“Was I just proposed to?” I asked teasingly.
She laughed loudly and pushed against my stomach. “No. I just—I don’t know, I wanted . . .”
“You don’t have to explain, Rachel. I got it, and August twenty-third sounds perfect.”
“Yeah?” she asked, her eyes brightening.
“Yeah, and I can’t wait to see the rest of that dress either.” I released her cheeks and slowly lifted her arms above her head, grasping her wrists in one of my hands before pinning them to the wall. “But I’m going to love taking it off you even more.” Trailing my lips along her neck, I loved how her head rolled to the side when my teeth grazed the soft skin there. “Every night while you were gone”—I whispered along her jaw—“I dreamed about you coming back to me. I dreamed about taking you in my arms, and pressing your body to mine. About moving against you . . . with you.”
Wrapping my other arm around her waist, I turned us and walked toward the bed. Just before her legs hit the mattress, I stopped walking and slowly took off her clothes, bra, and underwear. Her hands fell to my jeans, but I didn’t let her get past unbuttoning them before I pushed her back and lowered her onto the bed. I watched as she sensually crawled toward the center, and lay back, waiting for me. She was so damn beautiful.
Crawling over her, I covered her body with mine and gave her the faintest of kisses before going back to teasing her. “I dreamed of the way you would look as you fell apart beneath me.” I smiled and kissed her collarbone when a shiver worked its way through her body. “The way you would tremble around me. How you would gasp out my name as you came.” I gently raked my teeth over one nipple and looked up to see her watching me, her blue eyes full of want.
“But most of all,” I said as I brought myself back up so I could look directly in her eyes. “I dreamed that when I woke up the next morning, you would be there.” She brought a hand up to cup my cheek, and I kissed her lips softly once before asking, “Can I love you, Rachel?”
“Please,” she begged and wrapped her long legs around my back, bringing me down to rest against her.
I moved against her twice and smiled when a breathy exhale left her, and her head fell back onto the mattress. I loved seeing her like this, and I’d missed it. With a kiss to her throat, I slowly made my way down her body and ran my fingers along her folds to her opening before leaning forward and tasting her again for the first time in way too long.
“Kash, oh God,” she whispered, her body already writhing against the bed.
She came fast, and hard, as I worked her with one hand and tortured her relentlessly with my tongue. I hadn’t had enough, but I needed her—needed her around me, needed to be moving inside her. I shed my jeans and boxers quickly and positioned myself over her again. She grabbed the back of my neck and met my mouth hungrily as I lowered myself to her. I groaned and stopped moving completely when I was finally inside her, just to enjoy the feel of her again. And when I moved . . . Christ, I didn’t know how long I was going to be able to last.
Kissing her hard once, I began teasing her mouth with my tongue and about died when she bit down on my lip ring and smiled coyly as she gave it a little tug. Fuck, I’d missed that.
“I don’t like it when you tease,” she whispered when she released the metal, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Liar.”
But I didn’t have the patience for teasing her any more than I already had. Keeping one hand firmly fisted in her hair, I lifted myself higher with the other and quickened my pace. Her eyes fluttered shut and a needy moan sounded in the back of her throat seconds before she urged me to go harder.
“I need you to go with me,” I said into her ear as I reached down between us and began teasing her sensitive bud.
“Oh God—”
“With me, Rach.”
I locked my jaw and pushed into her harder as she tightened around me until I felt her shudder and come undone, causing me to fall over the edge with her. A low growl tore from my chest as my thrusts slowed to a stop and I shakily lowered myself onto her body. Kissing her softly, I rolled us to the side and let out a labored breath.
“Christ.”
“Ditto,” she said breathily and kissed my bare chest.
I laughed softly and put my fingers under her chin, raising her head back so I could look into her dark blue eyes. “In a little over a month, you will be my wife. This time . . . nothing is stopping us. I’m going to marry you, I’m going to make you mine, and I’m going to keep you by my side for the rest of my life.”
She took a deep breath in through her nose, and a smile crossed her face when she released it. “I can’t wait, Logan. I’m so ready for my life with you. I just hope it’s really boring compared to this first year.”
I laughed hard and kissed her forehead. “Me too, Sour Patch. Me too.”
22
Rachel
IT’S FUNNY, the things that used to seem so big—so hard to deal with—suddenly seemed like nothing more than having a bad hair day. The situations that threatened to ruin my life now seemed like nothing more than stubbing my toe on the coffee table. The events that seemed impossible to get through without my parents, all seemed as easy as stepping over a microscopic hurdle.
I was ready for anything. I was prepared for whatever difficult or unexpected situations might arise for Kash and me, or our families. I trusted Kash to take care of us, and was finally opening up to the family that I did have. My parents were gone, that would always be hard . . . I would always wish they were here. But I had to give my future in-laws and Candice’s family the chance to be there for me in their place.