EPILOGUE
Blaise
“You’re sexy as ever in that dress,” I breathed at her ear. “I can’t wait to get underneath it tonight.”
“Terrible.” She shook her head and dragged me off to the table with the little froufrou cake perched on it. Brianna and I were married exactly two months after meeting. I couldn’t help myself. I had to have that piece of paper and my last name on her if I was going to feel right about us. I’d slipped a giant ring on her finger a few Sunday mornings after we’d met, and she’d thrown her arms around my neck and cried, peppering my cheeks with kisses between her yeses.
I’d been waiting for her; I’d been waiting for this moment. And now it was here.
“I need to get you home,” I growled in her ear just as a server handed us a knife to cut our wedding cake.
She placed her hand over mine, and we sliced through the confection. “Mmm…” she moaned as I pressed a small bite to her mouth.
“Would taste better if I was licking it off your body,” I commented.
“You’ve got such a dirty mind.” She dabbed frosting on my nose and then pressed her body up against mine and whispered the shock of my life in my ear.
I pulled away, my mouth dropping open in surprise as I processed her words. The little secret she’d been carrying. Her eyes gleamed with mischief as she watched me.
“How about a few words from the groom?” The DJ pressed a mic into my hands.
I sucked in a few deep breaths, trying to process the new information. Her curves were perfectly encased in all that lace, her soft red waves curled around one shoulder, and those beautiful lips were turned up into a sexy smirk.
I shook my head and ran my hand over my face.
“Sorry. Brianna’s just…dropped a bit of a bombshell on me. Apparently, my wife is… We’re expecting a baby!” Tears burned behind my eyelids as I struggled to hold back the overwhelming emotion. I thrust the mic back into the DJ’s hands as guests cheered. I heard my best friend’s voice above the rest complaining about another Michaels running around town.
I blocked the rest of it out, except for her gaze locked on me. I pulled her into my arms, held her tightly, lifted her off her feet, and kissed her like she was my reason.
My reason for breathing.
My reason for living.
My reason for it all.
My life began with her, and it would end with her—and our baby.
“I love you so fucking much,” I muttered against the soft flesh of her neck.
“I love you too, Daddy,” she whispered. My heart clenched in my chest, and the tears pooled in my eyes. I ran one hand up into her red waves and inhaled her soft scent.
“I can’t wait to get you home and show you how happy I am.”
“I think that’s what got us here in the first place.”
“Brianna…” I groaned into her neck as her soft laugh floated on the air around us.
I snuggled my lady a little tighter in my arms later that night. The festivities of our wedding finally calming down, we’d escaped to enjoy champagne alone—just a sip for her—before I’d slowly peeled that fancy gown off her body. Now curled up in the blankets, our skin sticky with sex and love and sweat, I inhaled a deep breath of her decadent scent. I was so goddamn lucky to have found her. “I can’t wait to see you pregnant, our baby growing inside you…”
She sighed, drawing a fingertip across my naked chest. “And fat and grouchy?”
“Never. You’ll be so pampered you’ll never have to lift a finger. I take care of what's mine, and you’re mine now. Signed, sealed, and now we’re just waiting on this little one to be delivered.” I cupped a palm over her soft belly.
“Boy or girl?” she asked breathily.
“I’d be lying if I said a sweet little girl who looks just like her mommy wasn’t something I wanted. But I’ll take anything. It’s a piece of you and me. I’ll love it as long as there’s air in my lungs.”
I pulled the sheet from between us, curling her leg around my waist and dancing my fingertips across her thigh. The pads of my fingers met the raised flesh of her scar from that night. It’d healed mostly, just a jagged slash of pink remained.
“I think I should get it removed,” Brianna said, always consciously aware of when my fingertips grazed the marred skin. “Or a tattoo maybe.”
“No way.” I leaned over, placing delicate kisses across the length of the mark. “This is my tattoo on you. It reminds me of the first night we met.” I licked at the soft edges, doting on her in every way I knew how. “This little mark is my brand on you.”
Her fingers whispered through my hair as I crawled up her body, caging her in my arms and pressing soft kisses across her lips. “Love you so damn much, it’d kill me if you changed anything that makes you you.”
“That scar isn’t me,” she protested. “It was the damn cat’s fault anyway.”
I held her head in my hands, hating her self-deprecating words. “That scar bonds us. If I give myself a matching one, will it make you feel better?”
She shook her head, a smile turning up her lips. “Don’t be crazy.”
“I am crazy.” I slipped a hand between her thighs, the rough pad of my thumb working the hot little nub of her pussy. “Completely fucking mad for you.”
Soft little moans drowned out her insecurity, and my lips attached to her neck, her throat, sucking on the succulent flesh until it was red with my attention.
I slowly slid inside her for the second time tonight, soaking in the love she offered so freely.
Brianna was a gift. I’d never once found myself worthy of the kind of love she had to give before now, but she did things to a man. Got inside his head, made him realize just what really mattered in life.
Brianna mattered. Our little creation mattered. Love mattered, and I’d spend the rest of my days protecting both of them.
“You’re so fucking beautiful it hurts to look at you.” I snaked my palms around her bare waist, melding her to me, just where she belonged.
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Blaise. You saved my life, then you brought me life.” Her words whispering across my ear were like a prayer. A beautiful prayer I’d never get tired of hearing.
I touched my lips to hers, love lacing my words. “Hush, sugar. I’ve got you.”