by D. M. Davis
Fuck. Me. A lump forms in my throat as I fight to keep my emotions in check.
She’s right. I broke her heart before I figured out what I wanted. What I was capable of. The sad fact is I wouldn’t change any of it, as she broke my heart too, and it was my heartbreak that got my head on straight.
Maybe what Rowdy needs is a road map to Reese instead of a road block.
“I hear you, Angel. I hear you.”
“Angel.”
I open my eyes to the sight of Gabriel fresh from the shower, leaning over me. “Hey.”
“Morning.” He runs a hand along my face and into my hair. “Breakfast is here. You’ve got an hour before you need to be ready.”
I blink and look around. “What time is it?” It’s crazy bright in here. I must’ve slept in. “Ready for what?” I don’t remember us making plans.
I swear his skin flushes. “To marry me.”
“Oh, shit.” I sit up, panic setting in. “But I don’t have anything to wear.”
He stills me when I try to get up. “Calm, baby. All you need to do is eat, clean up, and throw on some jeans and a t-shirt. Everything else is taken care of.” He releases me and sits back. “Emerson said not to wash your hair, but to shave.” He smirks. “The last part seemed a little personal to me.” He pulls the covers down to reveal my breasts—I swear they look even bigger today. He’s such a guy.
I direct his eyes to me. Smugly, he complies.
“She’s just looking out for me.” I smack his hands away as I hop out of bed, looking for his t-shirt I had on last night.
When I don’t find it, I turn to see him holding it up by one finger. “Looking for this?”
“Yes.” I go to grab it, but he pulls me onto his lap instead.
“I’ve got this fantasy of you sitting on my cock while you eat. Care to make your fiancé’s fantasy a reality?”
“You said I only have an hour.” It’s not a no, but I can’t be too eager. We’ve got a lifetime together. Besides, I haven’t even peed or brushed my teeth.
He cups me between my legs and groans when he finds me ready. What can I say? I’m always ready when it comes to this man.
“It’s called multi-tasking, Angel.” He slips a finger inside me and nibbles my neck. “I have a feeling you’ll excel at it.”
I clench around him, more than willing to oblige. “Gabriel.”
“Fuck, Angel. I’m not sure I can go all day without being inside you.”
Yeah, he had me the minute he said fiancé and fantasy in the same sentence. “Give me two minutes.” I rush to the bathroom to take care of business and text Emmy to say I may be a few minutes late.
A girl’s gotta take care of her groom.
The sight of her on my lap, reverse cowgirl style, without even moving—I’m ready to blow. I swore I’d let her get at least half her breakfast in before I got serious about fucking her. We’re sitting on the edge of the bed, like last night, and she’s eating off the table our breakfast arrived on. Only this time, instead of her sitting next to me, she’s on my cock, her legs on either side of mine. I’ve been playing with her tits enough to get her hips squirming. But when she leans back, her head on my shoulder, and guides my hand lower, I know my girl has had enough breakfast. She’s hungry for something else.
I kiss her shoulder and up her jaw. “You done, Angel?”
“Mm-hmm,” she sighs, her hand still covering mine as I start to tease her clit. Her hips shoot forward and back.
Christ. Jesus. Fuck. “You wanna ride or change positions?”
“Ride.” Yet she surprises me when she stands up and pushes the tray away, flips around and reseats herself, face to face. “I want to see my fiancé when he comes.”
Ah, fuck. This marriage talk is hot. I might have considered it sooner if I’d known— nah, she’s the only one I could ever feel this way about. I want to get married because it’s her. The only fucking reason.
“Gabriel?”
“Yeah, Angel.” I grip her ass, sinking in deep.
“We gotta hurry.” She caresses the stubble on my jaw. The want and adoration shimmering in her gray eyes has me hard as fuck. She kisses me softly, sucking on my bottom lip. “I want to look nice when I marry you, Big Man.”
