by L. B. Dunbar
The words hang in the air, and Gage shifts forward next to me.
“What did you say?” Gage asks slowly.
“Mind you, I’m doing this with Ivy at the heart of my decision. This isn’t a gentleman’s deal with a handshake or because we are now family. She is my family first, and I want everything on paper. I’ll manage you guys and be your agent. I’ll have your best interest in mind because what benefits the band, benefits my girl and her child. Your success will be her success.”
“What if we fail?” Jared asks, and I realize this gift involves more than me.
“Then I’ve failed, and that’s what you’re hiring me for…to make certain you don’t fail.”
We remain silent a moment, all of us with thoughts rambling through our heads.
“Uncle Tommy, are you sure about this?” I ask. This is big. This is so big for Gage and the boys.
“No.” He chuckles, tucking his hand in his pocket and lifting his champagne for a sip. “But this way, I’m still around you, watching over you and him.” He nods to Gage. “And I thought about what you said. What you both said. Maybe I do need something to keep me busy. And Gage, this way I can make sure you love that girl like your own.” I turn to Gage, not knowing what Tommy means, but Gage slowly smiles and dips his head.
“Yes, sir.” Gage leans over and kisses my shoulder while slipping a hand around my stomach.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Tommy threatens without conviction. “We start on Monday.” It’s a Tuesday.
Tommy downs the rest of his champagne, and then everything happens in fast-forward motion. Petty jumps up to hug Tommy, wrapping his legs around the older man to which we all laugh because Tommy catches him under the ass. He holds him a second and then pushes him off.
“Don’t ever do that again,” Tommy snaps, but he’s fighting a smile behind his irritation.
At the same time, Gage stands to hug Jared. They pat each other on the back in rapid succession before pulling apart. Gage cups the side of Jared’s head and kisses him on the cheek. I remain sitting, watching them all celebrate this announcement, feeling relief in Tommy’s decision and excitement for the band.
Tommy looks down at me. “Make no mistake, darlin’. This is for you. You’ll see.”
Gage surprises me and tugs me up by both hands. Pulling me into an embrace, he holds me to him and whispers in my ear, “I won’t disappoint him. I won’t disappoint you.” He gives me an extra squeeze and then pulls back to hold my hand while more champagne is poured.
24
GAGE
This is the night we’ve been waiting for, and I’m suddenly nervous like a teenage boy. Ivy is so beautiful under the dimming daylight. We only have the condo for as long as the sunset cruise lasts for the current renters, but we have enough time for the wedding, a champagne toast, and a catered dinner without feeling rushed. As dinner finishes and we cut into a small cake, we share our final gratitude to Tommy for his announcement and thank the guys for coming. I don’t want to be rude and whisk my wife away from them, but I want to whisk my wife away from them.
Only, as we stand in the elevator going down to our room, it all hits me while I hold Ivy’s hand.
She’s my wife.
I’m married.
To Ivy Carrigan.
Correction. Ivy Everly. I turn to her and notice her head lowered, her eyes on her rose bouquet.
“Hey,” I whisper. She slowly lifts and looks at me.
“Hey.” When a smile crosses her lips, my insides warm, but I’m just as anxious. I want tonight to be special for her although we don’t have the concerns of her being a virgin. We don’t even have the issue of a first time because we already had one—two years ago. So tonight, I just want it to be all that we’ve waited for.
We enter the hotel, but it’s nothing like the night at the Ritz when we couldn’t keep our hands off one another. We’re both shy, which isn’t like us. We normally can’t be in a room without touching. It’s one thing I love so much about Ivy. She grounds me when we touch, and I like to think I ground her. She stops in front of the dresser and begins to remove her earrings. I come up behind her and wrap my arms around her swollen waist.
“You’re so gorgeous,” I tell her, and she smiles back at me in the mirror. She slips a hand over my forearm, and says, “So are you.”
We stare at one another for a moment. Her light features contrast with mine, but we make the perfect pair. We collide.
