I would do anything for her.
“You’re my fucking heart, Georgia. My entire world. I was born to love you,” I professed between thrusts as she began to clench around me again, the nails of one hand digging into my bicep, the pain radiating through my body, landing at my balls, before they drew up tight and I released into her. She came undone beneath me, screaming my name as the walls of her pussy throbbed around my already softening cock.
“I love you so much,” she whispered as she threaded her fingers through my hair. I nuzzled at her neck, propping myself on one elbow as I relished her sated, limp, post-orgasm body. This was my favorite. Seeing her satisfied and dreamy, her eyes hooded, breathing short, limbs heavy. Knowing I had put the satisfied look on her face made me the happiest man on Earth. Knowing that she’d married me, the knowledge that I’d wake up to her each and every morning, made it that much better.
I hunched over her sweat-drenched body and sucked one of her delicate pink nipples into my mouth. I sucked and tugged and then released it with a soft kiss. I heard her heart pounding beneath her breastbone and placed a kiss there.
She was my fucking everything and I was going to show her that each and every day. A day would never go by where she questioned if I still loved her, still wanted her. She deserved everything I had to give and so much more, and I’d spend the rest of my life showing her just that.
Sixty-Three
Tristan
“Up and at ’em, wife,” I teased in the hollow of her throat. My warm breath spread across her skin, causing goose bumps to form. She sighed and stretched, a lazy grin spreading across her face before her eyes fluttered open, and she gazed back at me.
“Starting with that already?” One hand cupped my jaw and her thumb swept across my stubbled cheek.
“I like the way it sounds.” I shrugged sheepishly.
“Me too,” she said, all teasing gone from her voice. I dipped my head and placed a soft kiss on her lips, relishing the feel of them beneath mine.
“I need to take you on a honeymoon.” I tugged her bottom lip between my teeth and pulled. Her eyes shut with desire as she wrapped both her legs around my naked hips, the sheets tangled between our bodies.
“Honeymoon?” she murmured as she nibbled on my earlobe.
“We’re going for a sail.”
“Won’t it be cold?” She wrapped her locked ankles around my waist and pulled me tighter against her body. My dick pressed between us, throbbing with need for her as her hips ground circles against mine.
“Forecast looks great the next few days. I’ll take you somewhere warm and tropical as soon as we can swing it, but I want to run away with you right now.”
“What about everyone else?” Her brow furrowed as she referred to our best friends camped out in the house down the beach.
“They’re leaving today anyway. They can lock up the house.” I captured her lips with my own again and swirled my tongue inside her mouth, convincing her with my kiss to say yes.
“Okay,” she murmured before I proceeded to worship my wife with my lips.
* * *
“So where we headed, Captain?” She curled up on the bench next to the captain’s chair on the boat.
We’d gotten a little behind schedule—first our glorious lovemaking and then Drew had insisted on brunch before we all left. She’d promised they’d lock the house behind them before they left to go back to Jacksonville. Georgia had hugged her tightly, tears in her eyes. I made a vow to insist that Gavin and Drew and little Bennett come up more often and that we would visit Jacksonville whenever we could.
“North.” I winked at her.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I got that much. Any particular destination in mind?”
“Nope. We’re just sailing. We’ve only got a few days, though. I thought we’d drop anchor when we’re done for the day, sleep on the boat, then do it all over again the next day.”
“Sounds cold and uncomfortable.” She frowned as she picked at a thread on her sweater.
“I promise you, it will be neither of those things.” I glanced over at her, taking her in. My mind remembered the first day I’d taken her on the boat over a year ago. The day that I’d let her steer and she’d fallen into me. She’d taken me by surprise, and I'd been willing to do anything to be in her presence.
She didn’t know it, didn’t get it—hell, I didn’t get it—but I was happy as fuck she’d let me have her.
Chosen me.
That’s what she’d done.