Gripping the back of her neck, I pull her down for a scorching kiss, only to give a reprieve to be sure she knows. “Francesca Angelique—soon to be Stone, you could marry me wearing my gym bag and you’d still be the hottest fucking bride ever in the history of time.” I groan when her pussy contracts around me. “But I hear ya.”
“You said my full name,” she gasps like it’s wrong, not allowed.
“I did.” I try to ease her confusion. “I only called you Francesca all those years to keep a wall between us, but now there are no more walls, Angel. All the names I call you from here on out will be backed by love. Only ever love between you and me.”
“Fu—” Her mouth crashes with mine before she finishes that one world response. I guess I got my message across.
I still the guilt trying to raise its wicked head for all the years I kept her at bay with nasty words. Instead, I kiss her harder, deeper. I have a lifetime to make it up to her.
We pick up the pace, my hands and hips helping her ride my cock like a rodeo champ. When she comes, I fall with her. This woman who loves me like I’ve never known. Who looks at me like I hung the moon just for her. Who’s carrying my baby and holds my future and my heart in her hands.
My Angel.
My bride.
My soon-to-be wife.
“Holy fuck.” I slam my hand over my mouth. Emmy giggles behind me. I quickly release my mouth, not wanting to mess up my makeup some nice lady spent the last twenty minutes doing. I’m in awe of this place I’m about to get married in, with its pillared, marbled terrace surrounded by flowers and lined by golden chairs.
We hear footsteps and deep voices coming around the corner.
“He can’t see you.” Emmy grabs my hand and drags me down the hall to the room I’m supposed to wait in until it’s time. Which is now, like, in five minutes.
“Everyone is arriving.” Emmy peeks out the door. “Oh, Gabriel looks so handsome.” She quickly shuts the door. “No, you have to wait.” She urges me back.
I fuss with my dress, not because I’m not happy with it, but because I’m nervous. “What if he doesn’t like it?”
Emmy blinks at me like I’m an idiot. “You could marry him in the t-shirt I found you in a few hours ago, and he’d be a happy camper.”
True. He did say he’d marry me in his old gym bag. “Thank you for this.” I point to my dress, my hair, my makeup.
“Thank Gabriel and Cap. They’re the ones who made a few phone calls to get the ball rolling. I only handled the finishing touches along with a handful of hotel staff.”
A quick knock on the door has my heart jumping.
“It’s time.” Cap sticks his head in. “Damn, honey. You look beautiful.”
“Thanks, Cap.” I point to his black suit, black shirt, and black tie. “You look so handsome.”
He smiles. “Maybe I’ll get a date out of this.”
“No doubt.” I saw the way he looked at Gabriel’s mom. I know a little about her history with her husband, Gabriel’s father. He beat her. I’m not sure she could handle a tough, cantankerous guy like Cap. Except I know his heart is pure gold.
Lord help Gabriel if Cap decides to pursue her. I’m not sure Gabriel could handle both his mom and sister dating such virile men as Cap and Rowdy.
“I’m gonna go find my man.” Emmy squeezes my hand. “Yours will shit a brick when he sees you. Don’t forget to breathe.”
“Yeah, okay.” I haven’t cried all day, but the closer I get to walking down the aisle, the closer I am to doing it.
Emmy slips past Cap as he steps forward. “You ready?”
I bite my lip and nod. “Cap, thanks for giving me away. It means—” The tears start. Fuck. I look up and fan my face.
> He captures my hand. “Don’t cry.” He kisses my cheek. “It means the world to me too.” Opening the door, he guides me out.
I slip my hand in the crook of his arm. “Let’s do this.”
“That’s my girl.”
When we step around the corner, “Falling Like The Stars” fills my ears, causing me to resume my fight to keep my tears at bay. My breath catches at the sight of Gabriel at the end of the aisle, chairs on either side filled with our friends and family. His suit and shirt match Cap’s, except he’s wearing a white tie to match my dress.
