“Your father – your deadbeat, lousy cheating father – fucked my sister, got her pregnant, and ruined my life. You and your brother are nothing but a constant reminder of that.”

I jumped and sat up straight. My eyes were wide and it took me a minute to focus on where I was at.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” Ian said as he grabbed my hand.

I took in a deep breath. “I’m fine. It was just a dream.”

“About what? You haven’t had a nightmare in a long time. Have you?”

“It was just about my aunt. Nothing to worry about. I’ll continue to see Dr. Neil when I get back.”

He brought my hand up to his lips and softly kissed it. “That’s a good idea.”

“I kept meaning to ask you something. If I’m not your assistant anymore, are you hiring someone new?”

Ian gave me a small smile and ran his finger down my jawline. “Are you worried I’ll hire another beautiful woman to take your place?”

“Yes. I need to know so I can train harder to kick her ass when she steals you away from me.” I smiled.

“No one will ever steal me away from you, Rory. And to answer your question, no, I’m not hiring another assistant.”

“Why?”

The corners of his mouth curved up slightly when I asked. “I created that position for you because I wanted to see you every day. After you moved out, I felt alone, and it made me realize how much I wanted and needed you around.”

“Ian,” I whispered.

“I wanted to take care of you without having to admit that I was in love with you, and hiring you as my employee allowed me to do that. You’ll still be considered my employee. You’ll get paid every week and you’ll still be on my health insurance, but you won’t be doing any secretarial work.”

“Then what will I be doing to earn all that?” I smiled.

“Nothing. Just you being around is enough,” he said as he leaned over and kissed my lips. “Try to get some more sleep, sweetheart. We should be landing in about three hours.”

I propped my pillow against his shoulder and laid my head down. What the hell was with that nightmare?

As soon as we walked through the door, Ian picked me up and carried me up the stairs.

“What are you doing?” I laughed.

“Something I should’ve done a while ago. I’m taking you to our bedroom.”

He kicked the door open lightly with his foot and laid me down on the bed. He pushed a few strands of my hair back as he looked into my eyes.

“This is our bed, sweetheart. Our bed to sleep in, fuck in, and relax in. There has never been a woman in this bed until now.” He smiled.

The butterflies started to flutter when he said that. My mind instantly wondered about the other room. Do I ask him about it? Or just leave it alone? I decided to leave it alone, since it was our first night back.

“Hold on a second,” Ian said as he got up from the bed and grabbed his phone.

“What are you doing?” I laughed.

“I’m taking a few pictures of you on our bed. I like the way you look in it.” He smiled.

I knew this was a big step for Ian, and being the only woman that ever sat or lay on this bed made it more surreal. I posed for him and he took in a sharp breath. He set his phone down and crawled towards me on the bed, licking his lips the whole time and staring at me with that carnal look. As I bit down on my bottom lip and smiled, he pushed me flat on my back and hovered over me with a smile.

“You make me happy. I’ve never been happy like this. When you’re with me, I’m happy. When you’re not, I’m sad. I just wanted you to know that.”

I brought my hands up and ran my fingers through his hair. “You make me happy too, and I don’t want anything else in my life but you. I need you, Ian.”

He leaned down and locked his lips with mine, parting my lips so his tongue could enter my mouth. Our kiss became deep and passionate as he fell on top of me and held my head with his hands. He broke our kiss so his lips could explore my neck. As I wrapped my legs around him, I felt his erection pressed against me. Our breathing became rapid and so did our hearts. I wanted to make love to him. His hand traveled up my shirt as his fingers tugged at my hardened nipple.

“Fuck me, Ian,” I said with bated breath.

“I will, right now,” he whispered as he tugged at my pants.

Suddenly, we heard a voice calling from downstairs. “Hello. Ian, Rory, where are you? I know you’re home, so I’ll give you five seconds to get decent and come downstairs!” Adalynn exclaimed.

Ian looked at me. “Seriously?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, seriously.”

Ian climbed off me and went into the bathroom. I got up from the bed, looked in the mirror, ran my fingers through my hair, and straightened my clothes. As soon as Ian emerged from the bathroom, he took my hand and we walked down the stairs.

“Perfect timing as always, Adalynn,” Ian said.

“Sorry, but you two have the rest of your lives to fuck. Come here, darling.” She smiled as she held her arms out to me.

I welcomed her embrace. It was so good to see her again. “It’s good to see you, Adalynn. Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year to both of you,” she said as she kissed Ian’s cheek. “Now, I want to hear all about Paris!” She smiled.

“We just got home less than an hour ago. Do you think we can tell you about it tomorrow? Rory and I are exhausted,” Ian said as he looked at her.

“No. I’m here now and I want to hear all about it. In fact, Ian, you can go upstairs. Me and Rory have some catching up to do.”

“That reminds me, Adalynn. The two of us are going to have a little talk about a certain lie,” Ian said as he pointed his finger at her.

“Oh, please. It all worked out in the end anyway, and with your dysfunctional behavior, I wasn’t about to give you any information.”

Ian sighed as his eyes stared into hers. He looked at me and then kissed my lips.

“Go ahead and have some girl talk. I’m going to go take a shower.”

“Okay.” I smiled.

“Bye, Ian. It was good to see you,” Adalynn said with a smirk.

“Whatever, Adalynn,” he replied as he walked up the stairs.

Adalynn grabbed my arm and led me straight into the kitchen. She told me to have a seat at the table as she reached in the cabinet and pulled out two wine glasses.

“So? I want details! Lots of details.” She smiled as she pulled a bottle of wine from the wine rack.

“It was so romantic. He’s so romantic and we’re officially in love.”

She walked over to the table and handed me a glass of wine.

“I knew he’d come around. Okay, I really didn’t, and for a while, I was worried. But, I’m happy he did,” she said. “I knew he loved you.”

“Did you talk to him when you came back from Paris?” I asked.

“No. I didn’t. I didn’t get a chance to, and to be honest with you, I was secretly hoping he’d come around on his own. So now what?”

I picked up my glass and took a sip. “I guess we’re living together and we’re going to start building a life together. Did I mention that he fired me as his assistant?”

“What?!”

“He wants me to take some music classes or do something that I want to do. He doesn’t want me to have any regrets.”

“Ian said that?” she asked with surprise.

“Yes.” I smiled.

“Girl, you took a seriously fucked up man and turned him around. You’re my hero.” She smiled as she held up her glass.

As I brought my glass up to hers, Ian walked into the kitchen. He was freshly showered and wearing nothing but pajama bottoms. He looked so sexy and I wanted him so badly.

“What are the two of you toasting?” he asked as he reached in the cupboard for a wine glass.

“We’re toasting your return home. I’m glad you brought my girl home because I really was hating the fact that she was going to stay in Paris and not come back.”

“The only place she’s staying is right here with me.” He smiled as he kissed the top of my head.