I was so encapsulated with bestowing upon the performers my gratitude for their performance that I didn’t notice Jace’s disappearing act.
I watched him walk out onto the stage and everything settled to a dull roar. He situated his microphone over his ear as my brow furrowed with confusion yet again.
What was Jace doing on stage?
“What a wonderful performance!” he exclaimed.
The audience burst into applause again before they started pounding their feet on the floor.
“First of all, I want to thank everyone for coming. This is the last theatrical performance of the year, and if you want my personal opinion? It was the perfect one. A story about heartbreak, healing, love, and life. What story could be better to usher in the New Year?”
Then, his eyes fell to me.
“The beautiful mother of my children is here,” Jace said.
Everyone clapped and whistled as my cheeks flushed furiously.
“Jace? What are you doing?” I asked with a harsh whisper.
“Catherine, come up here so everyone can get a good look at you.”
“What?” I asked.
“Come on. Don’t be shy.”
“Jace, I’m not coming up there.”
“Catherine! Catherine! Catherine! Catherine!”
Everyone began chanting my name. The production crew. The audience. The cast. The pit orchestra. Everyone erupted into a chant that aligned with the hands that were rhythmically pounding against the backs of the seats. I shook my head as a stagehand offered me his arm, so I took it as he guided me backstage. He walked me up a set up steps and led me through a door, and briefly Jace disappeared from view. The crowd fell silent and the chanting stopped. My mind swirled with confusion as the guy dressed in all black held a curtain back for me to walk through.
And when I saw Jace again, he was down on one knee.
Smiling.
With an open ring box in the palm of his hand.
My jaw hit the floor. My body wouldn’t move. My eyes widened as he knelt there on stage, open and vulnerable and waiting. My heart slammed so hard in my chest I thought it would break my sternum. My hands trembled as tears rushed my eyes. I looked over at the stagehand and he smiled at me, ushering with his arm for me to proceed.
And oh, how I wanted to.
I walked out onto the stage and the crowd started applauding again. I took a joking bow, earning a hearty chuckle from the crowd watching the aftershow performance take place. I stood in front of Jace, taking in the loving look in his eye before I studied the ring he had displayed for me.
Tears rushed my eyes as he took my left hand within his.
“Catherine Faust, you are-- without a doubt-- the strongest woman I’ve ever come across.”
“Hell yeah, she is!” someone from the audience exclaimed.
I threw my head back and laughed as my hands came up to cup my mouth.
“And before that man in the audience jumps up here and steals you away from me,” Jace said with a smile, “I want to ask you something.”
“Okay,” I said with a whisper.
“Your selflessness known no bounds, Catherine. What you endured at my side and what you walked my children through… nothing can match it. Nothing even comes close. And even when we argued and even when we fought, you reached out for me. You stretched out your hand in search of mine even when you couldn’t stand to be around me. From the second you walked into my office, I was intrigued. Curious. Smitten. But the more I got to know you-- and the more you opened up-- the more I realized it was so much more than that.”
I watched him take the ring from the small velvet box as a tear trickled down my cheek.
“Catherine Faust, I love every bit of you. From the freckles on your thighs to the sparkle in your eyes. I love your spirit. Your selflessness. Your endless strength and compassion. I love the way you love our kids. I love the way you love your parents. And I love the way you love me.”
I smiled as I brushed the tears away from my cheeks.
“Catherine-- love of my world-- will you marry me?”
A pin could’ve dropped onto the carpet and been heard echoing across that theater. It was hard to breathe, and I paused to take it all in. I committed every little thing to memory, from Jace’s suit to the smile in his eyes. I drew in a deep breath before I knelt down in front of him, watching as his brow ticked in confusion.
Then I cupped his cheeks, smiled, and brought him in for a kiss.
The crowd erupted into applause as he pulled me close. Bent me backwards until my back was almost to the stage floor. I smiled into his lips, feeling the way his hands pressed into my lower back. Feeling the way his body encompassed as much of me as he could get.
And when he rose up, he took my hand and slid the ring onto my finger.
“Yes,” I said. “Yes, Jace Logan. I’ll marry you.”
We stood to our feet and he swung me around. The lights came up in the theater and the cast came back out and started singing. The pit orchestra chimed in with their instruments and their harmonies while the cast of the show sang the epic love song that backdropped the peak of their show. The audience sang it. The maestro was singing it. Even I was singing it. Jace wrapped his arm around me and held my hand in the air, dancing me around the stage to the beautiful waltz that would forever be cemented into my mind as our story.
And when he twirled me around, the lights came up on the shadowy figures in our box seat.
Tears streamed down my cheeks when I saw my family. My mother, holding Langley and waving her hand. My father, cradling both Abigail and Christina as tears welled in his eyes. Hannah holding Michaela as they both sang along with the song and our newly-appointed nanny who was supporting Ivan and Dmitri as he practically hung themselves over the edge to wave at us, while managing to bounce Nadia on her knee.
My family.
My entire family had witnessed our engagement.