He waits for me at the pinnacle of the rounded terrace with a minister at his side. Each step feels like a lifetime, my nerves forgotten, my heart racing due to my excitement of making this man mine.
Forever after. Only. Ever. Him.
When she walked down the aisle on the arm of Cap, I was struck at the significance of him in her life. I know he loves her like a daughter, yet him escorting her made it official. He’s the only father she’s ever had who gives a shit about her. It breaks my heart and heals it all at the same time, knowing Cap will serve that role for the rest of his life.
He’ll be the grandfather to our children.
He said he saw me as a son. He’ll have to settle for son-in-law.
Frankie and I said our vows, short and sweet, promising our devotion, faithfulness, and love eternal.
Our first kiss as husband and wife brought down the house with catcalls from our friends and blushing from my mom and sister. Yeah, PDA should be kept in check around them.
We’ve cut the cake. Had our first dance. And we both danced with our parents. Me with my mom. Her with Cap. We only made it a few turns before we switched partners. Neither Mom nor Cap seemed to mind.
A certain song I’ve been waiting for finally plays. Her eyes lock on mine within the first few notes. I hold out my hand, wanting her to come to me, but I’m not above going after her.
She slips into my arms; her hands rest on my shoulders, and I do what I’ve wanted to do every time she played this song—I grab her ass and pull her tight. “You’ve tortured me with this song for years. There’s no more dancing alone, Mrs. Stone.” I kiss her softly. “I’m your dance partner from here on out.”
“I love the sound of that, husband.” She smirks against my lips.
“And you, my wife, are sweeter than strawberry wine,” I loosely quote the song, singing the rest in her ear as I hold her tight.
As the last note plays, she whispers into my neck, “Can we go now?”
“Fuck, yes.” I grab her hand, turning us to face the private room we rented for a few hours. I whistle to get everyone’s attention. “Thank you for coming. We love you all.” I hold up our joined hands. “But the wife and I are leaving now.”
Hoisting my bride in my arms, we exit to the soundtrack of their well wishes, claps, whistles, and a few dirty remarks I hope my mom didn’t hear.
In our suite, after setting her on her feet, I take a second to admire my Angel in her dress. It hugs her curves and flows down her body like a waterfall of white fabric, shimmering when she moves. Her hair is pinned up with cascades of loose waves. “You look amazing.”
“Thanks, you too.” She fingers my tie. “But can we get naked now?”
God, I love this woman. You can dress up my Angel, but you can’t take the dirty out of her. And that’s just the way I like it.
“Fuck, yes.”
It’s a race to see who can get naked first.
She wins.
But really, don’t we both win? Seeing her naked is no hardship as I lose the last of my monkey suit. And having her eyes on me as I do it, well, that’s the icing on the gonna-fuck-you-all-night cake.
Once on the bed, I move to her side with plans to settle between her thighs and drill home as soon as humanly possible. But she’s got other plans. Pushing me to my back, she straddles my hips, my cock nicely nestled against her pussy.
“Fuck, Angel you’re so wet.” I grip her hips and sit up, grinding her against me.
“I want to say something.”
Fuck. Yep. Okay. I can do this. “Can I be inside you when you do? The beast needs his Angel, and my brain might just work if he’s inside you.”
Laughing, she pushes me back down. “You call your dick Beast?”
“That’s what he said his name is.”
Now she’s rolled over in laughter. “He talks too?”
“Only about your pussy. Oh, and your mouth, your tits, and uh… Your ass. But he’s discreet. I promise.”
Composed, she squishes my face between her hands. “Gabriel, I think I love you more with every word leaving your mouth. You make me laugh. You touch my heart. You make me feel cherished and worshipped. I’m a lucky girl. And our baby is going to be a lucky boy or girl. Just don’t talk about Beast with them.”
My heart that used to be old and rusty has been healing the past few days. The moment she said I do, the last patch of dead skin sloughed off, and my heart beat like it never has before—free and hopeful. She did that for me. “You’re killing me, Angel.”
