The Proposal (Forever Bound Book 2)

by Bree Callahan

  Derek’s face drifted into her mind, and she pictured it was him she was feeling on top of her. She tightly closed her eyes to force him out of her thoughts and Damian’s cock slipped into her. She bucked her hips hard against him, and they got back into the methodic rhythm of fucking one another. Her arms hung around him while they didn’t break their embrace, their kiss, or their connection. She needed this feeling and Damian was the perfect man to get it done.

  She clung onto him as their rocking grew stronger and another orgasm swept over her body. “Ahhh…” she moaned. Her nails dug into his back as his tongue crashed against hers. “Oh God…” she whimpered. She broke from his kiss and her head fell into the crook of his neck. Her mouth hungrily kissed his skin, while his breath brushed shivers over her body. Her juices slowly enveloped his manhood and she kissed him one last time on the neck, before falling back down on the bed and gasping for air. Her chest was inflating and deflating as she stared up at the ceiling. His mouth never left her body as she ravished each part of her, tediously weaving his lips from one spot to the next. While she wanted to think about the man that was in bed with her, she found her mind still wandering back to the Mayor.

  “Damn, Baby…you get sexier and sexier every day.” His smooth words washed over, and she smiled. Their eyes connected. She wanted to repay the compliment, but she didn’t know what to say so it wouldn’t come across as her just saying it because he did. His mouth touched hers, and she just laid there.

  “Damian…” she whispered, breaking from the kiss.

  He groaned. “I know…you need to leave because you have work early.” His words were filled with disappointment, and it hit her that all this time she’d never told him she quit her job. Why? The question entered her mind, and she couldn’t pinpoint an answer, but it was time to be truthful about that.

  She shook her head. “I quit my job.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You quit? Why?” he asked softly.

  She shrugged. “Wasn’t getting enough time with you,” she lied.

  He smiled. “Baby…that was sweet.” She felt like a heel lying to him. She kept her face looking bright. “What are you going to do?”

  “I got an amazing job at the daycare. I start a week from tomorrow.” Her words sounded overly excited, but he didn’t catch on.

  “Awesome, Babe.” He kissed her and she sighed heavily. She couldn’t believe she was lying to the one guy that had only been truthful to her. She just couldn’t tell him that she quit because she was madly in love with Derek and he broke her heart. When they stopped kissing, his grin remained big. “So, does that mean you’re spending the night?”

  She laughed and pretended to think about that, even though she had every intention of spending the night. She even brought a change of clothes, but she had left it in the car. “You have to work tomorrow, so maybe I should go home tonight.”

  He tickled her hips, and she laughed as he flipped her onto her back. “I can miss one day.” With his hands still holding onto her hips, he lowered himself down and their lips connected once more. She instantly forgot why she had said his name earlier. She didn’t want to stop this, no matter how much her head told her otherwise.

  ****

  Derek peered out at the crowd. Half the town showed up, but the one person he wanted there…he couldn’t see. He didn’t expect her to come, especially after they left things on Saturday night, but he had hoped she would consider it. She was one of the reasons the project was happening when it was. He turned away from the crowd and looked down at his notes, and he closed his eyes and tried to remember his speech, but it all seemed a blur.

  “This is it!” He looked up as Jesse and Ana approached him.

  He put on a smile. “Thanks for coming…” he glanced at Ana and nodded slightly, “both of you. I really appreciate it.”

  Jesse smacked him on the back. “We wouldn’t miss it.”

  A part of him wished that was how Charity felt, but it was over and done with, and clearly she wasn’t interested. “A lot of people showed up!” Ana enthusiastically exclaimed.

  He snickered and glanced back to where people were filling empty seats and then the rest lined up behind the chairs. “Yeah…I noticed.” He wasn’t much for getting up and making speeches, and this bothered his stomach, but it would soon be over.

  “We’ll let you go, Bud, but break a leg.” Jesse chuckled and punched Derek into the arm.

