Chapter Twenty-Nine

Mark

I ’ve spent most of my life in the city. Never been anywhere else. So, it’s a little weird being back after experiencing the peace and quiet out in the cabin. I thought I was used to this, the noise, the hustle, and the constant buzz of traffic, but I kind of miss being back at the cabin, covered in snow, with Christmas music constantly playing around the house.

The good thing about being back is getting to see Murray and Mia. They had a great time over at Johnson’s place for Christmas. She seemed so happy, so joyful, my heart ached. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Mia that happy.

And the other good thing… I’m looking right at her. My lips curve into a smile as I glance down at my—can’t believe I’m going to say this—girlfriend, and watch as she skips down the street, my hand swaying in hers with every step she takes.

I raise my brows in amusement. “Why the hell are you skipping, Bambi?” I ask with a grunt. “It’s seven in the morning.”

My girl wanted her coffee fix before we went back to my place. I should be working, I’m always working. I had nothing better to do before her. Nothing I looked forward to. Nothing expecting me. So I put my all into work, trying to busy my time, but now that Christmas is over, I just want to spend all my time with her before I have to go back to work.

Christ. What the hell has she turned me into?

You know what? I don’t even care. I haven’t been this fucking happy in years. Whatever it is, I hope it never stops. Hope she never leaves.

She looks back at me with a huge grin on her pretty little lips I want to kiss so bad. “I’m happy.”

Love hearing that. Love that I’m the one making her happy. Love her.

What the fuck.

I pause, my feet halting as the thought comes out of nowhere, hitting me right in the chest, a blaring admission I hadn’t thought about until now.

Holly stops, seeing I’m not moving, and turns to face me, her brows knitting together. “What’s wrong?” she asks.

The last time I was in love was years ago, and my heart was shattered, but even with Sasha, it never felt like this. I cared about her, but with Holly… my chest feels like it’s being cracked open whenever she merely glances my way. Whenever she smiles, I feel my belly fluttering like fucking crazy. Whenever I hear her laugh, my body breaks out into a shiver, wanting to hear it again and again and again. I have never been truly in love before. Not like this. Not like I am with Holly.

I shake my head, tugging on her hand to pull her into me, lifting her chin with my thumb, her lips parting slightly as our eyes lock together. “I’m really fucking happy, too.”

Her shoulders settle as a smirk tugs at her lips. “That’s not possible.”

My brows furrow. “Why not?”

“Robots don’t have feelings,” she teases, breaking out into a grin that eases my chest.

I shake my head with a scoff. “You’re funny,” I say dryly.

She laughs, poking at my cheek. “We need to return you to the manufacturer.”

I smile as I clutch her face in my hands. “You’ve always made me happy, Holly.”

Her eyes warm, glistening as she looks at me, but then she lets out a sigh. “I thought you were grumpy,” she says. “I liked you grumpy. What happened?”

I look into the eyes of the most beautiful girl in the world and tell her the honest to god truth. “I met you.”

Her smile widens, a small laugh bubbling out of her. “I think I like that even more,” she admits.

I lean forward to press my lips to hers, loving the feel of her face in my hands, her warm, soft lips on mine, and the way my heart feels like it’s going to burst.

When we pull apart, the hazy look in her eyes makes me groan, knowing all kinds of dirty thoughts are roaming around in that head of hers, and I tighten my hand around her waist. “Wanna go home?” I ask, pressing a feather-light kiss to her jaw.

She chuckles. “You don’t even have to ask.”

Fuck yes .

I grab hold of her hand in mine and we start walking down the street, ready to get to my house so I can peel every inch of clothing off her beautiful body and worship her, make her feel as good as she makes me, hear her beautiful moans.

But Holly’s pace slows down as she glances at a shop window, tilting her head at the plush light grey round armchair-looking thing.

I pause, and she snaps her head to mine. “What are you doing?”

“Seeing what you’re looking at,” I tell her, heading closer toward the window.

Holly shakes her head. “It’s nothing. Just looking.”

I squint at the sign, reading the description, seeing it’s a reading chair. “You should get it,” I tell her. “Looks like something you’d like.”

She lets out a sigh. “I love it, but…” She hesitates a little. “I don’t have the space in my room.”