“Ivy, we can keep waiting if you want,” I assure her, and her head tips back on my shoulder. She hums as she strokes my arm.
“I don’t want to wait, but I can.” For all her efforts to get me to have sex with her, I’m surprised by this concession. I lower to kiss her neck and then scoop up her hair, twisting it around my fist. I continue to her nape, and she dips her chin to her chest.
“I don’t think I can wait any longer,” I breathe along the fine hairs on the back of her neck.
“Thank God,” she whispers with a giggle.
My fingers find the multiple buttons along her back, and I take the time to unbutton each one, kissing each piece of exposed skin. Being with Ivy is typically a race, but tonight, I want to take my time even though we’ve waited this long. My hands skim up her spine and press at the open dress, forcing it over her shoulders. She tugs it forward to assist me, revealing a demi-cup bra barely containing her swollen breasts.
“Ivy,” I hiss, looking at her in the reflection. She smiles at me—a mischievously pleased grin. I shove the remainder of the dress over her hips and discover a thin thong covers the dark patch of hair at the top of her legs. I’d seen her fully naked three days ago but seeing her again in the dim light of the room, knowing she’s my wife, is like I’m seeing her for the first time. The curve of her belly. The weight of her breasts. The feel of her skin. I can’t stop touching her.
“I’m going to love you as my wife.” We’ve only said the words to each other for the first time mixed within our vows. They escaped in the heat of the moment, but I’m hopeful we’ll get there. She’ll love me in time. She’ll mean what she said during the wedding.
I turn her around and find her mouth, kissing her until her knees bend. My fingers delve into her hair, stuck on the pins holding the top back. As I release her mouth, I remove the hair pieces and then lead her to the bed. She kicks out of her shoes, which we laughed about after the wedding.
Flip-flops?
My feet are too swollen in the heat.
Ivy scoots back and watches me as I remove my vest. Not one to disappoint, she sits up and unsnaps her bra, pulling it forward to expose two white globes with enlarged pink nipples. Ivy squeezes one herself, and my fingers fumble on my own pants. I can’t get the buckle of my belt undone fast enough. She sweetly chuckles as she lowers a finger only to her belly and between her thighs.
“No,” I panic, not wanting her to take what’s mine. She spreads her legs and slips the finger under the lace covering her. I shove my pants to the floor and nearly fall over kicking out of my shoes.
“Ivy,” I hiss as her lids lower. I practically tear my socks tugging them off my feet, and then I leap for the bed. Ivy laughs hysterically as I knock her backward and force her hand away. I grip her wrist and bring her fingers to my mouth, sucking at the first taste of desire from her.
Her face grows serious as she looks at me lying next to her. “I don’t think we can do this the conventional way.” Her hand smooths her belly, and she shifts to her side to face me. “I’m too big like this.” Ivy’s already told me how sleeping on her back is impossible and not good for the baby’s circulation.
“Since when have we been conventional?” I tease. My fingers snap the edge of her thong on the hip turned to me and then they dive for her warm and wet center, waiting for more from me. I pull back and reach for her upper arm.
“How much foreplay do you need?” I ask as I roll to my back and signal for her to climb over me with the tug of her arm. She slips her leg out of t
he other half of her thong and then twists to straddle my lap.
“I think we’ve had enough foreplay,” she mocks. “Months of it.”
Her damp core sits over my hard shaft, pressing against me but not moving. My palms coast up and down her upper thighs.
“Am I too heavy for you?” she asks, turning shy in her condition.
“Ivy,” I groan. “Of course not.” She’s still mostly thin other than the basketball at her belly. The Mouthy Source got one thing right.
She leans over me, her arms holding her upright. Her hair curtains her face as she stares into my eyes.
“I meant what I said today, Ivy. I love you. I do.”
She nods slowly, her hair tickling my shoulder. “I feel like love isn’t the right word to describe how I feel about you. It’s so much, and I’m frightened you’ll break me one day, Gage. But right now, at this moment, there’s nowhere else I want to be. You’re all I think about, all I see, all I want to be.”