“Maybe this will help.” She leans forward, reaching between us, and slides me home.
“Fuuuuck,” I groan as if I’ve never been inside a woman before. And maybe I haven’t. Not a real one. Not one like my Angel, sent from heaven to deliver me from hell.
On her knees, she rests her palms on my chest. “Something hit me today.”
She rounds her hips, but I still her by gripping her thighs. “If you want me to listen, don’t move.” Maybe giving the beast what he wanted wasn’t such a good idea.
Her knowing smile tells me she saw this coming. But whatever. I’m where I want to be. I’ll listen to whatever she has to say.
“I’ve had a hard time getting over Austin.”
Her already watering eyes have me sitting up. “Hold on.” I maneuver so I can rest against the headboard. It’s gonna be one of those kind of chats, and I need to be present for every second of it, and that means eye contact and being face to face. “Sorry. Go ahead.”
Biting her lip, she gets lost in her thoughts.
I squeeze her leg. “Don’t filter. Just tell me. Remember, I don’t expect you not to be impacted by your time with him. I don’t begrudge you that.”
She rests her hands on mine, linking our fingers. “He lied so much, it’s hard to know what was real about the last nine years, but here’s a few facts I believe to be true.”
Leaning forward, I kiss her mouth in encouragement. I’m all good with whatever she says. She’s mine. Not his. I win.
“Austin promised me a happily ever after. He just never said it was with him.”
“What—”
“He brought me to you. I wouldn’t know you if it wasn’t for my connection to him.” She places her forehead against mine. “Secretly, unrequitedly, shamefully I’ve always had a thing for you. From the first moment I saw you, I felt a zing of connection. But I ignored it because of him.” Her voice cracks, and I wrap her in my arms.
“I felt it too, Angel. Every fucking day. I felt it. I knew when you walked in a room. I could feel when you were hurt and when you were happy. I was such an ass to you because I felt it so deeply. I had to be sure we didn’t act on it. You were his.” We lock eyes. “I’m an asshole, but I’m no cheater.”
“I know, Gabriel. I know. But there’s something else.”
Shit, there’s more?
“The entire time he and I were together—nine friggin’ years—we never once had a pregnancy scare. Not once.” She kisses me softly before murmuring across my lips. “I’m with you one month, and I’m pregnant. He’s with someone else and ends up knocking her up.”
She places her hand over my racing heart and says, “It was always you.”
“Jesus, fuck, Angel, Austin said the exact same words to me… “Maybe it was always you.”
Her smile is blinding as a single tear skates down her cheek. “He was never my happily ever after. It was alway
s you, Gabriel. Only. Ever. You.”
Fuck. Me. “Only ever you, Angel.”
As our mouths crash together and our bodies start to move—finally, our pasts and our futures click into place.
Every hardship, asshole move, and broken heart have brought us to this moment. To our joining, the merging of two souls, both broken and yet healed by the other. The baby in her womb, the outcome of our love, and proof of destiny stepping in, giving us both want we wanted but never expected.
Our one and only.
Our fucking forever after.
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Until You Series
Book 1 - Until You Set Me Free
Book 2 - Until You Are Mine
Book 3 - Until You Say I Do
Book 4 - Until You Believe
Finding Grace Series
Book 1 - The Road to Redemption
Book 2 - The Price of Atonement
Black Ops MMA Series
Book 1 - No Mercy
Book 2 - Rowdy
Book 3 - Captain
Standalones
Warm Me Softly
As I write this, I have to tell you my heart is breaking. I’m so sad to be closing the book on Gabriel and Frankie. I was excited to write their story. The two of them spoke to me so clearly from the beginning. Each word revealed more of their pasts, their heartache, and the obstacles they would have to overcome to find their happily ever after. I thank them for allowing me into their world and showing me their raw vulnerability of where they came from and where they ended up—together.
