by C. Morgan
But me? I was not.
I’d given her hell in the beginning. Some days, I’d been cruel. I’d been difficult. I’d been a bully.
But she saw past all that. She remembered the boy I was and knew the man I was supposed to be, and she’d pulled that out of me.
Not only did I love her, but I owed everything to her.
Kayla ran her fingers through my wet hair and trailed kisses across my jaw and throat as I thrust deep inside her. She was tight and greedy and her skin was slippery from the water. Her breasts, full and perky, were crushed up against my chest as I rocked my hips and made her thighs tremble until she could hardly stay on her feet.
I wrapped an arm around her lower back and held her up as I fucked her harder. Kayla let her head hang back. Water rained down from the ends of her hair. Her chest swelled as she took a deep breath. I kissed between her breasts and licked her flesh, wanting to taste and savor every inch of her.
I pulled her back up and spun her around so I could pin her against the tiles. She giggled when I took her hands behind her back and held her wrists in place with one hand. She squirmed, testing my strength, and I held fast.
She spread her legs without me having to ask and pushed her ass back.
She had a glorious body.
The curve of her spine did things to me, and so did the two dimples in her lower back above her ass. Her thighs were full and strong, her calves defined, her waist trim, and her hips thick enough to grab onto. She had taut flesh, the kind that dared a man to squeeze.
So I did. I squeezed her hips as I pushed my cock back into her and took her from behind.
Kayla pressed her cheek against the tile wall and sighed with pleasure. I rocked against her, fucking her deeply, and she clawed at the tiles. Her nails bit against the grout until her hands curled into fists and she whimpered for me to show her mercy and fuck her like I meant it.
I took a fistful of her hair. Kayla gasped in surprise as I pulled her head back sharply, forcing her to look up at the ceiling and rest her head on my shoulder. A smile curled her lips as I tightened my grip.
I thrust deep inside her. Her expression molded into one of ecstasy. Watching her pushed me to the brink. Her smile stayed on her lips as I pressed in deeper, harder, faster. Soon, she could hardly keep it together. Her thighs shook furiously and her knees nearly gave out. She cried out my name at the ceiling, her eyes fluttered open, and she came hard.
I pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. “Good girl.”
My girl.
I wrapped her hair around my fist like it was a rope. Kayla bounced on my cock. The shower water did not spoil how wet she was. She was slippery and swollen, just how I liked her, and I knew I was going to lose control soon.
She reached back with one hand to cup it around the back of my neck. Her eyes opened and met my gaze, and her lips parted in a contented sigh.
“Come for me,” she whispered. “Let go.”
Her words did me in. I clenched my teeth against the strain as the pleasure mounted until it broke. I pulled free and released onto her lower back. Kayla wiggled her ass for me and let me guide her under the water to wash her off. Only then did I release her hair.
She smiled at me as I soaped up her tits.
“What?” I asked, my head still spinning from the best sex of my life.
“There are a lot of other places in this apartment I haven’t had sex before, you know.”
“Oh? You don’t say? What sort of places?”
“Well,” she said seductively. “There’s the kitchen counter. The sofa. The living room floor. The balcony.”
“The balcony? You are a freak, aren’t you?”
She giggled and stepped in close for more kisses. “Only for you.”
To say Kayla and I were spent by the time nine in the evening rolled around would be an understatement. We christened every corner of her house—and we did it with vigor. Now we were both exhausted, not to mention hungry, and as we lounged on her sofa waiting for the delivery guy to show up with pizza, I pulled her close and breathed in the coconut scent of her shampoo.
“I’ve learned so much since you came back into my life,” I said softly. “I think I have a lot more changes to make.”
“I like you just the way you are.”
“Like?”
She giggled. “You know what I mean.”
I let her get away with it. “I’m going to start giving away most of my fortune. I think it’s time that I learn how to be without it. I’ll need your help finding the right places to give it.”
She propped herself up on her elbow. “You want to give it all away?”
“I’m not a psychopath.” I chuckled. “I worked hard for what I have. I’ll keep enough where I can give us a more than comfortable life. But Kayla, you really have no idea how much money I have to my name. I have so much I could give away that I’d never be able to spend my way through anyway.”
“You’re a good man, Lukas Holt. A very good man.”
“Because of you.”
She smiled and tucked a strand of still damp hair behind her ear. “You were always good. You just needed help letting that part of yourself to take the driver’s seat.”
“Well now that he’s behind the wheel, I want a lot of things I never thought I’d want.”
“Things like what?”
“A family,” I said.
My quick answer surprised her. She blinked and cocked her head to the side. “A family?”
“I want to make babies with you. I want to raise humans who are as kind and as good as you. I want to share something with the world that it needs. More good people. I want to watch them grow while we get old together. I want to have holiday dinners with our grandchildren, maybe even great grandchildren.”
Kayla kissed my cheek. “I never thought I’d hear the grumpy billionaire I started working for say these kinds of things.”
