“Oh, Gage. I love you too.” She sniffed, and he quickly sealed her mouth with a kiss, distracting her from her tears.

“Baby, you don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear you say that.”

“A week?” she said breathlessly, her breasts nearly in his face.

He groaned and licked the tip of one rosy crest. “How about six months? Love at first sight, Hailey. And the more I’ve come to know you, the more I love you. Warts and all.”

She giggled, a sound he’d never heard Hailey make, and then she groaned as she reached for his jeans. “Gage, I’ve really missed you. But I don’t have the patience to wait for Belinda’s seven-ways-from-Sunday sex. Could you just love me now?”

He shoved his jeans to his knees and ripped the thong from her body. “Sure thing, honey. Because I’m two seconds from losing it, seeing you in that thing. Shit, Hailey.

I’ve had dreams about this.”

She grinned, a naughty smile that had him moving with lightning speed. In seconds, he had her shaved pussy bare, her back flat against her floor.

“I can’t wait,” she moaned. “Fuck me, Gage.”

Without waiting another second, Gage thrust hard and fast into her. They both groaned at the sensation of joining, of oneness. His cock stroked. The sensations of her warmth and wetness clinging to him, of her body accepting him all the way, made his orgasm approach lightning fast. And as he pumped into her, she cried out her climax.

“That was quick,” he gasped before following her over the edge. “Too quick.”

Rasping until he could again breathe normally, Gage remained within her, loving every precious second. “Damn, Hailey, you really had me worried this week.”

“The lack of sex killing you too?”

“Not as much as the lack of your trust.” He scowled. “That sounded way too much like something Dylan would say. But it’s true. I love you, Hailey. With or without the sex, it’s you who I want to be with. I want you to dog-ear all my books with your saved pages. I want you to cook for me.” He winked. “You to hug in bed, you to argue a movie with. And you’re still wrong about Stargate, by the way.”

She pinched him. “I’ll never agree.” She paused, then spoke in a quiet but steady voice. “I’m willing to see where this takes us, Gage. As far as you want it to go.”

“Sorry, honey, it doesn’t work that way. I know how far I want us to go. How about you?”

She stared up at him and tenderly grasped a lock of hair that had fallen across his forehead, tucking it behind his ear. “I want the whole package, Gage. Forever.”

He let out the breath he’d been holding. “Me too. I love you, Hailey. And I want to marry you, have kids with you. But when you’re ready. I’m willing to wait as long as it takes.”

She smiled with happiness, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Hell, baby. Don’t cry now.”

“I won’t.” She sniffed. “But I can’t marry you unless you agree to give up your side job.”

“Side job?” He suddenly paled. “Oh. Speaking of jobs. I don’t believe I mentioned what I really do for a living.”

“You’re a construction worker.”

“I work construction, yes. But I actually own part of the company.”

“I know. Sydney told me a few days ago. And Dylan mentioned it when he invited me last night.”

“Great,” he growled. “You might have mentioned it earlier. I was worried about how you might take it.”

“What? That you deliberately led me to believe you had little money, that you were a blue-collar stiff?”

“That, yeah. But it wasn’t that I didn’t trust you. Okay, in the beginning it was. But Hailey, I just wanted you to like me for me, not for my money or, God forbid, Derrick.”

She laughed and hugged him. “I get it, believe me, I get it. And don’t worry. Derrick and Dylan are handsome, but not nearly as hot as you are.” She clenched him tight and nipped at his earlobe. “So when do we try all of Belinda’s Delights?”

“All of them?” he rasped, his cock hardening all over again.

“Well, not yet. I’m still in the midst of proposing here. Now about your side job. It has to go.”

He blinked in bewilderment. “You’re proposing?” He paused. “What side job are you talking about?”

“No more Mr. Tool.” She laughed. “I think it was Faith who first came up with the name after we saw you gloriously naked, and well-hung, that fateful Friday night. That hammer between your legs had us all sleeping with pleasant dreams.”

Gage flushed a deep, fire-engine red. “Hell, Hailey. Mr. Tool? ”

She laughed harder and he joined her.

“Well, you’re certainly the most handy man I’ve ever met. And I plan to keep you around.”

“No problem, baby. This is one show you’re going to enjoy for the rest of your life.”

He leaned up to pry her corset open. “Now about Belinda’s Delights…the first rule is to be completely naked.”

“And the second?” she asked, love shining in her eyes.

“Is to never again agree to breakfast at my mother’s without my express permission.”

“Gage.” She laughed, then moaned when his lips found her breast.

“That’s Mr. Tool to you. And only to you.”