Sure, I was attracted to him from day one; who in their right mind wouldn’t be? But gosh this man can be a jerk sometimes and grate on my very last nerve. Luckily, we have moved past that part. After all of the drama we’d been through, we still found our way back to each other and I can’t remember the last time I was this happy. I want to be this happy forever. I want to be this happy with Tanner. I know my answer before he even pulls the box out of his pocket.
“Amelia,” he lets out a nervous laugh, “are you gonna leave a guy hanging?” He sighs, moving to stand up. “Maybe this was too soon, maybe we won’t ever be—”
“Yes, yes, yes… a millions times yes!” I interrupt, launching myself off of the couch and tackling him to the floor. He hits it with an oomph and we land pressed together, both laughing as he holds the box in the air.
After my breathing returns to normal and we’re mere inches apart, I hold up one finger. “On one condition though.”
“Anything,” he answers quickly and my mouth spreads into a wide smile.
“Anything?”
“Yup,” he says with a pop, and I jump to my feet, running towards the bedroom.
“Alright, then get your ass in here,” I direct over my shoulder and grin when he actually listens. I bounce onto the bed and watch as he pads into the room behind me. I watch in fascination as he slowly pulls on the hem of his t-shirt as he walks and tugs it over his head, throwing it in my direction.
I laugh and inhale. “Mmm, I love the smell of Tanner.” He pulls on his belt and tugs off his jeans before joining me on the bed to hover over me. His blue eyes are intense as he looks down at me.
“We forgot this part.”
I squint at him and then notice that he still has the box in one hand. I got so caught up in the excitement and then the prospect of sexy time that I forgot about actually putting the ring on. He pulls it out of the box and then slowly slides it onto my finger. “Perfect,” he hums before placing a kiss on the ring and I hold my hand out in front of me to examine it more closely.
“It’s beautiful,” I breathe. “I love it.”
“That’s good. You can tell that to Paisley in the morning. She’s the one who picked it out.”
“Aw, really?” My heart squeezes and tears prick at my eyes thinking of them doing that together. I’m sure she doesn’t really get what the ring means and all, but it still makes it special. “That’s so awesome. Thank you.”
He smiles before lacing his hand through mine. “I’m glad you like it. Now, where were we?”
“Are you really going to honor my condition? I mean you really—” I’m cut off by his lips and I quickly decide that keeping my mouth closed is really what’s for the best in this situation—well, not completely closed. I don’t need him changing his mind and leaving me all hot and bothered, which is exactly what I am right now because his hands and mouth are roaming over my body all at once. Apparently I’m not the only one who is sexually frustrated.
“Mmm,” he inhales deeply. “My Georgia peach.” His teeth rake against my neck as his fingers pull up on the hem of my nightgown. “How could you ever doubt the fact that I wanted you?” he murmurs against my skin before pulling back to lift my nightgown up and over my head. “I’ve never not wanted you. You’re on my brain day and night, even when I sleep.”
“Have you been having some naughty dreams, Mr. Cox?”
“Always.” He bends down to grab at my nightgown, and soon enough we’re both naked. Reality sinks in that this really happening—it’s finally happening. Yet another stepping stone in our relationship that I never thought we would get to. “But tonight,” he says between kisses, rubbing his nose across my stomach, “we’re going to make those dreams come true. Over and over. You know, so I can live up to that one condition.”
My eyes roll backwards as he presses against the spot that I so desperately need him to touch and my breath comes out in small spurts as he plays me like a finely tuned instrument, one that he knows exactly how to play. “Tanner, I…” a moan overtakes me and I’m left breathless, climbing so close to that high but then he’s pulling away, kissing his way up my body until he reaches my lips. “Quit teasing me,” I rasp.
He chuckles as he hovers over me. “No more teasing tonight.” He follows through with his promise and before I can even take another breath, he’s sliding inside of me and the stars explode. We sigh in unison when he’s fully in and I lean up to place a kiss on his lips. “I love you, Tanner.”
