by Kristy Marie
I wrap my arms around him, consoling him like I’ve done all his life. “I forgive you.”
He pulls back, serious. “Don’t bullshit me,” he says. “Make me beg for your forgiveness. I deserve it. All my life you’ve been there for me, endured and took everything I threw at you and made the best of it. You didn’t deserve the relationship I strapped you with.”
I trail a finger along his clenching jaw, memorizing every frown line. “I wanted any piece of you I could have,” I admit. “I was okay waiting for it.”
He sighs. “I know you’ve made a life for yourself here, but I’d—” He swallows, hesitating.
“You’d what?”
His eyes close briefly. When they open, nothing but determination remains. “I’d like to make a life here with you too.”
Everything in me wants to pinch him and make sure this is real. And while I’d like to ask him a million questions and yell at him for waiting so long, I don’t. Because none of it matters.
Sure, I made a life, but it wasn’t a happy one because he wasn’t in it.
I throw my arms around him and squeeze. This man is more than the man I love. This man is my best friend. My beer-drinking buddy who hates the smell of eggs. He’s my personal space heater and my most trusted confidant.
I pull back and wipe under my eyes for any errant tears. “I don’t know that you can afford my rates,” I tease, reaching over to grab the marker and document from the nightstand.
He settles back, sitting on the edge of the bed, a casual smile nearly blinding me. “I’m prepared to negotiate.”
I cock a hip, ready to banter. “Good, because I’m expensive.”
“What’s your percentage, Ms. Von Bremen?”
Gah, he’s sexy when he tries. “One hundred percent.”
He whistles. “That’s steep and more than likely unethical.”
I grip the front of his shirt and pull him forward. “That’s my rate for you. You want to make a life with me? I require all of you.”
He cocks his head to the side, watching my mouth like he’s actually considering my offer. “Deal,” he agrees. “All of me is yours.”
We both know we aren’t talking about his football contract. “I’m going to need you to sign,” I tell him. “So it’s official.”
He flashes me a boyish grin and leans down, grabbing the marker. With his teeth, he pops open the cap and rakes up my shirt. His breath is hot against my skin, causing shivers. Placing a kiss to my skin, Bennett Jameson signs his name on my body for the first time since the rules came into play. No rules, just a claim. “I require one thing though,” he says after a moment, his voice full of gravel.
“And what is that?”
Standing to his full height, he reaches around to his back pocket.
I laugh. “How much crap did you pack in there?”
“Enough to seal the deal.”
Slowly, he brings his hand forward. A black velvet box sits small in his big hands. Painstakingly slow, he cracks it open, revealing a diamond nestled in a platinum band. It’s nothing huge or fancy, but old and full of character. “It’s my great grandmother’s ring.”
He only has a grandmother on his father’s side.
“In order to give you 100 percent of me, I need to know you’ll sign our agreement with my last name.” We both know that’s not legal. But we were never negotiating his representation contract. “Forever.”
My chest feels like it’s about to burst. I have a million questions. Does his father know? Does mine? But all I can think is Bennett Cole Jameson is asking me to marry him in his ridiculous contractual ways.
“You want me to be Mrs. Jameson?” I ask, because the words aren’t flowing like they should be.
“Yes, ma’am.” He does this southern gentleman chin tip that does me in.
“Forever? Not just for the summer?” I know. I know. Just take the ring and shut up. But I can’t. It’s Benn—
He plucks the ring from the box and tosses it on the bed. “Aspen Von Bremen. You loved me before I could even pronounce your name. I took my first steps into your arms. Will you do me the honor of taking your last steps as a Von Bremen into mine?”
Someone knows how to destroy a heart.
Like rain, several betraying tears streak down my face. It’s not pretty, I’m sure.
“Aspen, will you marry me?”
It’s not like I’m going to say no. “Yes.” I put both hands on his face, not even caring that he can’t put the ring on my finger. “I’ll marry you, BJ.”