“We’ve got space in my room,” I say without thinking, the words just stumbling out of my mouth.

She blinks, taken by surprise. “ Your room?”

I nod, not an ounce of hesitation within me. “Yeah. My room.” I smirk, turning away from the window to face her. “I already told you I’m all in, Holly. I’m in it for the long haul. I want you over at my place as often as you can be, so if having a reading chair over there is going to incentivize you to come over, then get it. Redecorate the place, paint the walls, buy five hundred plants, whatever you want, you can have it.” I take a breather, watching as her eyes widen, her lips parted in shock. “What do you say? ”

She shakes her head slightly. “I… are you sure?”

My lips widen into a smile and I nod, tucking a strand of her hair flowing in the wind behind her ear. “About you? A thousand percent.” Our lips meet in a soft kiss, and she clings to me, her hands clutching my sweater.

I was looking forward to getting her naked and in my bed, but seeing her smile is my favorite thing ever, and if this reading chair is going to do that, I’m getting it for her.

“Fuck,” I mutter, my body breaking out in a sweat as I climb the final step, hauling the massive reading chair before I finally set it down on the ground.

“I know you’re tired and sweating,” Holly says as I wipe the sweat off my forehead, glancing up at her and seeing her press her lips together in an amused smile. “But you look so hot right now.”

I let out a laugh, my shoulders shaking. “You like a man who does hard labor?” I ask, arching a brow as I approach her, my hands resting on her waist.

“Mmm.” She hums, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I like you.”

Christ. Love hearing that.

I lift her into my arms, and she squeals as I kiss her, pushing open the door, barely caring where we end up—bed, couch, whatever’s closer. Dropping her onto the couch, I follow her down, her legs spreading to make room for me .

Murray barks, wanting to jump onto Holly, but I shoo him off, wanting to have some time with Holly without my damn dog interrupting us. But Holly moans into my mouth and pulls back, her brows knitted together.

She starts to sniff the air. “Why does your place smell like caramel?”

“It’s called a candle, Bambi,” I say with an arched brow. “Kinda thought you’d be familiar with them.”

She rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean. Since when do you have candles?”

I shrug. “Since I found one that smells like you.”

Her eyes soften. “You bought a candle that smells like me?” she asks, her lips widening into a smile.

I nod, sitting on the couch as I pull her up to sit beside me. “Wanted my house to smell like you,” I admit. “It feels like home whenever you’re here.”

Her eyes widen slightly, searching my face. “It does?”

My hand reaches out to cup her face, holding her gaze. “Has done since the very first day you pushed your way inside,” I tease with a smirk.

She doesn’t laugh, though. Her eyes stare up at me, blinking rapidly as her bottom lip wobbles slightly.

It fucking kills me that she’s never experienced this kind of love before. “Holly, you are my home,” I tell her. “This guy,” I say, gesturing to Murray, “and Mia were the only important people in my life. I only cared about them. I didn’t think there was any space left in me for anyone else.” I keep my eyes on her soft ones. “But then you stumbled into my life and everything fucking changed.” She inhales a sharp breath. “My whole world opened up and it turns out, there was room. An empty, hollow space… waiting for you.”

Her lips part in shock and fuck. I love her so much. And I want the whole world to know it. The thought pops into my head. “I want you to meet Mia.”

Her eyes widen. “Mia?” she repeats. “Are you sure?”

So fucking sure . I didn’t want Mia to know about Holly when we were… whatever we were. I knew she’d cling to the idea of matchmaking, and I was convinced Holly was just a friend. But I was so fucking wrong, and now that we’re finally together, I want Mia to meet her.

I nod. “Mia is the closest thing I have to a parent and she means a lot to me, as do you,” I tell her. “I’d really like to introduce you to her and tell her we’re together.” The thought makes my lips lift into a smile. I think back to what Mia told me about Charles, how he was grumpy until he met her. How she changed him. Kinda think Holly did the same for me.

Holly tugs her lip between her teeth, her expression filling with nerves. “I’ve never met anyone’s parents before,” she admits.

I chuckle at her nervousness, and I pull her closer. “You have nothing to be nervous about, Holly,” I assure her. “Mia is going to love you.” I look into her gorgeous eyes that sucked me in from day one and shake my head. “You’re perfect.”