“I love you, too.” He returns the kiss and what starts off as a spark grows into a full blown wild fire as we begin to move together. A rhythm is found and he rasps in my ear unintelligible words, becoming frenzied with his pace. “Amelia, I…” he groans, slowing his speed and slipping a hand between us to rub mind blowing circles that have me slowly spinning out of control. “This is going to be over way too soon,” he explains. “I can’t control myself right now. You’re pussy feels way too good for me to last long. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry,” I whisper in his ear, wrapping my legs tighter around him to urge him on. “We have the rest of the night.”
“You’re right,” he agrees and then he’s slamming back into me. My body hums as he pounds into me and whispers sweet nothings into my ear all the while I chant his name over and over again. His stomach muscles tighten. “I can’t stop, Amelia. I can’t stop.”
“Then don’t,” I answer breathlessly. And then I’m clenching around him and he’s exploding inside of me, and all feels completely right in the world—well, in our own little world at least. In this moment, I don’t care about anyone or anything else. He pulls me against his body, sprinkling kisses onto my shoulders and I sigh as my body completely relaxes.
Both of our dreams finally came true tonight.
Chapter 20
Tanner
I woke up this morning to Amelia’s lips wrapped around my dick. Could life get any better? After pulling her up onto my lap and sliding into her, I was sure that it couldn’t. Not that it was about the sex, anyway. I wanted Amelia to know that. I needed her to know that. That’s why I wanted to wait and do things the right way this time around, but my girl wasn’t having it. Amelia knew what she wanted and there was no way in hell I couldn’t give it to her any longer—and give it to her is exactly what I did.
And now, we’re getting married. Things are moving fast, but neither one of us care. We had already wasted enough time apart; why waste any more time not being together?
To have her back in my life is unexplainable. Everything just feels right—but I’m still beating myself up for not doing it in the first place. Trying to help Marissa when she needed it clouded what was right there in front of me, and I will be trying to make it up to Amelia for the rest of our lives.
My phone rings from the nightstand and I groan, not wanting to deal with reality right now, so I choose to ignore it. Instead, I kiss a now sleeping Amelia, who looks like an angel with her golden hair fanned all around her on the pillow, before heading towards Paisleys room. I love being with both of them pretty much all the time now and I can tell Paisley is over the moon about the fact.
“Hey, baby girl.” I grin when I slowly push her door open to see her sitting in her toddler bed with her blanket in one hand and her worn out doll that she drags everywhere in the other. “You’re being awfully quiet in here. You ready for some breakfast?”
She nods, giving me a sweet smile. “Cake cakes.”
“I think I can handle some cake cakes. We’ll let Mommy sleep in on the one morning she can, kay?”
“Kay, Daddy. Cake cakes and jelly,” she states matter-of-factly and I kiss her on the cheek before flipping on some cartoons.
“Coming right up, baby girl.” I start to rifle through Amelia’s cabinets, not sure of where everything is exactly. She’s not the most organized person.
My phone rings again from the pocket of my pajama pants just as I’m mixing up the batter and I tense when I pull it out to look at the s
creen. Marissa. I haven’t heard from her since she very willingly signed the divorce papers. It was weird to have her cut out of my life so completely when she had been a part of it for so long, but it was something that needed to happen. She was toxic and didn’t want help.
I hit the ignore button and finish up breakfast. By the time Paisley is licking the last bit of jelly off her plate, Amelia comes shuffling out in my t-shirt and my dick instantly gets hard. Her long tan legs are bare and I want them wrapped around me now. Her blonde hair is pulled into a messy bun and I want to bury my hands in it. Everything about this girl makes me want her and I doubt I’ll ever get enough but then Paisley squeals and runs for Amelia and I remember why I can’t have her every second of the day. Good thing that little girl is so cute.
“Morning, gorgeous,” I say.
“Morning. Are these for me?” She eyes a stack of pancakes, licking at her lips and I smirk.
“Sure are.”
