by Penny Wylder
I laugh. “No, not if I can help it. Probably once a year to make sure my mom is okay. I’ll keep trying to convince her that there’s something better out there for her and that she doesn’t have to stay. I have no idea if she’ll ever listen.”
Ally pulls my head down on her chest. “I’m sorry. I know that’s hard. That it hurts.”
There’s a flash of pain in my chest. Both for me and for her. “At least she’s alive,” I whisper, slipping my hands underneath her body so that I’m fully wrapped around her. “I’m lucky there.”
“Yeah.”
I hear grief in the single word, and resignation. It’s old pain, one that she’s come to terms with. But old wounds can still hurt. I should know.
Realizing I haven’t told her how I truly feel in response to her beautiful words, I raise my head. “Aside from not being embarrassed by you, there are a couple of other things that you need to know.”
“Oh?”
“Being with you, just around you, makes me appreciate things more. I look at things and wonder what you would think, and then I’m thinking about them from an entirely different perspective. You have more passion—even for small details—than anyone I’ve ever met in my life. The way you fought for this house, and sacrificed what you thought you wanted for it. It’s not something I’m sure that I could have done if the roles were reversed.
“But probably most importantly, being with you makes me want to be a better person. You make me imagine a life. An entire future. And at first, I just thought that being around you was bringing into focus what I really wanted. But then I realized that you were a part of that future, too. That it wouldn’t even exist if you weren’t in it.”
Ally’s eyes are glassy with tears, and I roll off her, grabbing her hand and taking her with me as I sit up and get off the bed. We’re completely naked, and I probably look ridiculous, but I get down on one knee.
“This isn’t the way I imagined myself proposing to anyone,” I admit, “but I don’t want to keep you waiting for a perfect set-up, because to me this is the perfect moment.”
Reaching for her hand, I slip the wedding ring off her finger, and I hold it up to her. “Ally, I love you. I am in love with you. I want to spend my life with you, in this house, if you’ll have me. I want to meet your grandfather and get to know him. Because if he raised you, then I know that he’s an incredible person. I want to take you on the honeymoon of a lifetime. And most of all, I want you to tell me to tear up those contracts that we signed so that they no longer mean anything.
“Will you stay married to me? After the month is up?”
Ally has tears rolling down her cheeks, and then she’s laughing. “Of course I will,” she says as I push the ring gently back onto her finger. It’s still loose. “I’ll stay married to you always.”
“It won’t be easy,” I say. “Not with my family and not with the attention that we’ll get.”
She’s looking at her ring with a new kind of wonder. “Well, the entire country has already seen me nearly naked, so I think I’ll be okay.”
I grin. “I’m so happy to be with you. I’m going to get this ring sized so it fits you perfectly, or buy you another one if you don’t like it. And by you a proper diamond ring.”
Ally drops to her knees wish me, kissing me. “Don’t you dare take away my ring. I love it. But I’ll let you size it so it fits. And I don’t need a diamond.”
“You’re right,” I say, standing and lifting her into my arms so I can carry her back to our bedroom where she belongs. “You need several. Lots of diamonds.”
“Caleb!” She smacks me lightly. “I don’t need diamonds.”
I can’t keep the smile off my face. “Well, now that we’re staying married, there’s no way that my parents can hold back the inheritance from me. So what are we going to do with all that extra money? Buying my new bride some beautiful new jewelry seems like a solid way to go.”
We tumble onto the bed together, and Ally laughs. “I’m sure we can find something to do with the money. After all, I am an accountant.”
“That’s true. A very sexy accountant.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.”
Her hand creeps between my legs, and my cock stirs under her fingers. “You make me feel like a teenager, Mrs. Staunton,” I say. “I just can’t seem to get enough of you.”
“Is that what I am?” she asks. “Mrs. Staunton?”
“If you want to be. I won’t lie, I kind of like you having my last name.”
Ally sighs, still absently stroking my cock, which I’m pretty sure is going to drive me insane. “I don’t know. If I’m a Staunton, doesn’t that mean I’m going to instantly turn into a terrible bore?” She puts on a fake accent. “A horrible rich snob?”
“One night of begging for orgasms would get the snobbery right out of you.”
“Is that so, Mr. Staunton?”
Deep, possessive lust rushes through me. “Yes it is. I’ve found my new wife to be very responsive to things like that. Turns out it’s the only way I can get her to shut up.”
Her eyes flash with humor. “Well, husband, you’ve taught me a few things.” She shimmies down the bed and swallows my cock in one motion that makes me harder than a rock and completely fucking blind. Shit.
Ally laughs, the vibrations of her mouth feel so fucking good, and she lets me go just to say, “Seems like I know how to shut you up too.”
“You’ll pay for that,” I manage.
“Promise?”
I can’t answer. I’m too busy reveling in the feeling of her fucking tongue and the fact that this amazing woman is mine forever. “You’re really very good at that.”
“I know,” she says, before swallowing me deeper. I groan, which only spurs her on. Deeper than I think she’s ever taken me, gently working me into her throat before pulling back completely.
