Gasping, I pulled my head out of the toilet. “What’s going to be okay?”
Gently, he pulled me up then took my hand, leading me to the sink. Wetting a washcloth, he wiped my face for me as he looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes. “Who knows, you may even want this.”
“Want what, Ransom?” I took his wrists in my hands to stop him from cleaning my face anymore. I didn’t care what I looked like. I just had to know what was happening.
“My grandfather has changed his will again. If you and I don’t get married before the babies come, then me, you, and the babies will be cut out of his will.” He sighed as I released his wrists. “You’ll get what you wanted.”
My head felt light as I tried to process the information. “I didn’t want this.”
With a shrug, he said, “Didn’t you kind of want this?”
Blinking as I looked at him, I had no idea why he would think I wanted him to be forced to marry me. “What?”
“You look like you’re about to faint.” He took my hand and pulled me back to bed. “Here, get back into bed. I’ll go down and grab some breakfast for you and bring it up here while you absorb this information. Maybe a little later today, we can pick out wedding rings and decide how we’re going to do this.”
Words eluded me as I got tucked back into bed by the man who had refused to have sex with me. But now that his grandfather was demanding he marry me, he looked like he’d accepted it all, and he thought that I would too.
Well, he was wrong.
“My answer is no, Ransom.” I watched his face turn into a frown.
“You don’t mean that.” His expression changed to one of sheer joy. “You’re getting what you wanted.”
His arrogance was mindboggling. “What makes you think that I wanted to marry you?”
“Come on.” He put his hands on his hips as his eyes danced. “You were honest about wanting to have sex with me and only me. But you expect me to believe that you didn’t want me to marry you to get that? Shit. At one time last night as I thought over everything, I even considered that you might’ve been the one to tell my grandfather to do this.”
Now, I was just pissed. “Get out.” I pointed at the door. “Get the hell out of my bedroom, Ransom Whitaker. I can’t believe you’ve known me this whole time and you would think I would do such a thing.”
“Calm down,” he said soothingly. “Remember the babies.”
“They’re fine. I’m not though.” Steam had to have been coming out of my ears. “I’m going to tell your grandfather that I will not marry you. I will never marry you. Not unless you love me. Which you don’t.”
He leveled his eyes at me, and I saw defiance in them that I’d never seen before. “This isn’t a thing we should be fighting over. And who are you to tell me that you know I don’t love you?”
“Who am I? I’m the woman who has professed her love to you. The woman who was left hanging after telling you that. If you loved me, then you wouldn’t have been able to keep your hands off me.” I crossed my arms over my chest, just then realizing that I didn’t have a bra on and my nipples were hard as rocks.
“To be honest, I’m not ready to tell you that now.” He looked at the floor. “But in time, I think I’ll be able to.”
“That’s not good enough for me.” I shook my head. “I’m not exactly unlovable. And you’ve made me feel that way more than once, Ransom. I don’t want to marry you. Not right now, I don’t.”
“Well, we don’t have a shit ton of time, Aspen. You know as well as I do that those babies are going to come early. One to two months early. And I know my grandfather. If we haven’t done what he’s asked, then we’ll be out on our collective asses without a dime.”
“Then I guess you should start thinking about what you’re going to do to support your kids and me until I can get a job.” I was adamant. “I will not be forced to marry a man who doesn’t love me.”
“If I just said the words you want to hear, then will you marry me?” He threw his arms up in the air again. “I cannot believe I’m having to beg you to marry me. This is insane!”
“I agree.” I thought about what he’d asked me, and I knew I couldn’t believe him if he did say the words now. “My answer is still no. I will not marry you if you tell me that you love me. Ransom, you could just say the words, you know. I need to feel that you love me.”
“First you needed to hear the words, and now you need to feel the love?” Now he looked exasperated. “I don’t know what the hell to do now. I thought you would be over the moon. I thought this would be exactly what you wanted. You could be my wife, for the love of God. You could be Mrs. Ransom Whitaker. You would be set for life. You would probably become the damn president of Whitaker Oil, and still, you say no.”
All that didn’t matter to me at that moment. “I will speak to your grandfather, and this will not be an issue any longer.”
Ransom laughed all the way out the door. Then I got up and got myself dressed. Lucius Whitaker had no idea who he’d just messed with.
As I stomped to the other wing and then down the long hallway to Lucius’ bedroom, it came to my mind that the man might not be as well as I thought he was. He might’ve felt like the cancer had returned.
I had to put my anger aside. But I had to explain that I wasn’t one to be pushed around when it came to something as serious at matrimony.
Knocking on her door, I asked, “Can I come in?”
“I’ve been expecting you,” he called out.
I came in and found him sitting on the sofa in the living quarters of his suite. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. It reminded me of the way he would keep himself wrapped up when he was sick. “Are you feeling okay?”
“No.” He gestured for me to take a seat. “I’m sure my grandson has told you all about my demands by now.”
“He has. And I’m here to let you know that I’m not about to marry him,” I sounded stern, I thought.
“You love him, don’t you?” he asked me before coughing a little.
The cough scared me. He’s not coughed once since the tumor had gone away. “That doesn’t matter.”
