Marry Me (Lyrics and Love Book 1) Read online

  “Mornin’,” I call out, the sleep still evident in my voice.

  She sets her kindle down on her lap as she looks up at me. “Morning, how’d you sleep?”

  “Good, until I woke up without you next to me.” I make my way over to her, dropping to sit on the coffee table so I can face her. I place my lips against hers, getting that morning kiss I now crave. Kissing her is like my drug, and I’m now an addict, looking for my next hit.

  “Did you get up earlier? There was coffee in the pot already when I got up.”

  “Yeah, I woke up and made a pot, but when I went back into the room, you looked so peaceful sleeping that I just curled back up with you and fell back asleep.”

  “You should have woken me up. I would have kept you company,” she says, a coy smile flashing across her lips.

  “Is that so?” I state, dropping another kiss to her lips.

  “Yep,” she says, popping the P.

  “Did you still want to go on a hike this morning?”

  “Sure, I’m up for just about anything.”

  “Anything?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at her with a mischievous look on my face.

  “Get your mind out of the gutter, Sam,” she chides, laughter filling her voice. “You’re such a guy.”

  “You weren’t complaining about that fact last night,” I remind her.

  “Oh, shut it.” She slaps me in the chest before she slides her hand up to rub my beard. I don’t usually grow a beard for more than a couple of days, but with the way she responds to it, I might just be keeping the facial hair around.

  “Never,” I reply, capturing her lips again.

  I pull back reluctantly, contrary to either of our desires. “Let’s go get showered and dressed. We can then grab some breakfast and get out and hit the trails.”

  “Would you like to shower with me? Save water and all that?” Lauren asks, the hunger she has for me apparent in her voice as she stands from the couch, and that’s when I realize she’s only got on my t-shirt. No thong or panties, just my fucking shirt.

  Wet-fucking-dream.

  After a very long shower that had us both coming apart at each other’s hands, we finally got dressed and left the house for our hike and visit to my office.

  We take the trail I choose at a leisurely pace. We walk it the entire way, hand in hand, neither of us wanting to be very far from each other, loving the feel of our skin touching. We stop along the way, to snap a few pictures of the views as well as a selfie of the two of us.

  “How about we grab some lunch before we stop at my work?”

  “Sounds perfect. Did you want to go somewhere or head back to the condo?”

  “I’m fine with either, what would you prefer?” I ask.

  “Your choice. I’ll let you surprise me.”

  “We can hit up this little deli near my work. They have some of the best sandwiches you’ll ever taste.”

  We hop back in my truck and I drive us over. I park in the secured lot for my work, and we walk the couple of blocks over to the deli. We enter, and the line is a few people deep, which isn’t surprising to me at all. This place can get crazy busy almost daily.

  We make it to the front of the line and after placing our order, we find a place to sit and wait for our lunch.

  “Do you come here a lot?” Lauren asks me once we sit down at a table for two.

  “Yep, probably a few times a week. It’s quick and easy to get here. Plus, we can call in an order and they will get it all ready for us. That, and I’ve probably tried everything on the menu, and never once had something I didn’t like.”

  “BLT, with potato salad?” an employee says, standing next to our table.

  “Right here,” I tell the girl as she sets my food down in front of me.

  “And a Club sandwich with a side of slaw,” she says to Lauren.

  “Thank you,” we say together, as the young girl grabs the table marker we got when we placed our order, and walks off.

  “Holy cow, this looks amazing,” Lauren says, looking down at her plate. “You weren’t kidding when you said the portions were huge. I don’t think I’ll be able to even eat half of this.”

  “Eat what you can, and we can take the rest with us,” I state, picking up my sandwich to take a huge bite.

  We each dig in, enjoying our lunch and the easy conversation that flows between the two of us. With only being able to communicate the past few weeks via talking, texting, and video chatting, we’ve returned back to the easiness we had when we were younger. I no longer feel like there’s this huge distance between us, and after last night, I can only hope that feeling never returns.

