He moved beneath her, his arm hooking around her back to keep her steady as he sat up, so they were now chest to chest.
It wasn’t a fast and frivolous hook up. It wasn’t something stuck in the shadows. It wasn’t a secret. It was love. Pure, and raw, and possessive. Stone was worshiping her. Giving thanks at the altar of her body. Acknowledging all the broken and frayed bits of her soul, and righting them with the words he whispered to her.
And when her climax washed over her, it was the most intense orgasm she’d ever experienced. The edges of her vision went black and fuzzy, her hearing narrowed down to just the sound of her own heart pumping blood around her body. Every nerve ending from her head to her toes felt hyper-sensitive and electrified.
Stone laid them down on the bed together, pulling her impossibly closer.
“I want you to know,” he whispered. “Whether you ask me tonight or you ask me in sixty years, the answer will always be the same. I choose you, Michaela. In this life, in the next. You’re it for me.”
She kissed his shoulder, and his chin, and his cheek.
“Wait one second.” She pushed off his chest, giggling as he whistled while her naked body walked into the bathroom. She finished up there, stopping in the closet to steal some clothes from Stone, and headed back out of the bedroom, across the hall to the nursery. Mae grabbed the notebook andmade her way into Stone’s office. It only took a second of rummaging through his desk to find exactly what she was looking for.
Opening to the last entry, Mae read the words he’d written the night before.
Tomorrow is Gunner and Lily’s vow renewal. And if everything goes right, the day I show you what I’ve been working on for us. It’s going to be a beautiful day. And I have this hope that it will also be the day you finally come home to me…
She finished reading the entry, another tear slipping down her face. Smiling, Mae set the pen on the paper. When she finished, Mae snapped the book closed and carried it back into their bedroom.
Stone heard Mae’s footsteps before he saw her silhouette making its way back down the hall. One thing he loved about having an old house, even if everything had pretty much been replaced, was all the little creaks and pops that happened when you moved around. It sounded like home, especially now that Mae’s steps were echoing around him.
“You were gone for longer than I expected. Is everything okay?”
She sauntered back into the room, the soft glow of the lamp next to their bed illuminating her perfect curves under his white shirt she’d slipped into in a way that made him want to repeat what they had just shared over and over until the suncame up and they had to stop to spend time with their re-newly married friends.
“I wanted to tell you something, but you documented everything, big and small, over the last year for me, and I figured I should close it out with an entry of my own.”
She held the notebook out to him and he flipped to the page marked with the familiar ribbon.
His entry from the day before sticking out like a sore thumb against the stark white paper.
… I have this hope that it will also be the day you finally come home to me. I miss you, Mae. I want you to come home. Let this be our home. Choose us. There is nothing that I want more than to make a life with you. There is nothing more important than waking up with you by my side, dancing in our kitchen after a long day, laying down together one last time in fifty years to leave this world and enter the next. The path we’ve both been walking has always been leading right here, my love. It’s always only been you, baby. Forever, and always, it will only be you. Please come home.
And there, written in her own beautiful handwriting was her answer.
I love you, Stone. For now. For always. My answer is yes. I’m coming home.
Thirty-Two
Hawk’s hips swayed back and forth to the music filling the tent. Fuck, it had been a perfect day, and he was so fucking happy for Gunner and Lily. Was he a little sad he couldn’t give them anymore shit about their elopement? Yeah. But seeing them happy, standing up in front of everyone they loved renewing their vows… it was worth it. And, truth be told, he ached to have that for himself.
A warm hand slipped over Hawk’s, and before he could set his plate of cake down, he was being tugged out of the tent.
A familiar flash of blond hair flicked in front of his face.
“Jess? What the hell? Are you okay?”
“No. I’m not.” She hissed as she continued to pull him forward, onto the lawn and down towards the driveway. “It’s bad, Hawk.”
Her whimper had him immediately on high alert. “What’s going on?”
“Please, I feel silly, but I need your help.”
He finally pushed his heels into the ground, tightening his grasp on her hand. She tripped, just slightly enough to put heroff balance, and Hawk wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her.
“You can always come to me, pretty girl.”
She’d always been his type. From the first time he’d walked into Dolly’s, completely unaware that the most carefree and vibrant woman he’d ever met would greet him with a smile so brilliant it sent his heart into overdrive… and denim shorts so short they made him blush.
