Only You

by Bishop, K. M.

  “Babe, you have made me the happiest man in the world. I could never even imagine spending a day without you by my side. I want the world to see our love and to be inspired by it. Will you take that happiness of mine one step farther and marry me?”

  “Yes, of course!” She declared falling down into my arms smothering me with kisses. “Of course, I’ll marry you!”

  “I love you so much, baby.” I put the ring on her finger and held her close to me. She kissed me hard on the mouth, and I returned that passion right back to her. We were both there on the floor of our new home with our amazing life about to start and now we were officially engaged.

  I stood up right then and carried her to the bedroom. The moment I laid her down on the bed, I began to remove her clothes, pulling her shirt over her head and then burying my face between her luscious breasts. She leaned back on the bed then, letting me go to town on her body, licking the inside of her breast just behind the confines of her bra, which I quickly decided to get rid of. Her beautiful chest was on full display now, so soft and smooth. As I placed her nipple in my mouth I tasted the sweetness of her body. It was intoxicating. It instantly took my mind to another place leaving my head spinning. I could fall away into this world with her together forever.

  I was starting to move my mouth down to her stomach, gliding my tongue down to her sweet bits. She suddenly pulled out from under me and then went to work unfastening my pants. Within ten seconds my pants and my underwear were off and lying on the floor. And then her sweet mouth was around me, taking me fully into her. It was like sliding into a beautiful, warm pull of sweetness. My balls were tingling and my shaft was aching with the pressure of my erection. I was so hard and growing even harder as her lips slipped down on me with perfection.

  I laid back on the bed, letting my head go limp against the softness of the mattress beneath me. I was rocking my hips up and down, feeding the sexy mouth that covered me. Maria moaned with pleasure as she took me in and then let me slip out of her before she went down on me again. This was a level of oral perfection that most people would never experience. I had been with many women in my time, and none of them compared to the skills that Maria, my love, my angel, my fiancée possessed.

  Maria pulled off me and quickly removed the rest of her clothes before climbing on top of me where she started to ride me hard. Sliding into her was the most extreme version of total ecstasy on the planet. As she rode on me, I let my mind drift a bit. We hadn’t talked at all about what kind of wedding we wanted, what kind of reception, or a date, but just knowing that she’d said yes and that we were actually going to do this, we were getting officially married one day—this made me feel an extra bit of joy, and a little bit of security that I didn’t necessarily always have. I hated to admit it, but deep down I sometimes wondered if Maria might one day realize that she was too good for me. It was a scary thought, but I thought so highly of her that I doubted I would ever stop feeling this way. I knew that she loved me. And I hoped she understood that I loved her just as much, maybe more, but one day there might come a time where she would just decide that she’d had enough of me and move on.

  After we were done with our lovemaking, I laid there in the dark with so many different thoughts swirling around in my head. Most of them were wonderful, but some of them were not. It was just my own insecurities coming to the surface.

  I had to deal with them one day.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Maria

  Three Months Later

  My wedding day. The day I’d dreamed of ever since I was a little girl playing dress up with my Barbie dolls. I’d always wondered how it would be. How would it be setup? How many people would be there? The colors, the themes, the music, the reception, how much of my friends and family would be there—these were all the things I’d always wondered.

  And now it was here.

  Jacob and I had planned every single detail out meticulously. He had been fine with all of my suggestions. I realized that he had little in the way of care as far as most of the details of the wedding. He mostly just wanted it to be my special day and he was happy with anything as long as I was there. I was definitely going to be there, so that was not an issue.

  The day of the wedding came faster than I ever thought it would. And now it was here. I finished getting dressed and got ready to walk down the aisle. My parents had flown in as well as my best friends Tammy and Josie who were my bridesmaids. I let them flip a coin and Tammy ended up as my maid of honor, which I was actually glad about. I loved my friends dearly, but Tammy and I had always been just a little bit closer. We were inseparable like sisters. She knew me inside and out and I wanted nothing else than for her to be my maid of honor. So, it had worked out really well.

  I joined my father and waited for the music to start. “You look amazing, sweetie,” he said. “I’m so proud of you. Your mother is, too.”

  My mother was in the first aisle waiting for the ceremony to start. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I knew that look of pride in his eye. This touched me greatly. I loved my parents so much. They’d always been there for me no matter what. I’ve always been daddy’s little girl, too. Ever since I was little I’d always been extra close to my father, and I was close to my mother, too. My father was a very strait-laced guy and I had been a bit nervous about him meeting Jacob. I wasn’t sure how they might actually get along. But the moment they met each other, they instantly clicked.

  I’d never realized it before then, but the two of them had very similar personalities. They were both strong, tough guys with hearts of gold. They had good old all-American values, and they both detested any signs of phoniness and people who craved or hogged the spotlight. Jacob was a bit more fun loving and mischievous, but I figured that might have been the age gap between them. I could easily picture my father at Jacob’s age. They would have been very similar. It was a bit eerie now that I saw it firsthand. How had I not seen it before now?

