by Gina Sorelle
Kat leaned over, slipped her fingers beneath his chin, and tried tilting his head up. “Then look at me.”
Danny shook his head. “I can’t, Kat. Not right now.”
“Why not?”
“If I look at you, I’m gonna lose my shit. And you don’t deserve to deal with that – not ever, but especially not tonight.” Danny inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, trying with everything he had to get a hold of his wild emotions. “So, please just give me a minute to get a grip on myself, okay? Before I ruin everything with my fucked up bullshit.”
“Your feelings are not fucked up bullshit,” Kat shot back fiercely. “And I want you to lose your shit! I wanted the tattoo to make you feel something – that’s why I got it! I wanted it to mean as much to you as it does to me!”
“It means everything to me,” Danny choked out, losing the battle against the raging waves of emotion washing over him. “You mean everything to me. You fucking know that, Kat.”
“Then look at me. Please.”
Kat tried tilting his head up again and this time Danny let her.
The moment she looked into his welled-up eyes, hers filled. “Danny…”
His spilled over, hers spilled over, and a few seconds later, they both had tears streaming down their cheeks.
“Come here,” he whispered, reaching for Kat who was already climbing into his lap.
They wrapped their arms around each other and buried their faces in each other’s necks – their bodies so close that Danny wasn’t sure where his ended and Kat’s began. And he felt more whole in that moment – more complete – than he had ever before.
Because he could feel every beat of Kat’s heart through his chest…
The warmth of her skin flush against his…
Her even breathing against the crook of neck…
Her fingers curled into his back, holding him tighter…pulling him closer…
Always closer.
And all of those strong, steady sensations soothed Danny…somehow calmed, comforted, and quieted the terrified, lonely little boy still inside of him.
The little boy who’d never understood why no wanted him.
The little boy who’d quickly learned that nothing about him was worth knowing or loving.
The little boy, whose desperate need for love, acceptance, and security had driven the grown man to make so many bad decisions.
The little boy who had long ago given up on things ever being different…who was actually certain things couldn’t possibly be different.
Until her.
“Thank you,” he breathed out against her neck. “Thank you for finding me…” Danny’s arms tightened a little more around her. “And for loving me.” His voice caught on a hard gasp. “Jesus, I can’t thank you enough for loving me, Kat. I will never be able to thank you enough. Please don’t ever stop.”
Kat lifted her head and reared back slightly to meet his eyes. “I will never stop. I couldn’t stop if I tried.” The corner of her mouth lifted. “I know this because I did try – as hard as I could, more than once – and, as we both know, I failed miserably.” Kat glanced down at his nudity, her disheveled wedding dress, and their entwined bodies before looking back up at him, smile deepening. “Obviously.”
When Danny just continued to stare into her eyes – spellbound by their beauty, his luck, and her love – Kat’s smiled faded.
She searched his eyes. “Why did the tattoo make you emotional, Danny? Just because you were surprised?”
Danny lifted a shoulder. “I’m not really sure. I think just because it was such a beautiful fucking gesture.” He paused, trying to make some sense of the tangled emotions bouncing around his skull. “Maybe because it’s so permanent, too, I guess. Yeah, you could have it removed and there are a shit-ton of people walking around with their exes names on their bodies, but seeing that inked into your skin…” Danny tilted his head to eye it again and more feelings of pride, gratitude, and awe flooded his brain. He straightened up to lock eyes with Kat again, head shaking. “I don’t think I could ever say how much that fucking means to me, sweetheart.”
Eyes never leaving his, Kat unwound her arms from his neck and slowly pulled them out of her dress sleeves. She pushed down the top of her dress, baring those beautiful breasts to his now openly leering gaze, before dropping onto her back. She slid the dress down over her hips, then her thighs, until it was finally pooled around her ankles. She kicked it aside, toed off her Converse, and got onto her hands and knees.
Danny’s breath hitched, his dick twitched, and a fine sheen of sweat broke out across his face as he watched Kat very slowly crawl over and into his lap again. With a little help from Danny, she situated one leg on either side of him – straddling him – as her arms snaked back around his neck.
