“So, can you see yourself married to me?” he asked, holding me closer. “Can you see your belly swollen with our child in it? Can you see us really playing house, Liz?”
“Yes.”
He cupped my hand in his and slipped something over my finger. “I was hoping you’d say yes. I also knew better than to make a big production because you’d have gotten mad at me.”
Thunder rolled and lightning flashed in the distance as I stared down at the square cut diamond with a white gold band. It was too big. I went to protest and he turned me to face him. I straddled his waist as he kissed me.
He lifted me quickly and I wrapped my legs around him. Dale walked, kissing me and carrying me around the side of the house, down the stone path and straight to the door leading to my room. The minute he got it open, he was laying me down on the bathroom floor.
I laughed. “I have a bed.”
“Yes,” he kissed my neck, “but it all started for us on a bathroom floor, so this seemed fitting.” He tugged at my clothing and I helped him free me from it in record time.
“Dale.”
“Hmm?” He kissed my neck, leaving me arch my back to him.
“I love you.”
“I,” he kissed his way to my breasts, “love you, too.”
I ran my hands into his hair and held his head as he sucked gently on my nipple. I wanted to let him take his time but I needed him in me now. As I ran my hand over the side of his face, I caught sight of the ring on my finger and couldn’t stop the tears from coming.
Dale moved up and over me quickly. “Liz-B, don’t cry.”
“I can’t help it.” I pressed my lips to his and kissed him with every ounce of passion in my body. “I can’t believe it’s real, Dale. That this is real.”
Nudging my legs apart, he settled between them before aligning the head of his cock with my heated core. He kissed me as he pressed in slightly. “Mmm, it’s real, honey. Very,” he drove into me, “very real.”
I cried out and clung to him as he thrust his body into mine, the bathroom floor unyielding and only serving to make Dale feel even bigger in me. I wrapped my legs around his waist and countered his thrusts as pleasure built deep within me.
A light sheen of sweat broke out and over Dale. Letting out a sultry laugh, I licked a line of it from his neck, savoring the taste and the feel of him in me. My orgasm struck with a force, leaving me panting and moaning beneath him as his cock twitched before depositing seed in me.
As I stared up into his green eyes, I smiled. “Dale.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to live in New York forever.”
A slow smile spread over his lips. “I know, honey.”
“You’re not upset?”
He pushed deeper into me. “Liz, you could tell me just about anything when I’m like this and I think I’d be okay with it.”
It was my turn to smile. “I know. It’s why I brought it up right now.”
He planted a chaste kiss on the tip of my nose. “I love you and I’ve always known the city wasn’t going to hold your interest but hearing you tell Dakota that you stay in New York because of me made it hit home. I want you to be happy, Liz.”
I hugged him. “I want us to be happy.”
“We will be.”
“Dale, you’ll never make it living here in Ohio.”
He began to move slowly in and out of me once more. “Liz-B, I’ll make it so long as I have you.”
I stiffened, stopping his movements. “Dale, I’m serious. Someday, I’d like to have little ones I want them....”
“To grow up here. I know. I do too.” He tried to enter me again but I kept my legs stiff. “Liz?”
“Dale, I’m doing my best to try to tell you that I packed in a rush, upset and not thinking straight. I left my pills at home so we have to be more careful for the next two weeks or....”
Licking his lower lip, Dale looked as if he were trying not to smile. “Liz, you haven’t remembered to take your pills since Friday morning.”
Stunned, I stared up at him. “Dale?”
He thrust into me and I moaned, unable to resist the urge to hold tight to him. He rode my body to completion and I felt like putty in his arms. He laughed. “Have I told you how beautiful you are? And how damn sexy you look flushed after coming?”
“Dale.”
He sighed. “Don’t start on me about the pills, Liz. I noticed but everything happened between us and I set the thought aside. I think part of me hoped....”
Pressing my finger to his full lips, I silenced him. “We’re not ready for that yet, Dale. We need time for each other first.”
