“Okay, princess. We’ll do it your way.”
I slowly pushed inside of her, both of us groaning at the feel of our bodies connecting and becoming one.
“I’ve missed you,” she whispered against my chest, then she leaned up to kiss me.
I nuzzled my face into her neck and inhaled. She smelled like roses. It was such an intoxicating scent. “I’ve missed you like crazy, Anna.”
I moved slowly as we touched and kissed like it was our first time together.
“Don’t ever leave me, Annalise. Please.”
She framed my face with her hands and our eyes met. “I’m not going anywhere, Roger. I promise. I’m yours. I’ll always be yours.”
Something inside of me broke free. I moved my hips in a slow rotation, making Annalise gasp and lift her own hips.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Oh, God, yes.”
“That’s it, princess. Come for me.”
I lifted her leg and hooked it around my hip as I rolled again, pushing in deeper.
Her eyes snapped open and our gazes locked. One more thrust and I knew she was going to fall apart.
She arched her back and cried out my name as she squeezed and pulsed around my cock.
“Shit, Annalise…I’m going to come.”
Her hands fisted in the sheets and she looked up at me again. What I saw in her eyes practically made my heart burst from my chest.
She loved me—and it didn’t scare me. She was mine, and I was hers, and I had no intentions of ever letting her go.
“I love you,” we both said at the same time before I captured her mouth with mine and spilled myself inside of her.
I lay on my back and stared up at the ceiling while Annalise traced patterns on my chest. Everything in the world felt so right when she was in my arms.
“Roger…what made you think I was leaving?”
I glanced down at her head on my chest and ran my fingers through her wavy hair. “Truitt told me you were getting on a plane this afternoon and heading back to New York.”
She stilled. “Who told him that?”
“Patty called my mom, who called Saryn, who told Truitt he needed to find me. Truitt came over and woke up my drunk ass.”
She turned her head and rested it on the back of her hand. “You were drunk?”
“After you left last night, I downed a bottle of whiskey, and I think a bottle of gin, like an idiot. What I really wanted to do was come after you, but I wasn’t sure how to tell you I loved you.”
One of her brows arched up. “‘I love you, Annalise’ would have been a good place to start.”
I laughed. “I guess it would have been.”
She crinkled her nose, and it was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen. “I hate to tell you this, but you were played.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Annalise moved and sat up, facing me as I straightened and leaned against the headboard. “I never told Patty I was leaving today.”
“But…you were home. What were you doing home if you weren’t packing up to leave?”
She laughed and covered her mouth before dropping her hand to her lap. “Today’s my day off. I told Patty I’d be home all day painting the spare bedroom.”
I felt my mouth drop open. “They lied?”
Annalise shrugged. “I’m going to guess it was Patty who pulled that one out of thin air. It was her idea to have Rick come to the charity dinner last night, hoping it would make you jealous.”
“Whaaat?” I said as Annalise giggled. “Well, that shit worked. If it wasn’t for Truitt, I probably would have punched the little bastard.”
She covered her mouth again and laughed. Then she reached for my hand and laced our fingers together. “For what it’s worth, I was going to call you today. I didn’t like how we left things last night.”
I pulled her to me, and she snuggled against my side. “You’re not second. I want you to know that. I think part of the reason I was so freaked out about us was because of the way you made me feel. The feelings I have for you. Before you walked into my life, I had zero desire to be exclusive with anyone. But the thought of you being in another man’s arms…it nearly drove me mad last night. I just needed to figure out how to put the past behind me and learn to trust my heart in someone else’s care.
“And that night in the spare bedroom… I wasn’t myself, and it had nothing to do with Kerri or anyone else. You looked at me, and I saw how you felt about me clear as day. I was lost in that moment. I couldn’t bear for you to look at me like that, with such love and trust in your eyes. I did want to just fuck you senseless, but for all the wrong reasons.”
She looked up at me and smiled. “Thank you for telling me that.”
I shrugged.
Annalise ran her finger over my jaw. “I think I always knew we’d be together. Even back in Chicago, something told me that it wasn’t going to be the last time I saw you.”
Leaning down, I kissed her forehead. “Like you said, fated hearts.”
She brought her hand to my chest again. This time, she placed it flat over my heart and sighed. “I cannot wait to see where our journey takes us next,” she whispered.
Moving quickly, I flipped her over and moved on top of her. Her legs instantly opened to me, and I teased her entrance while I kissed her.
“You know where I see it going?” I asked, placing soft kisses over her face and neck.
“Where?” She giggled and squirmed under me.
“A wedding.”
Her body froze. “A wedding?”
“Yep, but not just any wedding. A princess deserves a fairy tale wedding. After all, everyone does say you look like Cinderella.”
She moved her fingers lazily over my back. “She wasn’t a princess until she married the prince.”
I shrugged. “Minor detail.”
With a soft exhale, she said, “I like that thought process. Not anytime soon, though, right?”
“Oh, I don’t know. How long does it take—” I pushed inside of her— “to plan a wedding?”
Annalise’s breath grew faster. “I’d say…six months?”
