by Melody Anne
She reached the flagpole and stopped, then walked with confidence up to The Flash, and told him he’d have to shoot her point blank, because she wasn’t giving up her flag.
Smoke looked down and smiled, not even a little out of breath from his scary fast run. A bright smile took over his features and he said, “I’d never do that. You’ve earned this victory. A warrior knows another warrior, and I tip my hat to you.” Then Smoke took a step to the side, and bowed, letting Jasmine step up to the pole.
She grabbed the red flag, then raised both the red and blue into the air and screamed out to the group; “Who are we?” and the crowd in an ecstatic cheer responded:
“We’re the Andersons!”
The games continued for the rest of the day, everyone trying to get the special ops guys on their teams. They spread themselves around, having a blast shooting each other, and letting the kids take them down, making them feel like they were kings of the mountain. Even Brackish was able to get out of his own miserable head for pieces of the day and found himself smiling once in a while — that was until he thought about how much better this day would be if Erin was with him. Maybe she would be soon. He just had to wait. She was worth waiting for.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Brackish wasn’t in a bear of a mood. He was sad, incredibly sad, but he wasn’t angry. The last time he’d had a problem with Erin, he’d wanted to rip the heads off of anyone who dared speak to him. This time, he found himself staring at his phone, glancing at it even though no sound had indicated a new message, then setting it down again in defeat.
One day . . .
Two days . . .
Three days . . .
Should he send a message? Should he try to work it out? She’d asked him for time. He was giving it to her. But she was pregnant with his child. They had to work through this. He wanted to know how she was feeling, he wanted to make sure both she and his child were not only okay, but thriving. He wanted to go to the doctor with her. He wanted to work this out.
His phone buzzed. His gut clenched. He told himself not to get excited, not to assume it was her. It could be any of the men, it could be Chad, hell, it could be Joseph. He took his time picking up his phone and finally smiled after three long days and three even longer nights.
Can we meet?
Yes. When? Where?
He didn’t hesitate. He had no desire to play games. He wanted to see her, to talk to her, to hold her in his arms if she’d let him. The bubbles showed she was texting him and he waited.
After what felt like an hour, she replied with an address. He pulled it up on his computer and saw it was a hotel on the beach east of Seattle. On my way, he sent. He didn’t say a word to anyone in the building, just threw on his shoes, ran from his room, and took the first car he found in the garage.
The GPS said the drive was an hour and forty minutes. He made it in fifty-nine minutes. He parked his vehicle and went to her door, very aware his fingers were shaking when he lifted his hand to knock. He held his breath as he waited for her to open the door. He heard footsteps, and she was finally in front of him, a thick cotton robe tied tight around her body, her hair thrown back in a ponytail, and her face free of makeup. She’d never looked more beautiful.
“That was fast,” she said, her voice low, sounding sad. He wanted to pull her into his arms so much. He was scared she was ending it for good with him. He wouldn’t allow that to happen. He’d fight for her — prove why they should be together. They were a team, and they had a baby on the way. The child wasn’t the only reason he wanted to be with her; he loved her. He’d never question that. He’d never been as miserable as he’d been these past few days. She was like a fresh breath of air in the middle of a field surrounded by fire. He had to be with her.
“I didn’t obey the speed limits,” he said. He didn’t try to move forward. He was waiting for her to make the next move.
She opened the door wide. “Come in,” she told him.
He stepped inside the nice hotel room, purposely not looking at the inviting bed they passed on the way to the patio doors that were open. A large deck showcased a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean with waves crashing against the shore. It was nearly sunset, and there was no place he’d rather be than right there with her.
She sat in a chair and he sat next to her, turning it so they were facing each other, their knees only inches apart.
“I’ve been going out of my mind missing you and wondering how you’re feeling,” he told her. It was time to let go of his pride. Foolish pride had sunk more relationships than anything else.
“I’ve really missed you too,” she said. His heart swelled. “But I needed these three days. I needed to understand what I was feeling. I needed to know that everything was going to be okay whether we were together or not.”
His breath caught as he waited to hear what conclusion she’d come to. He didn’t dare speak for fear he might drop to his knees in front of her and beg her to be his. He might never forgive her or himself if he was reduced to that. She gave him a tentative smile. He couldn’t read her expression. So he continued to wait.
“I figured out that I can make it on my own, even with a child,” she said, sinking his heart. “I’ve been on my own for a very long time.”
“Erin,” he began, then closed his lips as she held up a hand. She closed the small gap between them and reached out, taking his hand, their legs now brushing.
“I also decided I don’t want to do it on my own. Knowing I’m capable, knowing I can is good enough for me. But what I truly want is to be with you. What I need is for us to go through this pregnancy together, and raise our child together. I understand why you didn’t tell me about your job and my uncle in the beginning. That’s something I wouldn’t have told a new person until I trusted them. And I understand that we’re going to have differences. But what I realized more than anything else is that I love being with you. I have a long way to go to break down the walls I’ve created through the years, but if you’re patient with me, I think you can help me with that.”