“We’ve had eight years.”
I caressed the backs of his arms. “You don’t need to knock me up to know I’ll still be with you come morning, Dale. I think the last eight years should have proved that I can’t be without you.”
He kissed me passionately. “I never once thought of using a child to tie you to me, Liz. All I’ve ever thought about is being with you, of having a family of our own.” He winked. “Doesn’t help any that Beth-Ann is absolutely adorable. And I’m really hoping our little girl will be just like her ... or should I say, just like you since Beth-Ann is a carbon copy of her aunt.”
He withdrew and rolled onto his side. I turned to face him and groaned as the hard tile dug into my shoulder. “This isn’t comfortable.”
Dale winked and within seconds had us up and off the floor and headed to my bed. He tackled me to it, bear hugging and spooning me as we fell. Laughing, I wiggled against his naked form.
“Keep doing that and we’ll be doing that taboo thing you claim to like so much.” He pressed his sated cock against the cleft of my ass and kissed my earlobe.
I smiled and turned my head so our lips could meet. I kissed him and then stared up into his green eyes. “Dale, I can’t go back to Baum Marketing and continue the way things were.”
He stiffened. “I’d sure the hell hope not.”
“That’s not what I meant. I mean,” I lifted my hand, the one with the engagement ring on it, “I can’t do this all there. I can’t flaunt it in front of Charles or the office.”
His gaze remained hard. “I refuse to be a secret, Liz.”
I sighed. “You’re not listening to me. I’m not asking you to be one. I’m trying to tell you that I’m going to put my resignation in and that I want to look for something closer to here, Dale.”
He let out a long breath. “So, you want to move back to Ohio sooner rather than later?”
“I do but I’ll go where you are. If you stay in New York, then I’ll stay there too but I will resign from Baum and find a different job somewhere else in the city.”
He nudged his growing erection against my ass. “That, or, you could resign and stay home, waiting for me to get done with work. You could meet me at the door wearing nothing but a strand of pearls and a smile.”
I glanced back at him prepared to laugh and stopped when I noted the serious look upon his face. “You’d want me like that? A wife who does nothing but wait for you?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” he asked with a smile.
“Dale, I refuse to be like your mother.”
He winced. “I should hope not.”
“You know what I mean.”
He winked and kissed my temple. “I know what you mean but I want to know something. I want to know that when we have little ones, we’ll raise them, not a nanny, not daycare, not boarding school, just us, Liz.”
I ran my hand over his. “Honey, we will be the ones raising them.”
“You’d stay home with them?” he asked, lifting a brow as if he was expecting an argument.
“Of course I would. I love my career and I’ve worked hard to have it, Dale, but I don’t think we’re hurting in the area of money and we only get one chance to be with them when they’re little.”
He closed his eyes and I knew something big was coming. “Liz. I agreed to take over my fathe
r’s company.”
I wanted to be happy for him. I did but I couldn’t stop myself from tearing up again. He kissed my temple. “Tell me why you look like you might cry.”
“I’m happy for you, Dale. I am.”
“Liz.”
“It’s just that you won’t be able to leave New York if....”
He kissed a line down the side of my face. “Honey, my father has been running the company from abroad and any other damn place he decides to hang his hat for the bit ever since I was a boy. I can handle things from anywhere. I won’t lie. There will be times I need to fly to the New York branch or even possibly the West Coast one but I wouldn’t be gone longer a day or two at most.” He smiled. “And depending on how old our little ones are and how much you feel like traveling, you could come with me.”
The tears I’d been holding back broke loose and I kissed at his mouth, needing to taste him, feel him, anything to know he was there with me and always would be. He pressed his erection between my ass cheeks and reached back between us. Taking hold of his shaft, I rubbed the top through the aftermath of our sex and wiggled against Dale. He kissed me more, leaving me straining to keep my head turned enough. He tried to turn me for better access to my mouth but I shook my head, keeping hold of his cock and aligning him with my ass.
