Heat whipped up like a storm inside my chest. I needed to taste her. Not, taste, eat a full meal. I was ravenous. I put her down on the ground.
I held her face in my hands as our tongues danced wildly against the other’s, coaxing, stroking, teasing, and sucking.
It was a long while before we came up for air. She staggered slightly and I punctuated the kiss with a soft nip on her bottom lip. She melted even further against me.
“I love you,” she cried and threw her arms around my neck. “Caleb, I fucking love you with all my heart. I know that I’ll never be able to fathom even a fraction of the pain you’ve had to endure over the last twelve years, but I swear to you … I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I swear it.”
“You can start by letting me taste you again,” I said.
She widened her legs and I ate her out. It was like being in heaven. When she came I held her tight. When I rose she clung to me. She buried her face in my neck and whispered, “I’m going to protect you. From now on, I’m going to be the one protecting you. No one will dare hurt you on my watch. I swear it. I fucking swear it.”
It was endearing. Truly it was. The thought of little Willow protecting me. I tried not to smile as I pulled her away so that I could see her face, I wrapped my arms around her waist and asked her the question that I knew would embarrass her.
“Did I hear you say the rest of your life?” I asked. “Did you just propose to me?” I thought she would immediately try to correct her words, but instead she held me even more tightly to her.
“I don’t need to propose … you’re mine. You’ve always been mine and mine only.”
“You’re stealing all my lines,” I groaned. This level of joy had to be unreal. Every nerve in my body was so tight with excitement and love I felt as if I would explode. I just crushed her soft wet body against mine.
“My darling, I’m not going to short change you. You’re going to get everything the other girls get. You’ll have an official proposal and you’ll have a big white wedding. Everybody who knows you will be there and you will be the belle of the ball. Afterwards, you’ll be whisked off to a dream honeymoon,” I said. For some reason, I got carried away with my own words and found myself going down on one knee.
She laughed. Water poured off her. She looked so beautiful I wanted to weep.
“Are you going to propose without a ring?” she asked.
Shit! I jumped to my feet. “I’ll be right back.”
“No need,” she grabbed my wrist. “There are things I want to do to you first.”
“It’ll only take a—”
“Later,” she breathed softly. “We have forever, remember?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely, we have forever.” I lifted her up, and spun her around as water cascaded on us. She squealed and screamed for me to put her down.
“You’ve made all my dreams come true,” I said. “Do you realize that?”
She leaned down to kiss me. “And you’ve done even more than that for me.”
I let her slide down my body, as my eyes bored into hers. “I still want to make an official request. You need a good story to tell when you’re asked about it.”
Her smile made my heartbeat go even wilder. “What do you have in mind?”
Once again, I dropped down to one knee. “Willow Rayne, will you marry me?”
“Yes, I will marry you, Caleb Daniel Wolfe.”
My smile widened. “You remember my middle name?”
“I’ve remembered a lot of things.”
I placed a kiss on her belly. She giggled. Then I began to trace the kisses down, and her hands went to my head. “Caleb,” she called, “not again.” But it was too late. My lips were already over her soaked sex. A gasp tore out of her lips.
“Caleb,” she breathed, and twisted above me.
“Let’s give you a proposal story that you won’t ever get tired of telling.”
‘Caleb!” she squealed, and I dug my tongue into her sweet, sweet pussy.
By the time I was done with her, the pads of her fingers were like prunes and she had screamed yes a hundred times.
Epilogue 1
Willow
One Month Later
We had just moved into our modest apartment and I was standing on a chair rearranging the topmost shelf in Caleb’s closet when I felt the box. I knew without being told it was private. It contained secrets. I stopped and considered whether to take a look at it, or to just continue with my chores. But that morning I found out I was pregnant and I knew I didn’t find the box by accident. I was meant to find it today.