by Sheila Kell
SEEING Em so distraught, her eyes swollen, red and puffy from crying, knowing he was the reason for it tore at his heart. He was slowly ripping away his chance for true happiness. The loving picture of her in a beautiful silk and lace wedding gown, and his daughter wearing the cute dress he’d chosen for her, crumbled before his eyes.
Fucking Teri. It occurred to him, too late, that she’d glanced down the hall before she put her hand on his chest and purred his name. She’d known Em was there.
His hope had been to speak with Em first to plead his case. When she knew the truth, she would come back to him, and they could return to the closeness they’d found. They’d finally surrender to the heat between them, marry and maybe even make another child, one he could watch grow up.
“All right, we’re here. What the fuck do you have to say?” Brad said.
Six pairs of similar eyes glared at him, burning through his skin, singeing down into his soul. If he couldn’t get them onboard with the truth, then he had no chance convincing Em.
Jake moved to the front of the fireplace, the best position to be seen by all. “I told you it’s not what you think.”
Brad snorted. “And I’m the fucking tooth fairy.”
“You will be when you have kids,” Jesse snapped at him. “Let him continue. I’m very curious to hear how he plans to worm his way out of this one.”
Jake nodded to the eldest Hamilton brother in thanks, and then cleared his throat, attempting to wipe away any sound of nervousness. He’d done nothing wrong, but the looks from this group would make any grown man cringe. “Look, she came to my room uninvited. I told her to leave. When she wouldn’t, I helped her leave.” He took a deep breath at the anger still bouncing around the room. “I think she saw Em and put on that little display to get to her.”
Blake quieted down the multitude of vocal responses of disbelief to his statement. After that, an uncomfortable silence swooped down into the room.
He couldn’t stand it and opened his mouth to try to explain more, but Jesse spoke first.
“Let me see if I’ve got this right. If what you say is true—”
“There’s no if about it. It is the truth.”
“What’s she up to then?” Devon asked.
Rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, he shrugged. “I don’t know. I think she likes to get to Em. Em told me about how she’d kind of harass her at work and try to show she was superior.”
Indecision filled all eyes on him. They were probably like him, wondering why Teri chose him. The room was filled with men and half were actually available.
“Look, I love Em. I plan to marry her as soon as she’ll let me. I wouldn’t screw it up for a tumble with that bitch.” He pointed toward the stairs, and his eyes followed and widened. Shit.
All of the men jumped to their feet.
Swallowing became a chore, painful against the lump in his throat. “Em,” he croaked, “how long have you been standing there?”
She stepped forward, a long robe covering what he suspected were the incredibly sexy tank top and briefs she’d been wearing earlier. “Long enough. Do you swear nothing happened tonight?”
He stepped close to her, reached out and held her hands. “I promise you that nothing happened. I know I can’t prove it, but I’m begging for you to believe me. I wouldn’t do something that stupid to ruin my chances with you. I was a fool four years ago, sprite. Maybe I needed some time away to realize that I’d grown to love you, but if I could take it back, I’d have stayed.”
Knowing what he needed to do, but this time doing it right, he knelt. “Emily Hamilton, I love you and don’t want to spend another moment without being by your side. Will you marry me?”
Eighteen
EMILY DREW IN a deep breath. Was this really happening? Had Jake officially, down on one knee, proposed? A myriad of emotions floated through her. Excitement rippled, but elation led the pack. Something held her back from rushing into his arms. What was it?
She looked around the room and tilted her head to the door for her family to leave them alone. The only movement was a few raised eyebrows or feet spreading apart in a more dominant stance. They weren’t leaving. Damn them. She didn’t want an audience for this. It was personal. Too personal. Did they not trust Jake? Though she didn’t care what they thought. It was her decision, and they’d have to deal with it.
Hesitantly, with her heart pounding and her palms sweating, she asked the question that mattered most, “You truly love me? This isn’t because of Amber?”
A broad smile stretched his lips. “Sprite, even without our daughter I’d planned to chase you down when I returned. And, yes, I love you.”
She’d waited so long to hear those words, and unlike before, she believed he meant them. He truly meant them. Finally, her dream had come true.
With her heart swelling with love, Emily leaned down and threw her arms around him. “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you, Jake.”
The clapping behind them faded as his mouth took hers in a kiss filled with passion. Never had she experienced such a romantic kiss, one swarming with so much love. She wanted to soak up every moment of it. It was a kiss that sealed their love for each other with a promise of shared happiness for eternity.
When their lips parted, she looked into his eyes and breathlessly whispered, “I love you.”
Ignoring the room’s occupants, she and Jake left the room. With her hand wrapped tightly in his, Emily walked on a cloud of love behind him to her bedroom.
Her heart was about to burst out of her chest. A lifetime with Jake was all she’d ever craved, and it’d finally come to pass. She’d finally have her own complete little family.
While her doubt that he’d be found alive over the years had wavered, her love never had. It’d been as strong as ever. All of the events since he’d returned washed away in a new beginning. She wouldn’t allow anything to ruin what she now had—the man she loved who loved her.
