I stopped at his erection.

“Shortcake,” he groaned as my head dipped.

Taking him in my mouth I felt his thighs tense under my fingertips. My tongue trailed along a vein on the underside of his cock and Cole dragged in a breath on a hiss of excitement as I began to suck, bobbing my head so my mouth slid slowly up and down his length.

“Shannon,” he groaned through gritted teeth, pumping his hips.

I released him, my gaze promising him that I’d finished what I’d started after we both enjoyed the main event. Trying not to hurry to the main event and fighting my body against that, I kissed a path up along his roped torso as I crawled up his body. Knees on either side of his hips, I shivered as I felt his cock brush high on my inner thigh. I pressed my lips over his right nipple, avoiding his left side. I flicked my tongue over him, my moan muffled against his body as he cupped my breasts, my own taut nipples eager for his touch. When his thumbs brushed them, I shuddered, a sigh escaping from between my lips.

“Shortcake,” Cole growled, squeezing my nipples between his fingers and thumbs. I barely had time to recover from the streaks of heat that shot toward my sex, when his right hand coasted down my stomach, heading between my legs.

As two fingers slid into my slick passage, my back arched, giving his left hand better access to my breast, and my hips surged against his right.

“I need you.” I whimpered, shaking my head as I dislodged him. “All of you.”

He gripped my hips as I positioned myself over him and we both cried out as I slammed down on him, Cole’s hips jerking up off the bed in reaction.

We found a delicious, pressure-building rhythm quickly and with my hands braced on the bed beside his thighs, I leaned back slightly so his cock thrust into me at the most satisfying angle. I moved slowly, building myself toward orgasm.

Our eyes held as I rode him, feeling sexy and powerful at his gleaming expression, watching the way his green eyes darkened on my breasts, on my hair swinging across my back. His grip on me tightened, urging me on. The heat between us built and built, our bodies slick with sweat.

The coiling pleasure low in my belly began to build in pressure, my excitement increasing at the intimacy that matched our passion—our eyes holding, filled with love, the sound of my uncontrolled breaths and mews of pleasure, the intoxicating smell of sex… and Cole groaning at me to come.

“Cole!” I cried out, my body moving faster up and down his length, rushing me toward climax. My muscles clenched around Cole as I came, wave after wave of pleasure pulsing around his cock.

As my limbs melted with satisfaction, Cole started pumping his hips beneath me, lifting me against his hard thrusts until I felt him stiffen seconds before he came inside me.

His grip loosened and he relaxed under me, his chest rising and falling with his rapid breaths.

I leaned over him, careful still not to touch his tattoo and I kissed him—a long, deep, sweet kiss that made my inner muscles squeeze around him. I broke apart just far enough so I could talk, shivering as he coasted his fingers lightly over my naked spine. “Our first Valentine’s Day was a success,” I whispered against his mouth.

He nodded and squeezed me closer. “Every single one is going to be.”

“All fifty of them?” I teased.

“You fucking bet your arse, Shortcake. This here,” he encircled my waist with his large hands, “every inch of you is mine. Forever.” He glanced down at his chest and then back into my eyes, “ ‘S’ or ‘Shannon’… it will always mean one thing. That I love you.”

“I love the tattoo,” I promised him as I gently circled the area around it with my forefinger. “It will always mean that to me too.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Shortcake.” He kissed me softly.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Cole.”

THE END