“I love you, Ellie.”
Her jaw dropped. Yes, I’d told her I was falling for her, but that wasn’t the same fucking thing. These were the actual words, and there was no taking them back. Not even in the heat of the moment.
And I didn’t want to.
Thrusting two fingers inside her, I held her gaze as I pumped in and out of her pussy.
“Did you hear me?”
“I—You can’t say that during sex!”
“I fucking love you,” I repeated. “I need you to fucking hear me, and if I have to tell you when I’m two fingers deep in you, or by withholding my cock from this sweet pussy, I will do that. Because I need you to fucking hear me. Really fucking listen, Ellie, because I’m getting tired of hearing you think you’re not fucking amazing.”
“Ryder,” she moaned, her eyes slipping closed.
Leaning forward, I bit her clit, getting the reaction I desperately needed. Her eyes popped open and she cried out, gushing all over my fingers.
“Repeat it for me, Ellie. Say I am fucking perfect.”
“Ryder,” she moaned as I continued to pump my fingers inside her.
“Say it, or that’s it.”
“What?” she asked, her chest heaving as I continued to torture her.
“Tell me you’re fucking perfect.”
“But I’m not!” she cried out. “I’m not perfect!”
Tears spilled from her eyes, spilling into her hair as she flung an arm over her eyes, hiding from me.
Sliding my tongue over her pussy, I lapped at her cream before crawling up her body, tugging at her arm until I could see those beautiful eyes filled with tears.
“You have a very distorted idea of what a person is supposed to look like, and I’m fucking sorry that I had anything to do with that.”
She rolled her eyes, but I grabbed her jaw and held tight before she could look away from me.
“You are fucking perfect to me. Really hear me on this, okay?”
Tears filled her eyes again, but she didn’t look away.
“It fucking kills me to hear you cut yourself down like that. Because there’s not a fucking inch of you I would get rid of. I wouldn’t love you more if you were skinnier or if your thighs were thinner. I fucking love these thighs when they’re wrapped around my head, choking me as I devour every inch of your pussy.”
“But…” She sniffled back the tears, but I knew this was hard on her, to be vulnerable and say what was really on her mind. “I have a pudgy stomach.”
I ran my hand over the smooth skin, not seeing a damn thing that she was. “You have a fucking perfect body. You have the most amazing curves, and the sad part is that you can’t even see how amazing you look. You hide these curves in baggy dresses when you should be showcasing every damn inch.”
I thought about that and cocked my head at her. “But only for me. I don’t need every other fucker out there seeing my woman’s body.”
She chuckled at that, sniffling back the tears.
“I don’t ever want to hear another damn word about how you think you’re fat. Because I love every inch of you, and I will for the rest of my life.”
“Ryder…”
“I fucking mean that, and don’t try to tell me it’s too soon. I’m gonna marry you, Ellie.”
The shock on her face only made me more certain of the way I felt about her. The words didn’t sit heavily on my chest. Instead, it felt like a weight had been lifted. I was finally getting it all, and I wouldn’t rest until I made her mine for the rest of our lives.
