“You do?” she asked, her voice a bit squeaky and silly sounding, but she couldn’t help it. She was crying too hard.
“I do. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I lost you once and have been only half alive since. But now…I want you and the whole shebang! I want…”
“Kids?” she whispered anxiously. “What about kids?” She held her breath.
He nodded. “Yeah,” he replied with a grin. “I want kids, but with you. Only you, Cyn.”
Cynthia let out the breath she’d been holding. “Okay so…”
“Are you going to answer my question?” he asked, interrupting her as his fingers tightened on hers.
She pulled back slightly, more relieved than she could have believed possible. “Question?” she teased. “I didn’t hear a question.”
Ryan watched Cynthia step backwards. Towards the bed. He was trying to follow her words…but she was heading towards the bed. Ever since she’d stepped into this room, the room he’d built for her, Ryan had struggled to keep his mind on his goal.
“I asked you to marry me, Cynthia,” he growled, his eyes moving behind her to the bed and back to her.
She shook her head and his eyes were drawn to the silky cascade of her blond hair draped over her shoulders. “No, actually, you haven’t asked me anything yet.”
Bed. Question. His hands twitched. He wanted to grab her and tangle his fingers in her hair. “What are you playing at?” he growled.
She shrugged, which drew his gaze lower, noticing the tight tee shirt. That damn tee shirt was tighter than normal. “Did you get a boob job while in Florida?” he asked, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her against him. “Because if you did, I approve.”
She laughed and he could feel the tension starting to ease out of her. Why she’d been so nervous, he didn’t understand. But then again, there were so many things about Cynthia that he didn’t get. Her staying away for so long wasn’t one of them though. She was hiding from him. From what she felt for him. He knew it, but he hadn’t been sure she would come back. Back to Minneville and back to him.
Her laughter was like a salve to his ego. That and the way she wasn’t pulling away from him. Oh, and it helped that she’d loved his house. The house that he hoped to make into a home for the two of them.
“I thought you were a leg man,” she teased.
He grinned, his gaze dropping back to her breasts. “Honey, with you, I’m a leg, breast, and butt man. I love all of you!” He squeezed her gently, holding her as close as possible. “Are you going to answer me?”
She yelped when he lifted her up and tossed her onto the bed, following her down while pressing his legs between hers. “You still haven’t asked me anything,” she told him, but inhaled sharply when she felt his thigh pressing against her core. Lifting her hips, she ground against him.
“Marry me, Cynthia,” he urged, his hands sliding underneath her tee shirt.
She grinned, shifting as his hands pulled her tee shirt off, tossing it onto the floor.
“Still not a question,” she whispered, but held her breath when he stopped and peered at her breasts. They really had grown.
“Cyn, what the hell is going on?” he asked, even as his hand moved up to cup her breast. His mouth covered the already hard nipple, his tongue teasing the tip through the thin material of her bra.
“Okay, now that’s a…” she gasped when his finger slid under her bra, rubbing against the nipple. “Ryan!” she sighed, closing her eyes and shifting against him.
“Marry me, Cynthia. Spend your life with me. I promise I won’t leave you. I’ll make you so happy, it will drive you nuts!”
She laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Okay.”
Ryan stopped, tensing as he looked down at her. “Okay? Does that mean yes? You’ll marry me?”
Cynthia nodded and Ryan couldn’t stop a triumphant grin. “You won’t regret it,” he promised, reaching into his pocket. A moment later, he couldn’t speak as he slid the diamond ring onto her finger. “It looks perfect, Cyn.”
Cynthia lifted her hand, words tumbling around in her mind. But then those damn tears started up again and she couldn’t speak. “I love you. And I’m so sorry that I ran away.”
He kissed her. The kiss started gently, but deepened as her fingers slid along his neck. He wondered if it would always be like this. Just one touch from Cynthia and he was wild. They’d annoyed each other almost from the first moment they’d met and their feelings had only deepened as time went by. Now he wanted to give her everything!