He snorts and shakes his head. Pulling my hand from his face, he slips the ring on my finger. “Now, I’m going to need you to sign and make it official.”
I can’t help it. I’m an utter fool for this man. Leaning down, I pull up his shirt slowly, just as he did mine, and scribble my name on his chest. Except this time, I don’t sign Aspen Von Bremen. This time, I sign Aspen Jameson, because I’ve only been practicing that same signature since I could spell Jameson.
When I’m done, I look up and meet his eyes shining with pure love. “Done,” I tell him, holding up the marker. “Now you’ll never get away.”
He plucks the marker from my hand and tosses it behind me. “Now that we have the details out of the way, we can eat.”
It hits me then. “Wait, you didn’t get down on one knee. If I only get to do this once, I want to tell our children that their father dropped to one knee when he asked me to marry him.”
His tongue snakes over his lips. “You can tell them I dropped to one knee, but it wasn’t to ask you to marry me.”
He lifts me up and turns, pushing me onto the bed. “But I’m pretty sure you won’t tell our future children about this moment,” he says. “I think it’s about to get highly inappropriate.”
I squeal when he pulls my butt to the edge, my hands bracing me from falling on my back. “Gah, I’ve missed this Bennett.”
He smirks, yanking my sleep pants and underwear down at the same time. “I never want to see pants on you again.”
“Ditto.” I eye his jean clad bulge.
When he has my pants off one ankle, he grabs both calves and pushes them back until my heels rest along the bed’s edge. I’m panting and dripping while he stands back, taking his fill.
I make no move to cover myself. For years I’ve wanted Bennett to look at me with nothing but need. Now that he is, I’ll never cut him off.
“You wanted me on one knee, yes?” He asks all gruff.
I nod. “Yes, please.”
It’s not that I was being nice; I just can’t take my eyes off him. His body lowers to one knee, his face between my thighs. Nothing will ever be this sexy. He takes my thighs and eases them apart.
“Oh, shit,” I groan, my head falling back to the mattress.
“Open your eyes, Ms. Jameson. I want you to remember this moment so you can tell it properly.”
My eyes fly open and widen as his mouth descends on my center. Heat consumes me as his tongue barges its way into my opening, stretching it with blissful pleasure. His arms wrap around my legs and pull me to him, pinning me to his beautiful torture.
“I won’t last,” I tell him. “It’s too intense.”
He growls against my sensitive flesh. “Then you’ll know what it’s always felt like for me. Intense and never long enough. But not anymore, Asp.”
He swipes a torturous stroke against the bundle of nerves. “Because now, we have forever.”
The Forever Rule
We shall never love another
Aspen
Eighteen Months later…
“Fuck me!”
I cry out, right before Bennett’s hand claps over my mouth. “Be quiet or they’ll hear you.”
Honestly, with his cock buried bellybutton deep, I don’t care who hears my screams.
I nod under his hand, right before he rolls his hips, which elicits another moan.
“Aspen, seriously. Be quiet.”
My back arches and I grab the hea
dboard preparing for his next thrust. “You’re not making it any easier on me,” I mumble from around his hand.
He chuckles. “You’re the one who came into my room in nothing but my jersey.”
True. Being back home stirred up memories I wanted to change. Those nights with a shower door separating us were over. I knew the minute I climbed through the window of his childhood bedroom, I was going to fuck him senseless. Call me kinky but we were doing it, at least once. I waited years, lying in this same bed, dreaming of Bennett being balls deep inside of me.
“I thought you might appreciate the fandom,” I tease as he removes his hand and tosses me his discarded shirt.
“You thought correctly. Now, bite down.” The teasing lilt of his voice is gone. This Bennett is hard and full of hungry passion.
I shove part of the shirt in my mouth and return my hands to the headboard, waiting patiently for him to destroy me.
Trailing his finger down the curve of my back, Bennett stops when he reaches my hips. Both of his hands grip my sides. If I was a betting woman, I would wager he’s fighting a smile, but I don’t have time to turn back and check as he rams into me, harsh and unyielding.
