Gracie sighed. “It wasn’t the dress...not really. It was just the pressure, you know? Everyone’s expecting us to get married. They’re already planning the wedding, and you haven’t even popped the question yet.”
I’d been doing my very best to appear patient when it came to my relationship with Gracie. I was still a possessive, dominant, jealous asshole—at least I didn’t keep her chained to the bed, right?—but I tried not to let on how much I hated that we weren’t already planning our wedding and working on munchkin number one. It was looking as though I hadn’t been as successful as I’d thought. “Have I been pressuring you, Gracie?” I lifted her chin with my index finger and drank in her beauty as she gazed back at me. “I’m truly sorry if you felt I have been. The only thing I want in this world is for you to be happy, baby. I love the strong woman you are and admire the fuck out of you for wanting to make your own place before we start the next chapter of our lives.”
“You don’t want to get married and have a baby right now?” she asked softly.
Fuck, yes! But what I said was, “Stop worrying about me and everybody else but you, Gracie. When you feel the time is right, I’ll drag your gorgeous ass to the altar and put enough babies in you to fill a mansion in the Hamptons,” I teased with a wink. To my surprise, she barely smiled in response. What the fuck is going on?
“When the time is right?” Her tone was small and quiet, almost...fragile. She’d been a little more emotional than usual, and I didn’t know how I could really reassure her.
I kissed her nose, then her lips. “In four years, you’ll be done with your bachelors, I’ll be nearly done with my second PhD, and we’ll have enough money set aside from me working for your dad to buy our own place. It’ll be perfect.”
Smoothly, I flipped us over so she was lying on her back beneath me again and I gently slid inside her. “That gives us plenty of time to perfect this baby making process,” I tried to joke, but her muscles spasmed and I ended with a deep groan as I drove deep into her hot, wet pussy.
“Hudson,” she moaned as her back arched, thrusting her big, ripe tits into my face. They’d grown a little recently, her waist and thighs had thickened just a touch too. It was sexy as fuck and even having her at my fingertips all the time, now that we were finally living together, my rabid need for her hadn’t cooled. It had only grown.
I licked each taut bud as I lazily stroked in and out of her center, taking my time and reveling in the feel of her body melded with mine. “I love you, Gracie,” I whispered. “Always.”
“Promise?”
I paused and met her cloudy, blue gaze. “Have I ever given you a reason to doubt my love for you, Grace?”
She shook her head and shrugged, a tiny smile on her kiss-swollen lips. “I just like confirmation sometimes.”
“You’re such a girl,” I mumbled as I began to move again, increasing my speed.
“You’re such a boy,” she panted with a breathy laugh.
I growled. “I’m a fucking man, baby. Now open your legs wide and tilt that pussy while I prove it.”
6
Hudson
“Hudson! Yes! Yes!” Gracie’s cries rang in my ears as she exploded on my tongue. Her juices gushed into my mouth, and I greedily drank them down, sucking and licking up every single drop. When her hips attempted to retreat, I slapped her ass hard enough to leave a print on it the rest of the day.
“I’m still hungry. I’ll tell you when I’m done, baby,” I snapped before going back to my breakfast. I had her bent over the bed and was eating her from behind like I’d done every morning for the past few weeks. For some reason, I’d become even more obsessed with her taste than usual. It was as if her juices had become even sweeter, and when I woke up each day, I was beyond starving.
I ate voraciously and tipped her over the edge once more, filling my belly to capacity so I could make it until the end of the day and my bedtime snack.
Finally, I finished licking her clean and popped a kiss on her bare mound before smoothly rising to my feet. Scooping her into my arms, I covered her mouth with my own and fed her some of her own exquisiteness. Then I placed her back on the mattress, pulled the covers up around shoulders, and kissed her forehead. “Love you, Gracie.”
She mumbled her love in return as she snuggled in and fell back asleep. I smiled and mentally whistled all the way to the shower. Spending every morning like this for the rest of our lives would definitely not be a hardship.
Although, I still suspected something weighed on Gracie’s mind. Waiting for her to open up to me about it was driving me crazy, and I’d used up my patience. We’d be having a chat about it tonight.
* * *
“Kendall,” I grunted, answering my desk phone after the first ring.
“You need to go home.”
I frowned and glanced at the caller ID. “London?”
“Yeah.”
“Hello to you, too,” I drawled.
“Seriously. I’m running an errand for Grace, and you need to be there when I get back.”
“Is Gracie okay?” My heart sped up as panic began to rise in my throat.
“Yes. Just…”
“What the fuck is going on, London?”
“It’s just...I promised her I wouldn’t tell you.”
A growl rumbled in my chest, and London sighed. “Be grateful I called and warned you at all, Hudson. I’m breaking the girl code here, dude.”
I bit back a retort because she was right. She was doing me a favor while trying not to betray Grace. “Thanks,” I grunted.
After hanging up, I backed up my work in the skiff room and locked up my equipment before grabbing a cab back to the townhouse.
“Gracie?” I called as I shut the front door behind me.
“Den!” she shouted from a room near the back of the building.
I walked in to find her sprawled on the couch, reading a textbook.
