“No, that’s just a small cottage on the ocean.”
Her eyes widened. “Righton the ocean?”
“The beach is right out the back door.”
“Wow. I can’t wait to see it.”
“I can’t wait to show it to you. Ruthie’s going to love spending her summers there as she grows up.”
Although now that I thought about it, we were probably going to have to get a bigger place because I wasn’t sure if I could put an addition on the cottage.
Jessica got a faraway look in her eyes, like she was envisioning it. “I think you’re right.”
I pulled up the universal registry website we’d decided to go with and flashed my phone at her.
“Where should we start?”
Her smile was devilish when she reached for my hand and murmured, “In the bedroom.”
My cock sprang to life and exclaimed, “Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!” While my brain chided, “Hang on…” And my heart also tried to have a say, suggesting I’d be a fool to pass up the opportunity to hold her close.
I was still at war with myself when we found ourselves in our future bedroom.
****
Jessica
“We’ll definitely need sheets and blankets,” Alan observed when he stepped inside the room. “And pillows. I prefer the down alternative or gel ones. What about you?”
Is he seriously talking about the registry right now?
I thought I’d been clear about what I meant when I said we should start in the bedroom.
Apparently not.
I reached for his phone, which he handed over without objection—probably thinking I wanted to look at the website. Instead, I set it on the nightstand, then stepped toward him and placed my hands on his hipbones while I looked up at his face.
“Let’s worry about that later.”
His tone held a hint of warning when he said, “Babe…”
“I know, I know. You want to wait until our wedding night. But that doesn’t mean we can’t fool around a little before then, does it? I mean, we’re going to be apart for three whole days. That’s a long time to be missing somebody.”
“You’re right,” he said as he picked me up and laid me down on the bed.
The mattress was as hard as it’d been yesterday, and in the back of my mind, I noted that I was glad we had a new one coming that week. But I also didn’t care.
Alan laid down next to me and bounced a little on the bed like he was testing it out, chuckling, “Damn, I’m glad we’re getting rid of this thing.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
I wrapped my hand around his neck and pulled him closer. I didn’t want to talk about the mattress anymore.
And thank god he didn’t either, because if he’d had wanted to continue talking instead of kissing me, I might have burst into tears.
His lips were soft when they met mine, and when he moved to envelop my upper body with his, I immediately melted into his touch.
For the first time that I could remember, I felt completely safe. I knew in my bones Alan would always protect me and Ruthie.