  Derek nodded. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

  He read through his notes once more, then he heard Rebecca Sampson, the woman that won the Ms. Buxton contest only two weeks earlier, speaking. She turned around and watched her introduce him. He took a deep breath as she continued. “So, it is with great honor that I call Mayor Derek Worthington to this podium.” She turned around and clapped, as the crowd erupted into applause.

  He slowly moved to the podium and smiled at her. “Thank you, Rebecca.”

  She smiled and stepped away from the microphone. Derek turned to the people that took their time out of their schedules to be there. “I want to start off by thanking everyone for coming out today.” He scanned over the audience once more. He felt a knot in his stomach. He let a slow breath escape his lips and forced a smile. “This project has been a long and bumpy road to get here, but with perseverance from so many and hard work from everyone involved, I stand here to say that we are bringing hundreds of jobs to this city and helping our community.” The crowd applauded, and several people screamed out their excitement. He glanced down at his notes and scanned through so he didn’t repeat his words.

  He found the spot on his cards and looked back up. That’s when he noticed her. She was standing next to a tree, nearly in the back row, but her eyes were intently watching him. He cleared his throat, forgetting what he was about to say. He quickly looked down at his cards so the audience wouldn’t get restless. He was surprised she came, but mostly…he was thankful she cared enough to come. Then he worried it was only a dream, so he quickly looked back up and saw she still remained next to the tree. She nodded slightly as if egging him on to continue his speech.

  “I am proud of this city, and everything we’ve accomplished and I know that there will be many more opportunities to excel here.” He pushed his cards away, as he forgot where he was in his speech and it didn’t even matter. “Today we are breaking ground on new opportunities…new adventures…and new visions for what Buxton can and will be.” Another moment of erupted applause sounded at the site. “I can’t wait to see what the future holds.” He stepped away from the podium and walked over to the poles that held a cloth from one pole to the other. He turned his head, and a pair of scissors was handed to him. “Thank you.” He turned back to the audience with one more phrase for them to think on. “I give you all the future site of Buxton Mall.” He cut the ribbon, and everyone jumped up and applauded.

  He took in the vision of rows and rows of cheering people, all on their feet and celebrating a new chapter in the life of Buxton. He relished the moment for only a split second because he wanted to talk to Charity and he couldn’t let her get away.

  ****

  Charity clapped, as did the rest of the audience. It was clear he’d seen her, but she had no intention of sticking around. She started to leave the safety of the tree when she heard her name being called out. “Charity!” She saw Ana running towards her. Ana through her arms around her, before Charity could get away. “I thought that was you.” Ana pulled back from the hug. “I’m so glad you came. When you didn’t come home last night, and you didn’t answer my call and text, I thought maybe you left the country.” Ana laughed.

  Charity chuckled lightly. “I should’ve called you last night. I was…uh…detained.”

  Ana nodded, recognizing what she meant by that. “No worries. I’m just glad you’re here.” She grabbed Charity’s arm and started pulling her into the crowd. “I know that Derek will be even more pleased.”

  Charity dug her heels into the ground so she couldn’t budge. �
��I…I…I really need to go,” she stammered.

  Ana twirled around and stared at her. “Since you came, I just thought that meant you were ready to really talk to him.”

  Charity rolled her eyes. “Ana, I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I think I have forgiven him, but that doesn’t mean I want to be around him.”

  Ana scrunched up her nose. “Come on Charity…cut the guy some slack. We can all go out for lunch and slowly you can put this behind you.”

  The words that came out of Ana’s mouth irritated her more than anything. She didn’t understand why she was expected to automatically accept his lies and move on. She could forgive, but she wasn’t about to forget and seeing Derek only made her remember it that much more. “I’m cutting him some slack,” Charity quickly defended herself. “You saw it at the Karaoke Bar. We could barely be around each other for five minutes without throwing rude comments around.”

  Ana tilted her head. “We’re all adults, Charity.”