She’d finally chosen me and I now felt at peace with us. No more worrying that she would run, that I wasn’t worthy. I’d made myself worthy of her, done everything I could to get us here. Waited for her, stopped fucking around, settled myself. Pushed her, but never too far. She was here and I was here and we’d chosen each other and it was the most comforting feeling on Earth.
Sixty-Four
Tristan
We returned Wednesday afternoon. I'd dropped Georgia off at the grocery store to buy some food for dinner and ran to the post office. I grabbed the large stack of mail that’d accumulated after days away and crawled back into the Jeep. I sifted through the stack: bills, junk mail, something from Greater North Carolina Testing Services.
My heart shuddered to a halt.
My palms prickled and turned white as I clutched the innocent-looking white envelope in my hands. I couldn’t catch my breath.
I shouldn’t open this here. Not without her. I didn’t want to shatter the blissful bubble we’d been in the first few days of our marriage. I didn’t know what these test results said, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted them to say, but either way, it would affect us somehow.
I tossed the remaining mail on the console between the seats and turned the key. I drove in a semi-daze to the grocery store to get my girl. I sat in the parking lot, fingering the letter while Charlie panted obnoxiously in the back seat. I flipped it between my hands, my fingers worrying the edges. I pulled my lips between my teeth and tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. Charlie stood in the back, placed his two big paws on the console, and panted hot, heavy breaths in my face.
“Fuck, come on, Charlie.” I ducked my head away and rolled down the window for fresh air. “Should I wait for her?” I tapped the letter against the steering wheel. Just then, the back door opened and Georgia shoved a multitude of bags into the back seat.
“Thanks for the help. What the hell are husbands good for if they can’t carry the groceries?” she mumbled before settling herself in the front seat and locking her seatbelt.
“Sorry.” I turned to her. Taking in her face, the chocolate waves of her hair. Her beautiful full lips curved in a pout, melted chocolate eyes watching me, the delicate eyebrows arched in surprise.
“What? Is something on my face?” She swiped at her mouth before pulling down the mirror.
“No,” I muttered before leaning into her. “Thank you for marrying me.” I kissed her lips chastely.
“Oh.” Her mouth formed that adorable O and I couldn’t help but smile at her surprise and innocence.
“I picked up the mail.” I pulled my lips between my teeth again and averted my eyes.
‘“Yeah?” I could feel her eyes still watching me.
“This came.” I thrust the offending letter at her. The one that had my stomach in knots.
She flipped it over and read the return address. “Oh.” Her face fell with understanding. “You didn’t open it yet?”
“No, I was waiting . . . I guess . . .” I trailed off.
“Okay. Do you want me to . . . ?” she offered.
I shook my head feverishly. “No, let’s just have dinner first. Get settled.” I started the Jeep and pulled out of the parking lot, steering us toward home.
“This is driving me nuts. I can’t watch you like this. It’s like pulling off a band aid—just open it.” She stood from the kitchen table an hour later, taking both of our plates to the sink. She swiped the envelope off the island and thrust
it at me. I chewed on my bottom lip, ran a hand through my hair, and shuffled my feet. My heart felt like it was lodged in my fucking throat. This was the moment where I’d find out if Trevor were mine. If I had a son. If I’d had a baby with someone else, and my new wife was here watching me, supporting me, loving me, regardless of the results. It meant the entire fucking world to me that she'd married me without even knowing the results. She'd proven it didn't matter, she loved me anyway. Loved me enough to stay, regardless. That single act had proven to me I was enough in her eyes.
“Can you do it?” I looked up at her, my eyes round as saucers, pleading with her to take some of my anguish away.
“Yeah, baby.” She pulled herself into my lap and threaded her hands in my hair, scratching my scalp, placing a soft kiss along my neck, calming me. “No matter what it says, things are going to work out exactly as they were meant to, okay?” Her soft brown eyes held mine and I nodded. “Okay.” She pulled the envelope from the table as I tapped my fingers against her lower back nervously.
