His head crashed back down, and I let out an oomph before I could answer.

“Yes, James. No one but you.”

“Good. Because I have plans for us,” he said against my belly.

I giggled, lost in the way his head bobbed with my laughter. “Plans, huh? What kind of plans?”

He shot up and gave me a look. “I’ll tell you later. I want to show you something first.”

“I’ve already seen it, if that’s what you’re trying to get at.” I nudged my head toward the hard-on he was still sporting.

“That’s not what I’m talking about, you little minx.” He kissed my cheek and dragged himself out of bed. “Come on. Get dressed. I’ll take you to eat after.”

The promise of food after all the calories we’d burned was more than enough to get me to agree. “I love food.”

“I love,” he started to say before my body completely stilled, “food, too.”

He finished with a laugh, and I wasn’t sure if I was more relieved or disappointed. Realistically, I knew it was too fast for declarations of love, but our story wasn’t typical, so the same rules didn’t seem to apply.

*  *  *

We walked out of my house hand in hand without a care in the world it seemed. James hadn’t ducked out or snuck around the vines to avoid my father and his probable death if caught. We were out in the open, our blossoming relationship on full display for all to see. When we rounded the main house, we both stopped mid-step at the sight of our parents talking and laughing at the property line.

“Will we ever get used to seeing that?” I asked, wondering when that image wouldn’t send a jolt of shock through my system.

“I sure hope so,” James said in response. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that my first instinct was to run and hide.”

I laughed because my first instinct at seeing them had been to duck and slowly back away. Some habits were going to be tough to break. I couldn’t wait until they were a thing of the past, something we looked back on and had to bring up to even remember.

“Think they’ll retire sooner now that we’re together?” James asked as we started walking again toward our families.

I smiled inwardly at how confident he’d sounded about us. He made me feel like, even though we’d just started, there would be no end.

“Probably not.” I gripped his hand a little tighter as we neared.

The four of them turned at once to face us, smiles all around, even on my dad.

“Morning, you two,” my mom said in greeting before giving us each a hug.

It was hugs all around, and even though it was weird as hell, it was also amazing.