His expression hardened, his posture growing stiff as he clenched a hand into a fist. “I don’t know how you lived with that, kitten. It just reiterates how strong you are.”
I shook my head, ready to bare myself in a way I’ve never done with anyone before. “I don’t always feel strong. Getting down on myself is a daily struggle. And that sort of conditioning doesn’t just suddenly go away, as much as I wish it did. Those negative voices are in my head constantly, repeating all the lies they told me. It’s something I have to actively fight against. Most of the time, I can. But sometimes… Sometimes I can’t, and they get the better of me. Like yesterday, after I saw the contract and the text.”
My bottom lip quivered as I sucked in a deep breath, recalling the sharp pain that had exploded inside me.
“They didn’t mean anything. Or they didn’t mean what you assumed.” Ford reached into his pocket and pulled out the napkin, holding it up between two fingers. “I’ve carried this in my pocket every day since we made it.”
“Why?”
“Because it was the day you finally became mine,” he admitted, his low voice wrapping around me like a blanket. “And as for the text…” He pulled out his phone and thumbed to his messages before turning the screen toward me.
The woman’s messages were still there, but they weren’t what snagged my attention. It was Ford’s reply. Two little words—not interested—sent with an image of his left hand, wedding band on display.
“I can’t erase my past, kitten. Just like you can’t. But no one—and I meanno one—means more to me than you do. I don’t ever want you to doubt that.”
I let his words crash over me, soothing all the raw and vulnerable places inside me. But I’d been living this life long enough that I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. He wouldn’t magically be able to erase a lifetime of insecurities with a few words.
“I’d like to tell you it’s never going to happen again, but that would be a lie,” I said, needing him to know exactly what he was getting into if we actually made a go of things. “Itisgoing to happen again. Probably many times. And for this to work between us, I need to know that you’re not going to bail. That you’re not going to run away and leave me when things get tough. I need to know that I can fall apart, and you’re still going to catch me.”
This time when he stepped closer, I didn’t stop him.
He reached out, brushing my hair back from my face before sliding his hand down to wrap his fingers around my nape. Leaning down, he closed his eyes as he pressed his forehead against mine. “I will always catch you, kitten. I was an asshole to walk away from you when you were hurting. I promise—Iswear—I won’t do it again.”
I reached up, gripping his forearms. “I know my need to feel like I’ve earned your love is something that I have to work on, but it’s always a whisper in the back of my mind, and it’s not going to go away anytime soon.”
He pulled back enough so he could stare into my eyes, his thumbs swiping away at the tears that continued to fall. “You don’t have todoanything for me to love you. That’s not something you have to earn. It justis. Like the sun rising every morning and setting each night. It’s there whether you achieve all your goals or you Netflix and actually chill all day instead. It’s there when we fight and when you pull away, and it’s sure as fuck there whether or not you feel it, too.”
“I feel it,” I said, my voice choked as I nodded.
He exhaled a deep breath, his entire posture relaxing. “I love you. So fucking much.”
“I love you, too,” I whispered.
The words were barely out of my mouth before Ford’s lips covered mine. He cupped my face in his hands, his mouth slanting over mine as his tongue slipped inside. He kissed me like he was afraid I was going to float away. Like he was worried he would lose me again. And that only made me grip him tighter, knowing that fear all too well. Knowing it was something we could overcome together.
It didn’t take long for our kiss out front to turn heated and then downright indecent, and we fumbled with the lock before stumbling our way into the cottage. Ford’s hands were everywhere, divesting us of our clothes in record time. And I had no idea how I could be so hungry for him when we’d only been apart for a day. But I was coming to expect that was just the norm where he was concerned.
Whenever we were together, whether in competition with each other or boosting each other up, we burned brighter…hotter…than we ever did alone.
Ford pushed me back until my knees hit the bed, and I yelped, falling onto the mattress with a bounce. His eyes heated as he raked them over my naked body. At one time, that would’ve made me uncomfortable. I would’ve had the urge to cover up, hide away from his assessing gaze. But there was absolutely no denying the hunger as he looked at me, his eyes darting over every inch of me. Hunger he had forme.
“It’s been too long, kitten. I need to be inside you. Need that sweet pussy to remind me who I belong to. But first, I want you to come on my tongue.”
Without waiting for me to respond, he dove headfirst between my legs. He wasn’t gentle, wasn’t soft or sweet. He was a starving man at his first feast, affixing his mouth to me, his tongue not leaving an inch of my pussy untouched. He worked me up into a frenzy with startling ease, sliding two fingers deep inside me as his tongue tormented my clit with tight circles.
“Come on, wife. Give it to me. Come for me like a good girl, and let me taste how much you’ve missed my tongue on your pussy,” he said, his voice gruff, his words sending me even higher.
As soon as he reached up with his other hand and cupped my breast, brushing his thumb over my tightened peak as he stared up at me with lust in his eyes, I broke. With a sharp cry, I came against his tongue, my hips rocking against his mouth as the waves washed through my body.
“Need to be inside you,” he murmured against me. And before I could even nod my assent, he stood to his full height, jerked my ass to the edge of the bed, and settled himself between my spread thighs. And then he sank inside with a groan. “Need to feel you come on my cock.”
My mouth dropped open, the air expelling from my lungs at that first deep thrust. Even though I’d gotten used to his size, that first moment always took my breath away, as did every time his piercing rubbed against that magical spot inside me. I might’ve just gone off against his tongue, but I knew a second orgasm was on the horizon, already building as Ford stared down at me. His expression was intense, and at one time, I would’ve thought it was unreadable. But now that I knew how he felt, I could see it as clear as day.
It was love. It had been all along.
He draped himself over my body, capturing my lips with his as he ground himself against me, rubbing my clit with every shift of his hips. Linking our fingers together, he stretched them out above our heads. Then he pressed them into the mattress, silently telling me to keep them there as he stood back so he could see all of me, spread out before him, my pussy stretched around his thick cock.
“Jesus, look at you,” he said, his voice low and gravelly and filled with awe as he ran his hands down my body. Cupping my breasts before passing over the swell of my stomach, the stretch marks on my hips. “Look at your perfect tits bounce every time I slide inside you. My wife’s body is insane. So fucking gorgeous.”
