by Jen Andrews
When he looked up at me, I noticed his gorgeous blue eyes had dimmed and filled with desire. He ran his tongue up to lick my clit while I watched him. I closed my eyes and let my head fall back. God that felt good. He edged in closer and delved deeper with his tongue.
After a few minutes, he slipped his fingers inside me and began sliding them in and out slowly. “Andy…fuck.” I was literally panting when he brought me to my first orgasm.
He tortured me with his tongue throughout my orgasm, so that when it was over, I still trembled. He sat back on his heels.
“Turn over and get on your knees,” he said, his voice deep and gravelly. Without question, I did as he told me.
He gripped my hips and pushed himself inside me from behind. He groaned loudly and then sucked in a deep breath as he began pounding into me. “Ahh, fuck…Zoey,” he mumbled as he continued to drive into me, his balls smacking against my clit each time.
He let go of my hips to run his hands up and down my back. My legs were still weak from our activities the previous night, and they were beginning to shake. Maybe I should take up running or something to strengthen them if I was going to keep up with this machine of a man.
“Andy, I need to lie down, my legs…”
He pulled out suddenly, making me gasp. “Sorry, Zoey,” he said as he watched me flip over onto my back.
“Oh, it’s quite alright,” I said. “My legs feel like rubber from last night. Now get back down here and finish what you started.” So he did.
We laid there for well over an hour, tangled up in the sheets, him on his back with my cheek against his chest, and me tracing his tattoos with my fingertip. “You still haven’t taken me to get my tattoo yet.”
“Are you still going to get your snowflakes?”
I nodded. “Mmm hmm…Yeah, that’s still what I want.”
“We’ll make an appointment and try to go next weekend. But right now, we need to get dressed. There’s somewhere we need to go.”
“Where are we going?”
“Lunch.”
We redressed and went outside to leave. I started walking to my car, but he took my hand and guided me over to the detached garage instead.
“Our ride is in here,” he said as he pulled me through the door behind him.
He flipped a switch on the wall, bathing the garage with light. There were a few cars in the garage, but we walked past them to a bright red, side-by-side ATV.
“Andy, where are we going that we need to drive an ATV? Are you sure we can’t take this Aston Martin instead?” I inquired when I noticed the gorgeous car sitting next to it. I’d never seen one in person.
He smiled at me, shaking his head. “Please get in, Zoey. I promise you, it will be worth it.”
I pouted. “Can I drive?”
Andy handed me the keys then walked to the roll up garage door and hit the button to open it. He came back and sat on the passenger seat.
“Well, let’s go, woman,” he urged, with the happiest smile I’d ever seen on his face.
I hopped in the driver’s seat and started the engine. Jokingly, I revved the throttle a little bit. He put on his seatbelt as he shook his head. I pulled my seatbelt on while I let the ATV warm up, then after a few minutes, I drove it out the garage door.
“Which way, Sexy?”
He told me to drive around behind the garage toward the vineyard. We passed through several rows of grapevines toward the foothills that surrounded the massive property.
“Go up this hill here,” he instructed me, pointing to the left. We reached the top of the hill and drove into a grove of trees. “Keep going till you hit the clearing, then park.”
He kicked his feet up on the dashboard of the ATV and crossed his ankles. I drove until I found the clearing in the trees. I parked toward the right side of the clearing and shut off the engine.
“Now where?”
He took my hand in his. “Right this way,” Andy replied as he led me into the grove of trees.
I looked over at him inquisitively and joked, “You’re not bringing me out here to whack me are you? Bury me somewhere nobody would ever find my body?”
“Nah, not today,” he replied sarcastically. He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed the side of my head.
I looked at the area where he was leading me and saw there was a large picnic blanket and a few throw pillows spread out under the shade of a large weeping willow tree. It was the biggest willow tree I had ever seen in my life.
“Is this where you were this morning when I woke up?”
He nodded, grinning. “Yep.”
We came closer to the tree and I saw an ice chest sitting next to it.
“Sit down, Zoey. Get comfortable. I’ll get the food ready.”
I giggled. “Hurry, I’m hungry.”
“Jeez, hold your horses, boss lady,” he teased as his blue eyes lit up with amusement.
He pulled out a small tray from a picnic basket next to the ice chest, then set out two wine glasses and poured us each a glass of chilled wine. Opening the ice chest, he took out everything to make my favorite Chinese chicken salad. He prepared our salads then handed me my plate and fork. I set my plate down and leaned toward him.
“Thank you, my love. Nobody has ever done anything like this for me before.”
He pressed his lips to mine. “I do it because I love you, Zoey.”
“I love you, too.” I sat back down and enjoyed our lunch under the willow tree.
When we were finished eating, he put the salad away, stood up, and walked around the other side of the willow tree. When he came back around, he was carrying his acoustic guitar.
“What else are you hiding behind the tree?” I joked.
“Nothing else behind the tree, don’t worry,” he said as he sat down on the blanket with his legs crossed. “I’m going to sing you two Snow Patrol songs today so sit back and relax.”
I nodded and waited for him to play.
