“Say it again.” He grabbed fistfuls of her long hair and held her close.
“I love you. I’ve always loved you. I’ll love you until the day I die.”
“Will you marry me? Will you be mine forever?”
“I always have been. I always will be,” she answered without answering.
She hadn’t said she’d marry him, but she had told him what had always been true, and he’d never taken seriously. In fact, he’d taken it for granted.
Like he read her mind, he gave her what she needed. “I’m sorry I never accepted that, or realized the same is true of me. I’m yours, Brooke. I hope you know that.”
“I do. Everything has been so…overwhelming. Over the last few days, I feel like the postpartum depression, trauma, and my pregnancy hormones have eased off and I can breathe and think. I feel steadier. And a lot of that has to do with you.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to help you heal and be happy and healthy again. I need you in my life. I need you by my side. I love you.”
“I want to be a real partner to you. So, please, tell me what upset you tonight.”
He barely hesitated before he confessed, “Doug called about the governor again.” Cody had been trying desperately to hold back the world and give her the time she needed to recover. She hadn’t really thought about how Cody had been dealing with his own grief, a full-time job, a breakup, a canceled wedding, the ranch, and now this. “I told him you’re not ready to talk about it.”
“Good. I didn’t get a say in whether or not Adam went to jail or that hospital. He doesn’t get a say in when I see him. Or how long it will take for me to be ready without it all crashing down on me again.” She shook off her rising ire and focused on him and the grin on his face. “What?”
“I love it that some of your spunk is back.”
She smiled for him, then kissed him tenderly, knowing that he’d noticed she’d initiated the kisses. “Let’s hold off the world for a little while longer.” She kissed him again. “Take me to bed, Cody. I need you as much as you need me.”
It was all getting to be too much, and she wanted to make him—both of them—feel better. She knew one way to do that.
“Are you saying what I hope you’re saying?”
“Yes. Make love to me, Cody. I need to be close to you. I think you need that, too.”
“I do. It’s just…as much as I want you, I’m afraid I’m going to hurt you, and the thought of that makes me sick.”
“I really am feeling better. No aches in my shoulder, arms, or abdomen. Just watch the wrist and ankle. Those I can keep out of the way. So, take me to bed. Love me.”
“I do. I will. Anytime. Always.” He stood with her in his arms and walked across the library with her pressed to his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck, bent her head, and kissed a path up his neck to the back of his ear. Her fingers brushed through his hair. Her tongue swept along his earlobe a second before her lips closed softly around it.
He growled and took the stairs two at a time, kicked her bedroom door shut, set her on her feet by the bed, then sat and pulled her between his legs, his hands on her hips.
He placed one hand on her stomach and stared up at her, a question in his eyes.
“You won’t hurt me. Just love me.” She leaned in and kissed him again.
He swept his hands up inside her top and pushed it until he had to break the kiss to peel it over her head and down her arms. Her bra disappeared in a fraction of a second. Her breasts ached for his mouth. His lips pressed to the scars above her breast, then clamped onto her tight nipple. He swept his warm tongue over the peak, then sucked her into his mouth again and everything inside her turned molten.
“Yes, Cody. That’s what I want. You make me feel so good.” She moaned as he took her other nipple into his mouth, sucking hard, his teeth grazing the tight bud.
She let him know how much she liked it with another soft moan. She slid her fingers through his hair, arched her back and offered her breasts up for his thorough attention, and held him to her as he took his time and savored her.
With him distracted by her, she reached down, grabbed fistfuls of his shirt, and dragged it up and over his head, tossing it to thefloor. She put her hands on his bare shoulders, felt the heat of him, and the rippling muscles beneath her palms.
“I think about that night all the time,” she admitted, sliding her fingers through his hair, holding him close. “How you touched me. How free I felt to be with you. It was all I ever wanted.”
Cody looked up at her, his palm over her breast. “Youare all I want.”
“Show me again.” She begged with her eyes.
He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her close, taking her mouth in a deep kiss. He fell back on the bed and she lay on top of him, her legs dangling until she levered herself up and straddled his lap. His hard cock pressed against her soft folds. She rocked her hips and rubbed against him, needing the sweet agony of the contact that was just not enough.