“To me, it does.” He wiped his face with a white hand towel. I recalled him sweating a lot when he was sick too. “And he loves you, by the way. I know he won’t say the words, but you know his actions have told you as much. That man dotes on you like he’s never doted on anyone. Sometimes people just can’t say those three little words. I don’t understand exactly why Ransom has such an issue with saying them, but he does. You’ve got to be the bigger person and just accept the fact that Ransom won’t be telling you that he loves you. But you will always know that he does.”
It didn’t matter to me if Ransom told me he loved me or not at that point. “Lucius, I don’t want him to be forced to marry me. You’ve got to understand,” I pleaded.
His pale blue eyes drooped as he looked at me. “Little momma, if time weren’t a fleeting thing, then I would say to let him have all the time he needed to move forward with you. But time will be gone before you know it.”
“Please, don’t talk like that. There’s plenty of time for Ransom to come to love me and want to marry me on his own. And quite frankly, Lucius, I’m not ready to be anyone’s wife.” I’d never even shared a bed with a man before. Being married carried all sorts of new things with that, things would really change between Ransom and I if we got married.
Lucius wasn’t about to be put off though. “It’s my money and my opinion that you two need a push. You’ve got three children to consider now. It’s not only about you. Hate me if you must, but the will isn’t going to change until you and he are married. Then all of you will be included. Even you, my dear. No matter what the future brings, you will always be a wealthy woman from here on out—if you marry my grandson before these babies come, that is.”
With riches cast before me, my pride still fought hard. “I can’t do this, Lucius. I am sorry.”
His words came
too easily, “Then so am I.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ransom
Lubbock, Texas – December 27th
The whole day before had been terrible. Wrought with guilt, I’d stayed away from Aspen, hiding out in my bedroom. Getting little to no sleep, I knew I had to make things right with her. And I had to get her to agree to marry me.
She’d wanted intimacy with me, and I’d denied her that. With the marriage hanging over my head, things had been taken out of my control. I would have no other choices. My life was destined to be with Aspen. I just had to have hope and a fair amount of faith that she would never have a reason to stray the way my mother did.
I knew certain things about my parent’s relationship. My father worked hard, and he wasn’t home a lot. Most of the time he spent the work week in Houston or Dallas. We would see him on the weekends, and that would pretty much be it.
Our marriage didn’t have to be that way. I would make sure it wasn’t. I enjoyed spending time with Aspen. And I knew I was closer to being in love with her than I’d ever been with anyone. It would come. I was sure it would.
Maybe sex would make it happen much faster. Maybe the intimacy that comes along with sex, if one does it right, would break down the walls around my heart and leave an opening for Aspen to slip into.
I knew I’d fought that since the day we’d met. But now I needed to allow it all to happen. My grandfather had made it a necessary act now.
And I had to admit to myself that excitement flowed through me like a rushing river as I made my way to Aspen’s room. The sun hadn’t peeked over the horizon yet as I opened the door without knocking.
She made small snoring sounds as she lay on her side. Her dark hair covered her face, and I moved it back a bit to see her. She stirred only a little, then settled back into a steady breathing rhythm.
Sliding into the bed behind her, I cradled her in my arms. Breathing in the scent of her made my heart fill with desire. Her body felt natural and right in my arms.
I moved my hand over her belly, loving the roundness of it. Out babies lay sleeping in their mother’s womb. The thought made my cock hard.
This woman carried three of my children, and yet we’d never kissed. Never made love. Things were about to change. I would make sure of that.
Brushing back her hair, I exposed her neck. My lips grazed over it until I got to her ear. “Aspen,” I whispered and then kissed a line up and down her throat.
With one hand running up and down her arm, I felt goosebumps pimple her soft flesh. “Mmmm,” she moaned.
Moving my hand back to her belly, I made slow strokes then ran my hand under the pajama top, touching her satiny-smooth skin. “Baby, wake up,” I whispered then blew in her ear.
She moved her hand to cover mine that roamed all over her stomach. “Ransom?”
I made a low chuckle. “Who else would it be?” I kissed her cheek, softly, sensually, moving closer and closer to her mouth.
Then her hand clamped down over her mouth as her eyes flew open. “What are you doing?” she mumbled.
“I want you. I’m not going to hold back anymore.” I pulled her hand from her mouth. “Let me have you. Give me what I want, Aspen. I’ve waited and waited, and so have you.”
The way her eyes darted back and forth told me she wasn’t sure if this was even real. “Like you mean sex? You want to have sex with me? Right now?”
I rolled her onto her back then peppered her collarbone with kisses. “That’s what I mean.” Pushing her shirt up, I gazed at her round belly and enormous tits. “Oh, God, Baby.” I couldn’t hold back. I had to taste them.
Crushing my mouth onto one tit, I played with the other as she moaned deliciously. “Ransom…”
I couldn’t speak as I rolled my tongue over her hard nipple. Sucking it, I felt her whole tit get hard. Then I got a little worried that I would stimulate it too much, and she would start producing milk.
Pulling my mouth off her, I kissed my way to her mouth. I wanted to kiss those plump pink lips. Her hands moved through my hair as I looked into her eyes for only a moment before taking her mouth.