  Charity nodded. “Yet, when I’m around him I tend to forget that.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Ana, but I really need to go.”

  “Fine!” Ana reluctantly replied. “Will you be home tonight?”

  Charity nodded. “At some point. Goodbye.”

  Charity twirled around to hurry away before Derek could find her and corner her into talking him, and she landed right in Derek’s arms. His hands held firm to her elbows and their eyes locked. “Hello,” he softly said.

  She pulled herself back and strategically slipped her arms out of his grasp. “Hello.” She side glanced at Ana to see if Ana had any idea he was standing right behind her. Ana bit her lower lip like she was trying not to laugh, but it was still too hard to see if this was another setup. She glanced back at Derek. “Nice speech you gave there,” she replied, keeping her tone friendly.

  “Thank you.” He hesitated, before stating, “Thank you for coming. It means a lot to me.”

  Her eyes felt a twitch as she stared at him longer than the average kid that was playing the staring contest. She looked away from him, only to find that Ana was gone and most likely giving them some privacy. “I figured half the town would be here, so I might as well be here, too.”

  He nodded. “Right!” He awkwardly looked away, but that gave Charity the escape she needed.

  “Congratulations, Derek. I’ll see you around.” She started to leave, but he soon had her turning back around.

  “Go to Supper with me.”

  It wasn’t a question, just a simple statement. Charity found herself laughing harder than Derek probably thought she would, but she couldn’t help herself. “I’m sorry.” She coughed, trying not to laugh anymore. “Is that supposed to be a supper invitation or a supper demand?” she asked.

  He fidgeted in place, before shrugging. “I would like you to go out with me…just the two of us.” He stopped fidgeting for a moment and added, “Or, you could come to the house, and my housekeeper will fix a meal. It’s your call.”

  Charity shook her head to immediately say no but then stopped herself. “Why?” she asked.

  When he didn’t answer right away, she crossed her arms in front of her and gave off the vibe she wasn’t messing around. “Fine. You wanna know why? I thought maybe if we started off brand new then we could get past this lie.”

  She opened her mouth, but an elderly woman interrupted their conversation. “Mayor Worthington that was a breathtaking speech.” He smiled and turned his attention to the female. He shook her hand and thanked her. “Your father would be so proud,” she continued.

  Charity saw the strained look on his face as he responded to her. “I hope so. Thank you so much for coming.” The woman left, and he turned back to Charity. “Let’s just move past the inheritance. I would like to spend time with you, so we can talk and really try to put this behind us.”

  Charity wanted to say no. She wanted to push him away and tell him to never talk to her again, but that’s not what came out of her mouth. “Okay,” she squeaked out.

  His eyes widened. “Okay?”

  She nodded. She wasn’t sure it was the correct choice to make, but it was what she wanted to do. “I will have supper with you.”

  He smiled. “Alright. How about Friday night?”

  She nodded. “Friday night it is.” She paused and added, “On one condition…”

  He frowned. “What?”

  She turned around to see if they were being watched. The crowd had thinned out, and she saw Jesse and Ana across the field. “I don’t want them to know.”

  “You don’t want me to tell Jesse?”

  She shook her head. “If we can’t keep it between the two of us, then I don’t think it will work. Please do that for me.”

  He nodded. “Anything!”

  She sighed. “Alright. Then we better meet somewhere.”

  “Are you up for a home-cooked meal?” he asked. “Mary has the best baked spaghetti recipe.”

  “Sounds good!” she replied. “What time should I be there?”

  “Seven?” he asked.

  “Okay. I’ll see you then.” She turned away from him and headed out of the field and to her car. Once inside the car, she looked at her reflection in her visor mirror. “It was a mistake,” she slowly replied, but she didn’t care. Friday night she was going on a date with Derek, and she was mildly excited.