“I’m not afraid to admit when I’ve been wrong.”
She cuddled in close. “Well, these changes are looking real good on you, Lukas.”
“You know what else looks real good on me?”
“What?”
“You.”
Kayla laughed and rolled her eyes. “I should’ve seen that one coming.”
We laughed and sank deeper into the sofa. Her stomach growled and I checked the time. The pizza would be there any minute.
“We’ll have to figure out how to spend time away from work, you and me,” I said. “We’ll need to find a way to relax and enjoy each other’s company without feeling tied to our jobs all the time. There are more important things than making money, or giving it away for that matter. Like spending time with you. And we’ll spend some of that money of mine on each other. We’ll travel. See the world.”
“That will be something to get used to. I can’t remember the last time I had any real time off. Or spent money on myself.”
I looked around her apartment. “Well, it’s about time we changed that.”
I looked forward to spoiling her. She deserved it.
She sighed and settled into the groove of my shoulder. “You know, I’ve never really wanted much for myself, but I have to admit, your beautiful home on the Sound is a little nicer than this dingy old apartment.”
I chuckled and rolled into her to pepper her with kisses. “The only thing my house has been missing is a pretty girl in it.”
“Check that off the list.”
“Already done.”
I kissed her deeply and left her panting with red cheeks when the door buzzer rang and the pizza arrived. She scolded me as I left her on the sofa hot and bothered to run down and grab our food.
Silly girl. She should know by now. I’d never leave her hanging again.
Epilogue
Kayla
One Year Later
Lisa lifted my veil gently and let it fall into place down the back of my wedding gown. She clapped her hands together, clearly satisfied with her flair for the dramatic
, and hurried out in front of me in her lilac-colored bridesmaid dress.
“Any last minute doubts?” she asked.
I laughed and shook my head. “Aren’t you supposed to ask me something a little more positive?”
“You’re right, you’re right,” she said. “Are you sure you want to marry that idiot brother of mine?”
Snickering, I nodded. “I’m absolutely positive.”
Lisa smiled tearfully. “You look so beautiful, Kayla.”
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. “Thank you. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“No, you couldn’t have,” she said.
We shuffled and shimmied up to the swinging saloon doors that led from the kitchen of the soup kitchen out into the hall. I knew it was a weird venue for a wedding, but for me, it fit right, like the perfect shoe.
Lukas had told me we could get married anywhere I wanted. He even suggested the Monroe Hotel, the very same place Lisa had landed for us by cashing in that favor with the owner, Stephen Edmonds. Apparently, Lukas had some pull there as well.
But I wasn’t one for flashy or glamorous events. I was a simple girl who liked to stick to her roots.
And this place was my roots. My bread and butter. My home.
And the people there were my family.
Our guests were made up of family, friends, and soup kitchen regulars who’d all been invited to our ceremony. We’d decided on Thanksgiving Day for the wedding so that the caterers could feed everyone a hearty turkey dinner. Lisa had joked that a lot of the guests were probably there for the turkey, not the wedding, and if that was the case, I didn’t mind at all.
The chairs would be filled with smiling faces of people I’d helped and who’d helped me. They deserved to be there today.
And so did Rodney, who stood off to the side of the doors with a tight-lipped smile on his face.
I knew this hadn’t been an easy day for him. When Lukas and I first made our relationship official about a year ago, I’d told him my very first shift back at the soup kitchen. He’d told me he wasn’t all that surprised. He’d suspected something was going on between me and Lukas and he’d told me he knew he couldn’t compete.
I’d assured him it had nothing to do with competing. When I explained that I’d known Lukas since I was a little girl and we grew up together, Rodney felt a little less sorry for himself. I knew this still wasn’t the best day for him, but he was my friend, and that was how he’d shown up for me on my special day, as a friend.
He’d handled all the catering details, telling me I had other things to worry about as a bride. He’d been a great help and the event wouldn’t have gone as smoothly without him.
He tipped his head to me as I inched closer to the door. “Lukas is a lucky man,” he said.
I smiled. “Yes, he is.”
Rodney patted my hand before letting it go. It had been a full year since he’d given me one of those a-little-too-personal hugs. A full year since he draped an arm over my shoulders and teased me for being short. A full year since he so much as flirted with me.
I had a lot of respect for him.
On the other side of the doors, music started to play. My breath hitched in my throat as I realized I was going to be Mrs. Holt in less than twenty minutes.
Lisa stepped up beside me and looped her arm through mine. “Ready, babe?”
I nodded. “Ready.”
“Let’s get married.”
We pushed through the doors, and as we walked, Rodney fanned my dress out so it fell dramatically behind me. The train flowed out beautifully and grazed the red carpet that had been laid down for me as my aisle. All the soup kitchen chairs formed neat rows facing an archway of white roses under which Lukas stood.
We locked eyes.
Emotion I’d never felt before rushed through me. I knew it was probably all just the usual emotions of the day, but there was something else that probably made it more intense. The hormones, of course.