Kat’s hands clutching the back of his head and neck and her eyes locked with his, she whispered, “Then show me. Show me what it meant to you, Danny…show me what I mean to you.”
Kat gasped loudly when he grabbed her hips and lifted her, positioning her body so the space between her thighs was hovering just above the tip of his erection.
Danny paused, allowing a charged silence to stretch out…
Because he couldn’t get enough of listening to Kat’s soft panting, of feeling her breath against his skin as he held her close. Danny couldn’t get enough of staring into her hooded, hazel eyes as they stared deeply back into his and he could never – would never be able to – get enough of the love, trust, and pure happiness radiating off of her and sinking deep into his heart and soul.
“I love you, Kat MacDonough,” Danny whispered. “I always fucking have and I always fucking will.”
With one swift, hard, and deliberate movement, he simultaneously yanked Kat down and thrust himself into her as deeply as he could go. Kat cried out and her head fell back as Danny continued to pull their bodies apart and then slam them back together, over and over and over again.
He lowered his lips to one of her breasts bouncing up and down right in his face and sucked it into his mouth.
“Oh, God,” Kat groaned, tightening her hold on his head and pulling him harder against her. “Oh, yes, Danny…yes…”
Danny flicked the tight bud of her nipple, sucked at it again, hard, and then smoothed it out with his tongue before moving his mouth over to the other breast.
The moment he started sucking that one, Kat hands gripped his shoulders – fingers curling and digging into his skin and muscles.
“I’m…gonna…come,” she panted out between moans as Danny continued to lick, suck, flick, and gently graze his teeth across her nipple – all the while still pounding into her. “If you keep…doing that…I’m gonna come, Danny…”
Knowing he wasn’t going to be able to hold out much longer himself, Danny released her breast and lifted his head to find hers hanging forward.
Then he realized she was staring down between their bodies, watching them slide apart and then come back together again – completely focused on the sight of their manic fucking – and Danny almost lost it.
“Look at me, Kat,” he gritted out. When she lifted her head and met his eyes, Danny said, “Keep your eyes on mine…I want to see the look in your eyes when you come for me.” Kat moaned his name and he half-grunted, half-groaned, in response, his orgasm now right there. “And I want you looking into my eyes when I come so hard for you, Kat…so you can see how much I love you and how fucking beautiful I think you are.”
“Oh, God, yes…” Kat moaned, her glazed-over eyes now latched onto his. “And I’m about to, Danny…so close…”
Danny moved one hand to her ass and lifted the other to slide into the hair at the base of her head. He gripped her ass, tightened his fingers around her hair, and stared as deeply into her eyes as he could as he slammed himself into her relentlessly.
“Can you see how much I love you, Kat?” Danny whispered, their faces only inches apart and their eyes still solidly locked.
“Yes…”
>
“Then come apart for me, sweetheart. I want to hear you scream my name as you come all over me…” He pulled them apart, paused – stilling their bodies mid-fuck, and then thrust himself all the way inside of her, hard. “Now.”
Kat did scream his name, then, more than once, as she came – keeping her eyes on his, as he’d requested – and Danny saw it all there, reflected back at him: the love, the lust, the friendship, the uninhibited emotion, and, most importantly, the unwavering trust he’d somehow managed to earn from her.
Her body still pulsing around his and their gazes still connected, Kat cradled his face in her hands and whispered, “Can you see how much I love you, Danny?”
He managed to think God, yes, but never got a chance to verbalize it – his orgasm suddenly slamming into him and removing the ability to think, speak, or do anything other than gasp out Kat’s name and some incoherent declarations of love over and over again as he pumped himself into her.
The second Danny’s body stilled inside of her, Kat, with a contented sigh and a shit-eating grin on her face, threw her arms around his chest and melted into him. “How fun was that?” Kat exhaled a soft laugh. “I’ve gotta tell you, I know it’s only been a few hours, but I’m really enjoying married life so far, Danny.”