I lifted her legs and moved faster. “Six months it is, then. That’s probably good because according to my mother, my sperm is dying every day, and if we want kids, the wedding should be sooner rather than later.” I pushed in deeper and rotated my hips.
“Roger,” she gasped, her fingers digging into my shoulders.
“Do you like that, princess? The idea of my baby growing inside you?”
Her eyes sprang open and she screamed out my name as her orgasm hit.
When she finally came back to me, I leaned over, kissed her gently, and whispered, “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Annalise - Six months later
PATTY AND MY mother both stood back and looked at the gazebo that I had decorated with the help of Saryn and my sister, Meg.
My mother clucked her tongue and then said, “I don’t know. Something’s missing.”
Sighing, I looked at Meg for help, but she slowly backed away. Saryn had also taken off. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that the combined force of my mother and Patty was not something anyone wanted to deal with.
“Mom, nothing is missing. This is how I want it.”
“White flowers? No color?” Patty asked.
“Yes. White flowers. The chairs have blue and white hydrangeas on them, and the reception tables will have colorful floral displays. I want to keep the wedding simple.”
Meg finally stepped forward. “If you think about it, Mom, it makes sense. Her dress is tinted blue, so standing in the middle of all that white will make her stand out even more.”
That thought made Patty’s eyes light up. “Yes! I totally forgot her dress was Cinderella-blue.”
My mother rolled her eyes. She couldn’t understand why I hadn’t gone with a traditional white wedding gown. When I tried to explain that the blue was more for Roger than me—because he’d called me princess
once, and I’d jumped all over him—she just looked at me, confused.
Never mind that the diamond Roger gave me when he asked me to marry him was also light blue.
Meg leaned in and whispered, “Now we know why Jax lives in Ireland and got married over there.”
I tried to hide my laugh, but it slipped free. Patty and my mother both turned to me with raised eyebrows. Clearing my throat, I said, “The gazebo is done. I like it. It’s staying that way.”
“Oh, someone grew some balls in the last thirty seconds,” Meg said.
My mother shot her a withering look.
“I think I’ll go see if Saryn needs any help with the balloons,” she said, quickly walking away.
Her words took a minute to sink in. I turned to her and called out, “Balloons? What balloons?”
“That was my idea,” Mom said as she brushed by, following Meg. “Do not use up all the helium singing, Meg!”
Patty gasped and took off toward the main entrance of The Montclair. “Oh, dear, I left Jim and Truitt with the helium!”
I sighed and leaned against the gazebo. I only had a little bit of time before I needed to go get ready for the wedding. We were having it at sunset.
“Bet you wished we’d eloped now.”
Spinning around, I smiled when I saw Roger standing there. I practically threw myself into his arms. “Let’s do it! Let’s just run away and go somewhere else and get married.”
He laughed. “Your father would kill us, seeing as he insisted on paying for half of this fairy tale wedding of yours.”
“We can pay him back.”
Roger set me down, then took my face in his hands and kissed me softly before leaning his forehead against mine. “We’re getting married in a few hours, princess.”
My stomach dropped and I felt a rush of happiness.
Roger took my hand in his and walked us into the gazebo. “The flowers are beautiful.”
“I’m glad you like them,” I said, looking around at the hundreds of white and cream-colored flowers that adorned the gazebo. “My mother thinks it’s boring.”
He shook his head, then looked at me. “I’m not supposed to be talking to you right now.”
I shrugged. “Are you nervous?”
He paused for a moment as if truly thinking about the question. “No, I’m not. Not at all. I thought I would be. Are you nervous?”
Smiling, I shook my head. “No. I’m glad the day is finally here. I do have something I want to talk to you about, though. I’ve been debating if I should tell you before or after the wedding.”
He lifted his brow. “That sounds intriguing.”
I twisted my fingers nervously in my lap and drew in a deep breath.
Roger reached for one of my hands and took it in his. “Hey, what’s going on? Talk to me.”
“Annalise! Annalise!”
We both turned to see Elizabeth heading toward us.
“You need to get in here now so you can start getting ready!”
I held up my hand and called back, “Give me five minutes.”
She scowled. “You’re not even supposed to see him yet!”
“Five minutes!” I yelled back.
Tossing her hands up in the air, she replied, “Fine! But when your mother comes looking for you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I shook my head and turned back to Roger. “I found out something this morning.”
He frowned. “Damn it! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to see your dress! I walked into the room, and it was hanging up, and I saw the blue sticking out, and…I peeked. I couldn’t help it. It looks beautiful, though, and I can’t wait to see you in it.”
“You saw my dress?”
Roger drew back some. “Shit. That wasn’t what you found out?”
“No! I can’t believe you peeked at my dress. I wanted it to be a surprise, Roger.”
“It will be! I didn’t see you in it!”
Jerking my hand from his, I stood and started to walk away.
“I’m sorry! Come on, princess, it was an accident! Wait—you didn’t tell me what you found out.”
Glancing back over my shoulder, I smiled and casually called out, “I’m pregnant.”