“You’re amazing,” she declares as she grabs the bottle of syrup and then turns to rifle through the cabinets before pulling out a jar of peanut butter. She lathers her stack of pancakes in peanut butter and then drizzles syrup on top as I eye her and my lip curls up.
“You’re gonna eat that?”
She shrugs before slowly licking a stray drop of syrup from her fingers and then winking at me—she fucking winks. God damn, this girl knows exactly how to push my buttons.
“This was my one and only major craving that I had to have all the time when I was pregnant and it stuck. I know my fat ass doesn’t need it but I can’t help myself.”
“Your fat ass?” I sputter. I love her ass; it’s magnificent and probably my favorite body part—well, no, it’s too hard to decide on just one. But it’s pretty damn fantastic.
“Oh please, Tanner. Don’t act like you haven’t noticed how much weight I’ve gained since I’ve had Paisley. It’s depressing.”
“Amelia,” I grab onto her hand and she drops her fork with a loud sigh, “you’re more than perfect and don’t ever think that you’re not. I love your curves and that’s exactly what they are, not fat. No reason to be depressed. I think your body now gets my dick even harder than before.”
She snorts. “Well that’s good to know.” Her eyes drop down to my crotch and she reaches out a hand to rub my cock through the thin material of my shorts. “I’m so glad I can make you happier, little guy.”
“Little guy?” I raise a brow and she rolls her eyes.
“Oh sorry, my bad.” She rubs her hands over my pants and then squeezes, causing me to groan. “There’s nothing little about you, you one eyed monster beast.”
“Do you want to see the one eyed monster beast?” I ask, leaning down to rub my nose against her neck, pushing her hand harder against my crotch.
“Does he want to come out and play?” she teases even more and I’m almost completely spent. She snaps my waistband and I hiss out a breath.
“Hell yes he does. You unleashed the one eyed monster beast and now he won’t be going nowhere anytime soon besides inside you.” I slide a hand up under the shirt of mine she’s wearing and sigh when I realize she doesn’t have any panties on. Holy fuck it’s my lucky day.
“Daddy, what a one eye monster?” Paisley interrupts, throwing a bucket of ice cold water straight onto the both of us and we jump away from each other, caught red handed.
Well, hell. Good thing that little girl is so damn cute.
Chapter 21
After a day of hanging out with Paisley and Tanner, I felt even better about my decision to give him the chance that he so desperately asked for. Every once in a while I still have my doubts. I think most people in my situation—hell, most wouldn’t have even gotten as far as I am today.
“Hey, I need to run a couple of errands. Do you think you and Paisley will be alright for a bit?” Tanner crouches down next to my spot where I’m lying by the pool at my complex, watching Paisley splash on the steps. We have it all to ourselves.
I tip my sunglasses down and give him a look. “Yes, I think we’ll be able okay.”
“Well, I know you can handle yourself, blondie.” He presses a kiss to my lips, one that’s meant to be a peck but quickly turns into his mouth moving hard and fast against mine and I’m more than welcoming. My legs clench together when his hands feather across my bare stomach, sliding dangerously low to rest on the top edge of my bathing suit bottoms. He unlatches his mouth with a growl, giving me a heated look. “We’ll finish that later,” he promises.
“Well alright then, sounds like a plan,” I answer a little breathlessly, more than eager to put Paisley down for her nap so we could do just that right now but Tanner was already heading out of gate the with his keys in hand.
“I’ll be back in a bit. Love you two.”
My phone rings from the patio table, stopping me from running after him, and I scoop it up, taking a deep breath when I see that it’s Monroe. I’m hoping that this is going to be a good call. She and Miller had a doctor’s appointment today. They were trying to jump straight into having kids, but with all of Monroe’s complications with her endometriosis, she wasn’t sure how easy it was going to be. My heart hurt for my best friend. I could see the pain in her eyes from the unknown whenever the subject was brought up and I couldn’t do anything about it but be a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on.
“Hey Roe!”
Silence on the other end and then I hear a shaky breath.