He pressed forward and two quick pops later was buried deep within me. The pressure was great at first and took a moment for me to get used to. It wasn’t my first time with the experience, far from it. From the shocked look on Dale’s face, it was his first time.
“Fuck me,” I whispered.
“I can’t.” His jaw was tight. “If I move, I’ll come. You feel too ... arr ... Liz.” He jerked, pumping into me quickly.
I reached down and tweaked my clit, rubbing it as Dale fucked me from behind. He ran his hand around my body and took the lead. In seconds, I was coming as he slammed into me, filling me completely. He sank against the bed and let out a shaky laugh, still staying in me.
“Did you like it?” I asked.
He stared at me with wide eyes. “Like it? I think I’m dead. I am, aren’t I? I’m dead and this is heaven.”
“Nah, this is Ohio.”
“Same difference,” he said with a wink. “Mmm, what do you want to do now?”
“Shower and then head out to see how many people heard the bed squeaking.”
Dale jolted up and off the bed, his eyes wide. I couldn’t help but laugh. He groaned. “You are evil.”
“I know. Thanks.”
Chapter Twenty
I sat in the boardroom, my thoughts on everything but what Charles was saying. Dale sat next to me, his hand on my thigh, squeezing it gently. We’d been back to work all of an hour already I wanted to be back in Ohio or at the very least at my apartment. Two weeks away from it all wasn’t enough. While we were away, it was easy to forget we had a real world waiting for us to get back to it.
Vincent Walters had done nothing but leer at me since I got back so did his sidekicks. Dale rubbed my inner thigh with his finger before lifting his hand and taking my hand in his, not seeming to care who saw him do it.
All eyes went to our joined hands. Currently, Dale had my left cupped in his right, covering my engagement ring. I wondered if he might actually start pointing at it just to be sure Charles saw it. Thankfully, Dale refrained.
Vincent snorted and said something I didn’t catch under his breath. Dale shot to his feet and Charles stopped what he was doing and glared at Vincent. “Everyone out.”
I stood and Charles shook his head. “Everyone but you, Dale and Vincent.”
Confused, I just stared around the boardroom as everyone else cleared out. Once they were gone, Charles motioned for me to come to him. Reluctantly, I did. “Elizabeth, if you’d be so kind as to lock the door.”
“Uh, okay.” I did as Charles instructed and turned to find Dale looking like he was about to leap across the table and throw Vincent through the window. “Dale, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, I believe he heard exactly what our Mr. Walters had to say,” Charles said, sounding like he might actually help Dale toss Vincent out the window.
“What did he say?”
Vincent’s gaze snapped to me. “Only the truth.”
“And that would be?”
Dale’s jaw was taut. He was going to blow. That much was clear.
Vincent smiled, his gaze flickering to Charles. “Nothing.”
Charles crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, don’t let the fact I’m standing here stop you. From what I’ve been told, you have no problem saying whatever the hell you want when you think it won’t get back to me, Mr. Walters.”
I made a “T” with my hands. “Time out. What did he say that has everyone so upset?”
“He said....” Dale took a deep breath and I knew he was on the verge of pummeling something.
Charles cleared his throat. “He said that he wanted to be penciled in for next month with you, Elizabeth. That he couldn’t wait to have you suck him off if it meant he’d be tripping over himself at work the following day like Corbin.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. “Oh.”
Charles’ gaze slid to my ring finger. I went to say something profound but he shook his head and motioned to Dale. “Corbin, if I’m asked about this at a later date, I will swear to it that he swung first.”
It took a second for me to register what Charles was telling Dale to do. As I watched Dale literally go up and over the table at Vincent, I gasped. Dale had Vincent knocked to the ground and was punching him repeatedly before I could so much as blink. I made a move to go stop him and Charles grabbed my arm.
“Elizabeth, if it were my soon-to-be wife Vincent was talking about, I’d be doing the same.” Charles stood tall. “In fact, I do want to be doing it.”