Roger’s smile instantly disappeared and then reappeared on his face. I faced forward and kept walking toward the front of the hotel. I figured everyone was either in the courtyard setting up or busy somewhere else. No one would be in the lobby. I headed up the steps and across the front porch. By the time I reached the main entrance, Roger was right behind me.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. When he looked down at me, my breath caught in my throat. He had tears in his eyes.
“Did you just say you’re pregnant?”
I swallowed hard and nodded.
“But…you just stopped taking the pill a few weeks ago. The doctor said it might take a while.”
With a half-shrug, I replied, “I haven’t been feeling good the last few days, and I kept thinking it was from all the wedding planning. But it’s not. I took a home test this morning.”
His eyes bounced around my face, maybe in an attempt to see if I was serious or kidding with him. “We’re going to have a baby?”
I let out an unsure chuckle. “Yes.”
Roger pulled open the door to The Montclair, took my hand, and immediately turned to the right. We went into the library, and he shut the door.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he started to undo his pants.
“I’m making love to you right now.”
My eyes widened. “Right now? Here? In the library? Hours before we’re supposed to get married?”
Roger wrapped his arms around me, pulled me to him, and picked me up.
“I fucking love it when you wear dresses.”
He slid my panties to the side and pushed inside of me as he pressed me against a wall of books.
“Oh God,” I gasped when he started to move fast and hard. I had to bite down on my lower lip to keep from moaning.
“A baby,” Roger panted, going deeper, harder.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Faster, Roger! I’m so close.”
He buried his face in my neck, and I wrapped my legs tightly around him.
“Our baby,” he said as he pulled back and met my gaze.
All I could do was nod. I moaned, feeling my orgasm build. Roger sealed his mouth over mine and moved faster, and we both came at the same time. He swung me around, pushed me against the other side of the library wall, and started to move inside of me again. My eyes went wide, but he only picked up his pace.
“What’s the magical number?”
I panted between words. “I’ll tell…you…when you…hit it.”
Shortly after Roger made me come three times, we were a panting mess, lying on the floor of the library on our backs, both of us trying to catch our breath.
Roger turned his head toward me. “Do you know what the first thing I’m going to do is after we get married?”
My head fell to the side as I looked at him. “What?”
A brilliant smile spread across his face, displaying those dimples I loved so much. “I’m going to tell my mother my sperm is perfectly fine.”
I tiptoed out of the library and made a beeline to the cabin where everything was set up for me to get ready. I peeked over my shoulder to see Roger heading upstairs. The groom and groomsman were getting ready in one of the grand suites in the main part of The Montclair.
The moment I stepped into the chapel cabin, all eyes swung to me. My mother gave me a look that said she had been two seconds from sending out a search party. Patty jumped into action and started bossing people around. Elizabeth, Saryn, and Meg all gave me goofy smiles.
“What?” I asked.
Meg slowly shook her head. “You couldn’t wait.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked as the hairdresser motioned for me to sit down in the chair she had pulled out for me.
“Don’t even,” Meg said. “It is to
tally written all over your face.”
“Not to mention your hair is a mess,” Elizabeth stated.
I looked at the three of them in the mirror. They all stood behind me now. Saryn leaned in and whispered, “You told him, didn’t you?”
She was the only one I had told about the pregnancy test so far. Not that I didn’t trust Elizabeth or my sister; it was just that Saryn and I had grown so close in the last few months. It was Saryn who’d shown up this morning with a bagel and strawberry cream cheese for me…along with a pregnancy test. She said I had a glow about me that gave it away.
Of course, she would know, considering she found out just yesterday that she’s expecting another baby. They hadn’t been trying, but it was a blessing, nonetheless.
With a wicked smile, I winked at her.
She laughed and shook her head. “Let me guess—he pulled you into the first room he could find.”
It didn’t take the others—including the hairdresser—long to figure out what we were talking about. I nodded.
“Where?” Meg and Elizabeth both asked.
My cheeks felt hot, and I closed my eyes before I said, “The library.”
“Oh, God!” Elizabeth cried out.
“What is it, Lizzy?” Patty asked.
She held up her hand and waved Patty off. “Nothing. I just remembered something I forgot to do at the front desk.”
Patty gave her a warm smile. “It’s your day off. Stop thinking about work.”
Elizabeth nodded, then turned and pinned me with a glare. “I love that room! I eat my lunch in there!”
Meg, Saryn, and the hairdresser all giggled.
Placing her finger and thumb against the bridge of her nose, Elizabeth asked, “Just tell me it wasn’t on the table.”
“It wasn’t,” I quickly said. “I think it was up against Texas history, then biographies, and once again by the romance section.”
Elizabeth threw her hands in the air. “I’m going to have to find a new place to eat now.”
The day turned into a beautiful fall evening in Texas, with a soft wind blowing the leaves on the trees. Occasionally, one or two leaves would float down to the ground while Roger and I exchanged our vows surrounded by a sky painted with purple, pink, and orange. It was so breathtaking, it almost looked like a painting.
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