She tugged the end open, ripping the stark white paper before sliding out the small stack of results. She looked the papers over and I watched her eyes dance across the first few sentences. She sucked in a sharp breath and read a few more, moisture filling her eyes before she laid the papers in her lap and looked over to me.
Her eyes bore into mine. Searching for answers, my eyes widened, waiting for what she would tell me about my future.
If I were Trevor’s dad.
I loved the kid; had gotten the chance to know him these last few months. I wanted to give kids to Georgia, share that with her, just us, but I also knew there was a small piece of my heart that was attached to the four-year-old boy who'd shown up on my porch this summer.
“He’s not . . . the results are negative. You’re not his dad.” Tears trickled down her cheeks as she wrapped me in her arms. I sat frozen for a minute, my heart pounding in my chest. It ran so fucking fast, I thought it would burst out of my ribcage and gallop off.
I wasn’t Trevor’s dad.
Trevor wasn’t mine.
He looked like me, had my eyes, but that was coincidence. I wrapped my arms around Georgia and, finally, a sigh escaped my lips. “I don’t know what to think.” I held onto her for dear life. If there was anyone I needed at this moment, it was her, in my arms. In my life. “I didn’t want him to be mine for you . . . but I think part of me did want him,” I murmured so softly it was a revelation to me.
“I know. I know,” she whispered as she stroked my back.
“I didn’t think I was ready to be a dad, but when he looked up at me . . . I want kids, Georgia.”
“I know, honey. Buckets full,” she whispered, a smile in her voice.
“I want kids now.” I pulled away, gazing at her.
“Now?” Her eyebrows knit together. “You’re probably just adjusting. You thought for so long he was yours and now to find out he’s not . . .”
“No, that’s not it. Being his dad, no matter how short, I loved it. And I want that. With you.” I held both of my hands against her flat stomach. Her eyes darted down to my hands holding her belly. I knew what she was thinking, because I was thinking it too. I was thinking about my child; our baby growing inside her. She licked her lips before her eyes found mine again.
“Yeah?” she whispered, her lips parted slightly as small breaths escaped them.
“Yeah.” I grinned. “I want to get started on those buckets full of babies,” I murmured before I kissed her and laid her down on the floor, worshiping her body in the best way I knew how because Georgia had finally chosen me.
Chosen this.
Chosen us.
Epilogue
“Uhm . . . what the fuck are you doing?” I stepped out of the bathroom, my eyebrows scrunched together as I took in Georgia’s form on the bed, a pillow propped under her ass, legs in the air.
“Shut up,” she pouted. “It helps your swimmers get to where they need to be.”
“Seriously?” I cocked my head to the side, an eyebrow arched in disbelief.
“I read it. You would know that too if you would have read the daddy book I bought you, you jackass.” She laughed before fumbling for a thick blue and pink baby book on the nightstand and whipped it at my head.
I caught it before it had a chance to take me out. “Babe, I don’t think my swimmers need any help.” I winked at her, setting the book back on the nightstand and standing beside her contorted form on the bed.
“Well, dear, my eggs may say otherwise since it’s been three months since we started trying . . .” Her voice trailed off, water misting her eyes.
“Georgia . . .” I sat beside her on the bed and threaded my fingers through her long, chocolate locks. “It’s gonna happen for us, baby, just give it time. Can’t stress affect it? We had so much going on over the holidays. Just give things some time to calm down.” I dusted a kiss along her temple.
“Yeah, but what if I can’t have kids? What if I’m barren? I’ve been on birth control for years, Tristan. Years. Maybe that makes a person sterile long-term.” She wiggled her hips and arched her ass farther in the air.
“Did you read that somewhere?”
“No, but—”
“No buts. It’ll just take time.” I placed a soft kiss on her cheek before pulling on a pair of jeans that were lying in a heap on the floor.