I brush back her hair, pushing it behind her ear, and swipe at a tear slipping from the corner of her eye.
“I love you, Gage Everly.”
“I love you, Ivy Everly.” The name rings softly through the room, and Ivy smiles despite the tears.
“Can you make love to me now?” she whispers, and my heart aches with the urgency and earnestness in the words. No more fucking. No more sex. Making love. To my wife.
She reaches between us to stroke my length, slipping up the shaft until I leak. She uses it to lubricate me, and then she positions me at her entrance. She sits up on her knees, balancing on the tip, balancing on a precipice we can never go back from once she falls. And she falls. She quickly lowers, forcing me to disappear within her, and my head throws back.
“Mothertrucker,” I mutter, overwhelmed with the initial contact. “I’ve never…Only you…It’s so much more.” I can’t speak. She’s stolen all my words, all my breath as she swallows me into her. My fingertips dig into her hips, and then she moves slowly, hesitantly, testing the feeling inside her.
“It’s been so long,” she whispers. “But it’s never been like this.” She presses on my chest for a second and then sits back, the shift drawing me into a new position within her.
“So deep,” I groan, and she picks up the pace, rolling forward and shifting back. Her hands fall to my chest again, and she draws up my shaft before slamming down.
“Sweetmotherofallthings.” I’m mumbling like I’m speaking tongues because this girl, this woman, my wife, has taken mine. She increases her pace, setting a pattern to her movements, and the clawing at my lower back begins. My legs tremble, and my balls tighten.
“Ivy,” I warn. I can’t go too fast. I can’t ruin this for her, for us. She already told me she didn’t orgasm the first time we were together all those years ago, so I will not disappoint her again. My thumb comes between us, and her breath hitches.
“Gage.” She exhales. “What are you doing?”
“I won’t come without you, but I’m warning you, this is going to be over quick. You’re too much for me, Ivy. Too much.” I mean it in the most loving of ways, and she moves with purpose over me, my thumb on the nub to push her over the edge. Her breath hitches. Her movements falter. She slams over me, and the clenching around my dick sets me off. Her eyes close but mine watch her as she throws her head back and scrapes her short nails over my treasure trail. I’m jetting off inside her, and I stare at the space where I’ve disappeared, connecting us as one.
“Two stars collide, Ivy. Better together,” I strain as I fill her with my seed, not second-guessing the loss. She’s already pregnant, but someday, another baby will be mine. From me, inside her.
She falls forward, catching herself on her hands as her belly prevents her from lying on top of me.
“That was so much more than I thought it’d be,” she whispers over me, shocked herself at the intensity of us. “I need to do it again.”
I chuckle still inside her, pleased with her eagerness. “Give me a couple of minutes and I’m all yours, gorgeous.”
“You’re all mine for eternity,” she reminds me, her voice softening in that way when she’s worried she’s said too much. I can’t contain the smile.
“Eternity, Ivy. Eternity.”
25
IVY
I’m awakened by the stroke of his hand over my hip. He told me to give him a few minutes, but I’m the one who fell asleep. It’s been a long day of mixed emotions and nerves, so many nerves. Still, the tip of his fingers outlining my hips feels nice and reminds me I’m his. He’s mine. We are together.
Two stars collide.
We certainly haven’t taken the conventional path, and as I lie here with his palm smoothing over my backside, I don’t think I’d change the crooked journey. While I wish Baby Ava was his by blood and genes, I’ll know she’ll be his in all ways important. Love. So much love.
“You rested yet?” he mutters against my shoulder before kissing it, and I purr, arching my back in search of his backside.
“It’s going to be different this time,” he whispers into my neck, nipping me above my clavicle, and I shudder with anticipation. I remain on my side as his hand slips over my backside and lower, in search of my sex already wet and waiting for him. He slips two fingers in, fast and slick, and I moan with the welcome intrusion.
