Crave: Addicted To You
Page 87
God, she was beautiful. What sort of fool was he for imagining he deserved what he was about to ask? But they were defeatist ideas, and in his heart he knew that it was Lulah’s heart that was so beautiful, Lulah’s heart that he wanted.
“Marry me, Lulah. Let me be strong for you the way you are for me.”
Her eyes glistened, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good sign. She seemed speechless, and he smiled because it was pretty hard to render Lulah mute for long.
“Vince…”
“I want you to know that you can rely on me. My name won’t be on that list of people who have let you down, because it would break my heart to do that. We can live here, Lulah. I’ll fix up the barn as a workshop. We can add a bedroom or two to the cabin for—”
“Vince, we can’t.”
Oh, God. Tears, denial. Probably sensible, to be honest. They needed to talk about it more. He shouldn’t have sprung it on her like this. Still, this was a starting point, and he wouldn’t give up. “I don’t need an answer right away.”
“No, Vince.” She pulled her hand from his grasp. “Stand up, please.”
He would have stayed there for hours if she’d demanded it, but it was a relief to be off his knee. He stole another look, and now she smiled.
“I mean yes, but no. No, we can’t continue to live in the cabin, because it’s sold, but yes, Vince, I would love to marry you, spend my life with you, just not here in this cabin.”
Jesus, he thought his heart would burst. He wrapped her in his arms and fell into the most wondrous kiss they’d ever shared. And now it was easier to break that kiss, because it was no longer stolen in a small moment, but the first of many. He laughed. His speech came out all wrong, and he’d forgotten one vital piece of information.
“Sorry, imp, I messed this all up.” He reached into his pocket. “I performed the down-on-my-knees bit okay, I even asked Ray, which was why I missed lunch this afternoon. Well, that, and…here, hold out your hand again.”
He took hold of her finger and slipped the ring on. “I sat at the jewelers for an hour and waited for this to arrive.”
“Vince, it’s stunning.”
“Oh, you like it?”
“I adore it. It’s that sketch you did one day.”
“I’ve done a lot of them, been doing them for two months, and it took a while for me to find someone who could make it.” The ring was plain gold but the solitaire diamond was held in the clasp of two hands, one slightly larger than the other. One clearly Vince’s hand, the other, Lulah’s. “Oh, and there’s one more thing. Wait there.”
How had he forgotten this vital part of the evening? Perhaps because he’d already spent weeks imagining not only this moment but their entire life spent loving each other in this cabin.
At times, the fantasy grew to a couple of children and Gable spending a lot of time with them. Lulah as a mother would be awesome. In his bag, he found the papers from the lawyer. When he handed them to Lulah, she obviously noticed the legal envelope.
“What’s this, Vince, a prenup already?”
He grinned at her. “Read it.” She was going to marry him, wasn’t she? Is that what she’d said? He waited, his heart settling to a steady thump as he watched her try to make sense of the papers. The small crease on her brow showed she wasn’t quite getting it.
Her face screwed up. “What does this mean?”
“I bought the cabin.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
He bought the cabin. Why had he done that when he knew how strongly she felt about owning her own home. It was her goal, her prize, yet he’d taken it from her.
“Why did you do that? I don’t understand.” She stepped back from him, clutching the papers.
“I wanted to surprise you. It’s my wedding gift to you. The cabin is in a trust, and you’re the sole beneficiary. It’s yours, Lulah, and if it makes you feel better, you can buy it off the trust. I wanted to secure it for you in a way that you would never lose it. No matter what happens to us, this cabin will always be yours.”
She threw her arms around him, burrowing her head into his chest. He’d made her cry again. She pushed off him, swiping at her tears.
“I want you to know this, Vince. I don’t intend anything happening to us but good things. I expect us to be sitting out there on the porch, rocking our way into old age together. Always together. Thank you for considering my insecurity about my home. That means more to me than you can imagine. Now, about the extra bedrooms you were planning, are you expecting guests, or children?”
“Oh, children, definitely.”
“Good, because I’ve already met one stunning child of yours and I think the world needs a few more.”
“Hey, imp…have I told you you’re unbelievably stunning yourself?
Lulah made a jump for him, wrapping her arms around his neck, her hands slipping up to capture the back of his head, her legs clasping him around his hips. “In that case, Vince Marr, our children will be scorching.”
He grinned. “Let’s move this to the bedroom, imp. You’re dessert.”
He placed her on the floor beside the bed, moved behind her and unfastened the tie on her dress. “You look so beautiful in this dress, Lulah, but nothing beats you naked.”
She shrugged out of the dress and let it fall to the floor. “Same goes for you and the suit, hot guy,” she said, racing him to his belt buckle. In a rush they undressed each other, laughing as their hands tangled together.
When they stood naked, facing each other, Vince placed his hands on her shoulders, his gaze sweeping over her as if he was seeing her for the first time. He ran his palms lightly down her arms, making her shiver, then lifted her up and placed her carefully on the bed as if she might shatter.
He was hard and she was ready for him. “Come to me, Vince,” she said, holding out her hand to him. As he lay over her she parted her thighs, his hardness nestling between her legs.
“I feel like the luckiest woman alive.”
“And I feel like the luckiest person on earth,” he said, stroking her cheek with the back of his knuckles.
Lulah wriggled. “I want you in me, Vince. Then we can continue this conversation about how lucky we are.”
“Are you ready for me, Lulah?” he asked, sliding a hand between them and parting her lips. “All wet.”
Lulah whimpered.
“All needy,” he said, covering her mouth with his.
When their lips met, so softly, Lulah lunged for him, making him pull away.
“No hurry, we’ve got the rest of our lives.”
The idea stunned her, as if that was the moment she understood what it meant to be marrying the man she loved. The rest of their lives. She slowed then, accepting his gentle kisses and languid sweep of his tongue in her mouth. Soon, though, the urgency built, and the stroking of his finger that matched his tongue had her begging again to be filled.
“Tell me what you want?” His voice was harsh, loaded with desire and control.
“You, Vince, all of you.”
She felt the head of his cock nudge at her entrance, then slowly, inexorably, fill her. She squeezed him, feeling every inch of him, making him groan.
“You’re more than ready for me, imp.”
He withdrew and thrust back into her in a steady rhythm, that took them on a slow, determined climb to their release. They came together, and she caught his call for her as he climaxed, covering his mouth tiny kisses.
“I think I’ve been ready since the day I was born,” she whispered.
THE END
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