by Lauren Dane
Belle laughed, keeping her ear tuned to the conversation with Rafe’s grandmother so when it was time, she could meet her and not appear rude.
“Don’t worry, she’s really a cool old woman. She just likes to play the boys off like this. Be yourself, she’ll like you,” Rosemary whispered of her grandmother.
“Belle.” Rafe stood and touched her arm and she turned to face his grandmother with a smile. A smile the older woman returned, a bit of mischief in her eyes.
“This is my grandmother, Lourdes Pereira. Grandma, this is Annabelle Taylor.”
Belle knelt so she faced Lourdes and held out her hand. “It’s an honor to meet you, Mrs. Pereira. Raphael and his brothers and sister speak of you often.”
Lourdes nodded and looked to Rafe, who hadn’t bothered translating. She snorted and looked back to Belle. “I was going to be threatening and old, like my husband’s grandmother did to me but I decided I like the look of you. Beatriz tells me you’re a good girl and Raphael tells me he loves you and has known you most of your lives. I like that. I don’t come around often. But next time we see each other, you’ll speak Portuguese to me.”
Belle stifled the urge to gulp and kick the carpet. Instead she laughed and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. And I love Raphael too. I have since I was a teenager. Only he never looked at me twice.”
At that, Belle found herself seated next to Lourdes the entire evening. For dinner and dessert afterward, she told Belle all manner of great stories about growing up in the Azores and then coming to the United States to meet the man she was to marry, Rafe’s grandfather who later died in the Korean War.
When they moved to the living room after the mess from dinner was cleaned up, Belle sat, snuggled up to Rafe. This was more important than letterhead any old day. He’d reminded her without preaching it. He’d simply let her see it.
It took some time to get through the presents, even with several people taking the used paper out of the way and Rafe’s father and uncle handing out the presents in shifts.
Belle received several presents much to her surprise and delight, including a hand knitted wrap she planned to wear that very night when they left for mass.
“One last one, Belle,” Rafe said. “Well not last, there are more from me at your parents’ house for the morning.” He laughed. “But for now, well.” He stood and brought her with him. “Five years ago I saw you at your law school graduation and suddenly you weren’t that annoying little control freak sister of my best friend. Something had changed and that day is when I started falling in love with you. I told myself it was silly, Brian would kick my butt if he knew and then we both worked so much I didn’t see you as often as I’d wished to even start something with you. But a few days ago and some mistletoe let me finally realize what I’d known all along. I love you, Belle Taylor and I want us to be together. I want you to be my wife and share my life. Be here with me for the good times and the bad and bear our children. I want that with you, I want there to be an us tomorrow and for all the rest of our days.”
Belle blinked back tears. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I know! I know it seems sudden but you know me and I know you. I’ve known you since I was eight years old and you were four. I’ve been a part of every major important day in your life and the same goes for you. You know what I believe in and you hold those beliefs as well. I respect your drive and ambition. I love that you iron towels and organize my spices. Make my house a home, Belle. Say yes.”
It wasn’t sudden. Not really. He was right, he’d been her friend for decades, a member of her family and certainly a man who’d held her erotic and romantic imagination for years. Rafe Bettencourt was her fantasy man come true. He was real.
“I’m so not an impulsive person. You know that. I do most things on a schedule and I keep endless lists and yes, I iron tea towels and organize spices. Marriage is on my list you know. The big life list I have laminated and in my wallet. It’s on the schedule for three years from now.”
Rafe stared at her and she grinned.
“But I guess I’ll have to laminate a new one because marriage just moved up the list and I’ll have to cross it off.”
“Is that a yes?”
She nodded. “If you’ll have a very organized contracts lawyer as your wife.”
He huffed out a sigh of relief as the room let out a whoop of celebration. “Belle, you had me going there for a bit with all that talking.”
“Yeah, I know. But I can’t have everyone always thinking I’m predictable now can I?”
He dropped to one knee and opened a velvet pouch into his palm. Two rings slid out, glittering in the lights from the tree and the lit candles in the room.
“These were my great-grandmother’s rings. My grandmother brought them with her so I could give them to you. Then our grandson can give them to his wife-to-be. Will you wear them?”
She held out a trembling hand as he slipped on a very beautiful opal and diamond ring. “It’s gorgeous.” Feminine and classic. The ring fit her style perfectly.
“The band we’ll save for the wedding.”
“Gosh, the watch I got for you just doesn’t quite measure up,” she said quietly as they pulled up in her parents’ driveway after mass.
“Belle, you agreed to marry me. That’s way better than anything I’ve ever gotten.”
“We should have stopped by your house like I said. I hate that I won’t be naked with you until tomorrow night.”
He helped her out of the car, grabbing her overnight bag. Bending down, he captured her lips for a kiss. “Tomorrow once we get to our house, I’m going to have you every way I can think of. For now, let’s just pray your mother doesn’t kill me for asking you to marry me without her there.”
“Yeah, that’s going to be a close call. But I think you’ll be all right. She likes you.” Belle laughed quietly but she needn’t have bothered as everyone seemed to still be up when they went into the house.