“He-y.” Her voice cracks and I just know whatever happened at that appointment wasn’t good.
“Oh, sweetie. What happened?”
By the time I hang up the phone, I’m in tears and unsure of what to do or say to make my best friend feel any better. Monroe is like my sister—she is my sister. The diagnosis doesn’t sound good. I know she’s already sick of hearing the “it’ll happen”, “God has a plan for you”, or “you’re young, you have plenty of time to worry about that”.
“Mommy crying?” Paisley pads on over to me with wet feet, patting a hand on my cheek and I sniffle and laugh at the same time.
“I’m alright, Paisley girl. Don’t you worry about your mama. Are you all done swimming?”
She nods and her little teeth start chattering. “Alright, let’s get you all toasty and then I think you and I are going to take a nap.”
***
I pop my eyes open when my phone vibrates from the nightstand. I’m surprised to see that the room is becoming dark. I guess the sun wore us both out because Paisley is still cuddled up next to me, softly snoring. I groan when my phone starts up again and hit the answer button before it wakes Paisley.
“Hello?” I whisper, sliding out of bed and quietly closing the door behind me before heading towards the living room. It doesn’t look like Tanner is back yet, which is surprising and I didn’t have time to see if there were any missed calls from him before answering my phone.
“Amelia.” Monroe’s voice is low and flat and I feel guilt roll through my stomach. I shouldn’t have taken such a long nap. Besides Miller and Mamaw, I’m all she really has around here since her family is back in Michigan. Monroe is definitely in need of some girl time and cookies to take her mind off of things.
“Hey, hon. Sorry, Paisley and I fell asleep for a lot longer than I was expecting. What are you up to? I was thinking of making some cookies for a certain someone.”
“Amelia,” she repeats again and I stiffen at her tone.
“Monroe, what’s wrong?”
“It’s Tanner. There’s been an accident.”
The phone slips from my hands in slow motion, falling to the floor, but the sound falls on deaf ears. All of the possibilities catapult me at once, sending me through a whirlwind. I can’t lose Tanner. I just got him back. Why is this happening? What happened?
Somehow, I pick my phone back up, even though I don’t remember doing so, and press it hard against my ear. “Roe,” I choke out, furiously blinking away the hot burning tears. “Is he okay? Please tell
me he’s okay.”
“I don’t know, sweetie. Do you think you can get to the hospital okay or do you want us to pick you up?”
“No, no. I’m fine to drive. That’ll take too long. I just need to get there.” I’m already grabbing my keys with one hand and pushing the tears that are blurring my vision away with the other. I have to be strong for Tanner and Paisley—well, as strong as I can be. Once I find out what happened and what kind of condition he’s in, I don’t know how strong I’ll really be able to be.
Chapter 22
Tanner
The guilt about leaving Amelia is eating me alive. I didn’t necessarily lie to her about where I was going, but I didn’t tell her the truth either. I’m not really sure how she would react. I’m guessing not well. But I felt like I had to help. Why? I have no fucking clue. Although Marissa isn’t my wife anymore and I’m more than happy with Amelia, I can’t just shut Marissa out if she needs help—no matter how fucking hard I try. I guess it’s because she’s been a part of my life for so long.
When her calls wouldn’t stop, I knew something was wrong. So, I finally answered my phone and got a sobbing Marissa on the other end. “Tanner, can you come get me? I don’t want to bother you but I need help. Oh, Tan. I really screwed everything up, didn’t I? I just…I just can’t stop no matter how hard I try. Even losing you once wasn’t enough of a wakeup call for me. And now, I completely lost you,” she wailed and I squeezed my eyes shut, hating to hear her so upset, but my sympathy for her was pretty much non-existent.
“Marissa, where are you? Did you call anyone else? Can’t they pick you up?”
“No.” She sniffled. “No one else wants anything to do with me. I’m such a fuck up, Tanner. Where in the hell did I go wrong? I had everything and I lost it all. I feel like just giving up—no one would care.”
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