“He’s all right.” He pinched her butt, and she squealed as he started to carry her into the bedroom. Laying her down, he fell on top of her, both of them laughing as they cuddled deeper into the bed. Holding her close, the light from the living room shining on his face, he had a smile on his lips. A genuine, gorgeous one that almost brought tears to her eyes.

Kissing her nose, he pulled back, cupping her face. “I’m gonna go.”

Her brows pulled together. “You don’t want to stay?”

“I do, but Tricksie usually sleeps with me, and Jensen won’t let her in the room with him.”

“Wanna bring her here?” she asked, not wanting him to leave.

He shook his head. “No, get some rest.”

She eyed him. “Is this part of the no going to bed for sleep with a woman thing?”

He paused as his eyes searched hers. “No and yes,” he admitted tensely. “Brie, I need you to understand that I just made a huge leap in my life. I committed to one amazing person: you. And while I want to spend every second with you, it also scares the living fuck out of me.”

“Why does it scare you? This is good, this is real.”

“Yes, one hundred percent. But I thought that before, and that went to hell. Though, I think the main reason was because she was a money-stealing whore, but the other was I was up her ass twenty-four seven. I can’t do that again.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not,” she admitted, and she wasn’t. She understood, and he made sense, yet it worried her.

“I want to be here, but I also know myself, and I can’t do it all at once. I need to gradually ease into it because I don’t want to be who you said. The one who does this and then thinks this isn’t for me in a month or something. I want to miss you, I want to yearn for you. I want to do this, but I want to take our time. We have time. Yeah, we are older and we don’t have time for games, but I don’t want games, I want this, but at a speed I can handle and be the best I can be for you.”

She held his gaze, a little confused. “So are we together, together? Or are we just exclusively fucking each other? Like friends with benefits.”

He made a face. “I don’t want to sleep over, and you come up with that?”

“You have a track record, JoHo.”

He shot her a dull look before he spoke against her lips very roughly. “You’re mine, Ms. Soledad. My woman. And I am your man. I want this to go places. I want to be there for you and no one else. I sure as hell don’t want to bang anyone else, but I want to go slow.”

Letting out a harsh breath, she prayed she wasn’t making a mistake as she whispered, “Okay.”

“So you’re not mad?”

She shook her head gently. “I mean, I don’t want you to leave. But I also want this to work. And if we have to go at your speed for a little bit, I can hang. But the moment you start to make this just a fuck fest is the moment I rip your dick off.”

“The threats come out of nowhere with you.”

She smirked. “I thought it was pretty much understood.”

“That you’re basically a midget assassin? And not the hockey player one?”

“Yeah.”

Laughing, he shook his head. “You are going to keep me on my toes.”

She grinned in agreement. “I thought you found that endearing?”

“I do.”

“Then we’re good.”

“We’re great,” he said before kissing her once more. “Will you miss me?”

“Nope. I got pizza.”

He bit her chin, and she laughed out loud as she cuddled into him. “You tell me you want to take this at your pace, but I have to admit silly girly shit like that?”

“Yes.”

Laughing out loud as he chuckled against her neck, she pressed her nose into his. “Then yes, Vaughn, I will miss you. Desperately.”

“Good, I’ll come back, then.”

“Oh, thank God,” she said with a laugh, and he shook his head.

“Yeah, yeah, so I’m gonna go.”

“Can I keep your shirt?”

“It doesn’t have any words on it.”

“But it smells like you.”

His lips pulled up at the sides before he pressed them to hers. “Keep it.”

“Thanks.”

Moving his nose along hers, he whispered, “I had a great first date with you.”

She smiled happily, her heart skipping a beat in her chest. “It was probably one of the best days of my life.”

“Mission accomplished,” he said, pressing his lips to hers once more before he rolled out of bed, reaching for his pants, his back flexing with the motion. Those shoulders were hers. All hers. Sighing happily, she felt on top of the world. She just prayed she wasn’t making a mistake. She wanted to believe she wasn’t. She wanted to be confident that this would work, but his “wanting to go at his speed” made her a little nervous. She just hoped it was new-relationship jitters and she had nothing to worry about.

Because when he stood, reaching for the rest of his clothes, she decided she wanted to do this more. A lot more. Like, forever. She just needed him to jump on board. When he looked over at her, he grinned as he leaned on the bed with his hands, hovering his mouth over hers as he said, “I have practice tomorrow. But do you wanna get together tomorrow night?”

Kissing him once, she nodded. “I’d really like that.”

“Maybe not have lots of sex?” he asked, kissing her.

She scoffed, placing another kiss to his lips. A longer one that curled her toes. “Or lots of sex?”

He nodded, his mouth molding to hers once more before he grinned against her lips. “Have I told you I really love the way you think?”

“No, not ever.”

“Well, I do.”

“So you might miss me?”

“A bit.”

“Good.”

“Agreed. And also, lots of sex sounds great.”

She thought so too.

The excitement that ran through her body made her want to wish the night and day away. Just so she could be with him. Her man.

Vaughn Fucking Johansson was her man.

She was learning very fast that her life was full of plot twists.

But this one…this one she was pretty sure she loved.