CHAPTER 13
Lighting the last candle, Doc looked around the room, proud of the romantic scene he pulled together. Various candles sat on almost every available surface, providing most of the lighting in the living and adjacent dining room that Everly would soon walk into. Meg had helped him decorate a perfectly set table, full of romantic gestures, including a silver ice bucket that had not champagne, but a nice sparkling apple cider in its place.
A perfectly romantic evening was staged with the lingering aroma from the meal BJ helped him make, warming in the oven, and light jazz music playing softly in the background. Everly had no idea what she was about to walk in on, but Doc knew she would love it. He had wasted too much time, acting like a fool, tonight everything changed. He was claiming his woman and the life they were destined to have.
“Right on time,” he mumbled to himself when he heard her car pull into the driveway.
Like a giddy teenager, he ran to the door full of enthusiasm only to open it and lean in the doorway full of cool and calm. He was anything but. The excitement coursing through him was nearly more than he could handle and a challenge to contain. Especially when he saw beautiful Everly smile at him as she walked up the path to the door, home to shower and change before heading back to the hospital.
“Hey,” she said, with slight suspicion and a look to match.
Shit, be cool, be cool…you’re giving it all away
he thought to himself.
“Hey yourself,” he said with a cheesy wink and brow lift that immediately made him want to palm his face in embarrassment.
She turned a side eyed glance his way and let out a quiet chuckle. “You okay, Doc?”
“Oh, yeeeaaah. I’m good. Totally good, I mean fine. Nothing big…going on…in there.” He tossed a thumb over his shoulder toward the interior of the house before awkwardly crossing his arms over his chest and crossing one ankle over the other.
Everly stood in front of him, just outside the door on the steps, with a sideways grin and suspicious tone. “Oh. Well that’s good. So do you think you can…let me in, maybe?”
Straightening quickly, he fumbled a bit before moving to the side and stretching an arm inside, indicating she should enter. “Yes, of course! Come in…I mean, it’s your house so… Anyway, just come in.”
Her giggle was endearing as she walked through the front door, only to gasp at the sight before her. He watched her scan the room from one side to the other, pausing only to close her eyes and smell the aroma coming from the kitchen. She was speechless, standing there with her jaw slack and eyes wide.
Nerves took over and he started to worry to the point of nearly shuddering. “Crap, I’m sorry. I’m really bad at this. I was trying to…trying to…I don’t know, put together a romantic evening and…”
“It’s perfect, Mace. Perfect…” She turned to him with glassy eyes ready to spill over. “But I have to get back up to the hospital, and…”
“No. I mean, I took care of that too. Jessie will be there the rest of the evening and overnight with Lou. It’s…your night off.” An adorable shrug full of sweet boyish charm trailed his words while he hoped he had thought of everything and she would stay with him.
“It’s our
night off then.” A single tear finally trailed her cheek, tempting more to follow. “I can’t believe you did all of this. It’s so…romantic. The flowers, candles…did you cook?”
“I did. Well, I had help, with all of it. But it’s all for you, Ev.” He pulled her into him for a sweet embrace, but she caught him off guard with a passionate kiss instead that went on and on.
Finally breaking the kiss, he grabbed her hands and pulled her the rest of the way into the house, kicking the door closed with his foot. “I suppose we don’t need to put on a show for the neighbors, well…the wildlife anyway.”
“I can’t believe you did all of this, why? What’s the occasion?” she asked, taking in the room again while she wandered to the table and pulled out the sparkling cider. She held it up and laughed. “You really did think of everything.”
Doc pulled out the dining room chair she was standing next to and turned it away from the table, gesturing for her to sit. Taking the not quite champagne
bottle from her hand, he opened it, filling both glasses halfway. Holding up a single finger to wait, he excused himself from where he stood and grabbed a small tiffany blue gift bag that had been sitting on the credenza by the front door. Somehow, she had missed that when she walked in.
Doc nervously handed her the bag and began to speak. “I picked this up months ago in Portland. I’ve been hanging onto it, waiting for the right time to give it to you. Everly, I’ve known since that first day. You had my heart, my soul, my every breath from go.”
He reached across the table and pulled a single rose from the arrangement and held it as he finished professing his love for her. “Meg helped me pick the flowers.”
“They’re gorgeous. Actually, my favorite rose.”
“Well, good! They serve a dual purpose then.” he chuckled, trying to stay light while his emotions felt flooding. “They’re fire and ice. We went through every flower in her shop and I picked this one because it’s us, Ev. I guess the red at the tips represent a passionate and an unmatched intensity of eternal love. The white body means purity and unconditional love. This is us, Ev. This is how we live and love…like fire and ice. When I saw them in the shop, before I even knew what they meant, they had my attention. I couldn’t see anything but these – they are stunning, just like you.”
Everly choked on a small sob, tears flooding her face. Holding her face in his hands, he wiped at her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs as he knelt before her, taking a knee. He leaned forward for a small, sweet kiss then took the bag from her hands and set it on the ground next to him.
He whispered sweetly, “Don’t cry, baby.”
“It’s…it’s the hormones.”
“I love you Everly Shaw. I love you so much it hurts and makes me do stupid things. I don’t remember anything before you because I didn’t start living until I met you. You challenge me, you make me laugh, you keep me wanting more. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you – to keep you safe, to keep you happy, to give you everything you want. I will love you forever, Ev, and spend every single day of the rest of my life showing you that.”
He reached into the bag and pulled out a small box that matched the bag with a white ribbon on top. Every woman knew what that box was and where it was from. Her body began to quake and he lifted the lid and revealed what he had been saving for her…for months.