“Bennett!” I scream, spitting out his shirt. So much for it serving as a gag.
My tits bounce as Bennett keeps pounding, no longer concerned about making noise. Which is great, because that wasn’t stopping anytime soon.
“I’m there.” He pants. “Are you there?” His voice is whiny. “Please be there.”
Gah, he’s so cute, trying to hold out for me.
Truth is, sometimes I don’t even chase my orgasm. I merely want to watch as he uses my body for his own pleasure, chasing a high he’s only ever felt with me. And after tonight, we’ll keep it that way forever.
“I’m there,” I tell him, gripping the headboard tighter and finding the tingling deep in my center. I clench around him until he folds over me and shouts, “Fuck!” as he spills his release inside me.
We’re panting, a shiver cresting over my skin as I turn and press a kiss to his lips. “If we get caught, I want it on record that it was your scream that woke them.”
“You look stunning,” my mother says, her face staring back at me in the mirror. “You want to make a bet your father cries?”
Even joking, her sapphire-colored eyes sparkle with unshed tears. “Looks like he might be in good company,” I tease.
She chuckles, wiping under her lashes, checking if I’m right. “Your father and I are so proud of you.” This time, she lets a tear fall and I catch it with my finger.
“Then why the tears?”
She places a whisper of a kiss to my cheek. “We weren’t ready for this moment.” She exhales and laughs, catching my gaze in the mirror. “Not at all.”
Smiling, I turn and grab her hand. “You know we aren’t moving out of state, right? We’re only an hour away.”
After Bennett proposed, he entered the NFL draft and was drafted by Atlanta in the first round. Then, his bomb-ass fiancée negotiated one hell of a contract, keeping us both here in Georgia with our crazy families.
“I know.” She laughs. “But it’s not the same.” Squeezing my hand, she blows out a breath. “One day, when you have your own children, you’ll know what I’m talking about.”
I nod. “One day.”
No children for me and Mr. Jameson yet. I just got him all to myself. I don’t plan on sharing him with anyone anytime soon, no matter how precious a mini-me would be with his emerald hued eyes.
“Alright,” my mother says, straightening and dropping my hand. “I’m going to check on your father. Your uncle Hayes is on alcohol monitoring, but we all know what a responsible adult he is.”
I grin, thinking of the mess that’s, more than likely, happening with all of my family together. “I’ll see you down the aisle then.”
She turns from the door, a tear falling that she doesn’t catch. “I’ll send your father to escort you.”
The door clicks closed, and I’m left alone for the first time since this morning when Uncle Cade woke me up with a frown and created a distraction with my dad, so I could sneak back into my room. I didn’t care that I saw Bennett before the wedding. Hell, I didn’t care that I let him nearly fuck me into a coma before the wedding. I wasn’t spending one night without him. Nothing and no one will ever come between us again.
Standing, I step away from the vanity tucked away in my childhood bedroom. Bennett and I chose to marry here just as my parents and his parents did. The foundation is currently draped in magnolia flowers and greenery. My mother even threw some in the pool. She and Aunt B claimed they wanted it just like the movie, Steel Magnolias. I’d never heard of it, but I didn’t care what they did. Personally, we didn’t need one flower for me to walk through the cut pastures to BJ. He was marrying me even if I had to chase him.
I grab my phone and fire off a text to said fiancé. I’ve been sending him nudes all morning, so I know he has his phone on him.
Me: Are you sure you don’t need a blow job? I hear it helps with the nerves.
At least it helps with his nerves before a game.
Bennett: As much as I’d love to take you up on the offer, I’m not nervous to marry you.
Neither am I.
Me: I’m tired of waiting to see you.
I can just imagine him flashing one of his guarded smiles.
Bennett: Open the window.
I whip around and hurry to the window. Sliding it up, I watch as an NFL quarterback crawls through my window. “This is what I’m talking about, BJ. Why didn’t you do this before Mom clasped these millions of buttons?”
Grabbing his arm, I attempt to help him stand when his eyes land on the white lace tightly cinched around my middle.
