“Are you kidding me? You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. You make me a better man, Hanna.”
Later, as we walked out of the courtroom, she leaned on my shoulder and told me for the millionth time she loved me. I spontaneously dropped to bended knee. “What are you doing?” Hanna shrieked, grabbing my hand to pull me up. “You’ll ruin those slacks. Stop playing around.” She covered her mouth, giggling. I knew what she was thinking, and I didn’t stand up and put her fears to rest.
People paused to stop and stare. I spotted Annabeth out of the corner of my eye, lingering at the foot of the steps to the courthouse, gazing up at us, and I didn’t care. I didn’t care who was watching.
“Hanna…” I began solemnly, placing a hand over my heart.
“Dane, listen,” Hanna blurted. “I love you but I’m not about to walk down any aisles with you. Not just yet. You don’t want that, and I don’t want that. So whatever crazy reason you have for getting down on bended knee, you can get up now!” She couldn’t stop laughing. I struggled not to laugh along.
I glanced down at my wingtips to school my face and keep from smiling, then looked back up at her with a solemn expression. “I love you with all my heart and…I want to spend…the rest of my…week with you.”
Hanna doubled over in a fit of laughter.
I continued with mock seriousness, holding her hand and gazing up at her from bended knee. “And if we get through this week, I want the week after that, too. I want to keep piling on the weeks until we finally get sick of one another and call it quits. Now, I don’t think that will ever happen, but one can never be certain. I’ve heard I’m an asshole and terrible at chess, but I don’t want you to be my pawn, Hanna. I want you to be my queen. Oh, fuck, now I’m rambling nonsense. Look, just say yes, why don’t you!”
“You’re impossible.” She giggled.
“I’d never ask a woman to marry me without a ring in my hand to seal the deal.” I stood up with a mischievous grin. “Now, please tell me I can hang on to you for another week.”
“What do I get out of the deal?” she asked.
“Ugh! I have to give you something in return? How about a few more grey hairs?”
She squeaked, touching her shiny red strands. “I don’t have any greys!”
I hugged her close, chuckling. “No, you don’t, baby. But I still want to be around, even when you do, if you want me around. I love you, Hanna. You really make me happy, you know that? I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
We ambled down the stairs like high school sweethearts, holding hands, heads bowed together, whispering intimately. We passed the bitter Annabeth, who watched us as if she wished an anvil would fall out of the sky and flatten our happiness, but I ignored her as long as I could. When we got further down the sidewalk that led to the parking lot, where my Aston Martin was waiting for us, I finally glanced back at her and shook my head in disappointment.
Thoughts of what had gone on between my father and mother replayed. I halted Hanna and murmured, “I can’t let it end like this.”
“I understand,” she responded.
I gently slipped my arm from intertwined with hers and strolled back to face Annabeth. With a heavy heart for what she would have to go through in the near future, dealing with being a single mother and raising Chance alone if she held on to her bitterness, I struggled for words to get through to her. “It didn’t work out for you with me, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try to make it work with Tom. He loves you, you know?”
“Whatever, Dane. Eat it up. I can’t understand how guys like you win. You’re nothing but a user!”
“Maybe I used to be, but listen to me,” I said, grabbing her hands. “I was immature, and I was the wrong man for you. I hurt you, and I apologize. I did not mean to alter your life so tragically that you would feel incapable of getting past that hurt, but I’m begging you for forgiveness. Not for my sake, but yours. The only thing I can pray for is that you heal from the pain I caused you so you don’t inflict that lifetime of pain upon Chance, because he just doesn’t deserve it, and neither does Tom.”
“Don’t you dare bring him into this, Dane! This isn’t about Tom or Chance or anything else. This is about you and what you did to me! I loved you!” she shouted. Tears sprang to her eyes.
