We stopped talking to each other. We stopped being best friends. We became strangers. Still I know I'll never love anyone the way I love the crazy-making person standing in front of me, flaws exposed, heart (finally) on the table.
"I'm broken," I whisper, my voice splintering in the darkness.
He gathers me in his arms, holding me against his raging heart. "Yes, you are broken, Grace...But your other half is standing right here in front of you. Let me make you whole again. The way I need you to make me whole."
I’m too choked up to say much. “Baby…”
He brushes my hair from my eyes. "When we stood on that alter in front of God and our friends and our family, I promised you happily ever after, Grace Monroe-Trotten. I still intend on keeping that promise."
His body pulses with the truth of his statement. His desire is pure and true.
I’m literally swooning right now. I can’t think of one coherent thing to say, so I let my body do the talking. Rising to my toes, I press my lips to his neck and my fingers find the drawstring of his ridiculous pants. I push them down his hips. I want him naked. Right now.
He grins. "What are you doing?"
I glide my tongue along his clavicle. "Getting you out of these clothes before I completely lose all respect for you…” His chuckle transforms into a groan when I suck at the base of his neck. “…And then, I’m going to ride your dick.”
He grabs two greedy fistfuls of my ass and his laughter tickles the side of my face. “So, you wanna rub my magic lamp, huh?”
"I definitely want to rub your magic lamp," I purr.
Tilting my head up, he kisses me tenderly. "Before you get started, I've got three wishes." He winks down at me.
"Let's hear 'em."
"First wish – I want to lick your magic carpet until your toes curl and you're screaming my name."
Giggles fall out of my mouth. "I can make that happen. No problem."
"Second wish – I want you on my cock doing all those yoga moves we learned this morning.”
"Consider it done!"
"Third wish." He sucks in a deep breath and his features grow serious. "I want to come home, baby." He speaks with utter confidence and determination. "I'm coming home."
He lets out the air trapped in his lungs when I run my fingers down his cheek and whisper. "When?"
“As soon as we get out of this place…”
Butterflies flutter in my stomach. “Took you long enough…”
I pull him close for another kiss and he walks me backward until we spill onto the bed. He touches me in a way that’s urgent, a way that says he needs me. When he touches me like this I don’t doubt how much he loves me. I feel it all the way to my bones.
He slips his fingers under my dress, squeezing my ass in his hands. I’m already so wet. I know he can feel it through the fabric of my underwear. With eager movements, I tilt my hips off the mattress, allowing him to slide my panties down my legs.
He pauses for a second and his eyes rake over my body in the dimly-lit room. He brushes my hair out of my face and smiles. “I don’t think you’ll ever understand how much l love you, Grace.”
I reach up and caress his cheek. “I love you just as much, baby.”
And we kiss again. He smooths his hands up the insides of my thighs, spreading them apart. From his touch, it’s clear. He isn’t fucking me this time. No – tonight, we’re making love.
Every kiss is an apology. Every whimper is a confession. Every touch is an I can’t live without you…please don’t ever leave me again…you’re the only person I could ever love…
His shaft slides fluidly through my opening and a relieved exhale pours out of my mouth. This is where he belongs. Inside of me. On top of me. Pressing his body into mine.
He grinds his cock into me, each rotation of his hips full of possessiveness and dominance. "Don't you remember, baby? This pussy belongs to me." He grabs my hips, slamming my pussy onto his cock. I sob, helpless against the pleasure and desperate to feel that sweet friction again and again. "This body belongs to me. You belong to me. You're my wife. Let me hear you say it."
"I belong to you," I echo desperately, chanting the words over and over. "I belong to you. I belong to you."
He slides his hand over my chest, up to front of my throat. His fingers tighten there, exerting just the right amount of pressure. "Good. Don't forget that...And don't forget that I belong to you."
My heart flutters. I'm full. Every millimeter of my pussy is full of his thick, hard length. Every beat of my heart is full of his warmth. "I love you." The words tumble from my lips again and again as tears spill from my eyes, soaking the pillowcase.
"I love you, too, baby."
My body’s demand for release swells inside of me. I cry out, clinging to my husband’s muscular frame as that need begins to overpower my self-control. I move erratically, completely tuned to him. Daniel cradles my cheek in his hand and his gaze pierces straight to my soul as his limbs constrict above me.
Our ecstatic cries mix with the wet sounds of our bodies colliding, frantically approaching the sweet climax. We hold each other, going over the edge together. I shudder violently as his cock jerks inside of me and his seed spills into my body.
His muscles go limp and he can barely hold himself up. He leans down and our tongues dance together before he drops to the mattress beside me.
We lie together for a long time, chests rising and falling in sync. Finally, he looks over at me and grins. “Do you finally believe how much I love you? Or do I need to give you a few more orgasms to get the message across?”
