Her eyes were wide, chest rising and falling in keeping with her shallow, panted breaths.
“You amaze me,” he said.
Even though he knew she wasn’t cognizant of the world around her, he devoured her with a kiss, showing his love, devotion, commitment.
Tenderly, he held her, wishing he could stay in bed with her forever.
“Yours,” she whispered when he ended the kiss.
“Mine,” he affirmed.“Stay here.”He redressed himself before going to the bathroom for a damp washcloth.
“How do you feel?”he asked once he’d bathed her pussy and cleaned up the excess lube.
“Claimed.”
“Don’t you forget it.”
“As if I could with this thing up my ass.”
He grinned.
Once she was cleansed, he pulled up her panties then offered his hand again.
She stood and went into the bathroom to tame her hair and repair the damage done to her makeup.As he often did, Cade stood there, shoulder against the doorjamb, transfixed.He watched her, marveling at the changes in his life.
Once his ring had been on her finger, he’d become impatient.She’d wanted a big wedding after the centennial celebration.With uncharacteristic impatience, he’d refused.Less than a week after he’d stormed into her Corpus Christi offices, he’d offered her two choices, set the date for no more than a month away or they were eloping.
She’d agreed to a family-and-close-friends-only event at the ranch a month after they’d announced their engagement.All the bedrooms had been filled, the way that Humphrey Donovan had once envisioned.It had been wild, crazy, fun.And he’d escorted everyone out of the front door the next morning so he could have Sofia all to himself.
Most of them had stayed away until yesterday.A blissful several months.
She loved having everyone around, the cooking, the conversation, the laughter.He tolerated it.
“I like the dress,” he told her.It was short, black, fringed, sexy.With the way he was already thinking about sex, he should have encouraged her to wear jeans to cover her legs.
“Stop it,” she warned, her gaze finding his in the mirror.
“What?”
“Your cock cannot be ready again,” she said.
He came up behind her and bumped his hips against her buttocks.“Oh?”
“My God!Out.Out.”She brandished her brush.
In mock surrender, he raised his hands.
“Out,” she repeated.“I mean it.”
With a grin, he followed her order.He had put on his jacket and had just finished adjusting his bulldogger tie when she rejoined him, wearing a fresh coat of fuck-me red lipstick.
He swept his gaze over her, taking in the entire package, hip-hugging black dress, bare legs, turquoise leather boots, hair that teased her shoulders, a mouth he could kiss all night.“I have a gift for you.”
She shifted.“The one I’ve got in me right now is more than enough,” she promised him.
“I believe you’ll like this one a little more.”He went to the shelf where he had his important pictures.It had evolved since Sofia had joined him.There were photos of their wedding, her sisters, her family, including her nieces.The one of him and his father had been restored and framed.It still hurt to look at it, but he kept it there, and each day the pain, the guilt, lessened by miniscule measures.
Cade picked up a long, flat box.As she watched, he removed the lid.The stunning necklace had a diamond pendant hanging from a platinum chain.“It was Grandma Maisie’s.”