Her tongue played with mine as we kissed. I couldn’t help but feel like I’d wasted so much time. I could’ve been kissing this sweet mouth for months, but I had to let issues fuck that up for me. For us.
She pulled her legs up, bending her knees and I settled between them, careful not to put my weight on our babies. The heat between her legs radiated right through her pajama bottoms and my underwear. She was hot for me. And I was confident she would be soaked too.
I had to have more of her. I wanted to taste every bit of her. My mouth left hers, and I began to kiss my way down her body. When I got to her waist, I took a moment to take that shirt off her. She wiggled a bit as I did, then settled back on the pillows. “I’m yours for the taking, Ransom. Show me what I’ve been missing.”
My cock twitched, and I got off the bed to pull my boxer briefs off. Her eyes were on mine until the underwear came off, landing in a puddle around my feet. My cock was full, and I had to smile at her reaction when she saw it.
Stroking it once, I asked, “You like what you see?”
She nodded then sighed. “I hope you don’t hit any of our babies in the head with that monster.”
Laughing, I grabbed the bottoms of her shorts then pulled them off her, leaving her naked on the bed. “I think Mother Nature made that impossible, baby.”
“I hope so.” She held her arms open. “So, come to me and let’s get this virginity thing out of the way.”
I laughed again. “Why don’t you just lie back and let me do the magic that I do?”
“Or we can do it your way.” She wiggled a bit to get comfy. “I’m open to anything with you, babe.”
“Glad to know the sky’s the limit with you then.” I climbed onto the end of the bed. “Now, I want to taste this appetizing-looking morsel you’ve got between your legs.”
I watched her fist the sheets as her expression went to one of concern. “You’re going to,” she paused before whispering, “eat me out?”
“I am going to devour you, my sweet little princess.” I pushed her legs open wider, pulled her knees up higher, then put my hands on her inner thighs to keep her spread open that way.
As soon as my lips touched her already swollen pearl, she shouted, “Oh, God!”
I hoped to hear her say that a lot.
The thought of being the only person to ever set my lips on her gave me a hard-on to end all hard-ons. And my appetite for her was ravenous. Instinct took over, and my mind went blank.
Licking her into a state of arousal she’d never seen before made me into an animal set on making her his mate—like a wolf or something.
I wasn’t doing things the way I usually did. My whole body went into the act. I moved like a panther, lapping up a bowl of sweet milk then getting ready to pounce on her like on a helpless little antelope.
Her legs pulled together as she had her first orgasm. It must’ve been mind-shattering as the scream she made was guttural, the sexiest sound I’d ever heard.
Now I wanted the next orgasm-induced scream to come right next to my ear as I fucked her into oblivion. The girl brought more out in me than I knew I had.
Moving up her body, I took advantage of her orgasm and thrust my aching cock into her hard and fast. She gasped as her nails cut into my biceps, “Ransom!”
“Worst part’s over, baby.” I kissed her as I moved in and out of her. Her nails dug in hard, and my body loved every last bit of the pain she inflicted.
Finally, my cock was being satisfied by her sweet pussy. The months of agony were over. Behind us. All we had was one hell of a fantastic future ahead of us.
Her tight little cunt made it hard to last as long as I usually did. And when she wrapped her legs around me, screaming my name as she climaxed, with her walls pulsing around my cock, I had no choice but to give in.
As we panted, my brain began to emerge from
the fog of ecstasy. We were both covered in sweat, hearts pounding wildly, and smiles on our faces.
Brushing damp strands of hair off her face, I looked into her eyes. “Marry me, Aspen Dell, and make me the happiest man on Earth.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Aspen
Lubbock, Texas – December 27th
I can’t believe this man!
“You did this just so I would marry you, didn’t you?” I closed my eyes and fought back the tears. I had never felt so manipulated. “Get out, Ransom!”
Rolling off me, he yelled, “What the hell, Aspen?” He jumped off the bed, towering over me. “Are you crazy?”
And now he’s gone and called me crazy!
“Am I crazy?” I yanked the blanket up to cover my body; I had never felt so exposed before. “You took my virginity with this purpose behind it.”
“I think anyone who takes a person’s virginity does have a purpose behind it.” He picked his underwear up off the floor and put them back on. “But if you think the purpose was to get you to say yes to my second proposal of marriage, then the answer is no, I didn’t make love to you just to get you to say yes to me.”
“Why’d you do it then?” I asked as I pulled the blanket even tighter around me. Him being covered with his undies left me feeling vulnerable being naked with but a blanket.
“I wanted to!” There his arms went, flying back up into the air again as he looked exasperated with me. “You knew that I wanted you. You knew that I was holding back. And you even knew why I was doing that. So, I didn’t want to hold back anymore. I know who my future lies with now. There are just no more reasons to keep holding back.”
Somewhere in my head, I understood him. But the thing foremost on my mind was that it was grandfather who decided we should be married, not him.
“Tell me, Ransom, do you ever make your own decisions? Will your grandfather make all the important ones for you for the rest of his life? He’s made you have children. And now he’s making you marry a woman that you don’t even love.”
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