Jake clicked the bedroom door shut, and she found herself pressed close to his chest. It only took a moment for her to wind her arms around his neck and sink into the embrace. Her breath hitched at the depth of love engulfing his eyes.
Heat blasted throughout her body and a throbbing ignited between her thighs when his hands slid down to her rear and tugged her against him. His male hardness against her belly sent her body into a wild flurry of desire.
He moved his hand to her cheek and lightly stroked it before he stopped and cupped it, keeping her face upturned to his. “I’ve waited so long for you to say yes.”
The sound of his husky voice amped up the heat in her veins. She smiled. “I’ve waited almost my whole life for you to ask.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “My little sprite.” His lips brushed hers, the mere whisper of his touch sent shivers of delight floating through her.
The kiss changed to warm and potent, and his tongue claimed hers with skilled strokes that melted her from the inside out.
Much to her upset, he pulled back. “Tonight, I’m going to explore every inch of your luscious body.” The hand on her cheek moved, and a finger traced a line to the sensitive spot beneath her ear firing the blood in her veins. “I’m going to take my time, Em. I want to know every mark on your body, your scent and your movements until you are imprinted on my mind.”
His hand continued on a path down the curve of her throat to her collarbone and then the top of her breast. There it hesitated a moment before he wrapped his arm around her, joining the other arm and pulled her close again, anchoring her to him.
She greedily accepted his mouth moving over hers in a fiery kiss that coaxed a soft moan from her. The fire in her body… the blood pumping fast in her veins… the burning between her thighs… she wanted this man with everything she had.
Separating them, Jake pulled off her robe and the shirt she’d hastily donned earlier. His v
isual appraisal of her braless interfered with normal breathing.
His heavy breathing matched hers. Reaching out with both hands, he cupped her breasts. “So perfect,” he rasped. He lightly massaged them and then pinched her taut, sensitive nipples. Delicious pleasure coasted in her veins. This promised to be one hell of a night.
Surprising her, he removed his hands from her chest and reached down for her shorts, the elastic band allowing him to drop them in one swoop.
Deep need swam in his eyes, and it empowered her, even standing in front of him in only a small scrap of underwear. “Now me.”
He caught his breath, looked into her eyes and stepped back appearing to welcome her undressing him. She followed suit with him and removed his T-shirt.
His olive-skinned chest called to her. She reached out with her right hand and touched him with a light sweep over it. He’d filled back out so well.
Pulling his gym shorts—he’d worn no underwear—over his erection took a bit more work and a light chuckle escaped both of them. His impressive cock stood proudly. She had a hard time taking her eyes away from the object that would bring her so much pleasure.
Wrapping a hand around him, she knew what she wanted to do. She’d only done it that once, but she needed to try again. She looked in his eyes and hoped they told him everything. Since his expression seemed to display a bit of excitement, she knew he understood she wanted to give him all the pleasure she could. She wanted to explore his body too.
Her heart jumping in her chest, she added her other hand to the one already gripping him and moved them up and down his shaft in tight, slow strokes.
He stayed her hands. “Minx.” He guided her to the bed, picked her up and tossed her on it. After her bounce, he settled himself on top of her, pinning her to the mattress.
She wanted to cry out. The pulsing between her thighs screamed for his hard cock, pressed against her thigh, to be inside her, filling and pleasuring her. She sought his mouth and couldn’t hold back the hunger in her kiss or in the movement of her hips seeking to be closer to his.
Next thing she knew her arms were above her head, pinned by one of his hands.
“Let me show you how much you’re mine.” His mouth trailed kisses down her jaw, and he nipped her throat with his teeth, his hot breath on her skin as he wound a path down her body to her breasts. His unshaven jaw brushed over her flesh, increasing the heat flashing through her body.
Her lips parted on a shuddering inhale, and a full-body shiver overtook her.
JAKE halted for a moment and smiled at Em’s reaction, almost cocky in his feeling of how he could do this to her, make her come alive.
He licked a circle around a rosebud nipple before taking as much of the breast as he could into his mouth, sucking it back out to the tip, catching the bud between his teeth. He alternated between breasts, making little tugs on the nipple that sent her squirming. She was hot and bothered before he’d even moved lower.
“These have to go.” Her underwear had no place in the bed between them. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten to remove them. She’d thrown him for a loop with her hand around his cock. He tossed the offending article of clothing on the floor and turned back to her.
The erotic scent of her arousal called to him, and he made his way down her body, across her belly to the juncture of her thighs. He inhaled deeply and possessively. This is my woman.
“Jake….” Her eyes drifted shut, and her fingers dug into his shoulders.
“Just enjoy.” He used a finger and traced her clit and opening, watching her tilt her head back and moan. She may be close, but he wouldn’t shortchange her.
Shifting one arm under her leg, he tossed it over his shoulder to open his magnificent view. With his finger, he teased her hot, wet entrance. He loved how it took so little for her to be ready for him. He was the same when she was around. His cock always pointed to her like a divining rod to water.
