Terms + Conditions (Strangers #3)

Chapter Forty-Six

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

NOW

“SO, YOU’RE LIKE TOGETHER together, right?” Michaela asks, leaning over the kitchen island in their New York penthouse.

Finn had opened the door mid-conversation earlier when we arrived at their condo, but his words faltered as soon as he saw us. I wasn’t alone and I hadn’t told him Elizabeth was coming with me. We hadn’t told anyone. Finn did a double take and rubbed his eyes with his fists before reopening them and a wide grin split his face.

“Took you long enough,” he said, ushering us inside.

When my sister walked out of the living room to see what was taking him so long, her blue eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, moving from me to Elizabeth to my hand on her lower back and back to me.

“C’mon, Shortcake,” Finn chuckled, pushing her back into the living room despite her protests.

Now, my sister has me cornered in the kitchen, where she can ask me anything. She has been chomping at the bit to ask me every question that came to mind from the moment we arrived. She passes her glass of wine between her hands, letting it skate across a small portion of the marble before catching it and sending it back, but her eyes never leave mine. I’m waiting for it to skate right past her waiting hand and fly off the edge splattering the cabinets with white wine. But, she catches it every time. “Like, no-more-divorce together.”

“Yes, MJ.”

“Like, moving-back-in togeth—”

“Yes, Michaela,” I groan. “In all the ways you can think of, we are back together. No more divorce, no more separate lives, no more arranged marriage. This is the real deal.”

“Thank God.” She sighs, a breath of relief. “I was worried how this was gonna go with you two awkwardly being around each other every time the family got together.”

“Glad to know that’s the only reason you wanted us to get back together.” I roll my eyes and she shoves one of the cookies she and Elizabeth made earlier into her mouth. She tries to say something, but the cookie jumbles her words, and I take the opportunity to escape while I have the chance.

“Merry Christmas.” The words whisper across my skin before Elizabeth’s lips ghost over mine in a gentle kiss. She gasps when I kiss her back, nipping her bottom lip. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I was, but then you got up,” I say, stretching my arms across the head of the bed, feeling my shoulders pop with instant relief.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t go back to sleep. I tried.”

Behind the blackout curtains that cover the windows, the city still looks dark. What time is it?

“Well, it’s…” I look up at the clock. “Six o’clock. Elizabeth, it’s fucking six in the morning, why are we awake?”

She offers a sheepish smile. “I’m just excited! It’s our first Christmas back together, and Elena’s first Christmas ever, we get to meet Alex’s new girlfriend, and Finn is proposing to your sister. There’s so much to be excited about!”

While all that is true, I think she’s most excited about the proposal. Elizabeth has been bouncing off the walls since I told her Finn asked me and Nick for permission to marry my sister last night before dinner.

“You’re adorable, y’know that?” I match her smile, pulling her mouth to mine.

Elizabeth places her hand on my bare chest. The gesture sends a soothing wave through my system. I can’t get enough of her touch. Her lips linger on mine, soft and sweet, before she pulls back only enough to say, “I love you, Joshua Davis.”

“And I love you, Sugar.”

“Show me,” she pleads, her words lighting a fire under my skin.

I claim her lips again and wrap my arms around her waist, rolling her beneath me. I nibble her bottom lip, coaxing her mouth open, and my tongue sweeps over hers.

My mouth slides down her jaw to her ear, pulling the lobe between my teeth. Elizabeth shivers under my touch when my teeth graze the skin of the sensitive spot on her neck, and goosebumps rise across her golden skin, hardening her nipples through the white fabric of her nightgown.

I swoop down to take one of the raised peaks into my mouth through the cloth, my hand massaging her other breast, earning a low moan from her, and her back arches off the mattress to meet my touch. I nip gently at the left nipple before doing the same to the other. Gathering the end of her nightgown in my hands, I shove it up her body and over her head but leave it to rest over her eyes, creating a makeshift blindfold. Bending down, I take the hardened mound in my mouth again, sucking, nipping, licking it, enjoying the feel of her on my tongue as she squirms beneath me.

“Josh.” She gasps when I ghost my fingers between her legs.

“Stay still, Sugar. Keep those hands up for me, okay?”

She nods fervently as I move my mouth down her body, leaving open-mouthed kisses in my wake and nipping at the soft skin of her abdomen just above her underwear. Sliding them down her legs, I push one finger inside her, and she purrs.

“Baby,” she whines as I push another finger inside her, and she moves her hips against my touch, wanting more.

“Stay still, Sugar,” I remind her before sucking her clit between my lips, and she practically leaps off the bed, her back bowing.

My name escapes her lips, but this time, it’s an urgent demand for satisfaction. She’s done playing, and while normally, I find my satisfaction in continuing to toy with her…not today. I don’t want to hold off a second longer, either.

Pulling the white fabric from her eyes, I lift it over her head, and she brings my mouth down to hers. Pushing my pajama bottoms off my thighs, I settle between her legs. Arousal hums through my veins, as I grasp my erection and fit the head of my cock to her entrance. I rub it up and down her folds, over her clit, and back before slowly pushing inside her until my hips meet hers. Pulling my shirt over my head, I toss it on the floor, planting my hands on either side of her head and capturing her lips in a demanding kiss. She hooks her ankles around my back, moving with me, countering my thrusts.

