Finally, his face relaxed, as did his fingers that were digging into her hips. He opened his eyes and looked at her. Realization donned and hit her with a sweet clarity. Everything that she had become was because of him and for him. “Rex, thank you.”
His brow lifted at the gratitude. “I think I should be thanking you.” He laughed as he gently traced a line down her body with his forefinger.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done for me? The wounds that you have healed?” She started to cry. She hadn’t meant to. But when their bodies met and they became one, she realized something. She was in love with him. Not just recently. She always had been. Everything now seemed so clear to her. She had never wanted to meet any of the women he dated. She hated going to his place. After all, she knew what went on there with the other women. She almost always confided in him, hardly ever Tamara. She had loved him for months and hadn’t even known.
Rex sat up, still inside her, and brushed her tears away from her face. “Honey, baby, please don’t cry. I’ll do anything, just don’t cry.”
“Rex, I never realized it until now.” She kept crying.
“What, honey? What didn’t you realize?” He was rubbing his hands up and down her back, trying to soothe her.
“I have loved you all along.” She laughed. “It’s the reason I never wanted to go to your place. I couldn’t stand the thought of all of those other women. I never realized my dislike for them was jealousy. I hated it whenever we would go out and women would flirt with you. You were with me!” She laughed again and tried to wipe her tears away. “You always know what I’m thinking before I say it. You know when I need a hug, a good cry, or even a joke. God, don’t you see? You’re everything to me. When you were gone these past few days, I felt a loneliness worse than any pain I went through after the rape.” She dropped her head. She had been rambling so fast she almost sounded like Tamara.
Rex stilled. His hands were still on her back, but his breathing had hitched and was now erratic. “Shelby, could you tell me that again?”
Her head lifted as she looked at him in confusion. “What? Tell you–oh, that, I love you, Rex, I do. I don’t know what brought you into my life, but I love you.” She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight.
“Honey, you have made me one lucky son of a gun, do you know that? I love you, too. I never thought I would ever say those words to anyone. And I never have. But I’m saying them now, I love you.” He laughed as he hugged her so tight she thought he might cut off her air supply.
“You’re in trouble now,” he said to her.
“Hmm, why?” She was so happy just being held in his arms.
“Because.” He pulled her away to look down at her. “Now that I have you, I am never going to let you go. Do you understand? You belong to me now. You’re mine. Forever, baby. I love you.” He kissed her forehead.
“And you’re mine?” she asked him.
“Only yours, honey, only yours. As a matter of fact, since I belong to you, I will let you do whatever you want with me.” He pulled them back down to lie on the bed. “It will be a sacrifice I’m sure, but there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you. So do as you will. I will try to endure it.”
She was lying on top of his chest and was startled by the feeling that was happening inside her. “Rex? Are you? Is that even possible? It’s only been a few minutes.” But there was no mistaking it. He was getting harder by the second.
“Oh, yeah, baby, it’s possible. With you and me, anything’s possible,” Rex told her as he switched their positions, and he made love to her with the tenderness that his control hadn’t allowed him to before.
He stood in the courtyard waiting. It was after ten o’clock, and the son of a bitch was still there. He didn’t see any lights on, but he knew he was still there. So he waited. He could be patient, and he would be patient. He told himself many times over the past months that he would wait as long as it took until she was ready. He took solace in the fact that the SOB was her friend and nothing more. If he thought there was any chance that she wasn’t safe with him, he would rush in there right now and gut him until his insides spilled to the floor. He unconsciously rubbed his favorite gut hook knife, which was resting in its leather sheath attached to his belt.
Yes, he would wait. She had been through a lot. But he had been patient. He had watched her and waited. He would continue to wait if that was what was needed. But one day, one day soon, he would take her. He expected the fear he would undoubtedly invoke through his actions. It was understandable, seeing how badly she was brutalized. He would never forget the sense of anguish he felt when he walked into her hospital room, only there, he was an employee doing his job, and saw her battered face. The thought of it still sent icy chills down his spine.
His plan was almost complete. He just needed to find somewhere to take her. Some place quiet and far, far away from everyone else. He was no fool. He understood that she would need time to feel for him as he does for her. But he loves her. And what is love if it is not understanding and patient? He smiled to himself. Yes, soon, he would take her away. He would give her the time she needed to understand her love for him. Then they would be together as God had meant them to be. For he knew from the first time he saw her that he was her savior. And she would be his.
“Goodnight, my sweet. I shall see you tomorrow, my love,” he said as he exited the courtyard. This was the same way he had left every day for the past five months. He would enter this way again tomorrow so that he may see her again. His sweet, dear Shelby.
Chapter Eleven
She stood in the shower letting the spray wash down over her body. She was sore from the long night of lovemaking she shared with Rex. But she was not sorry. She was ecstatically happy. She still couldn’t believe all that had happened. When Rex woke her this morning, he had seduction on his mind. It really wasn’t much of a seduction since she was an eager participant. She smiled. It was almost as if all of her emotional scars were washed away by the tenderness of Rex’s love.
Emotional scars, it made her remember her dreams and then realize that she hadn’t had one last night. Not lying in Rex’s arms. She sighed. How did he always make everything better?
