“I know all the things I’m not. All the reason why we didn’t work, why we shouldn’t work. Let me tell you what I am. I’m so in love with you. If you don’t believe anything else about me, believe those words. I. Love. You.” I accentuated each word a thrust.
“I loved the girl that I met at eighteen, and I fell even harder for the woman she became at twenty-nine, and I’m here. I’ll be here when the tours are over, and the call of the road has lost its luster. I’ll still be here when you’re ready to put my ring on your finger and tell the world I’m yours. And I’ll be here every day looking forward to the day when my baby grows in your belly, and we’re a family in all the ways that count. I want it all, Sin, and I want it with you. Marry me”
Tears roll from the corners of her eyes back toward her temples.
“Say yes, baby” I beg. A fresh waves of tears fill her eyes as she looks up at me with first shock and then disbelief. Please, please, please, say yes. I don’t know what I’ll do if Sin doesn’t say yes. The ring is still in my pants on the floor. Maybe I need to say the words?
“Are you asking me to marry—”
“Say yes,” I rush out.
“Yes,” she says, smiling up at me.
“Really? Don’t answer that.” I crush her lips with mine. “Thank fuck,” I say, slamming my eyes shut and taking my first deep breath in what feels like an eternity.
I fuse my mouth to Sin’s in a sensual kiss that communicates every ounce of longing I’ve felt in her absence and every single hope I hold for our future.
“Who do you belong to, baby?” I open my eyes to find her staring up at me. I cup her cheek with my hand, and her she turns her head to kiss the center of my palm.
“I’ve only ever been yours, Jake,” she whispers.
Those six simple words have a severe effect on me, and before I realize what I’m doing, I’m pounding into her, over and over, trying to spill the last couple weeks of loneliness into her body.
I’ve only ever been yours, that’s what she said, only ever been mine. I pray to God she means it because I’m never letting her go again.
The End
Two Years Later
Sinclair
“Wake up babe. We’re home.”
A smile pulls at the corners of my mouth as I peel open my tired eyes. Jake, is already out of the driver’s seat, walking around the front end of his new Audi Q7. He finally gave up the sedan that carried him through college for something bigger with more room. I watch sleepily, as he makes his way to my side of the SUV, opens the door unfastening my seatbelt, and lifting me in his arms.
“Put me down before you hurt something,” I say even as my arms twine around his neck and my head drops to his shoulder. “It’s tradition to carry your wife across the threshold the first time you enter the home as a married couple.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing when you ‘carried me over the threshold’ of our cabana in Mexico on our wedding night.”
“Nah.” He says with a shake of his head. “That was horny and tired. I needed my wife, naked, in my bed, to consummate our marriage, and I didn’t want to listen to another toast or take another round of congratulations. But this…” He balances my weight while he twists the doorknob. “Is us. In Las Vegas, starting our new life, in our new home. You ready baby?”
He doesn’t wait for an answer as he carries me into our home. The one we purchased together while we were still on tour. The one that is empty except for the bed in the master bedroom because we didn’t have time to furnish it before leaving for our wedding.
Jake carries me into the bedroom carefully placing me on the bed. I move further on the mattress, dropping back on the fluffy pillows. Exhaustion making my limbs heavy, and my eyes itchy with the desire to close.
“Sin?” Jake says laying down next to me. We roll toward each other. His arms coming around my back, my head moving to his shoulder, our legs intertwining.
“Hmmm?”
“You’re happy right?” He moves his hand, fingers spread wide on my rounded belly. Earnest hazel eyes bore into mine. Am I happy that I married the only man that I’ve ever loved? Am I happy that I finally have a much-needed break from touring and living on the road? Am I happy to be pregnant with his baby and finally get the one thing I have wanted more than music and fame, a family? I place my hand on the sharp curve of his jaw. The whiskers from his five o’clock shadows scrape against the pads of my fingertips as I lean in and kiss him. It’s slow and sweet and the sensation almost pulls me under before I pull away.
“Absolutely babe. You’ve made me happier than I ever knew I could be.”
M. Jay Granberry is first and foremost an insatiable reader.
Among her favorite things are classic fairy tales, smutty books where characters have heart, old lady sweaters (preferably chunky knit), gift baskets (giving not receiving), and charcuterie trays (green olives, smoked cheese, and Genoa salami).
She is a true Las Vegas native, the one in Nevada not New Mexico, and to answer the most frequently asked questions about growing up in Sin City…
No, she doesn’t live in a hotel.
No, she has never been a stripper although she does know some.
Prostitution is absolutely illegal in Clark County (Las Vegas)!
And what happens in Vegas does indeed stay in Vegas.
M. Jay earned a degree in words and stories, and after fifteen plus years of doing everything other than writing, she penned her first novel.
It’s the end of the book and here’s the bizness…
The last year as been a world wind! Exquisitely Broken was a farfetched idea for years. In the middle of what I refer to as my “midlife crisis” I made the commitment to follow my dream and write a story about imperfect people, that didn’t always make the best decisions, that hurt each other in horrible ways, that messed up again and again but in the end, were perfect for each other.
And I finally did it!!! I love these characters hard y’all and hope you do too!
That said, let me get on to thanking some folks.
Erick P, who read multiple drafts, talked me off the ledge, and believed in me when I doubted myself. You are the f*ckin’ MVP and I don’t know where I’d be without you! Makidad (hand claps)
Control Freaks, each and every one of you, thank you for humoring my sullen moods and thoughtful questions. For listening to me go on and on about this project, and for being the best co-workers a girl could ask for.
Lauren Schmelz, editor extraordinaire, you were tough girl! At times I had to close my laptop because I couldn’t stand reading ONE MORE COMMENT but your critiques made me a better writer. They made my story complex and my characters better developed. You were exactly what I needed. THANK YOU!
And to the AWESOME readers who took a chance on a new author THANK YOU for giving me the chance to entertain you! BIG hugs!
That’s it for me.
Mjay out!
xx
Exquisitely Broken (A Sin City Tale Book 1) Page 27