“I—” He shakes his head, blinking several times before he clears his throat. “You’re breathtaking,” he finally gets out.
I dust over his pressed white shirt, his brown vest enhancing his southern gentlemanly ways. “You’re pretty dapper yourself.”
He steps into my body, his gaze locked onto mine as he cradles my face with his hands.
“It’s bad luck to see me before the wedding.” I arch a brow like last night wasn’t my fault. “Again.”
“I don’t need luck,” he mumbles, tilting my head to the side. “Nothing will ever keep me from you, not even superstition.”
I stroke his cheeks, watching his throat work as his eyes drift lazily over my body as if we have all day. “Every memory,” he starts, lifting my chin. “My first step, you held my hand. My first word was your name.” I smile, a slight quivering in my lips as he continues. “My first day of school, you walked me inside, and then you got in trouble when you disappeared from recess to check on me.”
I laugh. I don’t remember that, and I doubt he does either, but it’s a story we’ve heard a million times.
“You’ve always been there for me, Asp. You loved me before I knew what love was.” He moves a strand of hair from my face. “Everything I am rests in your eyes.”
My makeup is going to be ruined from this speech, I just know it.
“You’ve seen me at my worst, loved me at my lowest—” He places a gentle kiss to my lips. “Nothing, not even luck, can compete with the love I have for you, Asp.”
A tear streaks down my cheek and Bennett kisses the path. “You believed in us when I couldn’t.”
“Bennett—”
He shushes me. “Every day, for the rest of my life, I will spend loving you as selflessly as you loved me. We, my love, have something better than luck, we have fate.”
His intense focus gives me chills. “I will never take for granted the sacrifices you made for us to get here.”
I trail my fingers across his face, smoothing the tense muscle in his jaw, just like I always have. “We’re getting married, BJ.” I chuckle, my voice watery. “There’re no exceptions to a marriage. You’ll be stuck with me, forever. Can you live with that?”
His jaw
sets under my hand, his piercing stare grounding me to the floor. “It’ll be an honor to deal with you the rest of my life.”
Leaning down, Bennett tilts my head, his mouth inches above mine. My eyes drift closed as I melt into his body—
“Kiss her and I will kill you.”
I jump at my father’s voice and shove Bennett back.
“Why can’t either of you ever follow the fucking rules?” My father, dressed in gray slacks and a matching vest, points at Bennett. “Go, before the alcohol wears off and I make Drew an only child.”
Not scared of my father, Bennett steps up and takes my hand, placing one last kiss to the top. “I’ll be waiting.”
My father growls and Bennett takes a step back, walking backward toward the door before finally disappearing behind it.
“Are you sure you want to marry a Jameson?”
I close the space between us and wrap my arms around the man who gave me the courage to follow my dreams—the man who will always be my biggest fan. “I’m sure,” I tell him.
I kiss his cheek and he groans, folding me into his embrace. “Promise me you’ll stay cool; the Jamesons are such bores.”
I snuggle in his shoulder. “I promise, I’ll always be a Von Bremen.”
He nods, but never lets go. It’s not until Cade knocks on the door, telling us it’s time, that he lifts, glaring at the intruder. “This is all your fault,” he grits. “If you would’ve had a girl, this would have never happened.”
Cade chuckles. “I know, Von Bremen. I know.”
Squeezing my dad one last time, I look up and ask, “Walk me to my husband?”
Pulling away, my father’s eyes well with unshed tears. “Can I say no?”
I laugh. “No, you can’t.”
He nods, taking a deep breath. “Okay, Angel. Let’s do this.”
Looping my hand through his arm, I grab my bouquet from the vanity and let my father lead me through the house and out the back door where the pasture has been set up to accommodate three hundred guests. They all stand when we make it to the beginning of the aisle; smiles and throat titters are in abundance, but I can’t be bothered to see who they belong to. My eyes are solely focused on the man who waits for me at the altar with a smile bigger than I’ve ever witnessed.