One Year Later
“KEEP YOUR EYES SHUT,” LIVVIE screeches at me.
“Woman. They’re shut.” I laugh.
“You’re too tall for me to reach them, and I swear if you look, it’ll ruin the surprise.”
I hold my hand up. “I swear I won’t look, baby.”
She pushes me forward then grabs my belt loop and tugs me back a step. I trip, and she steadies me. “Sorry. Sorry.” After she jostles me a little more, she finally decides the location I’m at is good enough. “Okay. Wait until I tell you to open them.”
If my eyes were open, I’d roll them. “Sweetheart, for the thousandth time, I’m not going to open them until you tell me.”
“Yeah, yeah. Okay.” One more small step to the left, and I feel her body heat next to me. “Open.”
Just to fuck with her, I leave them closed.
“Jay!” She slaps my arm. “Open them.”
I squint against the sun for a second before our house comes into view then the surprise she’s been waiting to show me. “Baby.”
“Do you like it?”
The small building next to our property that she’s been working on for the past year is finally complete. She refused to tell me the name of her business, and now I know why. It’s painted a pristine white and in the shape of a chapel. The only color on the building is the purple door and the copper in the sign, which shines against the sun.
Lucky Penny Weddings
Because when luck runs out, love takes its place.
“Do you like it?” She sinks her teeth into her lip and nervously fidgets her fingers.
“Yes, Livvie. I love it.” I wrap my arm around her shoulder and kiss her temple. “It’s gorgeous, sweetie.”
“Yay! Come on. I want to show you everything.” She grabs my hand and pulls me up the walkway.
The building is cute, just like my girl. She practically bounces as she walks with me. When we get closer, I arch my neck to get a closer look at the sign. “Are those…?”
“My jar of pennies, yes. I hope you’re not mad. But I didn’t like them just sitting in a jar, and this way, I get to look at them every day, and I’ll get to tell everyone the story when they ask about it.”
Jesus, she’s full of surprises. It looks incredible. I lean against the door and grab her hips, pulling her close. “What story is that?”
Her eyes smile. “The story of how I met the man of my dreams.”
“Yeah? How does this story go?”
“Well, let’s see. It starts out with me recommending everyone get a parking ticket.”
I shake my head. “Detective’s wives shouldn’t really advise people to break the law, baby.”
“Oh hush, it’s not breaking the law.” She waves me off. “It’s just a ticket. Stop interrupting my story.”
My lips press together, and I suppress a laugh.
“Then I’ll tell them that they need to go down to the police station because there once was this girl who found the man of her dreams because she picked up a penny. But I’ll warn them to stay away from the hottest man down there ’cause if they try to pick you up, I’ll cut a bitch.”
My laughter breaks through, and I put my head on her shoulder. “You’re such a badass.”
“Shut up, I am.”
“Prove it.” I raise a brow.
“How?”
Instead of telling her, I pull her through the door, straight to the room on the right where her office is. And her desk. And a couch. I kick the door shut and flip the lock then take my shirt off.
“How is you getting naked proving I’m a badass?”
“Because you’re going to get naked too, and then you’re going to let me fuck you on every surface of this place.”
Her face brightens, and she rubs her thighs together. “That’s not sanitary.”
“This ain’t a fuckin’ bakery, love.”
“True.”
“Where do you want it first? I’m partial to the desk.”
She swings around and walks over to it, running her finger along the mahogany. “Here?”
“Yeah. There.”
“Hmm.” She hops up and swings her feet. When I take a step to her, she jumps down and sits on her desk chair. “Or what about here?”
I reach out and unbutton her shirt. “I don’t care where we start.” Then I pull her pants and thong down. “Because it’s going to end with you screaming my name.”
“Promises, promises.” She waves me off, but when I slam two fingers inside her, her laughter dies, and she grips my arm.
“Hell, yeah, it’s a promise.” I use my other hand to pull her mouth to mine and stroke her tongue in time with my fingers stroking her pussy.
And in a few short minutes, she does just that. “Jay.”
“Yeah, baby.”
“Oh, my God.” She grinds herself down, taking what she needs. “Jay.”
“Yeah, baby. Jay. Me. Always me.”
She throws her head back, and I watch her face as she tightens around my fingers. Christ, she’s so goddamned beautiful it still makes my knees weak. Her eyes come to mine and one lone tear leaks out. “Always.”
“Why are you crying?” I remove my hand and pull her close, absolutely hating that she has even a single tear.
“I just really love you.”
My hands cup her face, and I softly kiss her lips. “I really love you, too.”
“Like so much that I may have done something kind of stupid and I’m scared you’re going to get mad at me.”
I tilt my head in confusion. “What’d you do?”
“Let me up.”
Stepping back, I give her a little space. She turns around and drops her shoulders, letting the shirt fall all the way to the floor. When I see the ink on her lower back, my damn balls tighten up. “Fuck, Livvie.”
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah. I love it.”
I squat down and gently trace over the beautiful butterfly that’s slightly over the dimple on the right side of her lower back. When I look closer, I see the pattern of the wings looks a little different than what I’d expect.
“Do you see it?”
“The wings?”
“Yeah. Do you see the little bullets in the pattern?”
My eyes close involuntarily; the beauty of this woman—inside and out—is too damn much sometimes. “It’s beautiful, baby.”
“Thank you. I did a lot of research and found a guy up in Pleasant Valley. He had a crazy long waitlist, so I wasn’t able to get into him until yesterday.”
“So when you said you had meetings all day, you lied?” I accuse with a smile in my voice. “I’m blown away.” I put my hands on her hips and turn her around to face me. “It’s stunning, but I don’t like that you went to another state, and I had no clue where you were. What if something happened to you or he tried something and—”
“Mellie was with me. And the guy, Vaughn, he’s married. He did your sister’s tattoo, and Smith said he trusted him.”
I lick my lips. “That’s why you said you had a headache after you sucked me off last night.”
Her cheeks turn pink. “Yeah. I was scared to show you.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t have any tattoos, and I just didn’t know how you’d react.”
My hands reach for my button fly, and I lean forward to kiss my beautiful wife. I slide my lips to her ear. “I want you to bend over your desk so I can fuck you and look at your new tattoo.”
“Oh. Okay.”
I laugh, and before she turns, I kiss her. “Is that reaction okay?”
“It’s perfect.”
“And so are you. No matter what scars you have or what ink is on your skin, everything that you are comes from in here.” I place my flat palm directly over her heart. “And you giving this to me means that absolutely nothing in the world can take away from the beauty of you, Olive. Nothing. You are beautiful inside and out. And you’re mine. Fuckin’ always. My butterfly.”
Heartbreaker: Ryan and Opal’s story is coming! to be updated on its release, plus get notified when I have a sale on any of my books!