The perfect warmth of her mouth touches my balls, and it’s all I can do not to come right then. I want to. But I also want to make this last as long as possible. Ally pulls them into her mouth, sucking on one and then the other, pulling and pushing and sucking. Fucking hell.
She licks her way back to the tip and swirls her tongue around the head of my cock. I swear that I’m so close that I can nearly taste lightning, and then she stops. Time freezes, and I look down at her smiling face. She crawls back up to me and kisses my cheek. “You’re a tease,” I manage to breathe.
“You know what you have to do?” she asks, pressing her lips to my ear.
“Tell me.”
I can feel her smile. “You have to beg me.”
The laugh that comes out of me is so loud that it echoes off the walls. I should have seen it coming—the perfect payback. “If you want me to beg, I’ll beg, Mrs. Staunton. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she says, grinning and waiting for me to say the words.
And I do.
Epilogue
Ally
One Year Later
It feels so good to be home. Don’t get me wrong, traveling with Caleb is luxurious. I never would have guessed that one day I’d be flying to New York on a private plane, but right here, sitting on the front porch of the Cumberland River house, this is paradise.
“Are you comfortable?” Caleb asks sarcastically climbing up the steps. He has a suitcase in each hand and a duffle bag slung over his shoulder.
“Oh so comfortable,” I reply sweetly. “Please leave those in the bedroom upstairs. Much appreciated.”
We’ve just gotten back from the Hamptons for the second year in a row, and this visit was just as awkward as the first time we’d gone as newlyweds. As Caleb had predicted, his parents weren’t exactly fans of the shotgun bride that he’d come home with who was a nobody from nowhere. But that didn’t stop us. We enjoyed the beach and had sex just as often as we had at home. Us being newlyweds actually gave us a perfect excuse to escape his parents.
But they couldn’t deny the fact that we were in love, or the fact that
Caleb had fulfilled their ridiculous and unnecessary condition to access his inheritance. And so they signed it over to him.
This year though, things were different. We brought someone with us. I glance down across the yard where my grandpa is checking on his prized roses. He hates being away from them for any amount of time, so he’s earnestly checking them for any signs of pests or disease, making sure the soil is just moist enough. He was thrilled with the opportunity to go to the beach in the Hamptons, but right here on the Cumberland River is where he’s happiest.
It took some convincing to get grandpa to move onto the property, and he refused to move into the main house. So Caleb and I had a guesthouse built for him. It gives him his privacy and he doesn’t feel like he’s intruding on us. I think the fact that we’re about to grow our family in a few months may have been his tipping point. And who can blame him? The man gave up so much of his life to raise a teenager after his daughter died. I can’t blame him for not wanting to live with a newborn.
I push my feet gently against the floor, and listen to the creak of the swing chain as I rock. I run my hands over the swell of my stomach and dream about rocking my baby right here, in the porch swing grandpa and I built together. Sweet emotions flood over me, and damn these pregnancy hormones, the tears slide down my face.
As tender as my grandpa has been through my pregnancy, and as excited as he is to be a great grandfather, telling Caleb’s family on our trip out to New York was more complicated, and not as happy. Caleb wasn’t interested in telling his father about my pregnancy at all, and I didn’t blame him. His father has scarred him for life, and I knew that the thought of his father having anything to do with his child scared the hell out of my husband. But even though his mother has her own faults—and I know that part of me will never forgive her for abandoning Caleb to be beaten—he wanted to tell her. Or rather, he was fine with her being told.
Just before we left the Hamptons, after the last dinner we had with them, when Caleb was bringing the car around, I pulled his mother aside. “I wanted to thank you for hosting us,” I said quietly. “And we wanted to tell you something before we left.”
She raised one arched eyebrow. “Yes?”
I smiled. “I’m pregnant. Due in March.”
The shock registered on her face for a moment before she managed to cover it. And though Caleb’s mother never showed her true emotions, just for a moment I thought I saw something there. A true hint of a smile, and something deeper in her eyes. “That’s lovely.”
“Thank you,” I said. “And we’d like you to be a part of your grandchild’s life. If that’s something that you want. I don’t think that Caleb will ever be truly comfortable with Mr. Staunton being present, but we would always welcome you if you wanted to visit us in Tennessee.”
She opened her mouth and then closed it. “I’ll think about it,” she said with another shallow smile.
“That’s all I can ask.”
I cried that night in Caleb’s arms, overcome with sadness for his mother, and the fact that our child might never know her because of his father. He held me and kissed me until there were no tears. “I swear to you, Ally. That will never be us. It will never be me. Our child is going to know love and support and devotion their entire life, no matter what happens.”
And I believed him. I still do. I always will.
“I can’t have my wife weeping on the front porch for all the neighbors to see.” Caleb is standing in the front door, looking over at me with a bemused look on his face. I scrub my face with my hands, laughing and crying at the same time.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into me,” I tell him, smiling through the tears.
