S is for Second Chance

by Annie J. Rose

  I smiled, suspecting he had brought her another gift. She was hard not to spoil. Lizzy walked right to him. “This is for you,” he said, holding out the bag.

  Lizzy grinned. “Present?”

  Devin nodded. “Yes, a present.” He pulled at the drawstrings holding the bag closed and left it wide open for her. I watched as she pulled out a new teddy bear.

  “Lizzy, what do you say,” I prompted.

  “Thank you,” she said, loving on the bear.

  “Lizzy, show Mommy the box,” he said, pointing to the pink box in the bear’s hands.

  I looked at him, wondering what he was up to. It took a little convincing to get Lizzy to surrender the bear to me while I opened the box. “Oh my God,” I gasped when I saw the ring inside. I looked to Devin with tears in my eyes. “Devin?”

  “Elly, I know this is completely unconventional, but I know there is no other woman for me. You are the only woman I want. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and Lizzy. I want to build a beautiful family with you. I want to wake up next to you every morning and put our daughter to bed together every night. I want banana pancakes on lazy Sunday mornings and all the birthdays and holidays we can have. Will you marry me?”

  My heart was filled with so much love it felt like it would burst. “Yes,” I breathed the word.

  He pulled the ring out of the box and slid it on my finger. I stared down at the massive diamond surrounded by gorgeous blue stones. It was stunning and far more than I could have ever dreamed of.

  “Do you like it?” he asked. “We can get something different if it isn’t your style.”

  “Devin, it’s gorgeous! Look at Mommy’s ring, Lizzy. Look what Daddy got for Mommy!”

  Lizzy looked at Devin and offered him a toothy grin. I doubted she understood the word daddy, but it was a word she was going to learn.

  “Daddy.” Devin almost choked on the word. “That’s a word I never thought I would hear.”

  I offered a watery laugh. “Trust me, once she picks up on it, you’ll probably wish she wouldn’t have.”

  “Never. I don’t think I will ever get tired of hearing her call me Daddy.” I watched as he picked her up, pulling her into his lap. “Do you like your new teddy bear, Lizzy?”

  “I like,” she said with a smile. “Thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome,” he answered, giving her a big hug before kissing the top of her head.

  Together, we watched another of one Lizzy’s shows before I decided an early bedtime was a good idea. I wanted to be alone with my fiancée. “Lizzy, it’s time to get your jammies on,” I said.

  Devin looked at me, silently asking the question. “Stay,” I whispered.

  He nodded. “I will.”

  Together, we got Lizzy ready for bed. He loved helping her brush her teeth. It was the cutest thing ever. I thought about taking a picture but then decided there would be plenty more opportunities in the coming months and years.

  “Story,” Lizzy insisted.

  “I can do it,” Devin quickly volunteered.

  “Okay,” I said, having something else I wanted to do while he was with her.

  I left the room and quickly stripped the bed in my father’s room before putting on new sheets. I wanted to sleep beside him for the first time. He found me just after I had put on fresh pillowcases.

  “What’s going on here?” he asked.

  I smiled, shrugging a shoulder. “My dad hasn’t slept here once. I figure we may as well sleep comfortably.”

  He chuckled. “Sleep is about the last thing I have on my mind.”

  I giggled. “Me too.”

  He pulled me against him and passionately kissed me. I held him close, kissing him back and letting all the feelings I had been trying to fight for so long bubble to the service.

  “I love you,” he whispered, trailing kisses over my jaw and down my neck. “I will always love you. You are mine forever and always.”

  His words sent gooseflesh spreading over my skin. They were words I had longed to hear for too many years. “I love you,” I told him as he pulled my shirt over my head.

  We frantically undressed before climbing into the freshly made bed. A bed. I couldn’t wait to try something very traditional with my untraditional man in our absolutely untraditional relationship.

  “I’m taking my sweet time with you tonight,” he said, going up on one elbow and looking down at me. “In a bed. No desk, no hard, slippery floor, and no cramped couch. I hope you don’t have any plans for tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” I breathed, my body tuned into every word he was saying.

  “You’re going to be up late,” he answered with a kiss on my breast.

  “Oh,” I softly cried out. “I’m used to no sleep.”

  “Good,” he murmured against my flesh. The vibration of his voice against my skin sent shivers up and down my spine.

  He began a trail of kisses that started at my shoulders and ended at the tips of my toes. Every sense, every nerve ending, every cell in my body was tuned into him and what he was doing to my body. I twitched and spasmed under his touch.

  When he began the trail of kisses back up my body, I was convinced I had stumbled through the pearly gates and found myself in a heavenly place. Never had I felt so good. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” he whispered, his mouth hovering over my belly button.

  I looked down at him, taking in the sight of his dark head of hair perched over my stomach. “We’ve done this,” I said with a small smile.

  His eyes met mine. “Not this,” he answered before sliding back down my body and nudging my legs open.

  When his mouth covered the apex between my legs, I nearly screamed. I caught myself at the very last second and clapped my hand over my mouth. My hips bucked as his tongue lapped over my clit. “Oh God,” I groaned. The overwhelming feelings of ecstasy were doing something to my body I couldn’t explain.