“I know it’s been months, but this song made me jump on a plane to get to you when I couldn’t stand being away from you for another second. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and I won’t ever forget that weekend, Zoey.”
Andy started strumming his guitar and sang “New York” to me. When he finished the song, I was in tears because he sang it so perfectly. He set his guitar aside on the picnic blanket.
“Ready for some dessert?” he asked before I could say anything.
All I could do was nod. I was feeling emotional from his speech before the song because I hadn’t realized how much it meant to him. I watched as he opened the ice chest again and pulled out a small, covered tray. Arranged on the tray were several different pieces of fancy dark chocolate. He took another bottle of wine out and poured us half a glassful each.
“Thank you,” I whispered, as I looked him in the eyes. I walked across the blanket on my knees to sit on his lap.
“You’re welcome,” he replied, kissing me on the tip of my nose. “Now, let’s eat some of this chocolate before it melts. My aunt says it’s good with this wine.” I didn’t budge. I needed to be close to him.
I picked up a piece of chocolate off the tray and held it up to his mouth. He took it gently from my fingers with his teeth, then took a piece from the tray and fed it to me. We shared the tray of chocolate and a glass of wine while we fed each other in between kisses.
When we finished dessert, he patted my leg. “It’s time for my last song.”
I gave him one final kiss then moved off his lap, back to the blanket. He stood up with his guitar in his hand and took a seat on top of the ice chest, resting his guitar on his thigh. There was no speech this time before Andy started the beginning chords of “Just Say Yes.”
Throughout the whole song, he never broke eye contact with me. His eyes were almost pleading with me, and I didn’t understand why. When he finished the song, he stood and propped his guitar against the tree. He held his hands down to me and pulled me up to stand with him.
>
“I have one more surprise for you. Close your eyes.”
I closed my eyes and his lips brushed against mine before he released my hands. I heard him moving around while I waited, wondering what he was up to.
“Open your eyes, Zoey,” he said so quietly I almost didn’t hear him.
When I opened my eyes, I found him sitting back on his heels on the blanket in front of me. My heart immediately started thumping in my chest and I became lightheaded. Was he really doing this? I took a step toward him and he reached out, taking my left hand in his.
Oh my God, he is really doing this!
My eyes pooled up with tears as he began to speak, and goose bumps broke out all over my body even as hot as it was outside in the middle of August. I wanted to say yes to him right then, but he had planned such a special day for me that I needed to let him continue.
“Zoey,” he said so nervously his voice shook with emotion. “I’ve never told you before, but I knew I loved you the first week I knew you. We’ve been through a few tough times, but we made it through because we didn’t give up on each other. I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life without you by my side.”
He held a ring in his hand as he looked into my eyes with a gorgeous smile on his face. “Will you marry me, Beautiful?”
Tears were sliding down my cheeks before he even had the entire question out, and I couldn’t breathe. Overcome with emotion, I was literally speechless, so I frantically nodded my head.
“Is that a yes, Zoey?” He chuckled, but I noticed his eyes were getting a bit watery.
I nodded again and covered my mouth to stifle the loud, happy sob that was on its way out.
“Come on. You know which word I need to hear come from your sweet lips.” He was grinning at me, waiting for me to say yes. I removed my hand from my mouth and finally breathed out.
“Y-yes…yes, I’ll marry you.”
I dropped to my knees in front of him, threw my arms around him, and cried the most intense, happy tears of my life. He kissed the top of my head then wiped the tears from my face.
“Don’t you want to see your ring?” he asked as he brushed my hair over my shoulders.
He could have given me a plastic ring from a gumball machine, for all I cared, but I noticed the blue Tiffany & Co. box sitting on the blanket next to him. I gathered myself together enough to stop crying, sat back on my heels in front of him, and nodded.
Andy took my left hand again, lifted it, and slid the ring onto my finger. It was a perfect fit.
I finally had the nerve to look down at my engagement ring and gasped the second I saw it.
It had a huge, princess cut diamond in the center with a diamond-encrusted band. I’d never seen a more beautiful ring in my life. It was stunning the way it sparkled in the sunlight that filtered through the willow tree.
“Andy…it’s too much,” I whispered, because I knew the ring cost him a fortune.
“No, it’s not too much for you, Zoey. It can never be too much,” he said candidly. He stood up and pulled me with him to wrap me in his arms. “Thank you. You don’t know how happy you’ve made me today.”
We finally tore ourselves away from each other after a while. He pulled my left hand up to his mouth and kissed my ring finger. “It looks perfect on you.”
I held my hand out to look at it again. “It’s a beautiful ring, Andy. I never expected this, and I know I was bugging you last night about getting married—”
With a gorgeous smile on his face, he put two fingers over my lips to shut me up. “Stop, I’ve had the ring since June. I’ve just been waiting for the right time to ask you…when I was sure you were ready.”
Finally, I was starting to think clearly. Did he just say June?
“June?” I asked in disbelief. That was two months ago.
“Yes. I bought it the day of Jess and Noah’s parties. That’s where I was the day we didn’t get to talk until we met at the bar.”
