But I stop her, wanting to say it first. “I love you, Hanna. I want you to be my wife when you’re ready. I want to move in here with you, share a bed with you, share my life with you. I want it all… with you.”
Her arms go around my neck, and she leans in, kissing my cheek and then whispers in my ear. “I want that too. All of it. With you.”
I pull back to look in her face. “Don’t tell me that. If you’re not ready…”
She gets up and holds her hand out to me. I take it, wrapping mine around hers. She pulls me up off the couch and leads me down to the bedroom. “I’m ready.”
My loins tighten as her sweet peach scent fills my nostrils and her hold on my hand tightens. I stop at the threshold of the bedroom that used to be mine until I moved out to the poolhouse. She stops and turns to me.
Fear fills me. I want nothing more than to follow her into that room, but I have to be sure she understands first. “Hanna. You have to be sure. Because once I come into this room, once I have you, we’ll never be apart again. You bring out a savage possessiveness inside me, and I won’t be able to go back to the way it’s been. We’ll be together every day, you’ll wake up with me by your side… every day.”
She smiles up at me. “You promise?”
I pick her up then, and when her legs go around my hips I can’t hold back anymore. “Yes. I promise.” And then I capture her lips with mine. I spend the whole night proving to her how serious I am.
Hanna
He’s going slowly, cherishing every part of my body until I’m in a frenzy underneath him. We’re both older, but the experience is still not there. Long gone is the boy of eighteen and in his place is a fully formed, muscle-packed specimen that makes me breathless just watching him. He positions himself between my legs, and his hardness is positioned at my opening. He’s trying to be easy on me, still always protecting me, but I’ve been in need of him for so long, I’m tired of waiting.
“Please, Carter. I need you,” I beg of him.
Obviously it was the right thing to say because he enters me slowly, and ecstasy builds. His head falls to mine, and his body freezes. “You’re mine, Hanna. Tell me you’re mine.”
I kiss him urgently, he slides further inside me, and we both groan into each other’s mouths at the friction. I pull away breathlessly. “I’m yours, Carter. Always.”
And then he plunges into my depths, grunting into my mouth, “Mine” over and over. He takes me to completion, over and over.
For the first time in two years, I feel like I’m finally home. Wherever Carter is, that’s where I belong. I’m his. Now and forever.
Epilogue
Carter
I look up into the stands, and my whole family is here. My mom and dad, Hanna and Maggie. And of course I can’t forget our little one. We just found out that Hanna is pregnant, and we couldn’t be more excited about it.
Hanna is talking to my mom, but she’s still looking for me, seeking me out. I wave at her, and she waves back. Of course my parents were overjoyed to find out about Maggie, and they have been coming to town about twice a month to see us.
I still hate how Hanna’s family has treated her the way they have. They have no interest in a reconciliation or even meeting their grandchild. It’s their loss though because Hanna and Maggie are everything and bring so much joy to my life. Her parents are the one’s missing out.
I give my family another wave and then look around at my teammates.
Our team, the Nationals, have made it to the playoffs and we’re playing a good team from Florida.
I’ve been on a good hitting streak, but I credit that to putting the work in.
When I’m up to bat, I draw a heart in the dirt with my bat, letting Hanna know I’m thinking of her before I put the bat over my shoulder. I swing at the first fastball and miss it.
“Strike!” the umpire calls beside me.
The next ball comes in, another fastball, and I swing, hitting it with the end of the bat and fouling it off.
For the next pitch, I crowd the plate and get ready. I know it’s going to be a change-up… maybe a curve ball… and I’m ready.
He throws a change-up, and I wait for the ball to get deep and swing with all my might. I hit, far into center field, and start running to first base. When the crowd goes wild and fireworks shoot out over the back of the field, I know it’s a homerun.