“Of course I’ll help you,” he said, his heart so full it felt as if it would burst.
“I loved my parents, and I loved my cousins, but it didn’t devastate me when they were gone. I truly loved my grandparents, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get back on my feet after losing them, but I somehow managed to survive. I love you, and with you I don’t want to just survive. I want to truly live,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
Brackish couldn’t stand not having her in his arms anymore. He stood, picked her up, and sat back down with her on his lap. She instantly curled up and buried her head against his neck as she quietly sobbed.
“I love you, Erin. I want a life with you. I want a future with you. I want to work things out when we don’t agree on something. What I don’t want ever again is to go a single day without hearing your voice. I know we’ll both work long hours sometimes, and we’ll both get busy with life, especially with a newborn, but if we make the effort to love each other, to spend time together, and to put each other first, I know we can make it through anything.”
She lifted her head and smiled, her eyes sparkling, her lips trembling. “I want that, Steve.”
“Then you have it,” he assured her. He placed his hand behind her head and pulled her close to him as he finally kissed her. It had been three long days since their mouths had touched. That couldn’t happen again. He kissed her until they were both breathless. He carried her inside the room and set her on the bed, dropped to his knees, and held her legs.
“Erin, you’ve changed my life, you’ve made me a better man. You make me think through my decisions. You make me want to be worthy of your love. You show me light when I’ve been in darkness, and you bring me joy when I’ve felt sorrow. Please, please, marry me. Let’s do this right. Let’s start our family, right here, right now,” he said. “We’ll start with this baby and then we’ll have a dozen more.” He placed his hand on her flat stomach, u
tterly awed that his child was safe and warm inside of her.
She laughed through her tears as she reached down and placed her hand over his. “I think a dozen babies are a bit much,” she said.
“I just thought a dozen was a nice rounded amount. Otherwise all of the good stuff like donuts and eggs wouldn’t be sold by the dozen,” he pointed out.
She laughed again. “Maybe two,” she compromised. “And yes, yes, I want to be your wife.”
Brackish hadn’t thought it possible to feel as much joy as he felt right then. He jumped up and sat next to her, pulling her close and kissing her like he meant it. Before he got too lost, he leaned back, his hand cupping her cheek.
“We’ll go to the store tomorrow and you can have any ring you want. I’ve been such a mess I did nothing but workout and brood when I should’ve been ring shopping.”
“A gold band is fine,” she said, her cheeks flushing.
He looked at her in horror. “No way, no how is my wife wearing only a band. I want a nice, fat, juicy diamond shining on your finger, telling the world you’re taken. I want the astronauts to see it from space.”
“Steve, I’m a simple girl.”
“Well, I’m anything but a simple man, so we might have to meet in the middle,” he told her. He’d make sure to take her to a small, private jewelry shop and tell the owner to hide any wedding rings that were less than two carats. He’d put a ten-carat ring on her if he could get away with it.
“I guess we can meet in the middle,” she said. “I want to get married soon. I know it’s silly, but I don’t want our child to ever wonder if she was wanted. I don’t want her to think we had a shotgun marriage.”
“Baby, I’m going to marry you tomorrow. I’m not giving you a chance to change your mind,” Brackish said.
“I love you, Steve, I love you with all of my heart. There’s no chance I’ll change my mind.”
“I love you, Erin, and I’m going to show you exactly how much.” She held out her arms as she laid back, more than willing for him to work his magic. He leaned down, careful not to put his full weight on her as he kissed her again, his hand cupping her cheek. When he slipped it inside her robe and discovered she wasn’t wearing anything beneath it, his arousal turned painfully hard.
Brackish became almost frantic as he reached down and grasped the knot of her robe. He needed to see her beautiful body, but he needed to touch it even more. The robe parted and he ran his hand from her throat to her stomach and back, not touching her where she wanted to be touched the most. She groaned as she pushed up toward him.
Her sounds of pleasure excited him, making him barely able to control the need to feel her heat around him. She reached for him, but he stood, throwing off his clothes in record time, then moving around the bed, climbing in behind her, and pulling the robe from her body, leaving her bare before him.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said as he leaned forward and kissed the curve of her neck while his hand traveled down her side. She groaned again.
He gripped her hips, then moved his hand down, over the curve of her luscious butt and on to the front of her smooth thighs. He pushed against her before leaning back and spreading her legs. She was on her side, the sight beyond enticing. She panted and moaned while trying to reach for him.
“It’s my turn right now. You made me wait for you for three days, now I’m going to enjoy myself, touching, kissing, and licking every square inch of your body. I’m going to make you scream over and over again, and just when you think you can’t take anymore, I’m going to start all over.”
