I can’t stop looking at it. I can’t believe he’s had it for all these months.
“Carrying you over the threshold, baby girl,” he says, his face lit up in a huge smile.
He’s been grinning since I said yes. Despite the many good memories we share, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy.
“You’re not supposed to do that until after the wedding,” I tease him. Though I love the gesture. I love him. So damn much.
And I’m so glad I got out of my own damn way and went for it. We have a complicated history, and we both have complicated pasts, but the love I have for this man comes easy. It’s as natural as breathing. Ilove him and he loves me and we’ll make it work. It’ll take a lot of communicating and maybe some uncomfortable conversations, but it will be worth it.
Camden takes the steps easily, but he stops before opening the door and smirks down at me. “I don’t know what other people do when they get married, and I don’t care. I’m carrying you into our home because you deserve it. I know you’ve never had a place that really felt like home. And it kills me that when I asked you to leave, I destroyed the semblance of peace you found here. I need to make it right. So baby girl, I’m promising you that from here on out, you will always have a home because you will always have me.”
I place my hand on his cheek, so filled with love I feel like I could float away. Luckily I won’t, because this man grounds me.
“You are my home, Camden. I love you. Now carry me into our home. No more worrying about the past. We are all that matters from here on out.”
With a relieved sigh, he presses his lips to mine. It’s a quick kiss. Not nearly enough for either of us.
“I love you.” He punches in the code, and I turn the knob. Once it unlatches, he kicks it wide open. “Welcome home, baby girl.”
Breathing in, I settle my head against his chest, memorizing every detail of this moment. The smells, the way his heart pounds, the warmth of him wrapped around me. The peace that rolls through me because, finally, I’m home.
He carries me straight upstairs, and I don’t have to ask where we’re going. Since the moment we said yes, I think we’ve both been waiting for this. When he tosses me onto his bed, a memory flits through my brain, making me giggle.
“What?” he asks as he pulls his shirt over his head.
My laughter falters at the sight of my name inked on his chest. For months, I haven’t allowed myself to think about it, even as I saw his name on my own flesh day in and day out, a cruel reminder of all I’d lost.
I shake my head. No more sad memories. “Just thinking about the first time you threw me onto this bed.”
Smirking, he yanks his belt through the loops. When he bends at the waist, dropping his pants, his abs ripple.
“You’d been a very bad girl that night.”
Mouth watering, I drink in every inch of him. “You loved it.”
Clad in nothing but boxers, he crawls onto the bed and prowls toward me.
With a squeal, I scoot back, falling against the pillows.
He covers me, his body warm and strong, his hands in my hair, his mouth hovering over mine. “My beautiful girl, I love everything about you. When you’re bad and when you’re good. You’re mine and that’s all that matters.”
My heart swells, and the tears are back, threatening to flood my eyes. “I really am.”
He presses a soft kiss to my lips. “Now let me get reacquainted with all my favorite parts of you. I’ve got a lot of apology orgasms to give you.”
My breath catches. “You going to give me an orgasm for every one I had without you?”
Expression suddenly sobering, he squeezes his eyes shut. “I don’t think—” He swallows. “I don’t think I can handle hearing about that.”
I press my hands to his cheeks, my chest pinching with sympathy for him. “Open your eyes, baby.”
When he does, pain radiates from him.
“There’s been no one since you, and there will be no one after you. Hear me? I didn’t mean to say it that way. And I don’t expect that it was the same for you, but?—”
“Baby girl, the idea of touching another woman makes me physically ill,” he rasps. “I promise you, the only reason I didn’t come for you was because you deserve better than me. I worried it would be too hard for you to have me in your life.”
“I stayed away for the same reason.” I let out a sardonic laugh. “We love each other too much, I guess. So much that we got in our own way.”
