Everything felt new and surprising – the way he throbbed underneath her fisted fingers, the low and sexy sound of the rumbles that came from his chest at her movements, how small and safe she felt as his hands reflectively grasped her waist while she stroked him. Every new detail felt like the sexiest thing she’d ever experienced.
Feeling his shaft jump under her fingers gave her such a feeling of power and control. She loved it. Knowing she affected him like that was intoxicating. Every powerful sensation flooding through him at that moment, she was the one responsible for it. She never wanted that feeling to go away.
Tonight was a replay of their first night together. He surprised her by picking her up from work. He drove her out to their spot, where he had a picnic set up. He told her that they had forever. But now she was ready to move on to her favorite part of that night.
She stood and Josh reached for her, but she shoved his hands away and began taking off her clothes, one piece at a time.
* * *
Josh’s entire body was on fire with arousal as he watched Bailey strip out of her jeans and shirt. She was so adorably fucking sexy. It was the hottest striptease imaginable.
Her shirt came off first and it hit the ground; then she quickly shimmied out of her pants and shoes until she was standing there before him in nothing but her bra and panties.
Somehow, she looked just as sexy with those small items of clothing on as she did completely naked. And these were not even tiny, lacy little numbers meant to tantalize. They were just normal, cotton underwear—but damn, on Bailey’s out-of-this-world curves, they became the wardrobe of a pin-up model.
She reached behind her back and deftly unhooked her bra, then hunched her shoulders to let it fall forward down her arms. It slipped off of the end of her fingertips and joined the rest of her clothing on the ground.
Then, with just as little fanfare as she’d given to the rest of the garments, she hooked her thumbs through the sides of her underwear and slid them down her legs, stepping out of them and tossing them so they joined the rest of her discarded clothing.
She stood up straight, then, her arms hanging loosely at her sides. It was the sexiest sight he’d ever seen. There was something in her stance that radiated how comfortable she was in her own skin, while at the same time giving a hint that she understood how special this was, standing there in their spot and giving him a nostalgic performance.
Damn. He was so hard he thought he might burst.
He reached up and tugged her down to him on the blanket. She willingly went and smiled as she snuggled into him. He threaded his fingers through her hair and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her deeply as his other hand went up and down the soft skin of her hip and outer thigh.
She began pulling at his clothes and he helped her with the task. His shirt was the first to go, as he reached behind him and grasped a handful of cotton and tugged it over his head. She worked on his jeans, tugging them quickly down his legs. He lifted up and kicked off his boots. Once they were both totally naked, he pulled her body to his and they stared into one another’s eyes.
Slowly, he lowered his head and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, then drew back and brushed her hair back from her face as he looked into her eyes. “I don’t think I could ever be happier than I am right now, here with you, like this.”
She bit her lip, and then leaned forward to press her lips to his, the passion in her movements matching his own. “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” she whispered between kisses.
He slid his hands over her silky skin. He couldn’t get enough of touching her. Every peak and every valley felt like a new exploration. Every tremble of her muscles under his caresses felt like a personal victory.
Pushing his tongue between her lips, he explored the hot recesses of her mouth and she responded with the same pressure. Before long, their tongues intertwined, twirling around each other, hitting all the right notes.
He pulled back just enough so that he could slide one hand in between their bodies and take hold of her breast, rolling her hard nipple in between his thumb and forefinger and drawing a sharp cry from her.
Her nails raked down his back as she urged him further on with every movement of her body, every gasp, every whimper that escaped from her mouth.
He kept playing with the hard nub of her nipple. He pinched and teased her, knowing what they both wanted, but prolonging the experience. He’d take her in his mouth, but first he wanted to explore the boundaries of pleasure that he could create for her with just his hands.
To that end, he slid his other hand between her legs and drew it back and forth along her seam, following the same rhythm that his fingers tweaked her nipple with. For every stroke up and down her hot wetness, he pushed his fingers just a little bit further into her folds, and applied just a little bit more pressure to her breast.
Finally, when her thighs were shaking and her breaths were coming in jagged pants, he plunged two fingers into her opening and dipped his head and took her nipple into his mouth, sucking hard as he swirled his tongue around it.
Bailey cried out and arched her back, pushing her breast more firmly into his mouth. He moved his fingers back and forth inside her strong, velvety walls and alternated between one luscious nipple and the other, doing his best to pay equal attention to both.
When he added the third action of moving his thumb in small, firm circles over her clit, that was the thing that finally caused her to explode. She went stiff all over and then every muscle trembled. Her inner walls clamped down hard on his fingers, making it hard to even move them inside her. She knotted her fists in his hair and pulled his lips up to hers.
He kissed her hard while she rode the climax out, every movement of his a careful and direct response to the signals he saw coming from her that let him know how close she was to coming down. He wanted to help her ride the wave as long as possible, and give her a soft and comforting landing to fall on as she crashed back on the sand.
When her head finally collapsed back down onto his arm, she opened her eyes and looked into his, giving him a sweaty and satisfied smile. “I needed that. Thanks,” she said simply.
