Chapter 12

There, he’d finally said it. The words were out. He waited for her to fulfill his nightmare and reject him. Instead, Freddie stood on her toes and gripped him by the back of his neck so their foreheads met.

“I love you,” she replied. Nothing more needed to be said.

Rhett scooped her up in his arms and carried her through the tiny house to her bedroom. Tonight was for the two of them coming together as one and admitting their feelings for each other. Rhett wasn’t sure the night held enough hours for what he wanted to do to Freddie, how he wanted to show his love, his devotion for this amazing, fiery woman. All week, he’d nearly broken down and begged her to come back to him, but he wouldn’t come back to her empty handed.

He had a plan, a plan he would share with her once they were both well-sated.

He hungered for her body. All those nights spent alone in his bed left him wanting so much from this woman he didn’t know where to start.

He laid her back on the bed, his lips finding their home against hers as he covered her with his body. She tugged at his t-shirt and slipped her hands beneath the fabric. She traced his spine, inching further up as his tongue danced with hers sensually. He kissed along her neck, sucking on her earlobe as she shivered for more. She pulled and he slid back so his shirt slipped off, giving her full access to his naked chest. He cursed when her fingers brushed feather-light across his chest, circling his nipples and lower to his ribs.

There he was, trying to make up for his actions by loving her, and she drove him insane by her simple touch. He grunted and gathered her hands at the wrists. She grinned wickedly up at him when he placed them over her head.

“Stay,” he grunted.

“Oh, like that, is it?” she murmured.

“Yes,” he agreed as he shoved up her shirt, pushed aside the cup of her bra, and drew one pert nipple into his mouth without mercy. She gasped, wiggling beneath him as a moan slipped from her lips. “Exactly like that,” he whispered around her breast.

He kneaded the soft mounds in his hands, sucking and teasing her flesh until she whispered his name on a frantic breath. Her back arched off the bed and he grinned as he ground his throbbing cock against her sex. For over a week, he refused to let himself have release, not until Freddie was back in his arms. He was dying to fill her again and knowing she carried his child only ignited the primal instincts in him more.

In a few easy moves, he lifted her shirt over her head and removed her bra so they were no longer in the way. His hands squeezed down her ribs to her waist, and when his lips reached her belly, he kissed it sweetly.

“The baby?” he asked suddenly. “Can we…”

She grinned down at him. “The doctor said everything’s in order, so yes. Yes, we can.”

He winked and licked a trail from the top of her jeans to the sides of both breasts. “Good, because you will be hoarse by tomorrow morning from screaming.” He took his time tasting her exposed flesh as his fingers massaged her body, tugging hard on her nipples until she cried out and her hips searched for his. He rolled her over and let his lips linger along her spine as he continued to move down her body. When he met her jeans this time, he reached under her to undo the button and zipper and dragged them languidly down her legs.

Her panties came off with the jeans and he held the globes of her perfect ass in his palms as his knee spread her legs just slightly. His hands smoothed up the inside of her thighs but didn’t go all the way, not yet. He kicked out of his jeans in a hurry and stretched out beside her. One hand snaked beneath her body to clutch her breast while his other spread her swollen and throbbing lips slippery from want. His cock twitched over how wet she was already, but he remained in control, for now. He rubbed her clit, circling the tiny nub, and her legs parted wider as she sighed. He nipped and kissed along her shoulders and back, rubbing himself against her thigh as he moved his hand. One finger dipped within her sheath, but he withdrew it to the sound of her aggravated moan. He repeated the motion, going in a little further each time, and each time he pulled out, teasing her to the edge of ecstasy.

She rolled to her side, pressing her ass against his cock, and he cursed, but his hand moved around to the front of her body, rubbing her cleft in lazy circles. She turned her head enough so he could devour her mouth as he would soon devour the rest of her. But she suddenly rolled him over onto his back and straddled his legs, holding his shaft in both hands.

“What are you doing?” he demanded, his brow arching. “I wasn’t finished playing with that.”

“No? Two can play the tease game.”

Her hands tightened as they moved as one down his shaft and back to the tip. He groaned, grabbing her hips, but she wiggled free and closed her red lips around his tip. He watched as she took him into her mouth, each inch that disappeared lighting another spark within him. She pushed her hands to his base, then further, and his hips bucked as she found the hidden inches of his cock.

“Christ, woman,” he growled, his head flopping back to the pillow as his vision blurred.