I wrinkle my nose at him. “I may need a few more orgasms…”
His laugh comes from deep in his chest. “So be it…” He squeezes my thigh. “But I’ve gotta pee. Need to use the bathroom?”
I look at him and I’ve got stars in my eyes. Such a fucking gentleman. “No, you use the toilet first. I still need a minute to recover.”
He places a kiss on my forehead and then rolls out of bed, padding to the bathroom and giving me a spectacular view of his toned glutes.
My husband is one hot piece of ass. I’m a lucky girl.
But when I feel his cum spilling down my thighs, it all becomes too much for me. I roll over, burying my face in the pillow. Yes, he loves me but it still kills me knowing that my impotent body can't make use of my husband's wonderful seed.
Chapter 32
Grace
My lips on his neck. My fingers around his shaft.
That's how I wake my husband the next morning. You'd think that I'd be exhausted after the night we had. But there's something powerful about knowing that you're loved. It makes a girl feel strong, invincible, like she could live a thousand years and never run out of steam.
I'm on top of him now, sitting in his lap with his cock buried deep inside of me. He presses his mouth to the center of my chest while bracing my hips. Moving lazily, I roll my hips against him, smiling down into his face.
Even with the new lines around his eyes when he smiles and the dusting of gray hairs that have sprung up in his stubble, I'm struck by just how handsome he is. I've missed having him look at me this way. The pure adoration in his eyes melts me from the inside. I feel safe and loved.
And for one moment of utter delusion, I feel like the sexiest woman alive.
But then, he reaches up and swipes the edge of his thumb over the corner of my eye. “Got a little goop goin’ on in there,” he explains with a chuckle.
“Oh my gosh!” I dip my head down to my chest in shame when I remember that I didn’t exactly step off of a movie set this morning. Last night was a night of sex and crying and more sex. Eep! “I must look like such a mess right now.” I continue to ride him with my face buried in my hands.
He pushes my hands away and tilts my chin back up, forcing me to stare into his dark irises. “You look absolutely perfect.”
“Yeah – with my goopy eyes and my morning breath,” I grumble sarcastically.
&n
bsp; Working his pelvis against mine, he gives me an earnest look. “You’ve got the most beautiful eye goop I’ve ever seen. I’m in love with it. Obsessed. I want to pick goop out of your eye every morning for the rest of my life.”
“You’re so ridiculous!” I giggle like an idiot and his laughter chases after mine. The sound of our laughter mixing in the air causes my insides to tickle. God – it feels good to laugh with him. It's been so long. After doing nothing but fighting for over a year, this moment feels like throwing the window open, sticking my head out and filling my lungs with crisp air on a spring morning.
Laughing like this, joking around like this – it’s who we were before life came and took a big crap on our relationship. Now, that we’re finally coming up for air, I know that I don’t want to give this feeling up. I’ll do whatever I have to to make it last. The reverence in his eyes tells me that he feels the same.
He brushes my hair from my face. “What I’m trying to say is, you’re so beautiful to me. You’re perfect. I don’t ever want you to doubt your worth. You mean everything to me.”
Overcome by emotion, I lean forward and kiss his mouth, his cheeks, his forehead. I run my fingers over his skin.
He holds my cheeks in his hands and pulls my face close to his. "My girl," he whispers against my lips and my pussy spasms around his cock at the words.
"My guy," I whisper back as his hands crawl down my spine.
We move together until our bodies clench at the peak and we cry out in bliss. It’s a soft orgasm that draws on for a long time, washing my body in waves of warmth and pleasure.
After a few moments to recover, we reluctantly get out of bed. It would be amazing to just spend the day tangled in these sheets and continue to reacquaint myself with his body but we have a yoga retreat to finish up.
We make a quick call to Lily to check in on our son. Then, we shower together and Daniel takes his time, washing my hair, my toes and every little bit in between. After we dry off, he sits in the wicker chair in the corner of the room and watches me slide my lace panties up my legs. I feel a blush creeping up my neck when I glance over at him. “What?”
“You look like a fucking angel,” he says simply, “that’s all.”
Blushing hard, I change the subject if only to relieve my burning cheeks. “Aren’t you freaked out that you quit your job like that yesterday? Maybe you should email your boss and try to take it back.”
Daniel leans back with his hands behind his head, cool as a cucumber. He scoffs. “Not a chance! I told you – I’m focusing on my family. Getting us back on track is my number one priority. Everything else is secondary.”
“God – are you sure? You loved that job.” I pull a T-shirt over my head and watch him.
“Not as much as I love you and Sebastian.”
“Will we have enough money to survive?”
“Well, we’ve still got tons of money from the hospital settlement. Plus, savings and investments.” His eyes twinkle as he shrugs. “If everything goes to shit, we may eventually have to sell the house and set up a tent on Sammie's back lawn, though. Are you cool with that?”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Babe, I'd move into a wet cardboard box next to the dumpster behind McDonalds if it means that we can be together,” I tell him earnestly and then add, “Sebastian on the other hand, I'm not so sure.”