He reaches his hand down to me and lifts me up, so I’m standing face to face with him. “Come upstairs. It’s been a long day and you should have a rest before dinner.” The finger that trails down my cheek and then over my collarbone tells me he has more on his mind than just a nap.
“Pops,” Caleb calls across the yard. “We’re going to wash up upstairs and unpack. How about we grill some burgers tonight?”
“Sounds good,” Grandpa says, barely taking a pause from examining his rose bushes. “See you on the back deck at six?”
“See you, Pops,” Caleb calls back, already leading me inside.
We walk up the steps to the second floor, and I’m overwhelmed again by memories and hopes. How is this my home? I’d dreamed about being here, in the house, on these stairs, for so many years. Never had my dreams included a husband and a baby who will take his first steps on the same ground I took my own. I feel my mother’s love all around me, and for the first time since she died, the memories of her are more sweet than bitter.
I’m surprised when Caleb doesn’t join me in bed. “I’ll be right back,” he says, and in the few minutes he’s gone from the bedroom, I start to drift to sleep. I feel his weight shift the bed beside me, but I’m falling into blissful sleep and don’t pay him any attention. That is until I feel the lightest vibration on my nipple.
My eyes open and Caleb has a small bullet vibrator in his hand. He’s making small circles around my sensitive nipple, and the sly smile on his face confirms there will be no nap. Not now.
“Caleb,” I start to say, but he puts a finger on my lips to quiet me.
“No talking, Ally. No thinking. You’re just going to feel.”
Who am I to argue?
Caleb unbuttons my blouse and then rubs the humming toy over my bra. My nipples come to points, and I feel the sensation travel down my body until my pussy feels wet and throbbing. His lips nibble around my ear, and I feel his hot breath against my cheek. An orgasm starts to build just below the surface, and it lingers, steady and subtle, the more he plays with my nipples. It feels so good I’m practically in a trance, and I barely realize he’s unbuttoning my shorts and sliding his hand into my panties.
His fingers slide over my wet pussy, and my hips lurch off the bed. I feel so empty all of a sudden, and I angle my hips urging him to slip his finger inside me. But his hand disappears from where I need it the most, and I hear his belt buckle opening and the zip of his fly. Suddenly he’s grabbing my hand and putting it directly on his cock. Already so hard. He pumps himself into my pliant hand, and then wraps his hand around mine, squeezing it tighter, and rasps into my ear, “Stroke it, baby. Please.”
The desperation in his voice sends burst of moisture through my pussy, and I jerk his cock, swirling the tip of my finger over the seeping head. He finally releases my hand and moves the vibrator down my body. Down, down, down, until finally it lands right where I need it. It’s still on the lowest setting, but as soon as it touches my clit, I jerk, as if I were struck by lightning. He moves it in figure eights around my clit, and it’s torture waiting for the second it takes glide back down over my clit, and then wait for it to make contact on its way up again. As the intensity grows, I stroke Caleb faster, and his breath is ragged in my ear. I open my eyes to look at him, and his face is strained. I know I can make him come like this, but I won’t. Not as long as he’s teasing me.
We play like this for minutes. Daring each other to stop. When Caleb moves the vibrator away from my clit, I loosen my grip on his cock, barely moving my hand at all. And when he hits me exactly where I need it, I glide my hand in sure strokes up and down his hard length. Our eyes are locked as we play this game, each of us panting, our faces draped in desire.
Finally Caleb has had enough, and he gets up on his knees, quickly stripping his shirt off over his head and yanking his jeans down completely. He then takes my shorts off and throws them off the bed. He pushes me onto my side and drapes my leg over his hip, so his cock is perfectly aligned with my entrance. The vibrator’s hum gets louder, and when he presses it between my legs it’s intense. A second later Caleb enters me in a swift motion, and he starts moving inside me. I reach my hand back and grab his ass, making him fuck me harder, quicker.
All of the teasing and touching has left me desperate, and my orgasm
is building like a tsunami. I know Caleb’s right there with me. Soon he’s bucking into me in chaotic strokes, and the intensity of the vibrator on my clit, and the drag of his cock in and out of me, has me digging my nails into his skin and groaning into the comforter. Wave after wave of the orgasm hits me, and I hear, almost from far away, Caleb’s moaning too, before I feel the hot jets of cum filling me up. When I finally come down, I have to move his hand and the vibrator off my clit. It’s too intense. It falls to the floor and comically moves around, vibrating on the hardwood.
Caleb rolls onto his back, panting as if he’s just run a marathon, the biggest smile on his face. I press my body against him, deliriously happy to snuggle into his warm and solid body. neither of us have the energy to grab the blanket at the foot of the bed, so we lie there nude, recovering. Caleb plays with my hair and sleep is overcoming me quickly. I let myself drift off into its perfect contentment.
“Happy to be home, Ally?” Caleb whispers to me.
“The happiest,” I whisper back as I drift off to sleep.
My entire world is this home, and I couldn’t ask for anything more.
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