“Hey, baby,” I greeted her softly as I walked over, then bent and brushed a kiss over her mouth.
“Um, hi.” Her tone was bright but sounded strained. Though she tried to hide it, I spotted the wariness in her gaze.
“Gracie.” I narrowed my eyes and grasped her chin. “What—”
“I got it!” London’s shout came from the front of the house right before the door slammed shut.
Gracie stiffened for a beat but quickly relaxed and planted a kiss on my lips that was meant to distract, and almost did…
“I need to help London with something,” she murmured after pulling back an inch. “Girl stuff.”
Before any blood managed to return to my brain, she was gone. With a painful hiss over the steel bat between my legs, I sprinted after her. I heard their muffled voices and footsteps above, so I dashed up the staircase and burst into the master suite.
London and Gracie froze in the door of the bathroom, both looking at me with surprise, although London’s was a rather sad attempt. She wouldn’t be winning an Oscar any time soon.
“Hudson!” Gracie hissed, planting a hand on her curvy hip. “London could have been naked!”
I cringed at the idea of seeing another woman’s naked body, and London burst into laughter. At least she wasn’t insulted.
“London, can we have a minute—never mind.” I stalked forward and grabbed Gracie around the waist, swinging her up and throwing her over my shoulder in a fireman’s hold.
“But-but—” Gracie sputtered. I waited until we’d left London’s rooms and were ascending the stairs to smack her ripe bottom.
“I don’t know what’s wrong, baby, but I’m tired of waiting for you to tell me. So we’re going to our room to talk.”
“Okay, but I need to use the bathroom first,” she mumbled. “And London has—no, London, don’t!”
Something hit me smack dab in the back of the head as I pushed open the door to our room. When whatever London had thrown at me fell to the floor, I glanced down to see a small drugstore bag with a few different rectangular boxes
spilled out.
“Thanks a lot, London,” Gracie sighed.
“You know it should be him and not me in there with you, Grace,” London quipped, her voice fading as she went back down the steps.
I carefully set Gracie on her feet before snatching the fallen items from the carpet. The boxes were pregnancy tests. I picked up two and put them inside the bag, spotting three more.
“Gracie,” I croaked, my throat suddenly dry as a desert. “Are you…?”
“Um...I think...maybe—”
I didn’t wait for her to finish, just scooped her up into my arms again, being a little more careful this time, before I hotfooted it to our bathroom.
After placing her down on the counter, I set the grocery bag beside her and withdrew one of the boxes. My heart beat a mile a minute as excitement swirled around in my stomach. I’d dreamed of the day when I’d finally put my baby in Gracie, and while I’d resigned myself to it being in the future, I’d never been able to completely squash the hope for it to happen sooner.
My eyes scanned the instructions, and I was so intent on them that I almost missed Gracie’s hesitant question. “Are you disappointed?”
My head whipped up, and I stared at her in shock.
“Am I what?”
She squirmed uncomfortably and glanced away for a second.
A thought struck me just then. “Is this what’s been bothering you?”
She nodded. “You agreed we should wait at least four years to get married and have babies.”
“Hold up, baby,” I stopped her suddenly. “I agreed to wait. I didn’t agree that we should wait. For fuck’s sake, Gracie. I’m the one who insisted we go bare our first time.”
Gracie’s ocean pools were glowing with hope, but her hands were wringing together nervously. “I know. But this isn’t the plan. I mean, we haven’t even really started school yet, and we were going to wait. I-I—” Moisture swelled in her eyes, and a few tears leaked from the corners.
I grabbed her cheeks in my palms and brought our faces millimeters apart. “Fuck the plan, Gracie. I don’t give a shit about plans. I’m thrilled as fuck that you’re carrying our baby. I’ve been dying to knock you up since long before I should have.”
She exhaled a little huff of exasperation, but a smile was playing at her lips. “We don’t know that I’m pregnant, Hudson.”
I grinned smugly. “You are,” I stated confidently.
Her eyes narrowed. “I know we haven’t been the most careful”—I couldn’t help a little scoff. Yeah, condoms weren’t exactly a high priority in my mind, and I might have forgotten...on multiple occasions—“but a little extra exhaustion and some morning vomit aren’t conclusive proof.”
“You’ve been getting sick, and you didn’t tell me?” I growled. She opened her mouth to respond, but I shut her up with a quick, hard kiss. “Never mind. I’ll take care of you from now on. I have no doubt my boys did their job, but if you need proof, go pee on one of these thingies.”
Gracie rolled her eyes, but they were bright with amusement. “Go wait in the bedroom.”
“Not happening, baby,” I replied absently as I tore open the first box. I read the directions and handed her the little white stick.
She snatched it from my hand with a glare. “You’re not going to watch me pee.”
With a laugh, I lifted her off the counter and set her on her feet. “Go on.”
“Hudson,” she growled adorably.
“Gracie.” I shot a pointed look at the toilet.
She threw her hands in the air and huffed, “You're such a boy!”
“You’re such a girl,” I volleyed. “Now do it.”
7
Hudson
“Hell yeah!” I shouted a few minutes later as I twirled Gracie around the bathroom.