“Everly Louise Shaw, I can’t live another day without calling you mine. You’ve already made me a proud father, but I’d give anything if you would let me love you and let me be your husband. I want forever, Ev...with you.”
He slipped the white gold and diamond dazzler on the fourth finger of her shaking left hand. She looked at it in awe before giving him a look he had yet to see before today. It was peaceful, content, and something he didn’t recognize yet. Maybe it was the love she had for him and kept hidden until now.
Placing her hands on his shoulders, slowly snaking them around his neck, she leaned her forehead against his and whispered in a tear filled voice, “You’ve changed my life, Mason Charles. You conquered my demons and filled me with things I didn’t know I would ever feel. I love you so much I’m almost scared to say it. You do make me feel safe, cherished, and so loved. I don’t know how you did it, but I need you so damn bad. Don’t ever leave me because I think this is the kind of love that only belongs to one person and that’s you…forever. I will marry you, Doc. I’d marry you a hundred times over.”
He pulled her into a sultry kiss that didn’t last long before Everly slid from her seat and into his lap, causing him to fall to his ass, propped against the back of the nearby sofa. His hands drifted under her shirt, stroking the sides of her full breasts as she straddled him. Intensity building, he pulled her shirt over her head and unhooked her bra, freeing her breasts for his pleasure.
She arched her back, displaying her ample breasts as a tease to get what she wanted. She was hungry for his taste, his feel, his arousal. Rocking against him, she felt his hunger too, rubbing against her, long and hard. Her skin was on fire from the feel of his lips across her breasts as his tongue lashed at her sensitive nipples and his free hand gripped and massaged as he did.
She had missed this, missed him and couldn’t get enough of him. She leaned back, bracing herself with one hand on the floor behind her, head tossed back, her breath quickening. With the other arm wrapped around his neck, he gently leaned her back to the floor and hovered over her. His eyes locked on hers, he smiled down at her before he trailed kisses and soft bites from her neck to her breasts, continuing down her abdomen.
He stopped for a moment and laid his head on her small baby bump before placing a kiss dead center and continuing his descent. He gripped the waistband of her yoga pants, and slowly pulled them down, devouring her as he went. She unwrapped her legs from his waist, setting her legs down wide as she lifted her ass so he could finish what he was doing.
Laying completely bare to him, he stalled, and looked down at her nude body and said, “You are so beautiful. So fucking beautiful.”
In a bold move so seductive and intimate, her heavily hooded eyes closed as she let out a deep breathy sigh and let her legs fall completely open for his viewing pleasure. He pulled his own shirt over his head, tossing it to the side, and quickly undid his jeans, freeing himself so he was ready for her, but not until he worshipped her, devoured her, and loved her first. Sitting between her legs, he leaned forward, placing the back of his hand on her face and slowly dragged it the length of her body until it finally rested exactly where she wanted him.
The catch in her breath and arch of her back when his fingers stroked her center was nearly his undoing. Provocative, highly sensual, and oh so hot, he had missed her as much as she him. It had been weeks of watching her, seeing her body, and not touching it and here he was with her at his mercy, crying for more. It was all he could do to contain his own desires and early finish. He was going to pleasure her until she couldn’t take anymore and then he would do it until he couldn’t.
Stroking her slick heat, his finger slipped inside of her, the act as pleasing to him as it was her. He stroked her in and out, over and over, finally slipping a second finger inside of her. Pure ecstasy washing over her as he did. He took her mouth in a primal move of ravishment, his tongue slipping in through her throaty moan.
His pace increasing, he moved down her body once more, paying attention to her collarbone, then her tight, hard rosy buds, down her abdomen. His thumb had been swirling her swollen bundle of nerves driving her to the edge. His mouth took over, finally covering her center adding more pressure to her most sensitive spot as his fingers continued to plunge in and out.
With her tightening around him, he felt her reach the peak of euphoria. Removing his fingers, and moving up her body, he took her breast in his mouth biting down on her while his hard length plunged into her. She rode him back, grinding her hips against him in search of relief, she finally found it when his free hand slipped between them and pressed on her swollen and needy middle, flicking it once then twice before she crashed down around him.
She rode him through the waves of pleasure, her tight grip around him bringing him to his own finish. They laid on the living room floor, never losing their connection, while they caught their breaths and regained their wits.
“Finally.” Finally was right, both had been desperate for such intimacy – especially Everly.
“I’ve missed this. I’ve missed you
,” Doc said, interrupting the silliness.
Everly chuckled. “So have I. Let’s never go that long again.”
Kissing him again, her hand stroked his side, up and down before grabbing his ass.
“Doc…” she said in between kisses to his neck. “Can we…I want…”
“Insatiable, I see…”
“It’s the hormones…and you naked on top of me.”
Finally, Doc scooped her off the floor and carried her toward the bedroom.
“Wait! The candles! The oven! We can’t leave them unattended.”
Doc paused and scanned the room before moving toward the dining table where his cellphone was sitting. He picked it up, tapped the screen a few times and the candles went out in unison.
“How did you do that?” Amusement danced on her face, impressed with what he had just done.
“Candles aren’t real. They all have a Bluetooth smart sensor and I can control them with my phone from anywhere…cool, huh?”
Her head fell back in laughter, this was typical Doc. Handsome, virile, and rugged as he could be, he was a tech nerd at heart, in love with his video games and gadgets. Even romance was wireless with Bluetooth with him.
“I’m guessing the oven is on your phone too?” she teased.
“No…the warmer is on a timer.”
They finally made it to their soft bed where he made love to her again, slow, and sweet, and he loved every inch of her.