by Penny Wylder
He smells amazing.
Brand takes a step forward, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me in. His lips find my throat, fluttering kisses down to the tender skin in the crook of my neck. He cups my chin and tilts my head out of the way. His lips move up, following the curve of my jaw. The sharp edges of his teeth grab my ear lobe and pluck it gently.
“I'm the luckiest man in the world,” he says, whispering in my ear. “I found my happiness.” His lips crush against mine, and he kisses me as if I'm his energy, his sustenance, as if I'm life.
His lips are savage. He splits my mouth open with his tongue, licking and twisting in long sweeping circles. I moan, exhaling all the air in one gasp. Brand swallows, drinking me in with a moan of his own.
He presses his thumb and forefinger harder around my jaw, and tips my head back to kiss me deeper. My heart skips in my chest, and my stomach clenches as he releases my face and glides his fingers down my body.
Palming my breast, he squeezes, rolling my nipples between the pads of his fingers. I bite my bottom lip, curling my fingers into his hair and pulling. Brand grunts and presses me down by the shoulders onto the bed.
I drop down, my eyes glazing over as I nibble on the inside of my cheek. He grabs his cock, stroking it up and down. He's so hard, so thick and long I want to lick him. I want to suck him deep into my mouth and taste him against my tongue.
My eyes meet his. I lean forward, using the tip of my tongue to lick his crown. Brand groans, letting his head fall back and his eyes close. I suck him in deep, letting his tip hit the back of my throat.
Brand's hand clasps around the top of my head, and he wraps his fingers in my hair. Tearing at my roots, he guides my head up his length, and then back down to the base. I suck him harder, flattening my tongue against his dick and tasting his salty skin.
“Fuck yeah,” he groans, the tips of his fingers scraping my scalp and tugging. His hips jerk, and he tugs his bottom lip into his mouth. “My god, Kel, that feels so fucking good.”
Over and over I fuck him with my mouth. He's rocking his hips and watching me closely. My mouth moves down his cock, his hips jerk forward, pushing the last few inches inside. I stroke his balls, and they tighten against my hand.
Brand pulls me away by my hair, his cock popping free with a wet slurp. His eyes are dark, and his pupils are so big I could dive inside. He growls, the sound throaty and husky as he lowers himself down. I fall back against the mattress, my legs spreading open as he climbs on top of me.
“I love you,” I say. The words come out and it's the first time I've ever said them. My breath hitches as the realization sets in.
Yes, we're moving in together. Yes, we're deciding to build a life together. But in reality, it's only been a month. Neither of us has actually said those three little words.
I've thought about it, and a few times I almost let it slip but was able to catch myself. I don't know why I've held back. Maybe it's a fear that it's too soon to have suck strong feelings. Maybe it's a fear that he might not feel the same way. Maybe I'm just afraid of being rejected.
Either way, it's out now.
His eyes freeze on mine. He's staring at me, his lips parting and his muscles tensing up. He looks surprised. Brand's brows arch high, making thick lines across his forehead. His lips turn thin, and it looks like he's holding his breath.
Shit. Why did I say that? I shouldn't have said that!
My heart starts to race wildly in my chest. I wish I could take it back. I don't want to ruin what we have, and what we're building before it even starts.
“I—” I start to say, but he silences me with a soft tender kiss.
Brand pulls away, gently running his fingertips around my face. “I love you too,” he says. “I've been wanting to say it but wasn't sure how.” His eyes sparkle like stars in a country night sky.
“Me too.” My voice is soft, but my heart is loud. I can hear it beating in my ears. I can feel it slamming against my ribs.
He places his hand on the center of my chest, pressing his palm down against my skin. “I know, I can feel it.” Brand smiles, kissing me tenderly. “I hope you feel this way forever. I hope your heart never stops beating for me.”
“It won't ever stop. I love you so much I never want to imagine my life without you.”
“Good, because you're stuck with me,” he says with a light chuckle. “You're mine. I knew it the second I saw you that morning, with the sun on your skin, and the wind in your hair. I knew you were meant for me.”
I grab his face and kiss him. I kiss him with everything I feel inside. With all the love I have for him now, and forever. I kiss him with every ounce of my being. I kiss him because his lips were made for me.
This moment, this right here, this is heaven. And as we make love, as he slips inside me with passionate slowness, I've never felt more complete. My heart is full. My body is warm. My life is finally my own.
I've found my happily ever after right here with this man.
Epilogue
Brand
One Year Later
The air is filled with the scent of burning rubber and exhaust fumes. There's a thin cloud of white hovering over the track from racers burning their slicks to make them sticky.
I grab Kelsie's helmet and pass it to her. “You ready?” I ask.
“Hell yeah, I'm ready. This is what we've been training all year for, right?”
I nod in agreement. “You're going to do great,” I say as I lean over and double check the spark plugs and battery terminals. “Everything looks great, too. I think we're good.”
She gives me a kiss, and then slips in through the window between the roll-cage bars. It took us all year to get to this point. We found an old nineteen sixty-seven Mustang GT rusting away in some old guy's lot.
After some haggling, and once the guy knew it was going to be restored, and the engine was going to get a complete overhaul, he felt comfortable letting it go. I spent months working on the engine and the body. I have the scars on my knuckles to prove it.
But she's beautiful. . . Sorry, he's beautiful.
