Can We Negotiated?

Part 19

Lisa

It wasour second night in Napa, and we were staying in a private house that had been built into the side of a vineyard. Directly outside the windows were hills of grape vines. With the windows open, while we were cuddled in bed together, there was just enough moonlight for us to see the rows and rows of plants.

It was a gorgeous sight.

Jennie couldn't get enough of it, and that was what I loved the most.

I held her against my bare chest, her face leaned against me as she looked out toward the night. My hand slowly ran over her hair, and I kissed the top of her head, leaving my lips there while I said, "When do you meet with the realtor?"

She'd been staying at my place since she moved to LA a week ago. Before she'd left Miami, she'd decided she was going to keep her condo there and get a rental in LA. She thought it was too soon to come live with me.

I was fine with it.

I knew she'd be in my bed every night even if she called another place home. I also knew her lease wouldn't last more than a year.

"The day after we get back." She traced her fingers over my abs. "She sent me about ten listings."

"Where are they?"

Her hand paused. "Hollywood Hills."

"I'm glad you listened to me."

I'd been telling her for the last week to look for homes in that area, the same section of the city where I lived. It would keep her close by and in one of the safer spots of town.

"I loved the Hollywood Hills when I lived in LA," she said. "I just couldn't afford it back then."

My hand moved to her back, and I rubbed the side of my thumb all the way down to the top of her ass and back up before I worked my way across her shoulders. "So, you're going to be looking for a place to live and restructuring the entire finance department for three offices."

"Technically, four until both LA offices merge. But, yes, please don't remind me; it's not going to be fun."

"That just means we're going to have to take more of these."

She tilted her face up, her lips now touching mine. "Every other weekend. That would be a dream."

"I'll make it happen."

She climbed a little higher, resting her face against my shoulder. "I love how good you are to me."

"You make it easy."

Her hand continued to draw over my skin while the both of us stared out the window.

Jennie made silence easy. She made it tolerable.

But her voice was so sexy; I couldn't get enough of that either.

"Palm Springs," I said. "That should be the next trip."

"San Diego can come after."

"Then, we need to return to Napa."

"You really like it here?"

"I like how much you do, and that's what is important to me."

She nuzzled her face into my neck, and every exhale warmed my skin.

My arm tightened around her, and I pressed my cheek against her forehead. "It feels like I've been holding you for years," I whispered.

"I was thinking the same thing."

"You just feel so right. I don't want to let go."

"You don't have to." She reached higher, taking the pads of her fingers and brushing them over my lips. "Our start was so rocky; it's almost hard to believe we were there, and now, we're here."

"But it was sexy as hell."

I felt her smile. "That's true. That night with the flogger...my God." There was another stream of silence, and then she broke it by saying, "Don't think I'm crazy, okay?"

"Never."

"It's just that, I know we're still learning each other and growing together as a couple, and we have so much ahead of us, but I feel something for you, Lisa." Her voice turned to a whisper. "It's a feeling I haven't had before." Her hand stopped moving, and she spread her fingers over me as though she needed to hold on. "Every day, I'm falling deeper and deeper in love with you."

I held her so tightly that she couldn't move, and I kept my lips against her as I said, "Baby, I love you, too."