“Charles, stop them!”
He arched a brow. “Them? Elizabeth, are you watching the same thing I am? Corbin hasn’t let Vincent get a hit in edgewise.” He cleared his throat. “Of course, if anyone asks, Vincent started it. Corbin was simply defending himself.”
I shook my head and tried once more to go for Dale. Charles pulled me back towards him. “Elizabeth, you will stay out of it.”
“Dale!”
Dale slowly stopped beating Vincent to a pulp and took a step back. Much to my surprise, Dale didn’t look to have broken much of a sweat. I stared at him and then bent to look under the table at Vincent.
“Did you kill him?”
“Give me a minute more,” Dale said, his voice hard.
I stood fast and a wave of dizziness swept over me. Charles caught me and held me firm to him. I steadied myself and waited for Dale to yell at me or charge Charles next for touching me. When he moved quickly around the table and stopped by the coffee and juice counter, I stared at him. He poured a cup of orange juice and grabbed a pastry from the tray.
“Here, Liz, take a bit of this and drink something. You haven’t eaten yet today.”
I took one look at the pastry and a wave of nausea rushed over me. I pushed out of Charles’ embrace and narrowly made it to the trashcan before a case of the dry heaves started. Charles was next to me an instant, pushing my hair back over my shoulder.
Dale growled and Charles laughed. “Relax, Corbin, I think you’ve more than marked your territory.”
Huh?
Charles stroked my cheek lightly. “Hasn’t he, Elizabeth?”
I stared at him, still clutching the trashcan, positive at any minute I’d actually throw my stomach up and out. “Yes, we’re engaged. We planned on telling you today but you were late getting into the office.”
Charles smiled and nodded. “I figured as much. I’m not talking about the ring, Elizabeth. I’m talking about the morning sickness. Since I know for a fact you wouldn’t let me near you without wearing a....”
I put my hand up, stopping him before Dale attacked him too.
Charles laughed. “We had no accidents, Elizabeth. That leaves C
orbin. Unless, you went and fell in love with someone other than him?”
“It’s just me,” Dale bit out. “It will only ever be me from here on out.”
Charles was unfazed by Dale’s threat. He smiled. “Corbin, I’m sure beating the hell out of Walters put you on a high but could you come off it long enough to recognize the signs that your fiancée is most likely expecting a child?”
Dale had the juice and pastry thrust into Charles hand in a flash and was next to me, cupping my face, his bottom lip trembling. “Liz?”
I gulped, my stomach tensing. “Dale, we’re not ready to be....”
“Eight years, baby! Eight fucking years I’ve been in love with you and you know damn well you’ve been in love with me for that long too. We’re ready, Liz. We’re more than ready. I didn’t want to tell you but I kind of suspected it would happen when we were in Ohio.”
I stared wide-eyed at him. “Dale.”
He had the decency to blush. “What? I know your cycle like the back of my hand. I had a lot of hope hinging on us having a life together.” He lifted my hand, the one with the engagement ring on it. “You promised to spend your life with me. Liz-B. Let’s make sure it’s full of beautiful little versions of you.” He winked.
I choked back a sob. “Dale.”
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
“Then, tell Baum you’re quitting so we can get moved to Ohio. I have it on good authority that you want to raise our little ones there.”
I tried to keep my emotions in check but failed miserably. I tossed my arms around Dale’s neck and almost knocked him to the floor. He chuckled and held me tight to him. “I love you, Liz.”
“I love you, too,” I said softly before remembering we had an audience. I drew back from Dale and stared up at Charles. He nodded his head in approval, straightened his jacket and turned to head out of the boardroom.
He stopped. “I’ll send someone in to get Vincent and I’ll expect an invitation to the wedding. If the two of you wouldn’t mind, I’d like your help closing out the Becker case before you leave since I’m assuming you are both resigning.”
Executive Decision: A Romance Novel Page 22
