I smile at his teasing before he turns back to his wife. “Right then, Mrs Harding, let’s get you and junior home to bed before you fall asleep at the table.”
“How weird is that? You two—” I point between Anita and Liv, “are not blood sisters and yet, once we marry, you’ll have the same name.”
Everyone laughs at my observation, everyone except Liv. She looks uncomfortable and in a weird way, I’m hoping that’s because she is suffering with pregnancy aches and pains.
Anita
My mind is actually blown and not just because of Dec’s proposal. I am lying sprawled out beneath him, panting heavily as he pushes me towards my release. We have been all over each other since we left the restaurant.
There had been a moment at the restaurant where I considered saying no, but then I realised that I wanted to say yes more than anything in the world. Still the only blot on the landscape is Christian. I know that I need to explain everything to Dec, to make him understand everything that went on, but that scares me shitless because as much as he wants me and loves me, the details I need to share might be the thing that makes him change his mind and leave me, never to return.
I also need to face Liv. Whilst it wasn’t either of our faults that she walked in on Christian’s cruel comments, I have done an amazing job of avoiding her since then. It’s not so much that I feel I can’t speak to her, I know I can, but she will be compromised. Compromised more than she already is. I look at it from her point of view and she really is stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand she has me, her sister who is keeping a secret from her boyfriend, fiancé. I allow myself a small smile at that title. The complication for Liv is that on the other side is the boyfriend, her brother-in-law who she loves but worse than that, she is being forced to keep a secret from her own husband because with all the unknowns in this sorry mess, Mase telling Dec is a certainty.
“Cupcake.”
Dec’s calling to me brings me back to the moment we are in. I reach up and gently stroke his face before sliding my fingers through his hair just as he slams into me again and hits something deep inside that is beyond sensitive.
“Fuck!” I cry as my fingers tighten on the strands of his hair and I give them a hard tug.
“Oww.” He laughs as my fingers loosen their grip on his hair. “You like that then.”
“God, yes. Again,” I plead, already feeling my orgasm building once more and can only hope that this time Dec will let me explore and ride it out fully.
He hits that spot again, then a third and a fourth time and I know the fifth will be my undoing.
“Declan, baby,” I pant out and am rewarded with the fifth strike that sees me crying, thrashing, and reaching for anything I can get my hands on as the world spins off its axis, and everything turns shimmery through my unshed tear glazed vision.
This is perfect, he is perfect, we are perfect, and I need not to fuck this up. I need to make everything right.
Dec’s lips crash against mine and in that second, as intense as our pleasure is, we are making love, the kiss, the way his body worships mine and finally the second our eyes lock as he releases inside me.
~~~
Breakfast proves to be easy and relaxed. We flirt and kiss at every opportunity between eating the French toast and crispy bacon Dec has cooked. I can’t keep the soppy smirk off my face as I realise that this could be my life. That thought sours my mood. I need to sort things out and I am going to start today. Enough is enough. It’s time to be honest and move on. I make a mental list of people to clear the air with, Christian, Liv and then Dec. I choose Dec last, not because he isn’t my priority, he is, but because I need to tell Christian that he doesn’t scare me and I won’t be chased off by him, and Liv because she deserves to hear the truth from me and not to have to keep my secrets. Once I have done that, I will return to Dec and tell him everything, right down to the tiniest detail, and then nothing and nobody can throw a spanner in the works of our future.
“You got much on today?”
I look across at Dec and offer him a short nod. “I thought I might check in with Liv, see how she’s doing.”
“Sounds like a good idea. She has been a bit off.”
I nod. She has, but unlike my boyfriend, I know why.
“What about you?”
“I am meeting Liv and Mase later to discuss money and designs.”
“Nice. Exciting times.”
Dec laughs. “Cupcake, that is some serious understatement you have going on there. I am going to be the captain of an empire!”
I laugh loudly at his excitement and phrasing. He moves to the side of the breakfast bar I am sitting on and tilts my head so I am looking up into his beautiful eyes.
“And you are going to be the captain’s wife.”
I feel a burn in my jaw as my emotions at such a simple declaration tugs at my heartstrings.
“Yes, I am.” My voice wobbles.