  “Ready to go check out my office?” I ask as we box up our leftovers and head out of the deli.

  “Yep. Can we drop this off in the truck first?”

  “That was my plan,” I say as Lauren slips her hand in mine as we walk down the street.

  We quickly drop the bag in my truck and make our way inside the building. We have to enter through the main front doors, so that I can get Lauren signed in and a visitor badge. It only takes a few minutes to do so and we’re quickly riding the elevator up to my department.

  We exit the elevator and are greeted by the receptionist for the floor, Becky.

  “Agent Cole, nice to see you today,” she greets us. “And who’s this lovely young lady with you?”

  “Becky, I’d like for you to meet my girlfriend, Lauren. Lauren, this is Becky. She keeps this department running and all of us agents in line,” I state. Becky is like the mom of this department. She’s worked here for twenty some-odd years, and knows more than I ever will about working for the agency.

  “Nice to meet you, Lauren. Nice to see someone is keeping this guy in line when he isn’t here at work.” She winks at the both of us.

  “Nice to meet you, too.”

  “Is Jennings in?” I ask Becky.

  “Should be, his light is showing he’s in the office, and I don’t know of any agent meetings taking place today.”

  “Thanks, we’ll see you on the way out,” I tell her as I escort Lauren through the secured doors and down the hall.

  We pass by some empty conference rooms before the hall opens up to a large room.

  “This is the bullpen,” I explain, motioning to the big open room with computer stations in some areas, a large projection screen where we can pull up all kinds of information, and a large conference table for when we have a big case with many hands-on deck. “We gather in here, looking over all kinds of data, as we work to solve the case. Briefings happen in this room, as well.”

  Since no big cases are currently being worked on today, the bullpen is pretty sparse. I escort Lauren through the bullpen and to my office.

  “This is my space,” I tell her, opening the door and flipping on the light.

  “It’s very you,” she muses, looking up at me with a sparkle in her eye.

  “How so?” I ask.

  “Just the little personal touches,” she says, sitting down in my desk chair. She sees the picture I have framed of the two of us from our trip to the beach, reaching out to pick it up, and she smiles. It was a candid selfie I’d snapped one day while we’d been riding bikes around town. We’re smiling at the camera, both happy and carefree in that moment.

  “I completely forgot you took this,” she tells me, setting the picture back down.

  “I have others, but that was my favorite,” I tell her, taking a seat in one of my visitors’ chairs.

  “Knock-knock,” I hear Jennings say as he thumps on the door frame and steps into the office. “Couldn’t stay away, huh, man?”

  “Lauren wanted to come check out where it is I work all day.”

  “Ah! Lauren, since this guy doesn’t seem to have any manners, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Dave Jennings.”

  “Nice to meet you, Dave,” she says, accepting the hand he offered to her.

  “Don’t be a jackass.” I smack him in the chest. “I would have introduced you
if you hadn’t barged your way in here,” I say on a laugh.

  “We still doing dinner one night while she’s in town? Meg would love to meet Lauren and see you,” he says.

  I look to Lauren, who smiles and shrugs, ultimately leaving the decision up to me.

  “Yep, what night works for you? We don’t have any concrete plans yet for the rest of her stay.”

  “Doesn’t matter to me. I don’t think we have anything going on, but I’ll send Meg a text just to verify and get back to you.”

  “Sounds good, just let me know when you hear back from her.”

  “Will do, and it was nice to meet you, Lauren.”

  “Nice to meet you, too. I’ve heard good things about you and look forward to meeting your wife,” Lauren tells him as he turns to walk out of my office. “He seems nice,” she adds, after he leaves the office, and I grin at her.

  “Yep, one of the nicest guys I know. You’ll love his wife,” I reply. “Want to continue our tour?” I ask, bending down to kiss her lips.

  “Sure,” she says breathlessly. I didn’t even kiss her that deep, wanting to keep things PG, since we are at my work and all. Though, I wouldn’t mind bending her over my desk and having my way with her.