More insanity when Belle’s mother, who’d been making hot chocolate for everyone, caught sight of Belle’s ring after she’d changed into her pajamas and came out into the living room.
“Is that what I think it is, Annabelle?”
“If you think it’s an engagement ring, yep. Rafe asked me to marry him and I said yes.” Belle grinned as people got up and rushed at her and Rafe, hugging and kissing cheeks, slapping shoulders and congratulating them.
“You move fast! Why didn’t you tell me you planned to do this tonight?” Belle’s mother demanded of Rafe.
“I just decided yesterday to ask her so soon. My grandmother brought the rings because I knew I wanted to ask Belle to marry me but I’d planned to wait until Valentine’s Day.” He shrugged and hugged Belle. “But yesterday it just hit me that it was time. I’d wasted five years knowing she was everything I ever wanted in a woman so I decided to stop wasting time and marry her.”
They stayed up until nearly two-thirty, talking, planning and laughing. Finally everyone snuggled down in sleeping bags and decided to try and sleep before the kids woke up at the crack of dawn.
Chapter 8
It’d been a good day with the Taylors. Rafe knew they’d accepted him, not just in the way they had before but as their daughter’s soon-to-be husband.
He’d watched while she played with the wooden block set her youngest nephew had received, while she rubbed Chelsea’s back and had run around, taking care of people.
They’d had a huge lunch and half his family had come over to join them and much talk about consolidating Easter had begun.
Finally, it was nearly nine that night when they escaped. He hesitated to even bring up what would happen the next day. He was mulling over how to broach the subject when she bypassed his house and got on the freeway instead.
“We’re going to my condo for a bit. We’ll talk when we get there, all right?”
He wondered if she planned to sleep there so she could get to work early the next morning and told himsel
f that was all right. He’d work around her schedule. It wouldn’t be easy, but he’d commute back to Davis if he had to.
Instead, he’d simply stared, utterly dumbfounded when they’d walked in her front door.
“This is your house? Wow, Belle, this is like a spread in one of those home magazines. God, I hope I don’t stain your carpets.”
“You won’t be here long enough for that to be a worry.”
“Belle, if you think you’re going to live here while I live in Davis and I see you once a year, you’ve got another thing coming. I’ll live here and commute every day. I can work it with Gabe so I won’t always have to be out there so early. And the reverse commute isn’t going to be that bad.” He put his hands on his hips and dared her to argue.
Instead she burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.
“What? What is it, honey? Don’t cry. We’ll work it out. I’m okay with you working, I promise.” He rubbed a hand up and down her back.
“No, not that. Rafe, you’d give up hours of your day, every day to live here, in a tiny condo with white carpets when you have a huge house a mile from your job? I love you so much. I can’t believe you’re mine.” She smiled up at him and he smiled back.
“Of course I would. Belle, I love you. I’d rather be with you and commute than not be with you. Even for ten minutes a day.”
“Well that’s not necessary. I stopped over here yesterday to get the dress I wore last night and I thought a good long time about my life. And my job sucks. I hate to admit it, it was on my list and it’s a hugely important firm and all that. But I handed in my letter of resignation yesterday. I have some stuff to tie up and it’ll take me a month or so, but I’ll work on my resume and look for something in Sacramento or even Davis. I don’t want to trade my life for a job. Especially now that you’re in it.” Belle took a breath and watched his face as he realized what she’d said.
“That’s…are you sure, Belle? I don’t want you to have regrets over me. Not ever.”
“I’d already started to think about another job before last week. Being with you, being reminded about what’s truly important is what helped me make my choice. I have no regrets. I do however, have until January second for vacation. I took those days as well and I’ll be able to cash out a lot more. So you’ll kiss me at midnight and I’ll wake up in your arms in the new year and every day after that too.”
He picked her up and swung her in a circle, laughing. “Let’s grab some of your stuff to move into our place. Thank God Brian will be out soon so we can have it all to ourselves.”
When she fell asleep that night, nestled into his side, she was tired, but not the kind of tired she’d come home with. A good kind of tired from a day filled with joy and laughter.
The sound of an alarm brought Belle out of her deep sleep.
“Shh. Go back to sleep, Belle. It’s early.”
She started, adrenaline shooting through her system, waking her up. When she rolled over she was face to face with none other than a very naked, very sexy Rafe Bettencourt. Her fiancé. How cool was that?
“Morning, gorgeous. It’s only four-thirty. Go back to sleep.” He leaned in to kiss her lips softly but she grabbed his shoulders, holding him to her.
With a groan, he pulled her against his body, making her well aware he was very happy to see her.
“Well that’s a very fine good morning. You going to get up and check on cows with me?”
Belle saw the flash of his grin in the low light.
“No, you’re going to fuck me so I have a nice memory in my dreams until I wake up at a decent hour.” She stretched into his body and he traced a fingertip over her lip and down the line of her neck.
“Well what’s stopping you?” She sat up. “Wait, I’ll be right back!” Belle hustled into the bathroom, took care of business and brushed her teeth before getting back to him.