  She started her car and pulled away from the curb. She drove back to Damian’s house. He lived closer to the construction site, so she didn’t have far to think. She’d left a note stating she had to go out, as he was still sleeping when she left. She pulled into his driveway and shut the car off. She walked up the front path and used the key he had given her to unlock the door. When she got inside, she heard the soft noise coming out of the living room. He looked up when she got into the living room. He turned the television off and smiled slightly. The smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

  “Hey,” she softly greeted him.

  “Hey.” He stood up from the couch. “Where were you?” he asked, moving closer to her. He had on a pair of Batman lounge pants.

  “Just had to go check on something.”

  He nodded. “Check on what?” he asked. He was acting strange, and it wasn’t like him to be so persistent to find out an answer.

  “I needed to make sure Ana remembered to turn the stove off after she made breakfast this morning. You were sleeping, so thought I’d run out.”

  He raised his eyebrows at her response. It was lame, and she cringed at the lack of creativity. “Did she?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yep…no worries.”

  He smiled. “Too bad you couldn’t have just called Ana.”

  Charity shrugged. “No biggie. Like I said you were sound asleep anyway.” She stood on her tip-toes and kissed his nose. “Good morning.”

  He grinned. “Good morning!” He wrapped his arms around Charity, and the expectation was they would just go back to where they left off the night before, but then his words stopped her. “So, you stopped at the ribbon cutting after you checked on the apartment?” She fell out of her hold and stared at him.

  “What?” she asked.

  He pointed to the TV. “The ribbon cutting was live on the television.” She felt her face drain of all its blood. “I saw you there.”

  “Oh…” she slowly replied.

  He continued. “It’s no big deal, but if you wanted to go, you should’ve woke me. I would’ve gone with you.”

  She was grateful he hadn’t seen her talking to Derek, because he would surely start to question if something was going on between the two of them. “It’s exciting for Buxton,” she quickly stated.

  He nodded. “I know, and that’s why I would have gladly gone with you.”

  She wrapped her hand around his neck. “I should’ve told you,” she quietly replied. She leaned in and kissed him softly, hoping the subject would be dropped.

  “I’ll forgive you,” he replied with a chuckle. He deepened the kiss, and a sigh of
relief went through her body. He didn’t ask any more questions, and she could rest easy that he still didn’t know the real reason she quit her job.

  Chapter 10

  Come Friday, Charity sat nervously on the living room couch. Jesse and Ana were going out, which she was grateful for, but it seemed like Ana was dragging her feet to get ready. The TV was blaring out a medical drama that Ana had recorded on the DVR. Charity glanced at her, then glanced at her watch.

  “What time is he picking you up?” Charity asked. She felt like she’d asked that question at least a dozen times, so she knew the answer, but it was nearing that time, and Ana hadn’t made an attempt to get ready.

  Ana gave her weird look, then laughed. “Six o’clock,” she replied, for the umpteenth time.

  Charity fidgeted in her seat and looked over to where Ana was. She wore jeans and a t-shirt, it was a far cry from what she usually wore when going out with Jesse. She tentatively questioned what she was thinking. “Um…are you going to change?”

  Ana raised an eyebrow, then snickered. “Real nice, Charity. I spent hours picking out this outfit.” She laughed to prove she was obviously teasing. “Tonight is a very relaxed night. We’ll probably grab some fast food and then head to the mall in Briar Ridge.” Even the sound of Briar Ridge made Charity nervous. She’d been avoiding Damian’s calls, other than vaguely telling him that she was needed at home. She blamed Ana having some family drama and needing a friend. He didn’t even question it, whether he was disappointed or not. Charity just didn’t feel it was nice to string Damian along when she had this meeting with Derek. She had stopped calling it a date because too many expectations were expected with that one word.

  “Mall?” Charity asked.

  Ana glanced away from the TV. “Jesse’s brother’s birthday is next weekend, and I’m helping him shop for it.”

  “Oh…sounds like fun,” Charity replied softly. Ana just nodded and turned back to the television screen. Charity hated interrupting another time, but she did have one final question. “So…how long do you think you’ll be out?”