  The music began and my father started to walk me down the aisle. When I reached the entrance and the whole congregation turned in the church to watch me, I felt my whole heart swell up in my chest. I wanted to cry so badly, but I didn’t dare want to mess up my makeup. That would have been a catastrophe. I’d had it professionally done a few hours before. But I was so full of love and happiness that I was literally bursting inside.

  As my gaze rose up to spot Jacob at the end of the aisle, waiting by the altar, I breathed a sigh of relief and the tears began to fade. It was happening now. We were in the middle of this. Jacob was there and he was not going anywhere. In the dark recesses of my mind, I thought for a moment that he wasn’t going to be there. I realized then that I’d actually been fearing it for a while. What would I have done if he had decided not to show? Would I be able to face the humiliation? What about all we’d been through? Surely this wasn’t going to happen.

  But that fear I believe is probably within all brides at some point, probably right up until the moment they see their handsome groom waiting for them at the end of the aisle. That sort of fear that your man will one day not be there for you is a very real fear as a woman. No matter how strong you are, sometimes you get scared that he will just decide to bail on you.

  Jacob would never do that to me. I could feel it in my bones. It was stupid for me to even think that it was a remote possibility. That was just not the right way for my mind to be thinking. That line of thought would drive you nuts. I had a tendency to let my mind go to some dark, doubtful places sometimes. And this wasn’t good for anyone. I knew that, yet sometimes I could not help but let my mind wander away from me. Then I had to stop and take the time to reel it back in.

  I reached the altar and my father gave me away, but before he did I gave him a big hug. “I love you, dad.”

  “I love you, too sweet pea,” he said softly. I could tell this was breaking his heart, but he was very happy for me. He was such a good man.

  I stood in front of Jacob, the both of us looking into each othe
r’s eyes, a wide smile spread across both of our faces. I could see inside of Jacob’s mind, inside of his spirt through his eyes. He was giving me back every bit of love and life that I was giving to him. We were embarking on an epic journey together that would take us to the ends of this life and the end of our time on this earth. It was the start of a beautiful story. We felt like we’d been through so much already, but now we were actually starting the real journey, the real work—destination unknown.

  “You may now kiss the bride,” the pastor said as he finished the ceremony.

  Jacob pulled my veil back and took my face gently in his hands, before he kissed me deeply. I’d been a bit scared to kiss in front of so many people, but in a way, it was like giving a very public middle finger to all of the people who tried to forbid our love to blossom and to those who had tried to punish us for it. They could all go to hell. We were together and we were happy. Our love had flourished. This would never be done. We were happy and they were all so jealous.

  As we kissed the congregation erupted in hoots, hollers, and a standing ovation.

  After it was over we both turned to face the crowd as they cheered for us. All of our nearest and dearest gathered together to celebrate the joy and the beauty of our miraculous love. There it was on display in front of them all. All of my friends and family, Jacob’s friends and family, and several members of the Miami Dolphins team who had quickly become great friends of ours along with their significant others.

  We exited the church and once outside Jacob picked me up and kissed me harder. “The moment I met you, I knew that this would happen,” he said.

  “Really? You aren’t just saying that?”

  “No. Absolutely not,” Jacob said. “I really did think that the moment I laid eyes on you.”

  I thought was perhaps the most romantic thing I’d ever heard. And I could tell that he meant it, every word.

  We went to our separate areas of the church and changed our clothes to get ready for the party. The party was excellent, complete with a live band that we’d hired to play the biggest rock hits of the eighties, our musical decade that we favored. There was something about those old songs that really just got to me. I loved them all, which made my father very happy.

  We danced, we partied, we ate great food, and at the end of the night we went back home. We didn’t have time to do a real honeymoon right then because Jacob was in the middle of the season. He had to be back in time for practice in two days.

  But we agreed that we would take a big vacation honeymoon when the season was over. And Jacob had left it all up to me where we would go.

  I voted to go to Hawaii. I’d always wanted to go there.

  Epilogue

  Jacob

  Two months later

  I swung the tennis racket and connected hard with a backswing. The ball sailed across the net and landed on the other side right in front of Maria who instantly sent the ball back to me. I ran as hard as I could hoping to hit the ball before it went out after the hop. I barely managed to get something on it and send it back to the other side.

  The ball landed right beside Maria and before she could send it back my way it bounced out of bounds. I jogged up to the net. “Nice try, honey. It looks like tennis is just not your game.”

  She laughed at me and gave me a bit of a smirk. “That’s what you think. Did it ever occur to you that I am simply letting you win?”

  “Why on earth would you do such a thing?”

  “You’re a professional athlete now. I know how your egos are.”

  I laughed as I grabbed the ball and got ready for another serve.

  “Oh, I’ve got a swelled head now? Is that what you are saying to me? That’s completely wrong. I’m the say guy I always was.”