Reaching under her other leg, he lifted it over his shoulder and settled himself with her prize directly in front of him. She almost catapulted off the bed at the first swipe of his tongue over her blazing center. He continued upward to swirl around her nub, then caught it in his mouth and tugged, catching her clenching the sheets.
Moving back to her euphoric taste, he inserted his tongue into her core and she quivered around him. He mimicked the maneuvers he planned to do with her in a few moments, his tongue thrusting deeply into her and out.
She threw her head back and made a mewling sound that shot a desperate need to his rock-hard cock. And he was only getting started.
He focused his attention on her swollen nub with his mouth, his tongue tugging, his lips suckling, while he inserted a finger inside her velvety heat. She gasped, and her inner muscles contracted tightly around him. Christ, precum leaked from his erection as he imagined he’d been the one she’d clamped onto like that.
Groaning, wondering how he functioned when all his blood seemed to be pumping so hard to his groin, he continued working his finger in and out of her, seeking her sweet spot and teasing her clit. When she writhed beneath him, moaning, he kept the pace for her to come. Knowing he’d been her only lover meant she’d never come this way, and he’d make damn sure she did this time.
Panting, she bucked against him as her orgasm ripped through her. He kept his movements up to stretch it out as long as he could. When she lay still, a look of pure joy on her face, he slid up her body, kissing his way along the light sheen of sweat that coated her skin.
He nuzzled her neck as she sighed in pleasure. “Good?”
“Hmm. The best.”
A man could never hear that enough. “Are you ready?” He hovered over her, poised at her entrance.
Her hand met his chest, and a surge of energy seemed to possess her. “No. My turn.” She shoved him over. And he let her, wondering where this might lead.
In reverse positions, her above him, she leaned toward his ear and tossed his question back at him. “Are you ready?” She leaned back and looked him in the eye.
He raised his eyebrows. “Do your worst.”
She licked her lips seductively. “Don’t worry, I will.” Her gaze roved hungrily over his face.
Holy motherfucking shit. He almost came on himself with that look and that voice. Where the hell had she learned that?
His next thought died at the touch of her lips, hot and wet, working down his chest to this tight groin. Hunger ate at him.
She licked down his cock, and his body shuddered in response. With one hand wrapped around the base of it, she licked the tip, and his breath caught in his chest. Starting at the crown of his erection, she slipped it into her mouth, slowly sucking it deeper in a warm, wet slide to her fist, exerting pressure with both her hand and mouth.
When she wrapped one hand around his balls and squeezed, massaging gently, he hardened to stone, and his hips involuntarily flexed forward, pushing him deeper until he hit the back of her throat. His erection was so painful that he wasn’t sure he’d survive much more of this. Damn, he wanted to grab her, pull her up and fuck the hell out of her.
She looked up and caught him watching her. Their gazes locked, she continued taking him deep and hard into her mouth and began to hum, the vibrations eliciting a feral growl from him, and his balls drew tight.
Dear God, this woman was trying to be the death of him.
Exhaling in jerky puffs, he pulled her up. “Enough.” His hoarse voice broke on the word.
A smile that showed him how satisfied she was with her work stretched across her face. “Are you sure?”
Rolling over until he lay on top of her, Jake settled between her thighs, the tip of his cock at her slick entrance, the heat pulling him toward her. “I love you, Em.”
“I love you, too.”
His gaze collided with hers as he eased himself inside her and then withdrew. He tortured
himself by sliding slowly into her inch by inch, their invisible bond just as strong as their physical connection. His control nearly slipped. Damn. The woman left him euphoric with her velvety heat flowing around him. If he’d been an uncaring bastard, he would’ve come at that moment.
“Damn, sprite,” he croaked.
Jake listened to a single heartbeat between them. He moved inside her, slow and steady, and she lifted her legs to wrap around his waist, digging her heels in his back. She leaned her head back, exposing her long creamy neck in a most provocative pose. He couldn’t resist the playground, and his lips were on her warm, silky skin, kissing and licking his way around her neck to behind her ear.
Her soft moans added gasoline to the brush fire burning in his body. He loved the sounds she made and the look of pleasure on her face during sex. He didn’t think that burning need for her would ever go away. She’d be in his blood forever.
Sweating, his heart thundering in his chest, he quickly found a rhythm that sent a tremor through their bodies and set them rapidly approaching a climax. A strangled groan escaped him, and he needed to slow things down, so he stilled for a moment and leaned down to a breast and sucked on the taut bud before him.
“Don’t stop.”
Like he ever could. He could spend his life in bed with this sensual and responsive woman.
He looked at her flushed face and captured her mouth in a kiss, his tongue thrust deep, devouring her while he moved again, picking up the pace, taking them on that climb to the cliff. But he held on tight, making sure he got her there first.
Holding back with her slippery friction and clenching muscles was near impossible.
Her legs tightened around his waist, and she trembled, her breath panting. He broke the kiss and watched her flushed face as she came apart in his arms, his lips almost too late to swallow her crying out.
The throbbing clench on his cock as she had an orgasm did it for him. He thrust deep and pressed his face into her neck, harshly growling out her name as everything spun around him, and he exploded in an almost unending climax.