I laughed at the memory because it was a shitty day for me, and there he was, out buying me the most exquisite engagement ring I’d ever laid eyes on.
“Is this why you said we’d talk about it later?” He grinned, and I knew I was right. “So, you’ve been planning this for a while then?”
He nodded. “I asked my aunt for help when I made our plans to come here. She helped me get everything ready last night so I could bring it out here while you were sleeping.” He smirked. “I almost proposed to you that day in the car on the way to the wedding reception, when we pulled into the parking lot and had our talk, but you and your big mouth interrupted me before I could get the question out.”
I loved the playful grin that spread over his face when he said that. I remembered the conversation clearly, and I did cut him off when he was talking to me.
“Sorry about my big mouth. Next time you have an important question to ask me, tell me to shut up, please.”
“Next time, I definitely will,” he teased.
“Hey, let’s take a picture and send it to everyone to see if they notice the ring!” I was so excited to share the news with our friends and families. I smiled, still not believing everything he did for me.
Andy pulled his phone out of his pocket and readied the camera. He took several photos of us posing with my left hand and ring in the photo, but not focusing on it directly.
We decided on a photo of us facing each other, him kissing my forehead. Both of us had our eyes closed, with my left hand resting along his jaw line and neck. We sent the picture to my family, my friends, and Andy’s aunt and uncle. Within minutes, we received several texts back from everyone congratulating us.
Andy shut off his phone and there, underneath the giant willow tree, Andy and I made love on the picnic blanket and celebrated our engagement, slowly and sweetly. We took our time loving each other. And afterward, we held each other close and reveled in our perfect day.
Later that evening, I sat on the edge of the bed slipping on my high heels as Andy stood in front of the mirror, adding a little dab of gel to his palm to run through his damp hair. After our picnic, we came back to the house and lounged around until it was time to get ready for our dinner out.
I stood from the bed and walked to the mirror to check my makeup one last time before we left. Standing next to Andy in my strapless, purple satin dress, I watched him in the mirror. “You look very handsome.”
He was wearing black dress pants and a black button up shirt with a black tie. As usual, his long sleeves were rolled to just below his elbows. His all black clothing set off his blue eyes, making them brighter. He smiled as his eyes met mine in our reflections. He turned to face me, took my left hand in his, and brushed his lips across my knuckles, where he stopped at my giant engagement ring.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” I whispered, my voice trembling slightly with emotion.
He looked at me apprehensively. “What do you mean?”
I let out a long, shaky breath. “I just mean…look at everything we went through at the beginning, and now we’re engaged. I never thought this would be happening.”
His large hands gently cupped my face. “Zoey, are you okay with this?” He thought I was getting overwhelmed.
“Yes,” I said truthfully, because I was more than okay with it. I would marry him that minute if I could. “This whole year has gone by so quickly. I never thought I would be getting married again. Please, trust me. I am thrilled to be marrying you. Today has been the best day of my life.”
I pulled him down to me and placed a light kiss to his lips.
“I love you, Andy. You are my life. I’ve never been happier, and I can’t wait to be your wife. After we get married, I promise we will talk seriously about babies. Just give me until then, please.”
He nodded happily, kissing me back. “Let’s go out and celebrate then, shall we?” he asked as he took my hand and guided me out the bedroom door.
Andy started down the stairs, and I stopped at the top, forcing him to stop
too since he had a hold of my hand. He turned back to me.
“What is it, Zoey?”
“Move in with me when we get home.”
He walked back up the stairs and embraced me. “Yes. I will move in with you. I thought you would never ask.” He kissed me gently and told me he loved me.
We went downstairs to meet Hamish and Sarah for Andy’s birthday dinner. His birthday was still a couple of weeks away, but it was the only weekend his aunt and uncle had time to get together to celebrate with him. I was planning a surprise party for him at my place on the day of his birthday, but they couldn’t get away from the vineyard to come.
“Look at you two all dressed up. Very nice,” Hamish said to us when we met him and Sarah in the living room.
“A.J., you better keep an eye on this girl tonight. The rock on her finger can probably be seen from space,” Sarah chimed in as she lifted my hand to inspect my ring. “I’m so happy for you both. A second chance at love doesn’t always come around.”
Of course, my eyes welled up with tears. I was deliriously happy. “Thank you, Sarah,” I said as I hugged her.
“I hate to break up the hug fest here, ladies, but we need to get on the road for dinner,” Hamish joked. We gathered our purses and headed out the door.
The four of us talked on the way to another vineyard about ten miles from the house. When we arrived, the parking lot was filling up quickly, but Sarah had made reservations for us the week before.
After we were seated, Sarah ordered a bottle of champagne for us to celebrate our engagement and Andy’s birthday. We ordered our dinners and a couple of appetizers to eat while we were waiting.
“Zoey, do you have any ideas on what kind of wedding you would like?” Sarah asked.
I smiled and looked over at Andy. “Well, we haven’t really had the chance to talk about it too much yet, but I think I’d like something small, probably with just our families and close friends. What do you think, Andy?”
He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m so happy you said yes I haven’t even thought about what to do next.”