She moaned as he spoke while moving his fingers between the seam of her butt and straight to her core where she was hot and wet. He plunged his finger inside, making her purr.
“Oh, baby, you’re always so ready for me,” he said, sucking on her neck while his finger pumped in and out of her tight heat. He might be playing a little, but he was being tortured far more than she was. She pushed against him, showing him exactly what she wanted.
Instead of pressing forward, Brackish turned her so she was lying flat on the bed, her still flat stomach cradled against the soft mattress. Then he took his time kissing his way down her back, licking and sucking and causing all sorts of beautiful sounds to escape her throat. He ran his tongue over her butt cheeks, then lifted her hips and ran his tongue along the seam of her thigh. He needed to taste her.
He swept out his tongue and she cried out as he pushed inside her again and again.
“Please, Steve,” she groaned as she tried to shift. He pulled back and flipped her over, then pushed her thighs apart and buried his head against her heat, intensely sucking her most sensitive area into his mouth and flicking his tongue over and over it.
She screamed.
He plunged his finger into her heat and sucked hard on her clit, and she exploded around him. He held on tight as he suckled and pumped and drew out every last second of her orgasm. He didn’t stop until she collapsed back to the bed and let out a long sigh.
He couldn’t take anymore. He had to be one with her.
Erin held out her arms to him as he climbed up her body, taking a few seconds to sweep his tongue across her hard nipples before making his way back to her mouth and kissing her as he cradled himself between her thighs.
Finally, he pushed forward, his only desire to be so close nothing could rip them apart. “Now,” she demanded. And he didn’t wait any longer.
With a hard thrust, he buried himself deep inside of her, and his world instantly began to spin. She was so hot, so tight, and so wet he never wanted to leave this place. He paused as he tried to catch his breath, but she had other ideas. She wiggled against him as her arms wrapped around him and clutched him close.
He connected their mouths again as he kissed her deeply while he began thrusting in and out of her, their moans mingling as the ocean waves crashed outside the open patio doors.
She let out another cry, wrenching her mouth from his as she threw her head back while her body pulsed around him, holding him tight inside her heat. He exploded, his own orgasm ripping through him like a shotgun shell, making him shake as he held her tight.
They came down from their high together, and he turned, pulling her against his chest, never willing to let her go again. They were both sated — for a minute or two — and both happier than words could describe.
“I love you,” he said, feeling free that he could say those words anytime he wanted.
“I love you too,” she replied, and within seconds her breathing evened. She was sound asleep, her head resting against his heart.
“I’m going to marry you tomorrow,” Brackish whispered. She murmured in her sleep, but she didn’t move. He waited a solid fifteen minutes before he rose, more than pleased when she whimpered and reached for him. But he kissed her lips and said he’d be right back. She settled into the mattress.
He closed and locked the room door, grabbed his phone, and dialed. Joseph Anderson answered on the second ring.
“Brackish, how are you, my boy?” Joseph asked.
“I’m getting married tomorrow,” Brackish said, then held the phone away from his ear as Joseph’s booming voice rang through loud and clear, congratulating him. When Joseph was finished, Brackish said. “I have a favor to ask.”
“Anything at all,” Joseph said, and Brackish could tell the man meant it. There weren’t too many like him in the world.
“First, if you know of a small jewelry shop in the area, I’d appreciate the address. I was foolish enough not to have picked out a ring before I proposed,” he said, and Joseph scoffed. Then Brackish continued. “Also, can I have the use of that big, beautiful jet of yours tomorrow so I can whisk my bride-to-be to Vegas?”
There was a pause, and Brackish worried he’d asked for too much. “What do you have against home weddings?” Joseph finally asked. Brackish fought back a smile. It had nothing to do with letting Brackish use the jet, it had all to do with Joseph wanting to attend the wedding. Brackish
was smart, though.
“She’s pregnant, and I want to make sure she doesn’t have time to wise up and change her mind and not marry me,” Brackish said. He realized Joseph Anderson was the first person he’d told about his baby. If his mother found out he was a dead man walking.
Joseph didn’t hesitate. “The jet will be ready at the same airport at 0800 hours. I’ll call the jewelry store and the pilots right now.” Joseph didn’t even let Brackish say goodbye, just hung up.
Brackish only felt a little bad about fibbing. He knew there was no way Erin would change her mind. He knew they truly loved each other. But he still wanted to make her his wife, and he wasn’t willing to wait even twenty-four more hours.
Brackish shut off all of the lights, then grabbed the blanket they’d knocked off of the bed, and he climbed in beside his fiancée. He pulled her close, covered them both, and fell asleep with a smile on his lips. He was the lucky man who got to do this for the rest of his life.