Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 158(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 158(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
I guide myself to her opening. She’s still so tight. I stroke her clit lightly with my index finger and push my thumb against her pubic bone. She opens slowly. I nearly die a dozen times before I’m fully seated. Sweat beads across my forehead. My chest heaves like I’ve run a marathon. The orgasm I’ve been fighting off is ready to explode.
Her response is to drag my head down for a deep, open-mouthed kiss. I let myself go, thrusting into her again and again until she’s screaming her release. The thread snaps, and the rapture takes over me, smashing me against the rocks of ecstasy.
I collapse on the mattress, rolling to the side so I don’t crush her under the weight of my body. With what little energy I have left, I flip the covers over her frame and pull her next to me.
I stroke her back as we try to catch our breath. The rhythm of her inhales and exhales smooths out, and she’s quiet for so long I think she fell asleep, but then she murmurs, “Why is my nest bowl missing?”
I roll my head to the side so I can see her dresser. Between the tree branch ring holder and the cross-stitch frame, there’s an empty gap. Should have pushed the two crafts closer together. “I took it.”
She pushes up on her elbows to stare at me with confusion. “You stole my junky pottery bowl?”
I force her head back onto my shoulder and flip the coverlet over our bodies. “It’s not a junky pottery bowl. It’s a work of art, and my home needed some color. Besides, it wasn’t a theft, more like a borrowing.”
“Are you bringing it back?”
“We’re married,” I remind her. “It’s both of ours now.”
A small laugh leaves her. “That’s how this works?” A smile pulls at her lips, making me want to kiss her.
“Everything I have is yours.” That's how I want us to be. All of us wrapped up in each other.
“I love the sound of that.” She leans over and kisses me. Belle is so damn sweet. I don't deserve her. I'd even tricked her into this marriage, and maybe I should feel guilty, but I don't. It brought us here. Belle and I both need each other. We fit.
“I love how that sounds too,” I tell her. When it comes to Belle, there isn't one thing I don't love.
Epilogue
ANNABELLE
Istand in the doorway watching Charles rock our baby girl to sleep. He puts everything into what he does. I couldn't have asked for a better husband or father to our children, and we have three already. I'm more than sure there will be a few more in time, but we're spreading them out, wanting each one to get the attention they deserve.
When he lifts his head and our eyes lock, I get that flutter inside of me that only he can provoke. It doesn't matter how many years we've been together, it's still there as strong as ever. He slowly stands as he carries our daughter over to the crib and gently puts her down before coming to me.
“I thought you'd be a little longer,” he says before he kisses me, not giving me a chance to respond until he finally lifts his mouth from mine.
“I missed you.”
I'm sure many would call us codependent. We spend most of our time together. He's my best friend. We want to be together. His office is even at home. It's rare when he has to go out for a business meeting. He's really slowed down. At least that's what I've been told. Before we married, he was always working. Now the family and I come first to him. Everything else can wait.
It’s been so healing to have that from him. My experience with my own family was never good. They never cared for me. I was the frumpy sister that would never amount to anything. It’s comical when I think about it now. I’m where my sisters would die to be in their own lives in my personal and social life. But I have no interest in the things that they want from the life I have with Charles. I’d give everything away to simply have him. I know that he’d do the same for us.
“Are the boys asleep?” His hands slide to my ass.
“They went down quickly. You wore them out today.” He'd taken them all over the city earlier, to a museum and the park before they'd brought dinner home for all of us.
I’d wanted to finish a few pieces I’ve been working on. One of the luxuries of being married to a very wealthy man is that I can pursue the things I love, and Charles encourages it. Even if it does mean he got a sweater for Christmas with one arm longer than the other. Don’t judge me, I’m still learning. And he still wears it. Every time he does, I can’t help but love him more. He’s always so encouraging and supportive of me.