“Shelby? You still in the shower?” Rex yelled from the other room.
“That was quick! I’ll be right out,” she yelled back to him.
After finishing, she quickly dried off and came out of the bathroom wearing her luxuriously soft, silk robe and her hair up in a towel. He had just finished getting the bagels and cream cheese out of the bag when he turned to her.
“Damn, there is nothing you can do to stop it. You are a one hundred percent natural beauty.” He came to her and kissed her like he hadn’t seen her in years, rather than minutes. “Have I told you this morning that I love you?”
Shelby glanced at the clock above her kitchen sink. “Not in about–oh, thirty-seven minutes.” She laughed.
He held her face with his hands. “I love you, honey. I swear, when I woke up this morning, I was afraid to open my eyes. I thought I dreamt it all. Then I could smell that deliciously sexy scent you have and I knew you were lying beside me.” He kissed her again.
His kisses were like a drug. She felt her knees weaken and her insides heat up. How could a man cause such havoc on a woman’s control with the slightest touch? “I love you, too, Rex. Now, let’s eat. I’m starved.”
They ate their breakfast in the hazy, light-headed feeling of a couple newly in love. They laughed, they teased, and they taunted one another.
They found themselves unable to make it back to the bedroom, and they ended up showing each other just how much they loved each other on the hallway floor. The contentment they felt lying in each other’s arms on a hard floor was amazing. They were in love, and nothing and no one could dampen their plans for the future.
“Should we get another place, or should I just move in here?” Rex asked her as they were in the bedroom getting dressed.
She turned to
him, startled by his question. “What?”
He smiled. “I said,” he repeated very slowly, “should we get our own place, or should I just move in here? Look honey, I know it’s unexpected, but I don’t see the point in waiting. We love each other. That’s all that matters.”
“I–I don’t know. Maybe we could–” Then she saw the look on his face. He was rather enjoying springing this on her with no warning. He liked watching her squirm as she tried to gather her thoughts after the shock of his question. “Oh, you think you’re funny, do you?”
He shrugged as he walked to her and put his arms around her. “Honey, I don’t want to be apart from you. I know you don’t like my place.” He held up a hand in surrender. “And I understand why. And I like your place just fine. But we could buy a house. Lord knows I’ve got the money. And you don’t have to work. I mean, after we have kids, you will probably want to stay home anyway. So I was–”
“Wait, what?” Shelby loved him very much, but kids? They hadn’t even talked about getting married.
He laughed. “I’m sorry. I’m doing this all wrong, aren’t I? Let me start over.” He took her over to the bed, sat down, and pulled her into his lap. The action almost brought her to eye level with him but not quite. He was so tall she still had to slightly look up.
“Shelby, I love you. I don’t want us to be apart. I want us to get married. I want the whole world to know that you’re mine. Do you understand?”
She nodded her head as tears started falling.
“Are you trying to kill me here? Don’t cry, honey. I love you, and when you cry, I want to kick whoever’s ass is responsible. And I can’t very well kick my own ass. So please don’t cry.” He kissed her cheeks where the tears fell.
“I’m sorry. They’re happy tears, Rex.”
“Does that mean you’ll marry me?”
She nodded. The tears just kept coming.
“Honey, please say yes. I need more than a nod. Say you’ll be my wife. Tell me you love me and you’ll spend the rest of your life with me and only me.”
“I love you, Rex. And I will spend the rest of my life with only you. I would love nothing more than to marry you.”
He melted her with another one of his molten kisses. “Honey, we don’t have to get married right away, do we?”
“Um–no, I guess not.” Shelby looked away. Her smile had disappeared. She should have known it was too good to be true.
He laughed and began to tickle her. “No, it’s not what you think. I would marry you right now if we could keep it a secret for about another five months.”
“A secret, why?” What was he talking about, she wondered.
“Honey, I have spent the last six months arguing with the Bristows. Well, not Cullen Jr., but that damn Colleen and Cullen Sr. They swore to me that I would be hopelessly in love within a year. It would kill me to lose that bet to them. I would never hear the end of it. Next thing you know, they’d be predicting when our children would be conceived.”
“Well, I guess if you want to wait, we –”
“Shelby, I was kidding. If listening to that old, meddlesome couple tell me they told me so is the price I have to pay to be with you, I will gladly pay it over and over again. There is no way I would let anything so stupid get in our way.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “I have an idea. How do you feel about surprises?”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding me? How do you have any stamina left? I’m exhausted, Rex.”
“No, not that. What do you say we invite Tamara and Jack to dinner tonight? Let’s tell them it’s no big deal, we just thought they might want to grab a bite to eat. We’ll play it down then, when they least expect it, we’ll spring it on them.” His excitement dimmed as he shrugged. “Of course, it might be hard to pull off.”
“Why? I think it would be fun. We can pull it off. It will be hilarious to see the shock on their faces.” Shelby loved the idea.
“How can we possibly pull it off when you can’t ever keep your hands off me? How would you survive throughout dinner without touching me?” he teased her.
“Oh, geez. I don’t know, gosh, that might be rough. I guess I’ll just have to tough it out. But can you?” She taunted him.