I threw my arms around Jace and crashed my lips against his. I felt whole. Complete. Happy, for the first time in my life. True, unfiltered happiness I could no longer contain. The song rose in volume and the orchestra built their chords as our lips locked again on stage. My heart soared with joyous elation as my legs came up, and Jace spun me around once again.
“I love you so much,” I said into his lips.
I opened my eyes and found his beautiful stare looking back at me.
“And I love you, Catherine. Always and forever, no matter what the cost.”
Just like the lyrics of the song being sung for us.
Twenty-Nine
Catherine
6 Months Later
“How does the water feel?” Jace asked.
“Mmm, it feels incredible,” I said. “I think the rose petals add a nice touch.”
Jace cupped another handful of water and slowly poured it over my naked shoulder.
“Enjoying the champagne?” he asked.
I tipped the last of my flute up to my lips and finished it off.
“It tastes expensive,” I said.
“Because it was expensive,” Jace said.
“You went all out for the wedding. I would’ve been just fine with us spending the weekend at home.”
“Oh no. A beautiful bride deserves a beautiful honeymoon. Your parents are helping the nanny watch the kids and Hannah’s staying overnight with them. Everything will be fine for our two-week honeymoon.”
“I still don’t know why you made it so long.”
“Do you not want to go?” he asked.
“Oh, no. I want to go,” I said as I looked back at him. “I just don’t want you to think that you had to do all this for me.”
“I know I don’t have to,” he said as his lips fell to my neck. “But oh, do I want to.”
I set the champagne flute on the edge of the jetted tub as his lips nibbled along my collarbone. My hand slid back into his hair, massaging his scalp as his arms threaded around my body. Our wedding had been beautiful. A mas
sive ceremony with all of our friends and family. Joanna, Libby, and Natasha were my bridesmaids and Emma had been my matron-of-honor. Jace had asked Ryan to be his best man and the bridesmaids respective husbands had been his groomsmen. Our Bachelor and Bachelorette parties had been a massive weekend party thrown at Carter’s place. Full of drinks and laughter and late nights spent talking about children and where lives were headed next.
And the ceremony had been breathtaking.
“Oh Jace. Right there,” I said breathlessly.
“You love it when I nibble behind your ear,” he said.
His hands slid between my legs, parting my thighs for him. I felt his cock pulsing against my back as it rose to the occasion. I pressed into him. Rolled my hips back so I could feel him groan against my skin. My head fell onto his shoulder as his hands massaged my inner thighs, then I felt his fingers part my throbbing pussy folds.
“I wonder what we have here?” Jace asked playfully.
My dress had been gorgeous. It was the first one I tried on and I knew it was the one for me. A lacy dress with fluttering capped sleeves decorated with beaded flowers that flowed all the way down to the train of the dress. The bodice was fitted but not tight, and the flowing material of the gown slid against my legs smoothly as I walked down the aisle. The white dress was accented with champagne and pale yellow material, lending a trendy fashion to the traditional white dress.
And my hair had been down.
Just like I knew Jace would enjoy it.
“Oh my gosh,” I said breathlessly.
“There is it,” Jace said into my skin. “She’s hiding from me.”
I bucked into his hand as his fingers began to circle my clit. He flicked it and pressed into it. He swirled the pad of his finger on top of it. I bucked into his hand as water washed over the edge of the tub, the jets massaging my body. My legs trembled. My breathing became ragged. I pressed my head into his shoulder and moaned into his neck. I nibbled on his skin. Bit into his pulse point. I dug my hands into his thighs as his cock jumped against my back. I couldn’t contain myself. I felt pleasure building quickly in the back of my gut.
“Jace. Jace. Yes. Shit. Don’t stop. No no no, no don’t… don’t… yes!”
My body popped and fell over the edge as he pressed his hand into my pussy. His finger slid into my throbbing entrance, stroking my falls as he rode me through my orgasm. I gasped for air. My legs shook with my efforts. My torso contracted and my jaw quivered as colors burst in my vision. My skin came alive. My body was filled with electric jolts. Jace’s lips skimmed the curve of my neck and the dip of my collarbone, pressing random kisses along my skin to make me jump.
Then I collapsed back into him before he wrapped his arms around me again.
“You’re so beautiful when you cum for me,” he murmured into my ear.
I shivered at his words before he began to maneuver us in the bathtub.
Things with Anya turned out fine. At least, we assumed they did. She stayed in jail until her trial hearing and was convicted on multiple counts of possession with intent to distribute. And I thought the verdict was going to ruin Jace. The police had raided her home and found close to five pounds of heroin stashed in different places. Multiple orange bottles of pills were found in places like her coffee mugs and the freezer. She had been sentenced to ten years in prison with no chance of parole and was required to not only attend sobriety meetings, but was also required to seek counseling while behind bars.
Anya wouldn’t be bothering any of us for a very long time.
“Are you excited about London?” he asked as he bent me over the edge of the tub.
“Oh yes,” I said with a whisper.
His hands ran up my ass cheeks before he squeezed them, massaging them within the palms of his large hands.
“So beautiful,” he said with a whisper.