He grinned down at her. “Anytime.”
Her eyes shimmered with arousal as she shifted so he was hovering above her.
“How about now?” she asked as she dipped her hand between their bodies and gripped him.
He closed his eyes and he groaned at her words, his cock jumping with pleasure and anticipation as their meaning traveled through his lust-fogged brain. He propped himself up on his elbows and she positioned him at her entrance.
When he felt her lips pulsing against his engorged tip, he leaned down and gave her a slow and gentle kiss. “Now works for me,” he breathed, and then he pushed into her.
This was different than the last couple of times they’d been together.
Slower, somehow. Less frantic. Not driven by lust alone. This time it was fueled by a pure mixture of lust and deep emotion. Everything he felt for Bailey, he poured into his movements, doing his best to get across the depth of his love for her with every stroke.
She moved her hips along with his rhythm, rising up to meet him every time he plunged downward. They started slowly, languorously, but were very quickly carried away by the heat that their friction generated.
She wrapped her arms around him first, clinging to him like he was the last lifeboat in a choppy sea. Then she snaked her legs around him and clung tightly as he thrust into her again and again.
This was so perfect. So much better than anything he could’ve imagined for himself. Beyond his wildest dreams, even. And yet, at the same time, he didn’t have to pinch himself to convince his brain that it was real. It felt like the realest thing he’d ever known.
He felt her body contract around him and that was the extra edge that he needed to push himself over the cliff of release. They came together, clinging to each other as the powerful orgasms rocked them, their heartbeats and breaths perfectly in s
ync.
This was how he wanted it to be with them always, he thought to himself as they collapsed down onto the blanket and waited for their rapid panting to return to normal. The two of them clinging to each other while things rocked them, both good and bad. That was how he wanted to live life from now on.
He sat up, knowing this was the moment, the moment he hadn’t been sure she was ready for. He grabbed his jeans and dug in his pocket.
“I think it might be too late for protection,” she teased as she sat up with him.
He curled his fingers around the ring, holding it in his palm as he turned back to her.
“Bailey, this is not how I planned this night going. I’m not complaining,” he clarified when he heard how that sounded. “I just had an idea of how I wanted this to go. But I’m learning that with us, things don’t always go as planned and that’s okay.”
She smiled and leaned forward to kiss him again but he kept his mouth just out of her reach. If she started kissing him again, he wouldn’t get this out.
“Does my breath smell or something?” She placed her palm in front of her mouth and breathed out a puff of air, then her eyes dropped to his fisted hand. “Is that a mint?”
“No.” He moved so that he was on one knee and he held out the ring. “It’s not a mint.”
Her hand clapped down over her lips as she gasped. Her eyes widened as they bounced between looking down at the ring he held and up at his eyes.
“This was my mother’s ring. She made my dad promise that he’d give it to me when I found the one. He only gave it to me today, but it’s been yours since the day I met you. You are the one, Bay. You’re my one. You always have been and you always will be. I know that you think that we have a lot going on and you don’t want to us to rush into anything but—”
“Yes!” she cried out as tears began running down her cheeks.
He smiled as warm joy burst through him. Not only was her answer yes, but she was so excited to say it she couldn’t even wait for him to get the words out. “I haven’t asked you anything yet.”
“You’re taking too long.” She shook out her hands impatiently. “Just ask.”
That was his Bailey. She knew what she wanted and she had no problem telling him.
“Bailey Rossum, will you make me the luckiest, happiest man in the world and marry me?”
“Yes! Yes!”
She continued saying yes as he slid the ring onto her finger. It wasn’t until it hit her knuckle that he realized he had no idea if it would fit her. He hadn’t had it sized. He didn’t even know what ring size she wore. Luckily, it wasn’t an issue. The ring slipped over her knuckle as she launched herself into his arms. “I love you! I love you so much!”
“I love you,” he rasped into her hair as he wrapped his arms around her, determined never to let her go.
“You do know that every time someone asks how we got engaged,” she spoke between kisses she pressed to his neck, “I’m going to have to tell them that you got on one knee, naked as a jaybird.”
“I think we can leave that part of the story out.” He ran his hands lower, cupping her backside as his dick came back to life.
She hissed as she sucked air between her teeth. “I don’t think we can leave that part out.” Her legs shifted so she was straddling him and she rocked her hips so her wet folds slid along his revived steel-hard shaft. “But maybe we can leave this part out.”
He pushed into her and spent the next few hours making love to the only woman he’d ever loved. The owner of his heart. His one.
Epilogue
“Are you nervous, Bay?” Josh asked as he turned onto the street that the navigation had directed him to.
“I don’t know.” Yes, she was nervous, but she hated to admit it even to herself. “Are you sure this is the right time to tell them? I mean it’s the first time we’ve seen them since they left the hospital.”
“Yes,” he stated firmly.
Angie and Jacob had invited Josh and Bailey to dinner, which Josh thought was the perfect time to tell them about their engagement. Bailey knew that he was chomping at the bit to tell everyone, which he hadn’t been able to do because she’d wanted to keep it to themselves until they told Angie.