His hand slid lower, caressing her skin. “So you’ll marry me and live here?”
“Yes!” she gasped, then grabbed his hand before it slid lower. “Ryan, I need…”
He smiled, thinking that he’d missed these sounds over the past month. “I know what you need,” he promised. “But I’m more than happy to take requests.”
She laughed, then he slid his hand down the side of her waist and she giggled. “That tickles.”
“I know.” And he grinned up at her. “I love hearing you laugh, Cyn.”
“I need to tell you something.”
He lowered his head and pressed a kiss just above the already opened snap of her jeans. “That you gained weight over the past month and need a bigger pair of jeans?” he teased. “I don’t care. I think you look sexy like this.”
She looked down at him, surprised. “You like me with more weight?”
“I like you, Cynthia. I like your smile and the way you make me feel when I’m around you. So I don’t give a damn about your weight.”
She gasped when his finger slid into the waistband of her jeans. “Well, that’s good because I’m…”
Ryan slid the zipper of her jeans down and stopped, staring at the soft mound of her belly. Then up at her breasts that seemed to almost overflow from her bra.
Jerking off the bed, he stared down at her breasts, her stomach, and then back to her face. She watched the gears turn in his head.
“Cyn? Are you…?”
Cynthia saw the shock on his face and her blood turned to ice water. Sitting up, she grabbed a pillow to cover herself since her shirt was…well, somewhere. “Stop looking at me like that, Ryan.”
Ryan shook his head in bewilderment. “But…” he pointed to her stomach, still trying to form words. “Cynthia…you’re…!”
“It isn’t contagious,” she snapped, pushing off the bed.
“Say it!” he roared. “Tell me!”
She found her shirt on the floor and grabbed it, pulling it quickly over her head. “I tried to tell you. But you kept…touching me and I couldn’t get the words out.”
“Cynthia!” he whispered, grabbing her arms and swinging her around. “Are you…are we…” He swallowed hard and his eyes dropped to her stomach.
Dropping to his knees, he let his hand drift over her stomach. “You’re pregnant!” He whispered the words as if he’d just been given the most precious gift. His hand moved reverently over her stomach. “Cynthia?”
Immediately, her anger and hurt feelings dissipated. “Yes. I’m pregnant,” she confirmed.
He looked up at her. “You were going to rush out of here and not tell me?”
She stepped back. “Ryan, I’m…I came here to tell you. But you kept distracting me,” she glanced behind her at the bed that had previously looked neat and tidy. Not anymore.
Standing up, he beamed. “You’re pregnant? We’re going to have a baby?”
She wanted to grumble over the way he’d reacted initially. But then her first reaction to realizing she was pregnant flashed into her mind. It hadn’t been all excitement and hope. She’d been just as shocked. Although, to his credit, he’d recovered faster than she had.
“Yes. We’re going to have a baby,” she grumbled.
His smile faded and he took her hands. “You’re not happy about it? You…”
“I am!” she gasped, stepping closer, laying her hands on his chest. “I’m thrilled! I ju
st…when you jumped away from me a moment ago and looked at me as if I were a leper, I thought you were upset.”
His hands wrapped round her waist and he pulled her close again. “Not upset. Shocked, Cyn. Just surprised. And yeah, a bit horrified for a moment. Men are drilled throughout our lives to avoid pregnancy, use condoms and all that. So hearing that I’d failed or…” his hand moved to her stomach, “rather, succeeded…was a shock.” He lifted her up and pulled off her tee shirt. “A good shock.” His gaze moved to her breasts again. “A really good shock,” he groaned.
Cynthia rolled her eyes. “You’re such a guy!”
He laughed. “Aren’t you grateful for that fact?” he teased. He pulled her jeans off, tossing them out of the way as he drank in the vision of her body in just a bra and small pair of panties.