  He lapped over me, his tongue parting my folds and finding its way inside my very core. My hands went to his hair, pulling and pushing as I struggled to find some semblance of control. My body was putty in his capable hands. I trusted him. I gave myself over to him, and the reward was an orgasm that nearly had my eardrums popping and my head feeling like it was going to explode.

  “Devin.” I said his name on a breath as my body went through something absolutely amazing.

  He kissed a trail of kisses up my belly until his naked body was over mine. His fingertips brushed back the strands of hair clinging to my face. “You okay?” he gently asked.

  I moaned. “I’m so okay. That was amazing.”

  I kissed him and shoved his left shoulder. He was knocked off balance and fell to the mattress. I pushed him onto his back and sat beside him. I stared down at the body of the man I was madly in love with.

  “Elly, I need you. We can do that another time.”

  I frowned at him. “I don’t think so. Fair is fair.”

  He chuckled. “Then by all means, have your way with me.”

  I traced a fingertip over one defined pectoral muscle and then the next. “I plan on it.” I leaned down and dropped a kiss on his hard chest. “Devin?”

  “What is it, baby?” he asked on a breath. The sound of his tender voice was sweet music to my ears.

  “How do you stay in such good shape?”

  His throaty laugh tickled the nerves that were still feeling like little live wires all over my body. “Swimming. A lot of swimming. It turns out, you left me a very frustrated, horny man, and swimming was the only thing that helped take the edge off.”

  I kissed over his washboard abs. “So, what you’re saying is I’m responsible for this?”

  He grunted when I reached my hand down and cupped his heavy balls. “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  Chapter 29

  Devin

  Her hot mouth was driving me to the point of insanity. I was barely hanging on to consciousness. My self-control was pushed to a new level of stren
gth. My fists dug into the sheets stretched over the bed as her head bobbed up and down on my dick. Never, ever in my entire life had I been made to feel so good.

  “Elly,” I said on a groan. “Baby, please, you’re turning me inside out.”

  Her tongue lapped over the head of my cock, damn near sending my body flying into the ceiling. I wasn’t sure I would survive very long if I was going to have her in my bed every night. I would die of ecstasy. She would give me an ecstasy overdose.

  Her hot mouth pulled away from me, her tongue sliding over my stomach as she made her way up my body. I reached for her, desperation making me crazy. My hands went to her hips. I lifted her and dropped her on my dick. If I didn’t bury myself inside in her, I was going to lose my fucking mind.

  I could feel her slick heat glide over me. “I need you,” she breathed.

  I looked up at the woman looking down on me. It was the sweetest, most erotic sight I had ever seen. I reached up to cup her cheek in my hand. “You have me. You will always have me. I am never leaving you, and I will fight like hell if you try to leave me.”

  Her eyes were filled with such love it hurt. My heart was beyond full. I knew I would spend the rest of my life in love with her. No matter what happened, no matter the fights we were likely to have or the hardships that came our way, I would always love her.

  She positioned her body with her opening hovering over the head of my cock before she slid down the length. Our eyes were locked together as our bodies joined. It wasn’t just a physical joining. In that moment, I could feel our souls fusing together. We would always be together.

  She released a long, contented sigh as her body engulfed mine. “God it’s so good,” she breathed.

  My hands stroked up and down her thighs. “It is beyond good.”

  She began to move, a slow leisurely ride on my dick as she teased and titillated both of us. Her hips rocked and rolled and did a slow grind that nearly had me blowing my wad before I was ready. Her hands pressed flat against my chest as she moved faster. Her breasts bounced, teasing and just out of reach.

  “Oh God,” she moaned, her back arching and her head dropping back as she slid her hips forward and back.

  “Don’t stop,” I ordered. My body was wound so tight my eyes felt crooked. I couldn’t see straight.

  She moaned, reaching up and squeezing her own breasts. The erotic sight was more than my taxed self-control could take. She was completely lost in the passion. Her body was glowing as she chased her orgasm, taking me along for the best ride of my life.

  I held on to her hips, feeling the explosive orgasm brewing. I didn’t want to buck her off when it hit. The power I felt building inside me was a little alarming. I let go of the control I had barely been wielding and gave over to what she was doing to me.

  I shouted once before remembering the sleeping little girl across the hall. My hips bucked forward, and as expected, I nearly sent her flying into the wall headfirst. I held her down, her body joining mine in a violent, twisting orgasm that had us both groaning and moaning.

  She collapsed against my chest, her tight pussy milking the last drops of ecstasy from me with each spasm. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to my body. Our hearts pounded against one another. Our breathing was fast and ragged.

  “Wow,” she murmured against my chest.

  “Yes, wow.”

  She slid to my side. I kept my arm around her, holding her close to my chest. I was damn well going to cuddle with her. I wasn’t letting her go. Ever.

  In that moment, I felt like a whole man. I felt like everything was exactly as it should be. It wasn’t a feeling I had ever had before. There was a sense of inner peace that made me feel like I was home, truly home.

  “I knew you were the woman for me,” I said.

