Until Joe
Page 20
“I love you, too.” Her replay was breathy in that sexy, honey-smooth way she had. The drawl in her voice sent an additional spark across his skin as he grabbed her hips and urged her to keep moving.
“I’m not living in sin with you,” he grunted into the night.
Her head fell back on her shoulders when he slammed her down on his shaft, a soft whimper filling the room with its exquisite sound. “Okay.”
Breathy.
Sexy.
Fucking beautiful.
“I don’t want a big wedding, either. Just your family and mine.”
Her head tilted down on a gasp, and she paused her movement. She stared at him with the roundest lavender eyes he’d seen in his life.
“Weddin’?”
He’d intended to wait until he could move better. He’d wanted to walk her on the beach under the moon’s silver light when he asked for her hand, but life was short, as he’d learned recently, so he didn’t want to wait. ‘No time like the present’ were words he intended to live to the fullest. But he also didn’t want to do this on his fucking back, so he gritted his teeth, tightened his stomach muscles, and pushed himself up until he was eye to eye with her. “A wedding,” he stated. “As soon as possible.”
Her eyes began to fill with tears, glittering in the warm glow of the candles. Joe brushed one away and held her tear-soaked gaze as he whispered, “Marry me, baby.”
Her head nodded rapidly, a choked cry of happiness spilling out, then she kissed him for all she was worth. Joe lost the battle with being upright and lowered himself back to the bed, taking Bernice and her luscious mouth with him.
A year ago, he’d seen an angel across the sand, and now he would make her his wife. The years of sacrifice had culminated to this moment. He’d found what he’d been looking for his whole life in a spitfire of a woman who believed in him with such conviction, it humbled him to his core. Because of her, he felt washed of his sins. He’d been baptized clean by her love.
Bernice rode him until sweat covered both their bodies, their completion syncing into the most emotional one of his life, then she tucked herself up against his side. They lay that way without talking, listening to the night slip by in perfect silence for a long while.
“Did you tell Chris and Nick about their mother?” she asked, brushing her fingers lightly against his stomach.
His sons had stayed by his side until they knew he was out of the woods. He hadn’t told them what their mother had done. Their relationship with Heather was complicated on good days. He didn’t need to add to it. She hated Joe, and that was okay with him. But he knew deep down she loved her sons. He wouldn’t be the one to damage what remained of her relationship with them.
“I don’t plan to, no.”
She nodded, her hair brushing against his skin like a feather. “Probably for the best. She’d just use it to stir up trouble. Though, if she did, I could sic my father on her. And Eunice, too. She’s your biggest fan for saving our father.” She giggled.
Bernice hadn’t been blind to Preston or Eunice’s newfound respect for Joe. Especially when the old man came to the hospital daily. Some days he’d converse with them both about nothing significant, and other’s he’d talk business. Teasers, to be exact. He’d dug around during his investigation of Joe and was surprised when he’d learned Joe had focused on finance when he got his MBA. Joe might have been pissed about his intrusion, but he chalked it up to the past and let it lie. But Armstrong kept pushing until they began talking shop when Bernice was gone.
“Your father wanted me to head up his security,” Joe finally said with a chuckle in his voice. “He’s contracted Devin to run background checks on all of his people and figured with my experience with the club and handling rowdy customers, I could run his security detail.”
Bernice lifted her head. The expression on her face made him laugh, which pained him more than he would admit. She finally smiled and lowered her head back to his chest. “I’m okay with that since it means you’ll be keepin’ an eye on Calla Lily as well.”
He ran his hand through her silky hair, letting its softness relax him further still. “I told him no,” Joe explained. “So, we compromised on a different position.”
She snuggled closer to him. “Whatever you want, baby,” she said, her voice drowsy with sleep.
Joe smiled at the ceiling. He’d wait until morning to tell her he was the new CFO of Armstrong Shipping.
The End
Titles by CP Smith
Reason Series
a reason to breathe
a reason to kill
a reason to live
Wallflowers Series
Wallflowers: Three of a Kind
Wallflowers: Double Trouble
Wallflowers: One Heart Remains
Wallflowers: A Highland Wedding (2019)
Standalones
Restoring Hope
Property Of
FRAMED
Luke: A Scrooged Christmas
Happily Ever Alpha World
Until Susan
Until Joe