  “Well, I think you have a lot more going for you,” she teased.

  I paused before I started my serve. “You saying that you are after me because of my earning potential?”

  She shrugged and stuck her tongue out at me. “It certainly doesn’t hurt.”

  I laughed. She was so full of it. Wow, I loved this woman so much. The past few months of marriage had been completely ideal. I loved thinking of Maria as my wife. It filled me with so much satisfaction knowing that we were bonded together forever.

  She’d started her new job teaching, which she loved, and she was also writing up a storm as much as she could. She usually began her mornings at five with a run and then she wrote for three hours. Then she went to teach, had her office hours, came home and wrote for three more hours. Then by that time I would usually come waltzing through the door from working all day at practice.

  She loved being so busy and she was a marvelous teacher. Her students adored her, especially the male students who all had crushes on her. But they quickly realized that her husband was a professional football player and they quickly backed off. That was part of the power of being a professional athlete.

  We finished up our game of tennis and then ended up back at our hotel suite where we enjoyed a nice lunch of tuna salad sandwiches that Maria had put together. She had some secret recipe for creating the most out of this world tasting tuna. I had asked her repeatedly what her secret was and she would not share it with me. It was a family recipe apparently that mothers passed on to their daughters. I was determined to find out what it was though. I would decipher it, even if I had to send it to a lab to be analyzed. I was willing to do this.

  We finished our lunch and then sat down to watch a bit of television. We were thinking about maybe going back out later for some scuba diving, but I was kind of tired and really just looking forward to chilling out for the time being. What was it about women on vacation who wanted to constantly be doing and seeing stuff? On vacation I wanted to move as little as possible. Of course, playing some sports was always a nice option. But I thought that Maria had tired of sports related activities for the day, so we would probably go out sightseeing some more, or perhaps take a tour. There were lots of interesting tours of the islands, including one to some supposedly haunted locales that I wanted to go on, but Maria wasn’t down with that at all.

  I thought with enough prodding that she might eventually come around to it though.

  We finished a few television shows and then we started talking about what we wanted to do.

  “You know, there is that shop I saw that is supposed to have a great selection of baby clothes and accessories, Hawaii style. Want to go there?”

  “Why would I want to go there?”

  “Because I do…”

  I looked at her. I was a bit confused. What could we possibly need from a store like that? “Why do you want to go there?”

  “Why do you think…?” She asked. Maria leaned in towards me and smiled that wide, toothy grin of hers.

  I thought a moment about what she was really asking. Wait…was she…? No… really? Yes!

  “Wait…are you pregnant?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  I was in shock. I didn’t say anything for a few moments. Then I leaned over and hugged her closely to me. I kissed her on the forehead. “Baby, that’s fantastic. How far along are you? When did you find out?”

  “I found out a couple days ago, right before we left. I’m eight weeks.”

  “Oh, wow baby. I’m so happy. That’s phenomenal.”

  “I knew you’d be happy,” she said. I kissed her sweetly on the lips.

  “Ok, let’s go to that store. Should we make a list of all the things we are going to need? You should be in charge of that because I honestly do not know what we need.”

  She laughed. “Ok, let’s not buy the whole store though. It has to be stuff we can take home. Unless the store will do shipping.”

  We got ready to leave. As we did so I stepped out of the suite into the real world already feeling like a father. It was an incredible, indescribable feeling that suddenly came over me.

  I knew then and there that my life would never be the same. And I wouldn’t have had it turn o
ut any other way.

  I hope you enjoyed reading Only You. I have also included in the following pages an excerpt from my other bestseller Redemption.

  Excerpt

  She’s gotta come back to me – come what may!

  I loved Charlene with my heart and soul,

  Just took a little longer to say it to her.

  Okay, so long that she decided to move out of my life.

  She was pregnant with my baby,

  And that too did not influence her decision.

  I guess I screwed up really bad.

  But now, I’ll make it up to her.

  I’ll stop at nothing but winning her back,

  And getting together with the woman of my dreams.

  Charlene, I’m coming.

  And this time don’t say ‘NO’, please.

  After all, our baby deserves to know who his father is!

  Chapter 1

  Joey

  I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and reached for the alarm on my phone. In the dark I pushed the button to shut off the alarm on the glowing screen in front of me. My body was aching. My mind was even tired. Why did I keep doing this to myself? It was an odd sense of self-torture. It was designed to make me the best, a champion, but at what cost.

  I knew that the defeating self-talk was a part of this ritual, but every day it came closer to winning and I came closer to blowing off my morning run and staying in bed another few hours. But no. I had to get going. I had to get the wheels moving, and grease up the joints of the old body, sharpen the mind as well. It was time.

  I rolled out of bed careful to not disturb my live-in girlfriend, Charlene. She was still sleeping peacefully. And why shouldn’t she be? It was five in the morning. We both had classes in three hours. But my day always started at sunrise.