Daniel nods in agreement. “Yeah – he's pretty high-maintenance for someone who’s never earned a dollar in his life.”
“Yeah.” I sit on the lip of the dresser and watch him. The mood of the room grows serious again. “Baby, I’m really sorry about everything that’s happened. I separated you from your son, I kicked you out of your house, I made you quit your job. I really fucked things up.”
My man gets out of the chair and sidles on over to me. His hands fall to my shoulders and slide down my arms. “All that shit we went through was necessary. To bring us to this point. Because right now, I love you more than I ever have. I will never take you for granted ever again, Grace.”
“Daniel…This was my fault. Not yours.” Our fingers intertwine.
“The hell it wasn’t my fault,” he says, “I should have tried harder to figure out why the hell you’d been shutting me out all those months.”
“I didn’t make it easy to communicate with me.” I sigh. “Maybe I should see a psychologist to figure out if I have post-partum depression or something. And I’d like us to get back into counselling, as well.”
“Of course,” he says tenderly running his thumb across my knuckles. “We’ll do all that. Whatever it takes. I love you too much, Grace. 'Forever' is the only option for us. I won't accept anything else."
Speechless, I bury my head against his chest. For the first time in a long time, my chest feels light. I can breathe without the knots in my throat and the tightness in my belly. “You’re prince fucking charming, Daniel Trotten.”
“And you’re my queen.”
Chapter 33
Daniel
Me and my babe breeze into that yoga studio, strolling hand in hand like we own the place. Thankfully, today I’m wearing the t-shirt and sweats I showed up in on the first day since they were able to dry fully overnight. So, I don’t look like a doofus when we make our grand entrance.
All the couples from yesterday are still here. They’re milling about, helping themselves to breakfast from the hippie buffet laid out in the corner of the room.
Serenity and Isla freeze, looking at us with surprised expressions on their faces.
“Good morning, ladies.” I throw them a wink.
“Well, good morning to you!” Serenity eyes us, analyzing our body language. Seeming pleased with her observations, she gives a brief nod and wanders away, with her wreath of dead flowers in her waist-length hair.
Isla gestures at the table behind her. “Help yourselves to breakfast, guys. Get some food down before we start.” She offers me a tall mason jar filled with a goopy, brown liquid that looks like it was scraped off the bottom of a commercial dishwasher filter. She claims that it’s a detox smoothie.
I politely decline because I’ve got a notoriously sensitive stomach. I take Grace’s hand as we stroll out of earshot. “I may not be the most romantic person but I don't think that spending the rest of the day hauling buckets of brown water out of the toilet bowl while you plunge the clogged drain is what you had in mind when you said we need to do something dramatic to save our marriage.”
She chuckles. “The couple that plunges together, stays together?” She bumps her shoulder into mine.
Squeezing her hand, I laugh under my breath. “I don't think so.”
We share a plate of fruits instead. Eventually, it’s time to begin the day’s tantric session. Each student takes a seat on his or her yoga mat. Isla informs us that today’s exercises will be all about worshipping our partner and making them feel like the divine gift that they are.
I glance over at my wife’s lovely body and I know that today’s class won’t be a challenge at all. Don’t think that I haven’t noticed the accentuated sway of her hips, the new heft of her breasts. That cooking channel is doing exquisite things for her frame. Her figure is curvier and more tempting than ever, and I have no problem showing her just how much I appreciate it.
The yoga instructor asks us to sit facing each other. We close our eyes and lean our foreheads together. Isla guides us in a few breathing exercises until it almost feels like the whole room is floating.
"Take your time. Go slowly,” she coaches us on how to touch each other. “You want to gradually heighten each of your partner's senses building slowly to that beautiful, pleasurable peak. Here, we are practicing patience and understanding. We are learning to respond instinctively to the call of our partner's body. Allow the sensations to build slowly, slowly."
I can barely hear what she’s saying after a while. I’m so in tune with my wife that nothing else even matters. All I hear is her breathing. I feel her warm, sweet energy all around me. I feel
so completely overwhelmed by her presence. I’m weak for this woman.
Isla’s voice breaks through my thoughts as she asks us to open our eyes. Grace’s lips curve upward when her eyes blink open and she sees me. There’s so much love there that it sucks the breath out of my lungs.
“Now rise to your feet,” Isla says. “We’ll start with the men. Is there a part of your partner’s body that she doesn’t like?”
I see Grace’s expression flip immediately. Her open and willing smile disappears and she closes up on my like a Venus flytrap. Her shoulders hunch forward and she stumbles a half-step back.
Dirty Forever (The Dirty Suburbs Book 8) Page 17