  I grab her hand and pull her up, linking our fingers once she’s standing. I shut off the light in my office before pulling the door closed behind us, and we walk down the hall to some of the other agents’ offices. I introduce her to everyone we come into contact with before we head back to the front to check out with Becky. No one gets in or out of this department without Becky knowing.

  22

  Lauren

  We leave Sam’s work and head back to his condo, and as we’re pulling in, he gets a text from Dave, saying that they are free tonight, if we want to get together for dinner.

  “Does that sound okay to you?” he asks me as he parks his truck in his garage.

  “Yep, I’m fine with whatever.”

  He shoots off a text, letting Dave know we’re good with tonight, and at Meg’s insistence, we make plans to go to their house.

  Sam grabs our bag of leftovers and we head inside. I go straight for the bathroom and Sam stops in the kitchen to put our food in the fridge.

  I wander out to the living room to find him on the couch, so I walk over to stand in front of him. He pulls me down so I’m sitting on his lap.

  “Did you enjoy yourself today?” he asks, dropping a kiss on my neck.

  “Yes, I like knowing where it is you work all those long hours being a badass computer guy.”

  He just laughs at my description of him.

  “I also really enjoyed our hike this morning. It was beautiful out there.”

  “It sure was. Did you want to do anything before we head over to Dave and Meg’s in a few hours?”

  “Do you have any baking ingredients? I’d like to make a dessert to bring with us.”

  He just gives me a blank stare. “Um, babe. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been a bachelor for a long time. I don’t even think I have flour or sugar, not to mention any other baking ingredients. But we can run up to the store and pick some up, or grab an already made dessert.”

  “Let me check if you even have the correct type of pan, and then I’ll decide if it’s worth buying all the ingredients to make something versus buying something.”

  “Whatever you want,” he says, before turning my face so he can kiss me on the lips.

  I pull back after a few moments and drop my head to his shoulder.

  “I could kiss you forever,” he tells me, placing a kiss to my temple.

  I relax further into Sam, his arms coming around me as he pulls me tighter against him. Neither one of us make any effort to move from this spot.

  “What are you busy thinking about?” he asks.

  “Not really thinking, just enjoying being here with you. Enjoying what little time we have together on this trip,” I tell him honestly.

  Sam picks me up off his lap, then shifts so he can lie on his side on the couch and pulls me back down to mirror his position.

  “I’m glad you came,” he whispers against my lips once we’re both situated, lying face to face.

  “Me too,” I reply, linking my arms around his neck and sinking my fingers into his hair as I play with the short hairs at the nape of his neck.

  “Mhmm. I love it when you do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “Run your fingers through my hair like that. It does things to me,” he growls, before dropping his lips to my neck. His scruff tickles my sensitive skin, causing me to squirm as it turns me on even more.

  “Sam,” I moan.

  “Yes, Ren,” he rumbles against my skin.

  “What are you doing?”

  He removes his lips from my skin and looks up at me with a devilish look on his face. “If you have to ask, then I’m not doing a good enough job showing you.” He chuckles.

  “Oh,” I say. I can feel my cheeks reddening with embarrassment. “You were doing a good job, I just didn’t know what your intentions were. Fuck, I’m making this awkward now.”

  Sam drops his head against my chest as he laughs at the situation. “No, you’re not making it awkward at all, babe. Just comical. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll get back to hopefully rocking your world,” he says, pushing up so he can drop a kiss on my lips, effectively shutting me up.

  With our little afternoon sexy time on the couch, we successfully used up any opportunity we had for me to bake something to take with us tonight. So, with plans to stop at a bakery on our way, we eventually get up and get ready for our evening out with Sam’s friends. I grab my cell to take with me into the bathroom, needing to respond to Zoey’s texts before she sends a search party out to find me.

  Lauren: Hi, sorry I haven’t replied to your text sooner, but I made it here. Things are wonderful! Going so much better than I could have ever dreamed. I have so much to tell you when I get back. Just know he’s taking VERY good care of me in ALL ways.