  She turned her face to look up at me. “How could you possibly know that with all the drama we went through?”

  I smiled. “Because you never give up on anything. You are a tenacious woman, and when I recognized not only your brilliant mind, but your sense of duty and loyalty, I knew I wanted you.”

  “You’re crazy!” she giggled. “We have been in a three-year fight.”

  “Not at all. It was a misunderstanding. I wish we would have talked three years ago, but I’m happy with the way things have turned out. We had to go through all that to get where we are. We had to fight to be together, and I think that will make us fight a lot harder when we have arguments in the future.”

  “Are you planning on arguing with me?”

  “You’re a strong-willed person, and so am I. We’re both passionate about what we like and don’t like. There are bound to be some disruptions from time to time.”

  She turned and kissed my chest. “I guess it isn’t just opposites that attract.”

  “Nope. I think the thing I admire about you the most is when you are faced with a problem, you push through. You don’t give up, you get creative.”

  “You are the same way. You didn’t give up on us.”

  I squeezed her closer to me. “I couldn’t if I wanted to. There was something about you from the first moment we met that had me hooked.”

  She let out a long sigh. “I never stopped thinking about you. I would be sitting on a beach in California and dreaming about a life that included you. I cannot tell you how many times I wished I could go back in time and change what happened.”

  “Elly, you have to let it go. I’ve heard the saying everything happens for a reason. I believe it. We went through all that so we could get here. I don’t think either of us could have accepted a happy ever after without going through some trouble first.”

  She laughed. “I suppose, but seriously, three years? I think that’s a bit excessive.”

  “It’s three years we have to make up for.”

  Her fingers were tracing a little circles over my chest. “I wish there was a way we could forget all about what happened in the boardroom and keep our focus on the bedroom. With my father, I have a feeling that problem is going to keep rising up.”

  “No, it won’t. Your father is not my problem. He isn’t your problem. I have been running my business just fine without him. I’m not going to think about him. I won’t begrudge you for your relationship with him, but I don’t see me inviting him over for dinner. Not yet.”

  She groaned. “Trust me, I don’t think I’ll be inviting him over anytime soon. Not that he would want to. He used me and I think he will always use me given the chance. I’m not going to be his pawn. I tried to help him. I tried and tried and tried. I can’t help him.”

  “He has to want the help, and he has to stop doing what he’s doing,” I said. I was not interested in discussing her father while we lay naked in bed together. Ron Savage was not wanted in my bedroom or anywhere else.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I won’t bring it up.”

  “I don’t want you to disown your father or anything like that. I want to be with you, and I know that includes him. Just don’t plan on happy get-togethers for a while.”

  “I got it.”

  We lay quietly a while longer. I was already planning our future. I had a family now. That thought boggled my mind. I’d been a single bachelor convinced I would spend the rest of my days alone, and now I had a woman and a child. It was a lot to take in.

  I had never been happier in my life. I couldn’t help but look back on the lonely nights and the stark feeling of being empty and alone and wonder if it had been the journey I needed to get me to where I was just then. I had to fight to get Elly, and I wasn’t sure I would have fought so hard if my life had been different. I had to go through that hell to learn I never wanted to be back there and that she was worth fighting for.

  “I’m never letting you go,” I told her.

  “That’s a good thing because I don’t plan on leaving. I’m not sure what the future holds for us, but I want it all. I want the good and the bad. This is real for me. I know in my heart you’re it for me. There will never be
another.”

  He words filled my heart with joy. “Me too. I will follow you to the ends of the earth. If we fight, promise you will stay and yell at me. Tell me what I’ve done. Give me a chance to fix it. No more secrets—ever.”

  She leaned up and dropped a kiss on my lips. “I promise, no more secrets.”

  “So, does this mean we’re going to be business partners now?” I teased.

  She giggled. “I don’t know how much business would actually get done if we were working together.”

  I laughed. “I don’t mind trying. Mixing a little pleasure with business keeps things interesting.”

  “We’ll have to see about that,” she said, sliding back onto my chest.

  I put my hands on her face, staring into those dangerous blue eyes that had hooked me from the very beginning. “I’m willing to do whatever. Work with me. Don’t work at all. Hell, if you want to start your own business, I’m okay with that. My only request is you, me, and our little girl are together.”

  “I think I can make that promise,” she whispered.

  Her mouth closed over mine, sealing the promise with a kiss I would never forget. I knew we had something unbreakable. It would likely be tested, but it would never be broken. Both of us were too damn stubborn to let anything get in the way of what we wanted. I was confident she wanted me, and I knew with every fiber in my being that I wanted her.

  We were in it for the long run. No one, not even Ron Savage, would ever come between us.

  Epilogue

  Elly - Six Months Later

  I stood in front of the full-length mirror inside the massive closet Devin and I shared. It was an important day, and I wanted to look good. I turned left, then right, checking my reflection in the mirror. It was a new outfit courtesy of my adoring fiancé.

  I straightened the black Armani blazer. The cropped pants and the black pumps were perfect for the warm spring weather. I felt powerful. I felt like a woman at the top of her game. I stepped closer to the mirror and fluffed my hair before settling on the look.