I was six weeks along in my pregnancy. Nobody knew but me and Lukas. It had been an incredible early wedding gift to tell Lukas that I was pregnant. I’d never seen him cry before, but he’d cried that day. He’d gone to his knees in front of me, wrapped his arms around me, and held his cheek to my stomach while I ran my fingers through his hair. He’d talked to the baby every day since. In fact, I couldn’t get him to shut up sometimes.
I resisted the urge to put my hand on my stomach as I walked down the aisle to meet my future husband. For now, the little baby was our special secret.
Lukas smiled and tugged at the sleeves of his suit jacket as I came to him. We walked slowly and I felt the eyes of every person in the room land on me. Some people waved. Others sniffled and dabbed their eyes with tissues. Up in the front row, Ally, Lukas’ mother, turned and smiled at me. She wore a shimmering light blue dress and bolero jacket, and she had a fresh perm. She looked beautiful and healthy. Her cheeks were rosy and full and her lips were pink and glossy. She’d been lucky enough to qualify for an experimental treatment for patients with dementia, and she’d been lucid for the last couple of months. Sure, sometimes her memory still slipped away from her, but most of her days were good ones, not bad ones.
Like today.
Today was a good day.
Today, she got to see her son get married.
I met Lukas at the end of the aisle. His eyes were glassy, and when Lisa passed me off to him, he stood back and looked me up and down.
“You look incredible.” His voice was hoarse with emotion.
“You clean up real good yourself,” I said.
The music slowed to a gentle tempo and the crowd fell into a hush. Our officiant stepped up between us, a leatherbound book resting open in the palm of his hand, and he addressed the room. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two remarkable people. Kayla Goodfellow and Lukas Holt.”
As the officiant performed the ceremony, I gazed into the eyes of the man I loved more than anything else in the world. I thought about our future together, our upcoming honeymoon to Belize, the baby in my belly who was already so loved, and the people sitting in the rows of chairs who had come to celebrate our special day with us.
I was the luckiest woman alive.
Later, after the vows were exchanged and our pictures were taken, everyone gathered back in the kitchen, which had been transformed from the ceremony setup to a banquet hall with dining tables and a head table for Lukas and me.
It was a full-service meal and waiters brought everyone their plates of food. Pitchers of gravy steamed on tables next to crystal bowls of cranberry sauce. Dinner rolls overflowed from wicker baskets lined with floral linens, and sunflowers poked out of vases. It was simple but perfect.
After we ate, we received our guests, who came up to the head table and thanked us for inviting them. Some offered me special words, thanking me for everything I’d done for them with Good Fellow’s. To say I was a basket case during the whole thing would have been an understatement.
Finally, the gratitudes were over and I was left to recover. I dabbed under my eyes to try and wipe the tears away and Lukas leaned in close. “I have a gift for you,” he said softly.
“I thought we said no presents?”
“It’s not a traditional present,” he said. He reached under the table and pulled out a stack of paperwork. Every third or fourth page in the stack was marked with a sticky tab. There had to be at least forty tabs. He slid it toward me. “Here.”
“What is this?”
“Read it.”
I watched him out of the corner of my eye suspiciously before turning over the first page and reading what was marked beneath. My eyes widened. “This is a contract. A developer’s contract.”
Lukas nodded. “I bought the condos. Our condos. I bought all of them.”
My eyes slid up to meet his. “You did?”
“Yes.” He pulled his chair closer to mine and flipped a couple more pages over. “Some were abandoned. Others had
renters, and a select few had owners living in them. We’re going to invest in the neighborhood, repair it, and build things up. We’re going to save it from zoning. The city wanted to tear it all down but I beat them to the bid.”
I flipped through pages as emotions swirled inside me. “Lukas, this is… perfect.”
He smiled and rubbed a hand across my back before draping his arm on the back of my chair. “I have mock-ups to build a community center and a village for people without a roof over their head. Somewhere they can sleep and feel safe and get warm. It’s only the beginning stages and I didn’t want to dive too deep into it without bringing you onto the project with me.”
“Really?”
“Really. This is ours, Kayla. It’s always been ours.”
A tear slipped free and I wiped it away. “I love you so much.”
He kissed me deeply. “I love you too.”
Somehow, Lukas had made me even happier than I’d been just minutes before. That was what he did. He upped his game every day and I knew I had a bright future ahead of me with a man like him by my side.
Great things were in store for us and the people of Seattle.
And for the baby in my belly.
I put a hand on my stomach and Lukas put his hand over mine. We shared a secret smile before someone tapped the side of their glass with a knife and bellowed for a kiss.
Naturally, we indulged them, and the room echoed with cheers as I smiled against Lukas’ lips. It was the best kiss of my life, second only to the one that would come later in a storage closet where the soup kitchen kept extra chairs and linens. And that one would be defeated by the kiss we shared in our hotel room later that night as Lukas stripped me out of my dress.
That was how it was with him. Everything just kept getting better.
The End
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