She’s so damn beautiful. Seeing her here, in cozy clothes, so close to me, I can’t help but think that she and I could sit like this forever.

I could spend the rest of my life wishing I’d seen it sooner. Realized how good we could be together years ago--but instead, I’m going to hold on to the fact that I figured it out now before it was too late.

She looks at me with so much shock, absolute surprise, that I realize I really have caught her off guard, completely.

I’m hoping that since it’s what everyone says she’s wanted forever, she’ll still want it now.

But by the looks of it now, with her face crumbling, tears filling her beautiful, wide eyes, I wonder if everyone got it all wrong all that time.

Especially me.

“Charlie,” she says, covering her face. “You have to take it back. Those words. You have to take them back.”

“Like hell I do,” I tell her, reaching for the ring in my pocket. Pulling it out I offer it to her. “Tell me one good reason you and I shouldn’t be married? Shouldn’t spend a life together?”

She lowers her hands, shaking her head, a flurry of tears staining her cheek. “I can think of dozens of reasons why not,” she tells me.

I clench my jaw. I am not losing this woman, not when I just figured out how damn much she means to me. “Starting with?”

“We’ve never even kissed, Charlie. You can’t marry someone you’ve never kissed.”

Without thinking twice, I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her to my lap. She sits down, just like she should, and I press my hands on the base of her neck, and I leave a trail of kisses on her ear, blowing warm air before reaching her mouth.

Her perfect, pink mouth. The mouth I’ve been dreaming about ever since I took her virginity. I’ve been dreaming of her lips as I jack off in the shower, as I lose a load when I wake up in the middle of the night, hard as fuck, with dreams filled with her.

I kiss her softly, her sweet lips part, and my tongue finds hers.

I don’t hold back.

I kiss her with all that I am and all I have. I kiss her, feeling her shoulders fall. I kiss her, soaking up the sounds of her moaning against my mouth. I kiss her, knowing she feels the current of power coursing between us.

She wants this as badly as I need this and I kiss her until we both forget to breathe and can only inhale one another.

“I fucking love you, Maggie,” I tell her, panting from the kiss that could fucking move mountains. Our foreheads touch again and I look in her eyes, the ones still filled with tears and she shakes her head.

“Don’t, Charlie,” she says, pressing her palm to my chest. “Don’t say that.”

My chest tightens, unable to imagine a world where Maggie and I don’t end up together.

“Then say it, Maggie. Tell me you don’t love me.”

She shakes her head, and I try to still her, to wipe away her tears, but whatever tears her apart is something I don’t understand.

“It doesn’t matter that I love you,” she whispers. “What I have to tell you will change all of that. All of this.”

“So, you do love me?”

Her shoulders fall and her face sinks. “Yes. I love you. I have always loved you. Is that what you hear? Because it’s not something you can cling to, Charlie.”

“I can cling to what I know. And I know you love me and I know I love you. What I don’t know is why you’re fighting what we both know you’ve always wanted. What I just figured out this week I want more than anything else on Earth. Me and you. Us.”

She gasps as if she’s just met her breaking point. Then the words she’s tried to keep back spill from her mouth, “I’m pregnant, Charlie.”

Blood courses through my veins. She’s been out for the last few weeks, with God knows how many men. The only reason she could be scared to tell me is that she’s scared I won’t want to raise another man’s child.

Dammit.

“Listen to me, Maggie. I will stand by your side no matter what happens. Just tell me, who’s the father?”

Her lips fall into a perfect O and her eyes widen in surprise.

“Charlie, you’re the father. You’re the only one. The only one I’ve ever wanted.”

Relief floods my body, my face cracking into a wide ass grin and my heart fucking opening up like the goddamn heavens. I don’t know what this woman is doing to me but it is more than I ever fucking imagined.

“We’re having a baby?” I ask, both incredulous and fucking overjoyed.

“The condom... the night in the kitchen.”

I swallow, remembering that it broke right before her brother walked in.

“Are you okay? Are you angry?” I ask her.

She covers her mouth with her hand, closing her eyes tight.

“What?” I ask again, having known her forever, but knowing we are treading all new territory.

She lowers her hand, still sitting in my lap, and opens her eyes. “Charlie, I’m not angry. I was scared you wouldn’t want this baby... want me. But then you came here with a cake and ring and a proposal and a kiss and I don’t know. Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones ... but ... I just don’t understand.”

I cup her face in my hands, looking into her beautiful eyes and knowing I see her soul. Her fucking life force full of passion and generosity and beauty.

“Don’t understand what, Mags?”

“How I ended up with everything I ever dreamed of having.”

I push the ring on her finger then, as she cries even harder, nodding her yes, and flinging her arms around my neck, and my damn cock is rock hard as she sinks against me.

“I love you, Mags. And I will be the best goddamn father on this side of the mountain. I won’t let you down. I swear it.”

In my ear, she whispers, “Take me, Charlie. Now.”

I pull her tank top over her head, her tits so perky and round, and I bury my face in them. Her skin is soft and her love is mine. She shimmies out of her leggings and I pull my jeans down. My cock is a steel rod and her pussy knows where it belongs.

“I love you, so much,” she says. “I’ve loved you since I was a little girl.” She runs her hand over my length, and I run my hand over her bare back, over her smooth ass. “I have so much to learn, Charlie.”

“About being a mom?” I look down at her belly, imaging our child in there, the size of a seed now, but soon enough it will grow to perfection. Our baby.

She looks at me, biting her bottom lip. “No. I’ve spent a lot of time with Greta’s kids, I know babies and diapers and late night feedings. I’m talking about learning how to please you.”

I grin, my hand running between her legs, feeling her slick pussy so ready for me.

“Oh, baby, do you want me to fill your jelly roll?”

She throws her head back, laughing. “Do these lines work on anyone?”

I pull her down, against me, letting her tight cunt take all I have. She whimpers as she sinks lower.

“They work on you if I’m reading this moment right.” I find her hand, lacing our fingers together, her diamond ring glinting as she rocks against me.

“You’re right, Charlie.” She smiles. “I’ve always wanted you to whisper filthy nothings to me.”

“They aren’t nothing, Mags. You’re the sugar glaze to my snickerdoodle.”

She shakes her head with a laugh, then bringing my hand to her mouth. Kissing me as if she can’t get enough. “Snickerdoodles don’t have a glaze, Charlie.”

“Fine, then you’re my maple glaze to my uh, bar?” I laugh, knowing that one was pretty bad. But Mags doesn’t miss a beat. The thing is, she never has. She saw the best in me when I was at my worst, and she believed in me before I understood how to believe in myself.

“No Charlie. You’re German chocolate frosting to my celebration cake.”

“And what’s the celebration?”

She smiles, my cock growing in size every time she gives me that look. “Our wedding, of course.”