For the first time since they’d stopped pulling pranks on each other, his look wasn’t sexual. His hands moved worshipfully over the small bump of her stomach. It was barely there when she laid on her back like this but he could see it. Mostly because he knew her body so well.
Cynthia smiled, watching him. Then his eyes moved higher, locking onto her breasts.
He started to reach for her breasts but pulled back. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”
And her heart melted even more. He cared! He really cared! “I feel good. I was a bit worried being around my mother initially. I’d only just discovered I was pregnant at that point, but then I was too overwhelmed by my mother being in the hospital and…”
“You should have called me, Cynthia. I would have been there immediately. I would have helped you.”
“I was…overwhelmed. And scared,” she admitted. “I couldn’t believe that I was pregnant for a long time. I kept trying to dismiss it as just…the flu or something. Anything but being pregnant.”
“The queen of denial, huh?” he teased, continuing to stroke her stomach. “How long have you known?”
She bit her lower lip, afraid of admitting it now. But she wasn’t going to lie to him. “I took a pregnancy test the day that I left for Florida,” she told him.
His hand stopped and he looked into her eyes. “So, you’ve known about this for over a month?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Please don’t be mad, Ryan. I knew about it, but I was terrified about what the pregnancy would mean for us, and then I found my mother in a mess at her house and had to get her to the hospital. I didn’t even think about the baby until the following week when my mom came home from the hospital. And even then, it took a lot of work to get her energy levels back up and I…”
Ryan silenced her with a kiss. It took several moments for her to respond, but when she did, her arms slid higher, wrapping around his neck. Finally, he lifted his head and stared down at her.
“And you were scared.”
Cynthia sighed and closed her eyes, nodding. “Terrified,” she admitted.
There was a long silence while they both thought about what this all meant.
“We’re going to have a baby. And you’re going to marry me.”
She smiled, feeling as if the weight of the world had suddenly been lifted from her shoulders. “I think that’s a wonderful plan.”
“And we’re going to remodel that bathroom until it’s….”
“I love the bathroom. I think it is absolutely beautiful.”
“Why did you start crying then?”
“Because of the double sinks. I just…” she shrugged. “I realized that the house you’d built was made for two people and I…”
“No, I built it for a family, Cyn. Every inch of the house was made with your dreams from high school in mind.”
She was confused for a long moment before she remembered. “That afternoon? Down by the creek?”
“Yeah,” he grinned. “I remember that we were trying to do our homework and we started talking about our dream houses. You wanted a white kitchen, hating the dingy kitchen in your parents’ place above the bar.”
“It’s better now,” she said softly, awed that he had remembered.
“Think it could be a rental place?” he suggested.
Her grin widened and she nodded. “Yeah. I think that is a great idea. A bit noisy, but hey, if you want to rent a place over a bar, you’ve gotta deal with the noise.”
He chuckled. “I suppose that would be a downside to your renters. But the upside is that they won’t have to drive home after too many drinks. Just walk up the stairs.”
“Yep. Good point.” She grinned up at him. “So…?”
“So,” he shifted, pressing his legs and hips between hers, “now you tell me again that you love me, that you’re going to marry me, and tonight, we start moving you into this place. Tomorrow,” he lowered his head and kissed her nipple, then moved the fabric of her bra out of the way, “we go shopping for furniture for the baby’s room, the great room, and kitchen and…” his teeth scraped against her nipple, causing her to gasp, “then we fly to Vegas to get married.”
She smiled, sliding her legs higher, centering him so his throbbing erection was more perfectly aligned with her body. “I love you,” she said, kissing him. “I will marry you,” and she flashed the diamond on her finger, “and we’ll drive to my place to get the first load of my stuff.” She kissed him again, but this time, he reached behind her to unsnap her bra, tossing it onto the floor along with her jeans and tee shirt. “I think it would be fun to go furniture shopping tomorrow. But there’s no way we’re flying to Vegas to get married.”