“So ready for me already, wife,” he teases, nipping at my upper arm. He scoots his body down behind me, curling his body until he’s below me. I remain on my side, his fingers in me, until he draws them out and slips his tongue across my seam. I flinch with the surprise.
“You okay like this?” I nod, but he can’t see me. “Grab a pillow and place it between your knees.” The position opens me up, separating my legs so he has better access to me while he teases me with his tongue, adding fingers and pulling back. Sucking at my clit and blowing air at my entrance. I’m a wriggling mess by the time he makes me come, sloppy and wet. He props me up on an elbow and bites one of my ass cheeks.
“Stay like this,” he suggests, and I peer over my shoulder at him. He places a hand before my belly and the other behind my back. While I’m on my side, he moves his hips until his tip rests at my entrance.
“Like this?” I ask, surprised and nervous and fluttering with anticipation. Gage is adventurous as proven by all the creative ways he’s gotten me off in the months he’s put off sex, but this, this is different. I’m only had sex in two relative positions. Me on top. Me on bottom. This is going to be unusual, and the moment he slowly presses forward, I know it’s going to be mind-altering.
“I’ll go slow,” he tells me. “Let me know if I hurt you.”
Hurt me? This man could never hurt me. Break my heart, maybe, someday. But physically, purposely, he’d never cause me pain. As he slides into me, my eyes roll back in my head, and I grip the pillow between my knees.
“Okay?” he asks, filling me to the hilt. I’m so full, fuller than I’ve ever felt before, and I know it’s more than his dick inside me. It’s him. His love. His care. His touch. I nod, and he retracts, then presses forward once again. He’s hitting me in a new way, a new spot, and my orgasm instantly builds. My belly flutters, and thankfully, the baby doesn’t kick to distract me. Gage repeats his movements and begins a punishing rhythm that increases with each motion.
“Gage, I…”
“I know, babe. It feels so good. I never thought it could feel this good.” He continues his steady draw and thrust, filling me over and over. I shift a leg, rubbing the heel of my foot against his thigh.
“Let me up. On my knees.” I’ve never done it like this, bowed down with my ass in the air, but he’s making me wild like he always does.
“Babe,” he groans, pulling out of me and holding my hips as I roll to my knees and spread my legs with him behind me. “You’re killing me, woman,” he teases as he smooths two hands over my backside. I prop on my elbows, not able to lay flat.
“Ivy, with you like this. I—”
; “Make love to me, Gage.” I want to yell all kinds of dirty things. A four-letter command and within seconds, I’m begging him, unable to help myself. “Harder.”
He’s so deep like this, once again hitting me in a way no one’s ever touched me before. His balls at my thighs as he rocks with increased intention into me. The room fills with the scent of us and the slap of slick skin.
“I never want to stop,” he grunts behind me, slamming into me in a way I know will bring stars to my eyes and maybe a bruise to my inner thigh. I don’t want him to stop as I’ve never felt this good before.
“Touch yourself, gorgeous.” His command has me scrambling for my clit, rubbing it harder than I’ve ever rubbed, circling, pressing, stretching until I can’t take it anymore. I scream into the pillow below me, stilling as I feel him pumping inside me. Tears come to my eyes as I’m overwhelmed with sensation. Him in me. In my body. In my heart. In my soul.
As he collapses over me, he catches himself, knowing I can’t lie flat. He kisses my shoulder while our breathing slows until he slips out of me with a suction sound. We fall to our sides, giggling at the noise.
“That was embarrassing,” I say although I’m too happy to truly care.
“That was incredible.” He sighs in satiation. He reaches for my sweaty hair and brushes it behind my ear. “I love you.”
“I love you.” And I mean each word. I love this man with all of me. I’m scared, and I’m happy. I’m concerned, and I’m comforted. There’s no way to predict our future, but I know one thing. “I’m right where I belong.”
He smiles, catching my meaning. “We collide, gorgeous. And it’s going to be us against the world. You and me.” His hand covers my belly, but his mouth finds mine, and I settle into believing for the first time in my life, I’m in the right place with the right man.