I was about to head to the porch to call Trevor for our Saturday morning sports recap. After we'd gotten the paternity test results and found out that I wasn't Trevor's dad, I'd called Lexi and we'd talked for a long time. It broke my heart to explain to Trevor that I wasn't technically his dad, but that I still wanted to hang out with him. Apparently the only other guy that could be his biological dad had problems with drugs and alcohol so Lexi didn't want him in Trevor's life. I agreed with her, and I'd grown attached to the little guy, so I promised to swing by and see him whenever I was in Jacksonville and continue to call him at least once a week.
“Can’t it take up to a year for your system to readjust without the birth control anyway?” I tried to ease her mind as I shrugged a button down over my shoulders.
“Yeah.” She heaved a sigh. My hands dropped to my sides before I could button the shirt. She was so adorable, her eyebrows furrowed with worry, her legs hiked up, only a sheet covering her soft body.
Happiest day of my life when she’d said yes.
“Stop worrying, beautiful.” I bent to kiss her.
“Come down here and keep me company. I have to sit like this for thirty minutes.”
I rolled my eyes at her refusal to accept my reassurances. “I’m telling you, my swimmers? Strong. They don’t need the help. But I will lie in bed next to your hot little body.” I grinned and tweaked her nipple as I rolled onto the bed with her.
“Ow. You’re a sadist.” She grabbed her breast and massaged it in her hand.
“By all means then, let me help.” I lowered my head, hair falling across my forehead, and sucked her little pink nipple between my lips, caressing it with my tongue, pulling on it, and drawing it out.
“Ugh,” she whimpered and held my head to her chest.
“Ready again, baby?”
“Thirty minutes,” she moaned. Jesus Christ, she was determined to follow that book, no matter what.
“Might help our chances to double the dose of swimmers.” I grinned and sucked her other nipple into my mouth.
“Mmm . . . I don’t think that’s how it works,” she whispered as she threaded her fingers in my hair and I got lost in her all over again.
* * *
“You’re thinking about adopting?” I heard Georgia murmur over the phone. She sat perched on a deck chair, the misty air swirling her brown locks around her shoulders as she talked with Silas on the phone. I watched her from the French doors, listening in on her conversation.
We’d been married for six months, and been trying for a baby since the first night we’d gotten home from our honeymoon, without luc
k. I knew that every month that passed she grew sadder and sadder. She was becoming more affected by our inability to conceive and it ripped my heart out to watch her sadly shuffle into the room and announce that she’d gotten her period yet again.
She was losing heart.
Every month, we tried when she was fertile, but that wasn’t the only time we were having sex, because we were still as insatiable as ever. I couldn’t get enough of her, but now, during her fertile window, she went to great lengths to encourage the swimmers, as she said. I tried to make a joke, tried to make it a laughing matter, but I could tell the humor was slowly leaving her.
The thing she’d always dreamed of, the life she’d always wanted, and we were having trouble making it happen. I’d already gone to the doctor to see if it was me. I’d splooged in a cup, nervous that it could be my fault that we hadn't yet made a baby. The counts had come back good. Motility perfect. I prayed to God this wasn’t a permanent problem, I didn’t know if Georgia could deal with something else being taken away from her.
“Hey, babe. How’s Silas?” I wrapped one arm around her as she tucked herself into me. She nuzzled into my neck and took a deep breath. Scenting me, taking me in, she’d been doing exactly this since the beginning and it made me delirious with love and desire for her.
“Good. He and Justin are thinking of adopting.”
“Yeah? That would be great. They’d be great dads.”
“Yeah . . . I just wish it wasn’t so hard for us . . .”
“I know, Georgia.” I’d stopped telling her to give it more time because truth be told, I wasn’t sure that was all it would take anymore. I was scared that there was something wrong and that thought made my heart ache.
* * *
“Happy birthday, man.” Gavin swatted me on the shoulder, beer in hand. Bennett ran full tilt across the living room and out the French doors, Charlie hot on his heels. His laughter echoed on the wind as Georgia and Drew giggled at his antics.
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