We’d moved into the lounge room and were almost rolling around on the floor in stitches of laughter when Griff arrived. I’d left the front door open for him, so he’d entered and now stood shaking his head at us, a grin fixed firmly on his face.

I jumped up and threw my arms around him. “Hey, handsome,” I greeted him and then planted my lips on his in a long kiss.

When I pulled away from him, he raised his brows, and said, “I see you started without me, sweetheart.”

I indicated with my fingers that I’d only had a small amount. “Just a little bit, I promise.”

“’Just a little bit’ she says as she slurs her words. Lucky I’m cooking dinner tonight.”

“We made cupcakes!” I said a little too enthusiastically. “Oh, shit, maybe I did have more than a little bit…I kinda am slurring my words, aren’t I? But, I had a good day at work…no, scratch that, I had a great day at work, and then I had you to look forward to seeing tonight. Oh, God, I’ll just shut up now…I’m rambling, aren’t I?” I slapped my hand over my mouth in an effort to stop the flow of words.

His arm slid around my waist, and he pulled me close. Brushing his lips over mine, he murmured, “I fucking love it when you ramble, in case you hadn’t clued onto that, baby, so feel free to do it whenever you want.”

Oh my.

A smile spread across my lips. “I’ll take that under advisement,” I said softly.

He let me go and left us to head into the kitchen. Once we were alone, her eyes widened, and with very expressive hand motions in the direction he’d gone, she mouthed, “Dude! He’s amazing! Where do you find men like that?”

While also making expressive hand motions, I mouthed back, “I have no clue! I got lucky for once in my life.”

Griff cleared his throat and we both snapped our heads to face him. He smirked as he said, “Sorry to interrupt what I presume is a female kind of communication that I never need to be enlightened on, but I need to know what you want cooked.”

Magan burst out laughing and I did my best to keep a straight face. Swallowing back my laughter, I said, “Sure, I’ll come and show you.”

As he followed me, I said, “You’re never gonna ask me about Magan’s and my female communication style, are you?”

“Nope,” he said.

I grinned. My tummy somersaulted just from having him near, but also because I loved the way he’d grown from being so standoffish to now just going along with whatever I threw at him. “Good, ‘cause it would confuse the hell out of you. You don’t need to know girl stuff.”

His arm hooked around me from behind, and he spun me around to face him. “Just to be clear, I’m interested in knowing about anything you think is important.” His voice had changed from fun to serious, and my alcohol-riddled mind hurried to catch up to the conversation.

When I finally realised what he’d said, happiness whooshed through me.

Treasured.

That’s how I feel with him.

Nodding, I said softly, “Okay.”

His eyes searched mine for a moment, before he said, “Good. Now show me this food, woman. I’m hungry.”

* * *

The next morning, I stumbled out of bed to find him sitting quietly at the kitchen counter, drinking coffee. “Why didn’t you wake me?” I asked.

“Baby, you drank a fair bit of wine last night, and I had to put you to bed without even getting my hands on you. I figured that seems as though you’ve got the day off today, you might enjoy a sleep in.”

“Thank you,” I murmured as I made myself a coffee. “What have you got on today?”

“I thought I’d spend some time at my place. The yard needs some work which will probably take me most of the day.”

“And then do I get to see you tonight?”

He eyed me with an are-you-fucking-kidding look, and said, “Try and keep me away.”

I grinned. “I’ll make you dessert. It’ll be good, I promise.”

He leant across the counter and gave me another look like the one he’d just given me. “Sophia, you are my fucking dessert. And tonight, we’re skipping the main course,” he said, his voice all gravelly, just the way I loved it.

Before I could say anything else, he stood and rinsed his mug. Then he gave me a long, deep kiss before placing something in my hand. “I’m gonna need one for your place,” he said, and when I looked down, I found a key in my palm.

My head snapped up and I stared at him. “You want a key to my house?”

“Yes.” His eyes held mine, and the certainty I saw in them hit me fair in the chest.

“This is serious to you, isn’t it?” I held my breath, hoping he would say yes.

He didn’t blink, and he didn’t think about it. Instead, he said firmly, “Yes.”

I smiled, and moved to where my handbag sat on the kitchen counter. Removing my spare house key, I handed it to him. “This is serious to me, too,” I said softly.

He slipped the key onto his key ring, and then paused for a moment, watching me. There was so much unsaid between us, and yet so much of that had no need to be said out loud. Our souls spoke, and understood every ounce of pain and hope stitched onto our hearts. Bending to place another kiss to my lips, he said, “I’ll see you tonight.”

After I’d watched him go, I sat on the stool to regroup. His belief in us meant so much to me. It had been unexpected, but I was the happiest girl in the world today.