He laughed and started kissing his way down her body, kissing, teasing, and making her squirm. “Fine. We’ll have a wedding. But it has to be planned fast.”
“Eve gets a wedding first. She got engaged to Mack first.”
He lifted his head, but disagreed. “No deal. You’re pregnant. We get married first. Besides,” he kissed her stomach before moving lower, “Mack is too slow. I’m not waiting on him.”
He ripped her underwear off and tossed it aside. That’s when he really focused!
“Ryan!” she gasped, her fingers diving into his hair, holding his head even as she pressed her body against his mouth, showing him what she wanted. And he gave it to her with gusto! It had been too long and her release happened too fast. She was screaming with pleasure long before Ryan was ready to stop.
When he finally did, he looked into her eyes and smiled. “I just realized something interesting.”
Since Cynthia was still trying to recover, she wasn’t sure what could be more interesting than what she’d just gone through. “Um…what’s that?” she asked, breathing hard and more than ready to feel him inside of her.
His grin widened and she gasped at the devilment in his eyes. “I don’t need to wear a condom!” And with that, he slid into her heat, easily pressing deeper and deeper. “Tell me if I’m hurting you,” he groaned.
Cynthia shook her head, shifting to take all of him. “Not hurting!” she gasped, arching her back to take him deeper. “Perfect!”
“Yeah. I have to agree,” he said, pulling her in gently. “Damn, you feel good!” he groaned.
“I love you,” she whispered when he started thrusting. Slowly at first, then with more speed and more urgency.
“I love you too!” he shouted, closing his eyes to hold himself back. When he felt her body begin to tighten, he knew that she was close and pulled back, using his fingers to help her over the edge. When she screamed with her second climax, he groaned and gave in to the intense pleasure.
A long time later, Cynthia was curled up in the big bed, snuggled warmly against Ryan. “I love you,” she told him, needing to say the words when they were both calm versus when they were caught up in the heat of the moment.
His arm tightened around her shoulders. “I love you too. And I’m so excited about having a baby together!” He shifted so that he could look into her eyes. “I promise, Cynthia. I won’t ever do to you what your father did. I won’t leave you.”
She ran a finger along his cheek. “I know
you won’t. But what if…?”
He stopped her with a kiss. When he lifted his head, she smiled at the determined look in his eyes. “Whatever happens in the future, we’ll figure it out together. I promise.”
Sweet words, she thought. “I promise too. No more running away.”
Epilogue
“Don’t you dare!” Cynthia yelled.
Four year old Johnathan froze, the glass of water poised in midair.
Cynthia rushed over to the railing of their front porch, peering over the side. “That’s your sister!” she groaned. “You were going to pour water on your sister? Why?”
Johnathan smiled and Cynthia never could get used to how much he looked like his father when he grinned. “Why not?” he asked.
Ryan strolled over to the bannister, the mesh belt that held his weapon, handcuffs, and extra…stuff, slung casually over his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around Cynthia’s waist, pulling her in for a kiss. “What’s going on?” he asked as soon as he lifted his head.
“Johnathan was just about to pour water over his sister’s head. She’s sitting down there, reading quietly and not bothering anyone.”
Ryan leaned over, peering at the area below the deck. “Uh…honey? She’s not there,” he warned.
Everyone froze. A quiet, sweet Samantha reading on a chair was one thing. But a missing Samantha? Not good! Never good!
“Oh no!” Cynthia gasped.
Moments later, a cold jet of water exploded up through the rails, directed at Johnathan. It took a full three seconds before Johnathan reacted. First with a look of horror, and then with that same devilish look in his eyes that warned everyone that retribution was on the horizon.
Ryan chuckled, shaking his head while Cynthia stood there, stunned.
That’s when Johnathan went into overdrive. Like lighting, he zoomed past Cynthia, obviously determined to start his retribution sooner rather than later. Thankfully, Ryan scooped their dripping son up, draping him over his shoulder.
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