CHAPTER 22
GRACE

I knew I needed to tell Ryan tonight. With my mother and Amy both gone, and Harper already in bed for the night, it was just the two of us. We were sitting on the edge of my bed with the door closed and I could feel Ryan wanting to help comfort me in any way he could.

But he couldn't truly comfort me until he knew what was going on. Why my mother and I had been fighting all night.

“Thank you for coming by tonight,” I said. “I’m sorry things were so crazy.”

“Don’t apologize,” Ryan said. “I’m glad you thought to call me when things were getting rough.”

“I’m so sorry for whatever my mom said to you. I tried to get it out of her because I knew she would corner you if I left. But I wanted to walk Amy out. I needed a little pep talk.”

“Pep talk? About what?” he asked.

I sighed and looked over at Ryan before I turned to face him. My hand fell to my thigh before he wrapped his strong hand around it. I was trembling, and I knew he could feel it. My body was filled with fear and my eyes were watering and I didn’t know how to stop the flood of emotions.

“Grace, what's going on?” Ryan asked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m scared,” I said.

“About what? Talk to me.”

“I’m pregnant,” I said, breathlessly.

I felt my heart stop as Ryan’s face faltered. The concern on his face slowly morphed into shock as his hand gripped mine. I was waiting for his reaction, for him to storm out, to tell me to get an abortion, or that he couldn't do this, or that none of this was what he had signed up for. I could see the fear and hesitancy in his eyes and it made me sick.

But instead of getting up and walking away, he pulled me into his body.

I threw my arms around him and he opened himself up to me. I laid against him, his back leaning against the headboard of my bed. He stroked my hair as I cried into the crook of his neck, his lips pressing gentle kisses against my ear.

“It’s going to be okay, Grace. I’m going to take care of you.”

I furrowed my brow at his words. I picked my face up from his shoulder and looked into his eyes. They were filled with uncertainty and so many questions, but the one thing I didn't see was deceit.

He wasn’t lying when he said those words.

“What?” I asked.

“I’m scared, like you are,” he said. “I’ve already got questions I want to ask. But I need to settle the fears you have right now. I’m not going anywhere, Grace.”

He cupped my cheek as he slowly rolled me over onto my back.

“You won’t do this alone.”

I rose up to capture Ryan’s lips as his hands smoothed out over my body. His hand cupped my stomach, holding within the palm of his hand the part of my body that would morph and grow with his child. His lips pressed against my cheek, catching the tears I had been crying. They slid to my neck as my hands ran through his hair, my legs parting to accommodate him.

“I will take care of you,” he said into my breasts. “You, and Harper, and our baby.”

He kissed down my stomach as his hands slid the fabric up my legs.

“Ryan,” I said breathlessly.

“You won’t be alone in this,” he said again, as he kissed my thigh. “I promise, you’ll never be alone again.”

I felt my jaw trembling as his hands pressed against my knees.

“I’ll make sure you have what you need,” he said, as he kissed my skin. “I’ll make sure our family is protected.”

I shivered as he hooked his fingers into the band of my panties.

“I’ll make sure you know how much I love you,” he said.

I lifted my head up and watched him slide my panties down my legs. He kissed back up my skin, making me jump the closer he got to my pussy. Had I heard him right?

Did he say he loved me?

His lips hovered over my wet pussy as his eyes whipped up to mine. There was a shadow of a grin upon his cheeks as his eyes ignited with a passionate fire. I felt my heart slamming against my chest as his hands ran up my legs, wrapping around my thighs and pulling my ass to the edge of the bed.

“I love you, Grace. I always have.”

“I love you too, Ryan.”

The words slipped from my lips as easily as they had in the past. The first man I had ever loved. The first man I had ever given myself to. His tongue licked up slit and my head fell back to the bed as my body was flooded with relief.

My hands curled into the sheets of the bed as his tongue worked slowly around my clit.

“I love your body,” Ryan said, as he sucked the tight bud. “I love your taste. I love your sounds and your smells and the way your smile lights up your face.”

“Ryan,” I said breathlessly. “Don’t stop.”

“Mmmm, I won’t,” he said, before he slid his tongue deep into my pussy.

My back arched off the bed as my hips rolled into his face.

“And I’ll love our child as much as I love you,” he said, as he kissed my thigh.

His tongue ran along the folds of my pussy, licking up my wetness and making me moan. I squirmed against him as his arms pinned me to his face. He licked and he sucked. He whispered how much he loved me into my dripping folds. He slid a finger inside and crooked it, causing fire to burst behind my eyes. I wrapped my legs around his face as his tongue tortured me with its slow pace. I bucked against him, my hands curling into the thick locks of his hair as he smiled into me.

“You’re perfect,” he said, with a whisper.

“Ryan, I can’t—I have to—please—”

Over and over again, he pulled me to the edge before backing off. Two fingers filled my pussy as one of his hands slipped from my thighs. I heard his zipper before his hand began to move, and the thought of him stroking his cock was too much to bear.

I leaned up and pulled him onto the bed, his pants staying on the ground.

“Get over here,” I said, breathlessly.

Ryan’s eyes filled with a lustful darkness as he pulled me on top of him and spun me around. His cock was dripping for me as I parted my lips to receive him. He sank his tongue back between my folds as his cock slid to the back of my throat, and I bobbed up and down on his dick while he ate me out.

He moaned into my pussy as he fucked my throat.His tongue raked across my clit as his fingers worked their way back inside of me. I bucked into his palm, coating his skin with my juices as his cock throbbed against my throat.

I felt so close to Ryan, even as we lost ourselves in our own pleasure.

“Come for me. Come for me. Let me taste you,” I said around his cock.

“I love you, Grace. So much. You’re going—shit—to be—fuck—”

I felt his legs contracting as my toes began to curl. His tongue was moving at lightning speed as his fingers fucked my pussy. My hands dug into his thigsas his cock dripped down my throat.

My hips reared off his face, swallowing his fingers whole as he crooked them against that electric spot. Fire shot through my veins as I hollowed out my cheeks, and I felt Ryan’s body trembling underneath me.

His hot cum shot down my throat, filling me as my pussy throbbed against his face.

“Ryan. Ryan. Yes. Yes.”

“Grace. Oh shit. I love the way you taste. I love all of you. Every part of you.”

His tongue was licking me up. Swallowing my juices down and cleaning my pussy. I collapsed to the bed, and he pulled me against him.

I didn’t know what we were going to do from here, but knowing Ryan was going to be there made things better.

It settled my mind in a way I hadn’t expected it would be settled. I was so comfortable and reassured, I fell asleep right in his arms.