She kisses a line down my jaw to my ear, the same path I had taken on her earlier. She nibbles playfully at the lobe before tracing the shell of my ear with her tongue. My nerves are on fucking fire, going haywire with every swipe of her tongue on my burning skin. “You like that, huh?” she murmurs when I moan in response.

My body begins to lose control, taking over my need and instinct to find release. “I’m close, baby,” I grit out. “Want you to come on my dick.”

Wrapping her arms around my neck, she lifts her body to mine, bringing us impossibly closer. With each thrust, my cock sinks deeper into her, and her nails dig further into the skin of my shoulders. “I love you,” she breathes in my ear, and I almost lose my resolve, coming right then and there.

Speeding up my thrusts, I feel her walls clench around me and feel the start of her orgasm. Parting from her, I stare down into her dark brown eyes and utter, “I love you, Elizabeth. So much.”

Euphoria is the only way I know how to describe the feeling that comes over me. Pure euphoria and adrenaline course through my veins as I drive into her through my orgasm and hers.

We lie motionless for a long time after that until she breathes out a deep sigh of contentment and kisses the side of my face. I slide my hand down her side and squeeze her hip affectionately before rolling onto my side next to her. Pushing a strand of honey-golden hair from her eyes, I kiss her and return the smile she offers against my lips.

“I could get used to this,” she whispers.

“Is that a promise?”

“Hey Leia, I think I see another present?” Kai says, pointing toward the tree. Ophelia skips back to the tree to inspect it. She has been playing “elf” all morning—handing out gifts, and she was positive she had given them all out. But, sure enough, there’s one more: a small box stuck between the faux snow-covered branches, wrapped in red and white striped paper with a white bow on top.

Ophelia carefully removes it from its hiding place and turns over the gift tag. Her eyes read over the words twice before she says, “It’s for Uncle Finn.”

“Who is it from?” Michaela leans forward, intrigued by the mystery gift. Nick and I share a knowing look because we have been waiting for this since last night.

We had gone to Nick and Nina’s Plaza penthouse last night for dinner, and within the first ten minutes of our arrival, Nick ushered me and Finn into his office. It wasn’t unusual for the guys to sneak away when we all got together, but I knew this was more than our normal shoot-the-shit session. “Care to explain what is going on?” he said, closing the door to his office.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said, sitting in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk.

“Don’t play dumb, Josh.” Finn scoffed. “You guys were a stone’s throw away from the courthouse steps, now you’re showing up on my doorstep together.”

“You act like Nina didn’t tell you.” I looked at Nick, but he only shrugged.

“Dee just said you guys would both be at Christmas. She didn’t say it would be together , so imagine my surprise when Finn over here texts me that you both showed up last night.”

“Narc,” I said to Finn, who only laughed. “I love her. I’ve always loved her, and I…I can’t imagine my life without her. Unfortunately, it took almost losing her for me to pull my head out of my ass.”

“We’ve all been there.” Finn clapped me on the back.

And wasn’t that the truth—each of us in that room had almost lost the woman we loved once, but by some miracle, we had pulled our heads out of our asses and told them how we felt.

“And on that topic…I have something to ask you guys,” Finn said, and I had a feeling I already knew what it was. It was only a matter of time before this came up. Honestly, I was surprised it took this long. “I want to ask Michaela to marry me tomorrow at Christmas.”

“Did you ask Dad?” I asked.

“Last week.”

“Well, you got my vote,” Nick said before they both turned to me.

If you had told me last year that my best friend and sister would be getting engaged, I would have called you a liar. But now, I can’t imagine them with anyone else, even if it’s still a little weird to see them that way. “You’ve always been like my brother, why not make it official?”

Now on Christmas morning, Finn catches Nick and me staring before he grins. “It says it’s from the Davis boys.”

Michaela’s gaze snaps from Finn to me, to Nick, to Dad, and back to Finn. He continues undoing the bow wrapped intricately around the box. From the way my sister bounces with anticipation, he’s moving too slowly, she wants to know what’s in the box right now.

“Actually,” Finn stops and hands the box to my sister. “You open it.”

“But it says it’s for you.”

“Something tells me it’s more for you than me.”

Michaela narrows her gaze, slowly taking the box from his hands and untying the bow the rest of the way. Undoing the striped paper, she finds it’s just a plain box. “What is this?”

Finn rolls his eyes and motions for her to open the box. Elizabeth squeezes my thigh as the rest of us watch in anticipation. She curls her bottom lip inward, biting down as she waits for Michaela to stop toying around and open the damn box. I press a kiss to her temple and watch as Michaela finally reveals the gift: a black velvet box. The waterworks start before she even opens the damn thing.

Ever so slowly, Finn drops from his spot on the couch onto one knee in front of her. “Michaela, I—”

“Yes!” She interrupts him, kissing him.

“You didn’t even let him ask!” Mom shouts from behind her camera, which she had pulled out moments before.

“I don’t care. Yes. That’s my answer. Always yes.”