He laughed, the sound a deep rumble against her ear. “Yeah? You pretty satisfied with the state of our marital relations so far, Mrs. MacDonough?”
“Hell yeah,” Kat shot back and he laughed again.
“I know I say this after most of our sexual encounters…” Danny leaned back, taking her with him, and turned them so they were lying face-to-face, his arms still around her and her body still up against his chest. Danny leaned in and pressed a few kisses to her shoulder as his fingertips began skating up and down her spine. “But I really do think you might put me in an early grave, sweetheart.”
Kat reared back. “Me?”
Danny laughed. “Yeah, you. As cute as that innocent angel, ‘who, me?’ line is every time you use it, we both know you are completely fucking aware of how insane you drive me.” He dragged the backs of his fingers down the side of her face, then tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Part of it is the insane sexual chemistry and your overall crazy sexiness that leaves me feeling like I just got completely wrung out – twice – when it’s over…but mostly I think it’s all the emotional shit we’ve got tied up in it that makes me wonder if a lifetime of sex with you might just do me in.”
“All in all, not a bad way to go though, huh?” Kat asked, grinning.
Danny laughed again. “Yeah, not a bad way to go at all, sweetheart. Not if it means I get to spend the time I have left buried deep inside of that beautiful body of yours.”
Kat’s smile faded a bit as she searched his face. “So you loved the tattoo, right, Danny?”
His expression softened. “Yes, sweetheart, of course I love it. Fuck, love doesn’t come close to describing how I feel about it…” Danny grabbed one of her hands, threaded their fingers and bent their arms so their folded hands were between them. “Sort of like how love doesn’t come close to describing how I feel about you. There aren’t words for the way I feel about you…and there aren’t any for the way you make me feel, either.”
“That’s okay,” Kat replied hoarsely, the open adoration on Danny’s face hitting her right in the most tender part of her heart, as usual. “We don’t need words.” She squeezed her hand tighter around his and scooted in just a little bit closer. “We don’t need anything but each other, Danny.” Her lips curled. “And how fortunate and convenient that we just made promises in front of God, our families, and our friends to spend the rest of our lives together.”
“That’s not long enough with you, Kat,” Danny shot back – so emphatically, so seriously – that Kat’s chest suddenly ached and felt too full at the same time. He lifted a shoulder. “Hell, maybe that’s how you know you truly love somebody…” Danny paused, his appreciative, loving, beautiful gaze taking in every inch of her face. “When forever feels like too short of a time to have them. When even ten forevers wouldn’t be long enough.”
“Danny, I love you,” Kat whispered, the tears now leaking out the corners of her eyes.
His half-grin reappeared. “Oh, sweetheart, not nearly as much I as fucking love you. And I can’t wait to spent every minute of every day of every month of every-”
“Okay, okay, I get it!” Kat threw her arm and leg around him, laughing when Danny rolled until she was beneath him.
He propped himself up on his elbows and knees on top of her body and stared into her eyes, that sexy half-grin still lingering. “I love you, Mrs. MacDonough. Thank you for calling me after your apartment got broken into, for falling in love with me despite all my fuckedupness and bullshit, for forgiving me for being a blind, stupid bastard, and mostly for showing up and marrying me today.”
Kat wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and grinned right back at him. “You’re welcome. And I love you, Mr. MacDonough. Thank you for being a kind, honest man I knew I could trust after my apartment got broken into, for falling in love with me despite all of my fuckedupness and bullshit, for forgiving me for being a stubborn, emotionally-closed off know-it-all, and mostly for showing up and marrying me today.”
Danny grinned. “You’re welcome. The pleasure was all mine, sweetheart, believe me. The pleasure was all mine.”
He buried his face in Kat’s neck and started kissing and nuzzling, his five o’clock shadowed jaw tickling her sensitive skin.
Kat laughed out loud, happier in that moment than she’d ever been in her life – totally naked, caged in beneath the body of a man she loved more than life itself, and suddenly almost unbearably excited about every moment their futures together held.