“Crap it’s cold.” She shivered, her teeth chattering.
“I know, I just turned the heat up. Come here and let me warm you.” A large, warm hand grabbed her hip and pulled her toward its owner. Rafe kissed down her neck and across her collarbone, his hands gently kneading her shoulders, turning her into a puddle of goo.
“You’re good at that,” she sighed, running her hands up his arms, over his biceps. “And my God do you have an amazing body.”
He laughed softly, just before tracing her left nipple with the tip of his tongue. Pleasure, slow and warm, oozed through her system as he sucked the nipple into his mouth, his teeth grazing it lightly.
Her hips rolled without conscious thought on her part, seeking contact with him.
“Patience, Belle. You’re so soft and sweet. We have a lifetime of morning sex before the sun rises.” He kissed the sensitive skin between her breasts, the dark silk of his hair tickling her nipples.
“Fuck patience, Rafe.” She shoved his shoulders and rolled atop him with a laugh of triumph as her hair surrounded them both.
“Any more fantasies you want to share?” He waggled his brows in the low light.
“Do you really want to talk right now?” She looked down at him, chest heaving. Her pussy hovered over his cock, sliding along the shaft. Little bursts of pleasure skittered through her as the crown nudged over her clit.
“We’ll talk later. Give me what you’ve got, Annabelle Louise.”
Rafe gave over to her ministrations without a fight. If Belle wanted to be on top he certainly had no problem letting that happen. She liked to be in control and also liked it when he was. He could definitely be just fine with that kind of easygoing attitude from his sweet control freak.
Her hair slid over his face and neck as her lips and tongue drew over the tendons in his neck. She scooted down, the molten heat of her pussy teasing over his cock until he thought he’d die.
He gasped when the edge of her teeth scraped over his nipples, first one and then the other. She teased the other with her fingers while her mouth kept him hypnotized. Admittedly, he’d never thought of his own nipples as much of an erogenous zone but after several interludes with Belle, he’d totally rethought that.
He marveled at the curve of her spine as he stroked over each nub of her vertebrae with his fingertips. So soft and yet he knew she was sturdy and strong.
The heat of her mouth slid down his chest and over his stomach. He couldn’t help but hiss in surprise and pleasure when she nipped at his belly button. She drew her hair across his lower stomach and then across his cock.
He still couldn’t quite get over how wild she was in bed. Just thinking about it during the days made him hard, made him want to drop everything and find her, see what they could get up to.
Reaching back, he stacked the pillows behind his head so he could watch as she lowered her mouth over his cock. He centered all his attention on how she took him into her mouth. When she looked up and locked eyes with him as she continued to suck his cock, a gasp burst from his lips at how exposed he felt. The moment was intensely intimate.
“Belle, honey, that feels so good.” He let himself be lured by her eyes, by the way her mouth looked as she swallowed him, by the way her pale skin contrasted with his as she held the base of his cock.
He sifted his fingers through her hair, loving the way it felt, cool and soft. The room was warming up from the heat and what the two of them generated together.
Too close. He didn’t want to come anywhere but deep inside her. He touched her shoulder. “Belle, wait. I don’t want to come right now. Come up here.”
With a frown she lifted and let go, leaving a parting kiss before crawling up his body. “I wasn’t done.”
“No you aren’t, honey. I promise you that.” He leaned over and turned on the bedside lamp and perused the line of her body in the brighter light the lamp provided. “So damned pretty. On your back, it’s my turn to return the favor.”
“You’d better finish the job though.”
He laughed. “Naked and sassy, my favorite kind of woman.”
Petting over her closely trimmed curls, he lowered his face to her and she arched with a gasp. Her taste seduced him, spice and salt, sweet and tang. Uniquely her and totally delicious. He’d savor her for hours when he got home from work later but he had to have her right then or he’d die. He needed to make her come and slide deep. The memory would sustain him until he could sneak away later to be with her again.
As he licked over the furls of her pussy, he slid two fingers into her and hooked them, stroking her sweet spot as he drove her higher and higher.
“Yes,” she cried out. He heard her moans and the way her fingers dug into his shoulders, he knew she was getting closer.
She writhed beneath him, whimpering and begging. The muscles in her thighs trembled against his biceps. One hand fucking into her, the other holding her open to him, he set to business, pressing the flat of his tongue over her clit and sliding it from side to side.
“Sweet baby Jesus on a skateboard,” she whispered as her body spasmed around his fingers and she came.
Her eyes widened as he slid the fingers he’d had inside her into his mouth and hummed his appreciation. “I can’t get enough of you, Belle. I know that I could take you three times a day until I die and it still wouldn’t be enough.”
“You’re really good at this stuff,” she said, breathless.
He rolled over and fished around next to the pillow and found the condom she’d brought back from the bathroom. “Always prepared. I love that about you.”
Belle took it from him and ripped it open, rolling the latex on his cock quickly. “I don’t think they had merit badges for this one. Soon, this won’t be necessary. I can’t wait.”