“No problem. I was a SEAL, remember? We have nerves of steel.” He assured her, rather confident in his abilities.
“Really, hmm, I wonder?”
“What?” Rex asked, mildly amused.
“Will you really be able to keep your hands to yourself when you realize that I am going to wear that sexy little black dress with no panties on underneath?” She got up from his lap and strode away from him with a triumphant smile on her face. She loved the feeling of victory.
Rex said nothing, but fell to his knees in front of her. He slid his hands up her legs, lifting her skirt. As he skimmed her panties down her creamy thighs, he said, “I am going to love being married to you, aren’t I?”
“Oh, yes, Rex, we both will.” She winked. “I’ll make sure you’re never bored.”
“Okay, sure, we’ll be there. What’s the occasion?” Tamara asked Shelby as she played with the phone cord.
“No occasion. We just thought it would be fun if we could all hang out together. No biggie.” Shelby had to use everything in her power to keep from yelling, “Rex and I are in love, and we’re getting married.”
“Does this mean that you and Rex worked things out? Is everything all right with you two? Are you all right?” Above all else, Tamara was worried about Shelby. She didn’t want to see her hurt.
Don’t laugh, Shelby told herself. “Yeah, we’re fine. I guess you can just write it off to two adults acting like children.”
“So, does that mean that you and Rex are going to forget it ever happened? Is that even possible?” Tamara couldn’t help the nagging feeling that Shelby wasn’t telling her something.
Why does she always have to be so damn pushy? “Trust me, Rex and I have talked about what happened. We’re fine. So, anyway, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you tonight. Six o’clock at Manuela’s, bye.” Shelby hung up the phone before the inquisition could continue.
“Well, I guess our conversation is over,” Tamara said to Jack as she hung up the phone. “She couldn’t get me off the phone fast enough.”
“Who cares, let’s go back upstairs.” Jack quirked a brow at her and smiled.
“Jack, it’s noon, why on earth do you want to–oh, okay.” Tamara followed her husband up the stairs. “I still think there is something she isn’t telling me. She was almost evasive. Jack, are you even listening to me?” They were in their bedroom now, and Jack was kissing the side of her neck to distract her. His hands, which were once caressing her body, were now urgent as he slid a hand in her shorts. He groaned when he felt how hot and wet she’d already become from just a few touches.
“Yeah, babe, I’m listening. I heard you, you said something like, ‘Jack, you are so strong and manly, take me now and ravish me,’ and don’t worry, babe, I’m going to.” Jack refocused his energy on unbuttoning his wife’s blouse. Reaching him, he pinched her nipples just the way he knew drove her crazy.
Tamara laughed while moaning. “Yeah, right, that is so not what I said!” She allowed her clothes to be stripped from her body. Letting her hands trail up along her husband’s muscled back, she said, “But, I do admit it is a rather good idea.”
After hanging up the phone, Shelby sat on the couch next to Rex and giggled. “She knows.”
Rex eyed her curiously. “How? You didn’t even say anything. There’s no way she could know.”
She looked at him and was almost ready to explain to him the many wonders of women’s intuition when she caught herself staring at him. Placing her hands on either side of his head, she looked into his eyes intently.
“Shelby? What is–?”
He was interrupted by her fierce kiss. She crawled on top of his sinewy legs to straddle him as she assaulted his mouth in the most glorious ways. T
hey had made love so many times since last night she had literally lost count. But just then, when he turned to face her, the sun streaking in through the French doors of her balcony and the rough stubble forming on his face from not shaving, she knew that she could live a hundred lifetimes with him and never want for anything ever again. She would need no food, no water, just Rex.
Minutes later, their kiss broke. “What was that for?”
Shelby slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him. “I love you, Rex. I just wanted you to know that.”
“I know, sweetheart. I might not believe it, but I know it.” He pulled her against his chest for a deep hug. “Listen, I have to leave for a little while.”
What? “Why, where are you going?” She knew it was silly, but she felt like a child with a new toy. Not wanting to share it with anyone, not wanting to share him with anyone. She wanted to live in a bubble with only him and forget about the rest of the world.
“I have some things to take care of.” Rex looked at her somber expression. “I’ll be back. I know everything is new, and once I leave, it may seem awkward. But it’s only going to get better. I know how lucky I am, honey. Let me just go to my place and pack a few things. Then I’ll be back and we’ll go to dinner and blow Jack and Tamara out of the water.” He kissed her and groaned an oath before setting her aside back on the couch. “If I don’t leave now, I never will.”
“So, does that mean you’re going to stay here?” She wasn’t sure why, but she was suddenly nervous. Were they moving too fast? Would he feel rushed and pull away?
“Of course I’m going to stay here. Then we’ll have all the time we need to find a home and plan the wedding of your dreams. I want you to be happy.” He winked at her as he leaned in for a final kiss.
“If I have you, I’ll be happy,” Shelby told him with loving sincerity.
“Stop saying things like that or I’ll never get out of here.” Heading toward the door, he turned back to her and winked. “Lock this after I leave. I’ll see you in a little bit. Bye.”
Morgan, Nicole - Sweet Salvation [Sweet Awakenings 2] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 14