I looked away, saddened. “Now it’s time for you to love your son. I promise you, he’ll love you so deeply and truly that, if you let it inside, you won’t feel a need to cling to someone who can’t offer you that same unconditional love. See, Chance and Tom aren’t the only ones being hurt here. You don’t deserve to keep yourself mired in the pain either. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”
She sniffled loudly, looking away from me. I let her hands go and stepped back. Hanna strolled over and rubbed my arm supportively. “Come on, Dane,” she murmured.
“Dane, wait!” Annabeth halted me. “I really wish you were his father.”
“Hana and I will be around,” I said without turning back. “Chance has a father, but we’ll never forget about him. Goodbye and God bless you, Annabeth. May you find peace.”
“Annabeth.” Hanna and I glanced back to see Tom step forward. Annabeth shook her head in disgust, but he grabbed her by the hand and made her listen. “We need to talk.”
EPILOGUE
I could finally see Hanna coming around to the idea of us being together long term. The question of the paternity suit against Annabeth was behind us now. Excelsis was more prosperous and successful than ever. I had never felt so light of heart, and the last obstacle to being with Hanna was about to be tackled. Hanna’s parents were meeting us for brunch, an occasion that inspired a flurry of butterflies in the pit of my stomach.
I followed my girlfriend into the restaurant with a mix of confidence and hopefulness. I wasn’t a teenager picking up a prom date, I was the man Hanna wanted to be with, and the Sorensons would just have to accept that. At least, I hoped they would. I knew I had a reputation to live down. Would they think I was the wrong sort of guy for her?
We found them at the table I had reserved, arriving just a few minutes late. I couldn’t wait to meet the people who had created the love of my life. Nalia Sorenson turned out to be a petite, gregarious woman, and Greg Sorenson was a bear of a man. Together, the couple was as down to earth as could be. A half-hour into the meeting, I burst out laughing as Greg delivered another hilarious story in the deadpan voice I was coming to realize was his joke voice.
Hanna giggled, watching her father and me chat.
“I don’t think you’re anything like what people say about you,” Greg said.
I arched a brow, smiling. “What do people say about me?”
“Well, Ettie told us you were an unrepentant womanizer who had tricked Hanna into falling in love with you.”
“Ha! I was, but that’s funny she told you that. She was supposed to say nothing but nice things. We discussed this, Ettie!”
Hanna’s aunt, who had shown up just after Hanna and me, tittered with laughter. “Oh, Dane! I never said anything of the sort.”
“Ah, but you see, Dane—I now know that you were an unrepentant womanizer,” said Greg.
“How did you convince our little wildflower to give up her crazy fantasy about traveling the world?” Nalia asked.
It was news to me. Hanna had never mentioned anything about traveling the world. We could, if she wanted to. I shrugged. “I haven’t the slightest. She’s such a kind, sweet, and humble person that I don’t think she realizes she could do much better than me. I mean, she’s totally selling herself short. I told her the other day she could be anywhere in the world, but she’s here in New York City with the infamous Dane Foster.”
“Okay!” Hanna interjected. “Before you funny people get too carried away, Mom and Dad, I just wanted to let you guys know I got a new job.”
“Did you?” They were excited, and so was I, although I had been the first one she told. It meant Hanna was really laying down roots
, and it comforted me to know. She had taken a position at the university to teach anthropology courses. Unlike being stuck in a museum, the active social environment of a college was right up Hanna’s alley.
We drank to her success, and the conversation turned to more sobering topics. They wanted to know all about what had happened to Hanna and me when we were held hostage by my mother and stepfather. We talked for so long the waitress made several passes to ask if we were done dining. I finally took the hint and paid the tab, then strolled outside with our large entourage.
“Why don’t I call up my car? We could all travel together.” I reached for my cell phone.
“What do you for a living, Dane?” asked Greg.
I smiled, turning to Hanna. She hadn’t told them? “I’m CEO of Excelsis, a corporate real estate division of Foster Venture Capitals.”
His eyes widened. He was impressed. I placed the call and we strolled along the main street, window shopping and chatting companionably, and I felt like I had been adopted into the family. Nalia’s voice, with her Norwegian accent, was so similar to Hanna’s, it was hard to tell them apart when they were talking. The stretch limousine arrived, and we took the party to my penthouse.