His cock slid between my thigh and my pussy lips encompassed it. He slid against me, coating himself in my juices as the water in the tub ebbed around us. The jets had shut off and sweat was dripping down my brow. The hot water around us had me worked up, and the orgasm he’d delivered to me free of charge had me wanton for more. I looked back at him and saw his eyes dancing along my body. Along the love handles that had appeared after having the quadruplets and the stretch marks that ricocheted down my thighs.
He never ceased to make me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.
“I can’t wait another second,” he said as he grabbed his cock. “I have to have you, Catherine.”
“Then don’t wait,” I said as I bucked back into him. “Don’t make me wait anymore.”
He slid into me and all felt right again. He filled me to the brim, pressing against my walls and making me shiver for his viewing pleasure. I leaned against the edge of the tub as his hands planted next to mine, his knees keeping my legs spread for him. He rocked into me, stroking my pussy perfectly as water splashed around our bodies. It soaked the floor of the hotel’s penthouse suite and smacked against our skin. His lips fell to my back and kissed every divot of my spine he could find. I pushed back into him. My pussy swallowed his cock whole. My fingers curled into the tub as his paced picked up, sending white hot pleasure shooting through my veins.
Then, I watched his hand move out of my vision.
“Jace?” I asked breathlessly. “What are you-?”
Then, I watched his other hand move before it disappeared underneath the water. I felt his fingertips crawling across my skin before dipping to my pussy once more. He parted my folds and exposed my clit to the hot water, forcing my eyes into the back of my head.
“I’m so close. Jace, please.”
“One,” he said.
My eyes flew open at his countdown.
“Two,” he said.
“Jace, what are you doing?” I asked.
I looked up to see where his hand had gotten off to and saw it hovering over the control panels to the jets of the tub.
“Three,” he said.
He flicked the jets on and it pummeled my clit. My head threw itself back and he caught my lips with his. Our tongues collided as lewd moans and groans fell from my throat to his, and I instantly felt my body weaken against the tub. The bubbling of the jet stream against my clit was too much. Feeling his cock pounding into me as our hips snapped together was too much. I jolted. Shook. Quaked against him. He held a firm grip onto my body as my legs trembled with a fury and ferocity. I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see as my eyes stayed in the back of my head.
“Oooooh fuuuuu-”
I lost control of my body. I lost control of my actions. I pressed into him and moved closer to the stream, my body begging for more and simultaneously begging to stop. My knees slid down further, but Jace picked me up every time. He kept my clit centered on that jet as my body spiraled into an endless sensation of ecstasy. My lips fell from his. My forehead fell to the edge of the tub. He slammed into me, his cock throbbing against my walls until he stretched me to new girths.
“I love you, Catherine. Fuck me, you feel so good. Unravel for me. Let me feel you. Catherine. Catherine. Shit.”
He pulled my hips to his and his movements ceased. He dropped down to my back as pump after pump of his cock filled me until there was no more room. Cum dripped along my walls as that damn jet stream finally won the tug-of-war game it had been playing. I reached back for Jace’s hair and pulled his face into my neck, feeling him kiss me as I shook violently. I unraveled in his arms, just like he wanted. I fell weak against the tub, just like he wanted. My pussy milked his dick and pulled him deeper into my body as the throbbing of my body pushed his essence from my body.
The jet finally turned off and I laid against the tub, heaving for air as Jace’s muscles draped over my curves.
My vision faded. Everything felt muted. My knees slid all the way open until my legs were splayed against the tub floor. Jace panted into my neck. Covered me in kisses until I could finally open my eyes. My body felt numb, yet
alive with pleasure. My body felt like it was floating even though I knew I was dead weight against Jace’s strong form.
“I got you,” he said as he hoisted me into the air. “Lean against me.”
He picked me up into his arms and stepped us out of the tub. I heard the water draining off in the distance as he carried us out of the bathroom. I was spent. Done. I had nothing left in me. Silver stars were still bursting in my vision as he laid me down onto the mattress, cradling me close in his arms as he slid next to me. I couldn’t string words together. The English language had become a foreign subject to me. And as he turned me over into his arms and crooked his finger underneath my chin, I somehow how the energy to pan my gaze up to his.
“I love you so much,” I said with a whisper.
He smiled at me, his eyes dancing between mine before his lips pressed against my cheek.
Then my other cheek.
Then my nose.
Then my forehead.
“I can’t wait to show you around London,” he said. “You’re going to love it there.”
A lopsided smile graced my cheeks and I heard a chuckle fall from his lips.
“Does that mean you love me too?” I asked.
And in a flash, I was on my back and his hardened cock was pulsing once again at my entrance.
“Oh yes,” he said as he slid into me. “It means I love you too.”
Then he soared me off into another world as we made love again. And again. And again still. Until it was three in the morning and I had passed out against his body. The love of my life. My knight in shining armor. The price in my life that rode up on his white horse and offered his hand to me. Jace was everything. My support. My confidant. My best friend. My partner-in-crime.
7+Us Makes Nine: A Nanny Single Dad Romance (Baby Makes Three) Page 18