It was the first time in Kat’s life she could remember not being afraid of what might be coming next…
And it was all because of this beautiful, amazing, crazy man, whose unexpected love and unconditional acceptance had healed her, saved her, and set her free.
Acknowledgements
Geez…okay…let’s see if I can keep this to a reasonable length (NOPE):
To YOU, the readers – honestly, you guys frickin’ rock. Thanks for reading my book(s), leaving reviews (but only if they’re nice – ha!), and “getting” me. It makes me feel like a million bucks and breaks my heart in the best possible way when the characters and their stories resonate with you. Thank you!
To Donna at Soluri Public Relations – thank you for using your vast wisdom and experience to guide me through the strange, oftentimes confusing maze of marketing a book. To be frank: thank you for expertly handling stuff that I don’t understand, don’t have the patience to understand, and would NEVER have the patience to understand. You’re good at what you do and I’m glad I have you on my side. Thanks for everything.
Lola Famure, graphic designer extraordinaire – thank you for all of your work on the book covers, promotional materials, and for being a nice, funny person to interact with in general. Thank you for all of your support!
Margreet Asselbergs, blogger at Ripe for Reader – you wrote a beautiful review for All of Me I’ll never forget and have continued to be helpful, supportive, kind, and lovely to me ever since. For a new indie author, that kind of acceptance and encouragement means the world. Thank you!
To all the ladies at Scandalicious Book Reviews – Nikki liked my book, forced the other four of you to read it, and the rest is history. :) Nikki, Scandal, Teena, Lola, and Tania: thank you for all of your selfless help, feedback, encouragement, and praise. You didn’t have to be so nice to me, but you were and I’ll never forget it.
To The Teenas (Firth & Johnson) – thank you for reading All of You and providing such incredibly thoughtful, reassuring, insightful feedback. Both of you calmed my nerves, picked up on stuff I hadn’t, and helped me see things more clearly. Thank you.
To Nicole Jacquelyn – your enthusiasm for All of Me and excitement to read Al
l of You truly meant a lot to me. Thank you for reading All of You and taking the time to offer much-needed feedback (and for being patient with a neurotic gal such as myself). I wish you nothing but continued happiness and success!
To all of my faithful blog and Twitter followers – thanks for caring about anything I have to say. Seriously. Especially those of you who started following my blog (and leaving nice comments) when I was knee-deep in anxiety and self-doubt right after publishing All of Me. You made a difference and I truly appreciate it.
To all of my incredible Facebook friends – I’ll never forget when I got my first notification that someone wanted to be my friend on Facebook. I might have actually looked around and said, “Who, me?” Since then, FB has become a place I can share, interact, vent, act silly, and occasionally even get a little serious. You guys encourage me when I’m discouraged, make me smile when I’m crabby, and are so much fun to have in my life. Thank you for all of the support and I look forward to many more years of chit-chatting with you!
Last, but actually #1 in my book – here is a novella (she said I was way too long-winded to ever write) dedicated to my editor and friend, Nikki Rushbrook:
You read my book, liked it, messaged me on Facebook, and all-of-a-sudden I was under your wing (you couldn’t very well leave such a goofy, clueless bird flapping aimlessly around out there, could you?). You answered every question I had and gently “suggested” what I should be doing (your favorite part, I’m sure…and can we please go back to “gently” again, or is it too far gone now?). You went out of your way to be nice, helpful, and supportive of me – with no benefit to you at all – and it changed the course of my writing and my life, in general.
You love my characters as much as I do (well, not Nathan, but no one could love Nathan as much as I do) and are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of time discussing them, their lives, and talking me down from ledges when they don’t behave (which is 99.9% of the time). You are patient with my nonsense, encouraging when I need it, administer tough love when it’s called for, and are always honest (which is a rare quality these days and something I appreciate more than I could ever say). This book wouldn’t have come close to what it is without your guidance, expertise, and suggestions and I cannot thank you enough for everything.