“They love you,” Hanna said excitedly when I got her alone for a second.
“Did you have any doubts?”
“Well, you were an unrepentant womanizer who tricked me into falling in love with you, after all.”
I followed her out onto the patio with the rest of the guests, thinking my life was finally on the upswing. “You know what?” I whispered to Hanna as we approached her parents and aunt. “I think we need a vacation. How do you feel about a pre-honeymoon?”
#
Hanna rolled over in the bed in front of the window. From my vantage point by the door, the open window behind her framed her perfectly. Outdoors, the aquamarine sea rippled waves beneath a gemstone-colored sky, white clouds floating lazily. Inside, the bedroom was darker, and all I could see was her silhouette.
“Did you miss me?” she asked.
I held up two coconuts, closing the door to the tiki hut behind me. “I was only gone five minutes.”
She giggled. “That was long enough to miss me. Hmm, looks like I need to remind you of what you need to be missing.”
She rose up on her knees and smiled at me seductively as I sipped my coconut, eyeing her with interest. She untied the pink netting swimsuit cover, exposing an emerald-green bikini. I arched a brow and growled. She waggled her hips side to side and dropped the pink cover. Her hands moved to her bra, and she untied it. The cups fell from her lovely, luscious breasts. I set down my coconut.
“Oh, yes,” I murmured. “You need to really put it on my mind.”
Hanna squealed with laughter as I grabbed her and threw her to the bed. I kissed her lips hungrily, swallowing her giggles. My tongue curled against hers. She sucked my lips. She pulled back and moved her mouth to my neck. I groaned in pleasure, eagerly reaching down to take off my swim trunks.
“You’re amazing,” I said.
“I know I am.” She shoved off her bikini to drive the point home. She spread her legs wantonly, looking like a classy porn star. I swore excitedly. Lying on top of her, I pulled her legs up around me and felt her smooth, tanned skin against mine. Her body was the summer, and I wanted her for a lifetime.
I moaned and brought her breasts to my mouth to tongue and lave her rosy nipples. Hanna responded, whimpering and crying out. The vacation was shaping up to be a lusty venture. We had barely left the hut, but Hanna was really the only sight I wanted to see.
“Do you really love me?” she whispered.
I kissed down to her navel, swirling my tongue around in the dip. I kissed lover to the V between her legs and flicked my tongue against her clit. In answer, I intimately kissed her pussy until she cried out the yes that she already knew. Her legs encircled my head, and I relentlessly battered her silky, wet flesh with my lips and tongue until she was quivering and shaking with desire.
Rising up, I brought my cock to her entrance and slowly pushed inside. She lay there staring up at me with open mouth, half-closed eyes. Her stomach trembled. I put my hand flat on her lower tummy and eased her forward to receive my entrance. She inhaled slowly, shakily.
I grinded between her legs, rocking hips back and forward. Our dance was familiar, and we both knew the steps, but each time was different. I marveled in the way her body caressed me from the inside. The love I felt for Hanna was foreign and strange, but I welcomed it. It made me want to linger.
“I love you,” I whispered. I touched her lips. She flicked her tongue against my fingers as she made eye contact with me. “You get the real me,” I murmured, driving deeper. My eyebrows knitted together at the exquisite pleasure. I gasped at her scalding heat and wetness that drenched my cock with her lust as she started to come. Hanna cried out loudly, releasing at the pressure of my shaft stroking her G-spot.
“You get me entirely,” I said over the sound of her cries. “And I want you forever.”
I groaned and pulled out of her, spilling on her stomach as she wrapped her arms around me and cradled me against her chest, the both of us breathing heavily. “You said there are no forevers,” she whispered.
I nodded. “I was wrong. I was wrong about a lot of things, about a few people, about a bunch of decisions. But I’m right about this. You. You invented my forever.”
HEALED
Thank You!
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
EPILOGUE
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Dane - Book 3: A Foster Family Saga Page 12