Kelsie insisted that since it's her car, she's naming it, and she calls him Brutus. It's her car, so hers to name. Who am I to judge?
“Who am I going against?”
“Walker Thompson.”
She grunts and rolls her eyes. “The guy who won last year? He's my first race?”
“Yeah, but don't worry, you got this. This baby is going to take you to the finish line in twelve seconds flat.”
She pulls her helmet on and buckles her seat belt. “Let's do this.”
The announcer calls her to the line. Kelsie starts the car and the engine rumbles to life. The front end rocks and bounces from the power under the hood. She revs the engine with a few pumps of the gas pedal.
I slap the hood, and she drives up to heat her slicks. The back end of the car shakes as the tires spin, and thick white smoke pours out from underneath. I wave it away, and walk around to the front of the bay so I can see her race.
I'm so damn nervous. I've never been this nervous before in my life. I want her to win, I want her to come off the strip with a smile on her face.
She gets to the line, and revs her engine again. She's taunting Walker. I smirk at her challenging gesture. This woman is incredible. I love her spunk. I love her fearlessness. And I love how she's not afraid to get dirty.
“Hey,” Millie says, coming up beside me as I rest against the chain link fence.
Hardin leans beside her, and nods his head. “Hey, man,” he says.
“You guys made it. Kelsie's going to be excited to see you.”
“Yeah, we convinced my mother to watch Fiona. She's walking now, so I'm sure she'll have fun chasing her around.”
“Wow, walking already? I don't think I walked till I was a year and a half.”
“I know, she started at nine months, and now she's unstoppable.”
“Well, hopefully Auntie Kelsie is unstoppable too
.”
“Is she nervous?” Millie asks.
“A little, but she's got this. Once she's behind the wheel any nerves she feels will go away. She was born for this.”
“Well, this and growing squash. That girl can grow one hell of a squash.” Millie giggles, laying her arms over the top of the fence.
The first light on the tree pops on. “Oh, here we go,” I say.
All three of us are still, leaning against the fence with our eyes on the track. Both vehicles are rumbling. The air is foggy under the bright overhead lights. It reminds me of a horror film. That eerie fog that hovers just over the ground right before an ax murderer jumps out.
But there are no ax murderers here, just the sexiest woman in the world about to smoke some jackass on the track.
The second light on the tree turns on, and both cars pull up an inch to the line. Two yellow lights pop on, signaling that both cars are exactly lined up and even.
My stomach is spinning. I'm excited and nervous and anxious all in the same moment. Sweat trickles down the back of my neck, tracing my spine as my heart hammers.
The green light ignites, and both cars launch forward in one giant burst, their front ends lifting off the ground. Then they're gone. I can't see who's in the lead from this angle. I stand up on the tips of my toes, dipping and leaning, trying to see her make it to the end.
“Is she winning?” Millie asks.
“I'm not sure,” I say, squinting my eyes to read the timing board.
Eleven point fifteen seconds.
Her board lights up, and I read her time. And as my eyes drift to her opponent's time, my heart stops in my chest.
Eleven point nineteen seconds. . . She won.
“She won!” I yell, turning to Millie and Hardin. “I knew it! I knew she could do it!”
We all smile and jump, screaming with joy for Kelsie and her first professional win. Millie hugs Hardin, and then she hugs me. I high five Hardin, and he throws his fist in the air with excitement.
All three of us run to the off ramp where the racers drive back down. Kelsie rolls to a stop, and climbs out of her window. “I did it!” she screams, jumping into my arms and hugging me tight.
“You did it,” I repeat, hugging her back.
Kelsie drops back down to flat feet and pulls her helmet off. “I can't believe it. I can't believe I just won.”
A slow clap comes in from behind us, and Kelsie's eyes light up. I turn around to find her father standing there clapping for his daughter with a proud grin on his face.
“Congratulations,” he says.
The rest of her family walks over, her brother smiling wide and her mother, with a smaller, but unmistakably pleased smirk on her face. Kelsie gives all of them a hug, her happiness so overwhelming it saturates the air.
This is it. This is the moment.
Kelsie is talking to her family and friends. She's reenacting the feel of the steering wheel in her hands, her brother in awe of his older sister. She's glowing. And I know right here and now that I need to do this.
Dropping to one knee, I pull a small box from my pocket. Her father grins and nods his head in my direction at his daughter. She glances over at me, and tears spring up in her eyes instantly.
I reach out my hand to her, and she takes it. I pull her in closer. I've thought about this day for months. I bought the ring about four months ago but wanted to wait for the perfect moment. That moment is here.
This is her day. She's surrounded by her family and friends, she just won her first race, and now I want to make her mine forever.
“Kelsie Klein,” I say, taking her hand and pulling her fingers out straight. “I've loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you. And I'm going to love you until the day I take my last breath.”
Tears stream down her cheeks and her hand is shaking in my mine. I pluck the ring free from the box and hold it against her trembling ring finger.
“Kelsie, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she says while nodding her head up and down quickly. Her voice breaks as the tears fall effortlessly, trickling down over her smiling lips. “Yes, I'll marry you.”
As I rise up from my knee, she throws herself at me and kisses me. Her lips are soft, frantic, and so full of love I can feel it as it seeps into my body.
This woman has changed me. She's shown me what it means to feel alive. She's shown me what it means to be happy. And she's shown me what it feels like to be in love.
I'm not half a man anymore. I'm whole.
For that, I owe her everything.
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