“Hudson, you’re going to make me sick!”
I immediately stopped spinning but couldn’t shut down the giant grin on my face. “We’re having a baby.”
Gracie’s expression was soft and happy, but I still sensed something was off with her. “What’s wrong, baby?”
She shrugged. “It’s just...really early, you know. My dad taught me to be independent, to make something of myself, and here I am, barefoot and pregnant before I’ve even really started college. We’re not even married.”
“Oh, shit.”
Jonah was going to castrate me if he found out I’d knocked up his daughter before marrying her.
“Right? What are we—”
“It’s not the school thing, baby. I promise, if you want to finish your degree, I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen. But we need to get married.” I put her on the ground and slung an arm over her shoulder before guiding her out of the bathroom.
“Wait, what?” Gracie shrieked as she tugged on my shirt, trying to force me to halt. I just dragged her along with me until we were inside our walk-in closet.
“If you want to have more kids, we need to get married right fucking now. Maybe if we’re married when we tell your dad you're pregnant, he won’t remember that we weren’t when it actually happened.”
“Hudson, you can’t be serious,” Gracie protested, finally managing to separate from me while I searched for some decent clothes. She crossed her arms under her tits, almost distracting me, but my sense of self-preservation won out.
“Gracie, baby, I promise I will sweep you off your feet with an amazing proposal and we will have the wedding of your dreams. Later. But tonight, I will be making love to my sexy, pregnant, wife.”
I spotted the beautiful outfit she’d worn on the night of her birthday and quickly removed it from the hanger. “Put this on, gorgeous.” Then I grabbed a suit I knew she loved and marched out of the closet. “I’m going to change and make a call.”
She didn’t argue, so I stayed my course and hurriedly changed my clothes, then went into our small sitting area of our suite and called my dad.
“Hey, kid,” he greeted me when he picked up. “How’s it going?”
“I need a favor,” I said, cutting right to the chase.
His response was immediate, no questions asked. “Anything.”
Damn, I loved my family.
“Gracie and I need a judicial waiver for a marriage license.”
“Of course.” There was a pause, then, “But…”
“No, we aren’t telling Jonah until it’s done,” I answered his unspoken question. “I’m sure Penny will forgive us. Gracie’s pregnant.”
I could practically feel his smile through the line, and it widened my own. “You’re making me a Papa again?”
“Yeah. Not sure when yet. She just took the test a few minutes ago.”
He laughed. “Congratulations, son. Give Grace a hug for me and tell her how thrilled I am with the news.”
“Thanks, I will.”
“I’ll call Judge Nevins. He owes me.”
“Oh and Dad, you can’t tell Mom yet. Because she’ll tell Penny, and if we’re not already married when Jonah finds out—”
“I won’t get any more grandkids,” my dad finished for me with a laugh. “Just make sure you call as soon as the ceremony is over with.”
Not happening. I didn’t want anything standing between our wedding and our wedding night. We’d share the news with our families tomorrow.
“We’ll come by in the morning to talk to Mom in person.”
“Sure you will. See you next week, Hudson.”
He was still laughing when he hung up. And, he had a point. It was unlikely that I’d be ready to share my wife so soon.
Hmmmm….on that note.
I hit the button to reserve a hotel room just as Gracie came walking in. She looked breathtaking, and I couldn’t help feeling a little smug over the way her body strained just a little against the outfit now even though no one else would notice the change.
“How the fuck did I get so damn lucky?”
Gracie smiled and cocked her head to the side, her eyes sweeping over me from head to
toe. “I ask myself the same question every day.”
I snorted. “I wouldn’t call being stuck with me lucky, but regardless, that’s the situation you’re in, so I appreciate you making the best of it.” She giggled, and the sound sent warmth to my heart and tingles to my dick.
“You look incredible, baby. Let’s go get married.”
“Okay.”
“You’re not going to argue with me?”
“Nope. We’ll figure this all out. But the truth is, I’ve been fighting against something I want, and this unexpected present just gave me the perfect excuse to tell myself to shove it.”
I threw my head back and laughed heartily before dragging her against me and giving her a deep kiss. I’d never been sure why Gracie felt we needed to put off marriage until we were older, but I wanted her to be happy, and as long as we were together, I was mostly content. But I was more than glad to hear that she had no more qualms about it.
When we finally broke the kiss, I caught her hand in mine and headed for the door because if we stood there any longer, we wouldn’t make it to the courthouse first.
One floor down, I rapped on London’s door. She threw it open almost immediately and was jumping up and down excitedly. “You’re pregnant?”
Gracie blushed and nodded, her hand giving mine a firm squeeze.
“Took you long enough to tell me! Geeze—” London broke off as she took in our attire and sighed in exasperation. “You kept me in suspense while you changed for a date?”
“Wedding,” I stated. “Want to be a witness?”
“Yes!” she screamed, running to give Gracie a hug before they both clapped and danced excitedly for a minute. Then London spun around and marched back into her room. “I’ll change, and we can go. You need a second witness, right? You should call Audrey and have her meet us there.”
One Love Page 5