Ugh. If he said that to me one more time I might lose my mind.
He kissed the sides of
my thighs, spreading me open.
“Trace,” I gasped.
“Olivia,” he chuckled my name as his tongue flicked out.
My back arched off the bed and I reached up, gripping one of the pillows tightly in my hand.
Just like before, when I was close he pulled away.
I groaned in protest, squeezing my eyes shut in frustration.
When I finally opened my eyes, he was braced above me, staring.
The tip of him nudged my entrance and I whimpered.
I wanted to beg, but I bit down harshly on my lip to keep any words from leaving.
He adjusted his weight and lifted a hand to pull my bottom lip from between my teeth. “You’ll make yourself bleed,” he whispered and then tenderly kissed the lip I’d almost injured.
He stared at me for a long moment, his gaze causing a tremor to shake my body, and slowly slipped inside me.
“About time,” I gasped, causing him to chuckle lightly.
He sat up, bringing me with him. He cradled me against his chest, looking into my eyes. It was extremely intimate but I didn’t shy away. I trusted Trace. He knew the real me.
He kissed me deeply, sucking on my bottom lip, as I rocked my hips against his. I ran my hands over his muscular chest before settling them around his neck.
“I love you,” he said fiercely as he stared into my eyes and straight down to my soul.
“I love you too.”
I knew what we had was a special kind of love. You have to love someone at their worst, to truly love them at their best. Trace had seen me at my worst, my best, and everything in between, and he still loved me. That’s true love. The kind that lasts for eternity.
After round three we were both exhausted and unable to move. My body was curled around his, our legs entwined together, and my head rested on his shoulder with my long hair fanning around us.
“Is it just me, or is it even better now that we’re married?” He panted.
I lightly traced my finger over his chest in a random design, mulling over what he said. “I think you’re right.”
He chuckled at that. “Maybe living in sin was weighing on me.”
“Hardly,” I snorted, moving my index finger over the tattoo on his heart that he’d gotten in memory of his dad.
“Eh, you’re right. I didn’t care.” He placed his hand over mine to cease its movements. “It’s still better though, because now I know you’re really mine and you’re not going anywhere.”
“I wasn’t going anywhere before. Besides, if I had run away…again,” I added, thinking of the times I’d become insecure because of his ex, “you wouldn’t have let me get very far.”
“Damn straight. If you’re not by my side, I will chase you down, woman,” he grinned, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and gliding his fingers lightly over the curve of my cheek. “I would go to the ends of the earth for you, because I love you and when someone owns your heart, like you do mine, you don’t let them get away.”
“Whoa.”
“What?” He rolled over so that he was above me. “It’s the truth. My life was ‘okay’ before you came along. But from the moment I met you, I finally understood what it meant when people said someone ‘owned you’. It’s not necessarily about ownership. It’s about caring more for that person than you do for yourself. When I saw you standing by your car, with those big sad brown eyes, I knew the sadness had nothing to do with your tire and that something else was eating at you. I wanted to get to know you and unravel your secrets so that I could slay your dragons and be your Prince Charming.”
I giggled, covering my face with my hands. “I’m never going to live that one down.”