She raises an eyebrow, a teasing look in her eyes. “Perfect, huh?”

I let out a scoff. “So perfect, I’m starting to wonder how I didn’t find you in the manufacturer’s warehouse.”

She narrows her eyes at me, smirking. “Funny. ”

I hold her gaze. “You’re the only one who thinks so, sweetheart.” I sigh. “So, what do you say?”

She twists her lips but then breaks out into a grin and nods. “I’d love to.”

“Yeah?” I ask, feeling my heart race. “Then let’s go.” I lift off the couch, holding her hand.

“Wait.” Holly’s eyes widen as we make our way toward the door. “Right now?”

I arch a brow. “When exactly were you thinking?”

She shakes her head. “I just… I don’t know what to say. I’m not prepared.” She glances down at her outfit. “This is the wrong outfit and—”

“Calm down, Bambi,” I cut her off, letting out a laugh. “What you’re wearing is beautiful, you look amazing and you don’t need to be prepared. Just be yourself and she’ll love you.” I sure fucking do . I swallow the words down, watching as Holly drops her shoulders.

“Okay,” she says, letting out a hard breath. “Okay, let’s go.”

We head over to Mia’s, knocking a couple of times before I open the door. Murray heads inside, and a moment later, I hear Mia’s laugh.

She loves that dog. So I tend to bring him around as often as I can, loving when she smiles and laughs when she sees him.

“I was thinking you’d forgotten about me,” she calls out, and I turn the corner, seeing her petting Murray as he lies beside her on the couch.

I was supposed to come here an hour ago, but seeing as I was out with Holly, I’m a little late. I think Mia will forgive me when she sees her, though.

“Never,” I confirm with a smile. “I just wanted to surprise you.”

“Surprise me with what?” She turns her head, the wrinkles around her eyes deepening when she frowns, but then when she sees Holly standing beside me, our hands intertwined, her eyes widen as she lets out a loud gasp.

Holly and I make our way beside her and she looks at Holly, her lips lifting into a grin. “Well, this is a surprise,” she says. “You brought a girl with you?” She tuts slightly. “I was starting to think the day would never come.”

I let out a laugh. Yeah . Me too . “Worth the wait, though, right?” I say, glancing down at Holly, feeling her hand squeezing mine.

Mia smiles. “Good thing it happened while I was still alive,” she jokes as she lifts off the couch and reaches out to cup Holly’s face in her hands. “Look at you.” Her eyes flick to mine. “You did good, Mark. She’s beautiful.”

Holly laughs, her eyes sparkling as Mia still has her captured between her hands. “Thank you. It’s so nice to finally meet you. Mark talks about you all the time.”

“Does he now?” She tuts, her hands dropping from Holly’s face. “All good things, I hope. He hasn’t told me a peep about you. That boy is always full of surprises.”

I arch my brow. “I can hear you, you know? ”

She waves me off, tugging Holly’s hand and dragging her toward the kitchen. “If I’d known you were coming, I would have baked some cookies or a lemon tart. Do you like lemon?”

“I love it,” Holly replies.

“Good.” Mia grabs hold of the apron hanging on the oven door and hands it over to Holly with a warm smile. Jesus. I haven’t seen her this happy in so long. “You’re on lemon squeezing duty.”

Crossing my arms, I watch as Holly grabs hold of the lemons and the bowl and starts cutting the lemons. I clear my throat, garnering the attention of the two women. “Did you just steal my girlfriend?”

Holly’s smile widens at that word. I guess I haven’t said it since we’ve gotten together, at least not out loud, and fuck , I love the way it feels coming out of my lips.

“We have baking to do,” Mia replies. “Besides, I still need to hear about everything that happened between you two, and you sure as hell won’t tell me.” She glances at Holly. “How did you two meet? And more importantly, how has he managed not to scare you off yet?”

Holly laughs, stealing a quick glance at me. “It came close a few times, but he managed to redeem himself,” she teases.

Mia laughs, tapping her cheek as she turns to face me. “I like her already. You better hold on tight, Mark.”

I swallow hard, watching the two most important women in my life. “I plan on it.”