Bailey knew it might seem silly, but they were her birth parents, and it just felt right that she be the first one to know. So they’d been quietly engaged for a month. She only wore the ring when they were alone, which thankfully had been every second that they weren’t at work.
The night after they got engaged, he’d moved into her house. She’d been concerned at first that Felix and Luna wouldn’t get along, but by the time the last box had been moved in, the two of them were cuddled up together on Luna’s dog bed. They quickly became inseparable and Josh was even bringing Felix to the shop with him and Luna because the two of them didn’t like to be apart.
And she understood how they felt. Bailey and Josh had become quite inseparable themselves. Josh had even changed his hours so that he worked when she did. If she worked graveyard, those were the times he worked, too. If she worked a swing shift, so did he. She’d told him he didn’t need to do that, but he’d just smiled and said that it was one of the perks of being the boss.
The past month had been the best month of her life. She and Josh might not have told anyone that they were engaged but that hadn’t stopped them from planning their wedding. They knew they wanted to have a small ceremony down by the river. It wasn’t going to be at their spot but it would be their spot adjacent. They were still deciding on where to have the reception, but she knew that she wanted it to be small and intimate.
“This is it,” Josh announced as they pulled up in front of a two-story, blue townhome that sat in the middle of a tree-lined street.
Before Bailey and Josh were even out of the car, the front door opened and Angie stood holding Noah and waving.
Over the past four weeks, they’d texted almost every day and Facetimed several times, but seeing her in person was still surreal. She wasn’t the tiny, helpless baby that Bailey had said goodbye to eighteen years ago. She was a young woman, a married young woman, with a baby of her own.
They all greeted one another and Bailey was so happy to see how well Noah was doing. He had weight on him and good color. Angie gave them a tour of their home and Bailey was struck with just how similar their styles were.
As they all settled in for dinner, Angie put Noah in a baby swing beside the table and announced, “Oh, and my parents are going to stop by for dessert.”
“Oh, good! We were hoping we’d get to see them,” Josh said sincerely.
Bailey and Josh had kept in contact with Gloria and Tim as well, and they’d grown to love them. Not only because they’d done such an amazing job raising Angie, but also because they were incredible people who’d opened their hearts and family to them.
The conversation turned to Angie’s classes and Jacob’s job. He was a police officer in his rookie year on the force and had a ton of entertaining stories. After they’d been eating for almost an hour, Josh squeezed Bailey’s knee beneath the table.
His gesture might’ve been silent, but she knew exactly what he was saying.
Gloria and Tim would be there any minute, so if she wanted to tell Angie without an audience, this was her chance.
Bailey glanced over at Josh, and he gave her an encouraging nod. She had no idea why she was so nervous, but she was.
“So, there’s something that we wanted to tell you guys.” Bailey heard her voice shake as she said, “We have some news.”
Angie’s eyes widened and she looked between Josh and Bailey.
“Are you guys pregnant? Are you having a baby? Am I going to have a brother or sister?”
“No.” Bailey and Josh both said at the same time.
Bailey chuckled at Angie’s enthusiasm. “But we are going to have a wedding. Josh and I are getting married.”
“Seriously?” Angie asked, her mouth dropping open.
“Yes,�
� Josh confirmed. “But it’s not a shotgun wedding.”
“Oh my gosh!” Angie jumped from her chair and gave them both huge hugs. “Congratulations!”
Bailey was so happy that her nerves had been in vain and Angie had taken it so well that she figured now would be great time to ask her, “And I was wondering if you’d be my maid, or I guess, matron of honor? You won’t have to do anything,” she rushed to explain, knowing Angie had so much on her plate. “I’m going to ask my brother, CJ, to be my man of honor and he’ll take care of the heavy lifting. But we’d love it if you were standing beside us when we say our vows.”
“Yes! Of course, yes!”
More hugs were given and they were still celebrating when Gloria and Tim arrived. The added company just made for an even larger celebration. Tim insisted on taking a family photo to mark the occasion. He set up his tripod and as they all settled on the couch, Bailey looked around and said a silent, thank you to her grandpa, to Josh’s mom, to all the forces she believed had worked to bring this moment to fruition.
It may not look like how she’d pictured it, but she had everything she’d always wanted. A family. It was what had been missing her entire life.
“I love you,” Josh whispered in her ear as his thumb circled her lower back. “Forever.”
“Forever,” she whispered back as the flash went off.
Forever.
THE END
Just One Kiss
Don’t Miss Bea & CJ’s Story
In
Just One Kiss
Coming January 21st
Seducing Cinderella
Also in January be sure to check out
CiCi’s Story
In
Seducing Cinderella
in our new (website only)
Steamy Weekend Series
A Note From Melanie and Shawna
Hey there chickadees and chickadudes! You are not seeing things, there are two of us, and we’re sisters. *cue: We Are Family by Sister Sledge*
Just One Night - Josh & Bailey (Crossroads Book 13) Page 21