She worked wonders with that mouth of hers, but he would not let her have all the fun. He picked her up and spun her around so he could lick and suck her clit. She trembled as she gasped, her mouth still around his cock as he held her to his face. As his tongue penetrated her body, she sucked harder on his shaft. He timed his movements with hers. Filling her two ways like this pushed him dangerously close to the edge. He nibbled her bead, sucking hard on it as she rode his mouth and hers pulled free of his body. He held her securely, not about to let her squirm away as he ravaged her, wanting to hear her scream in pleasure. Her lips throbbed against his tongue as her moan turned into a long, drawn out gasp before breaking into a scream. As the orgasm rippled through her body, he pulled his mouth free, shifted her body around, and rolled her over onto her back. He spread her legs wide, pressing them back into her chest, and thrust home in one clean move of his hips.

The deep angle let him fill her completely. She dug her nails into his arms as he drove within her, pushing her into the realm of ecstasy again in seconds. He moved his hand to her clit, rubbing it hard as his thrusts increased in speed, unable to hold back any longer. She arched her back and grabbed the edge of the mattress behind her head as they cried out as one. He forgot all sense of control and simply pushed until the orgasm claimed his strength and his body went limp.

Panting for air and drenched in sweat from their exertions, he sank to the bed beside her, his legs trembling and his swollen cock exhausted. Freddie’s hand found his on the bed and he brought it to his lips, kissing each knuckle in turn and then her palm.

“I missed this,” he told her. “I missed you so bad it hurt.”

“Same,” she replied. “You know, I actually thought this—us, what we were doing—would end well, but now… I messed up your life completely.”

“No,” he argued and dragged her over so she laid on his chest. “No, we will make this work. I promise you.”

“But I don’t have a job and what money I have will run out real quick.”

“The only thing I want you worrying about over the next few months is the baby growing in your belly,” he told her, resting his hand there. “Our baby. And working on a pet project of mine, and finding us a new home, of course.”

She stared at him blankly before her eyes lit up. “What pet project?”

“Something I’ve been working on for a while and planned on surprising you with. But now, I’m going to entrust it to you.”

“What is it?”

He ran his hands up her sides and he grinned. “I’m putting together what will hopefully turn into an annual charity event for Dr. Gibbons’ hospital, for your sister and the other patients there. There are also some homes like hers in the surrounding area that we’re going to try and help. Interested?”

Freddie’s jaw dropped and her brow furrowed. “You did all of that?”

“I did. Your sister is an amazing young girl,” he said. “And she needs to be in a place that can help her and where she’s comfortable. So now your job is to take care of the charity. Do you think you can handle it?”

She hugged him, kissing him all over his face. “Thank you! You have no idea what this means to her—to me!”

“I thought you might be happy.”

“But how will you do this? What about your brothers?”

“I have at least one brother who understands me and us,” he explained. “He’ll help me buy out LM Solutions from Ryan, but it’ll take time. Possibly a year.”

“What do we do until then?”

“You worry about nothing but the charity and the baby,” he informed her. “Leave my family to me. They don’t have to know a damn thing about us as long as you’re all right with waiting for a wedding until after I get out from under my brother’s thumb?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “I think I can manage that.”

“Good.” He pulled her down to his side so he could cuddle with her. “Now, about that house.”

“You don’t want to live at your place?”

“No, I want a place we can choose together. A home fit for Rhett and Freddie.”

His hands ran lazily up and down her back as her face scrunched in thought. “We could always build one. There’s some land opening up in the hills, but it’s expensive.”

“Money is not an issue, not right now,” he said and kissed the top of her head. “We’ll go check the lots out this weekend and maybe do some other shopping.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I have a few things in mind,” he said, running his thumb over her bare left ring finger.

“You’re sure about all of this? About us?”

He turned her face gently towards him. “I’ve never been surer about anything in my life. You are my life, Freddie, you and our baby. Nothing will take that away from me.”

He kissed her deeply, and when he covered her with his body this time, it wasn’t for an intense release of pent-up hunger. He needed to show her how much he loved her. Each kiss and caress along her body was slow and smooth, lingering as he rubbed his growing shaft along her cleft. When he stretched her sheath, he kissed her long and hard, his tongue dragging in and out of her mouth as he moved over her. She dug her nails into his back and wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him in deeper. He made love to his Freddie, and when the sun came up the next morning, he smiled softly at the woman he loved by his side again.

As the morning light kissed her cheek and she stirred in his arms, he whispered in her ear, “Marry me.”

She rolled over and kissed him, pinning him back to the bed. “You don’t even have to ask,” she replied, and he hugged her close. They fell back asleep, dozing in the sunlight, ready to start the next step of their lives.

As long as everything goes as planned, we’ll get through this, he told himself before sleep took him again. Everything simply has to go as planned.