Chapter 27 Ollie
OLLIE
I spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out with Finn and Shelby. They’re finally back
in town, and they helped me with the movers and assembling my furniture. By the time Phoebe gets home, I’m exhausted and starfishing on my freshly made bed.
“How was the rest of your shift?” I call out.
“It was fine,” she says with a shrug as she walks into the room. “A lot of people recognized you. They were asking me questions. Since I was only serving today, I wore my ring. I got to show it off, and everyone thought it was lovely. A few people called it whimsical, which made me happy.”
“That’s all I want, Phoebe, for you to be happy.” I hold out my hand for her to join me on the bed.
She lays her head on my biceps, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders so she’s resting on my chest instead. The way she snuggles against me quiets some of the noise in my brain that’s running in a constant loop between hockey and Phoebe.
“I want you to be happy too, Ollie. What are we going to do? It’s weird lying to Finn and Shelby.”
The way her hand is resting high on my thigh is scrambling my brain, making it so hard to focus. Taking a deep breath, I cover her hand with my free one and give her shoulders a light squeeze.
“Simple fix, we don’t lie,” I say.
Her velvety brown eyes widen as she looks up at me. “Tell them it’s a fake engagement?”
“No. Make it a real engagement.”
Her breath catches, which is fair because I think my heart has stopped pumping blood.
“Wh…what?” she asks in a whisper.
“I asked you to marry me, you said yes, we’re engaged. That’s it. We’re living together. We care about each other. It’s easier to have this be true than live a lie.”
“So we’re getting married?” Her breath is starting to sound choppy. Is she on the verge of a panic attack?
“If that’s what you want.”
She jumps up from the bed and starts pacing in front of me. She changed into leggings and a long-sleeved T-shirt when she got home from work, and the way they hug her juicy ass is distracting.
“Ollie, this isn’t The Princess Bride! You can’t ‘as you wish’ us married!”
The way she throws her hands up in frustration causes the hem of her T-shirt to rise and expose a strip of her smooth, pale belly. I want to kiss it.
“Why not? I want to marry you. I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t. It’s up to you if you want to be married to me.”
Phoebe turns to me with a shocked expression on her face. “You want to marry me? Why?”
It’s now or never. However it turns out, I need to tell the truth.
I’m going to have to make decisions about my life when this season is done, and my future with Phoebe is going to factor into it.
If we have a future and are getting married, I’ll need to find work here because I’m not taking her away from her sister or the life she’s made here.
If we’re not going to be together, then I need to leave and make my life somewhere not here because I can’t watch Phoebe get married to someone else and have a family that isn’t mine.
My heart can’t survive that. I stand because this isn’t something I can say being the only one seated.
“Why?” I repeat, taking her left hand and playing with her engagement ring. “Because I love you, Phoebe. I’ve loved you for a while. You’re the only woman I want to marry, have a family with, make love to. If you don’t feel the same, I’ll respect that, of course. If you don’t feel the same yet—”
“I do!” Phoebe exclaims, interrupting me.
Her eyes are glossy with tears, but the glorious smile gracing her lips assures me they’re tears of joy. She throws her arms around my neck and jumps up into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist.
“I love you too, Ollie. I have for a while. I’m not sure when it happened, but it has.”
I turn around to lower Phoebe to the mattress and follow her down, careful not to crush her with my weight.
She presses little nibbling kisses along my jawline toward my ear.
We move on to all the kisses. Sweet kisses, steamy kisses, kisses that take my breath away and scramble my brain.
“Oh, Ollie, yes,” Phoebe sighs when I slip my hands under her shirt hem and finally get my hands on her luscious bare breasts.
My scrambled brain threatens to short-circuit.
I love the weight of them in my palms and the way her back arches when I take one rosy pink nipple into my mouth to caress with my tongue.
When I nip ever so gently at the tip and she bucks beneath me in surprise, I chuckle.
Just because I’m inexperienced doesn’t mean I’m clueless.
Turnabout is fair play when I’m stripped down to my boxer briefs and pressed flat on my back on the mattress with Phoebe straddling my thighs, wearing only royal-blue high-cut cotton panties.
I wish I still had my glasses on so I could fully appreciate the rear view in my dresser mirror.
Next time we do this, I’ll have to wear my contacts.
The scent of her arousal is making my own erection granite- hard, and it’s threatening to poke a hole through the cotton of my briefs.
“You okay?” she asks as she rakes her short nails through my chest hair, down my abs, and to the waistband of the last thing keeping my cock at bay.
We’ve checked in with each other throughout, making sure the other was okay with what was happening.
I know people throw around the tagline “consent is sexy,” but it truly is.
There’s nothing sexier than knowing your partner is right there with you, wanting the same things you do, knowing they care enough about you to stop if you ask, knowing they trust you enough to be honest and respect your wishes. It’s freeing.
“Perfect,” I say, my breath quickening as she runs her fingertips along the elastic at my waist.
Her smile is wicked as she lifts her heavy-lidded gaze from my waist to meet my eyes. “Okay if I take these off?”
I nod eagerly, plant my feet on the mattress for leverage, and lift my hips to help give her clearance.
She gives a yip of surprise and grabs my hips to keep her balance.
Thankfully, she recovers quickly, pulls my briefs down, and crawls backward off the mattress to pull them off my legs.
Watching her breasts sway freely as she moves down the bed is mesmerizing.
The way she stands at the foot of the bed, appraising my naked body and obviously approving of what she sees, is so fucking hot.
“Why am I the only one naked here?” I ask, my voice husky.
“Because, my love, if we’re both naked, this is going to end a lot faster than either one of us wants.”
A lazy smile crosses my face. “Then we start all over again. It’s not a one and done, Phoebe. We have the rest of our lives.”
My heart clenches when she starts the fast blinking she does when she’s trying not to cry.
“I know we do. But Ollie, this is your first time. I want it to be perfect.”
Sitting up and scooting down to the foot of the bed, I wrap my arms around Phoebe’s waist and pull her close. Since she’s tall, her breasts are at my eye level, and damn, are they distracting. The rosy flush on her pale skin reminds me of strawberries and cream and, man, I want to lap that up.
I reach out to cup her cheeks and direct her lips to mine so I can give her the sweetest kiss possible while my cock is rock hard between us and dying to sink into her depths.
“Phoebe,” I whisper, “any time with you is going to be wonderful. I don’t need perfection. I need you. I love you. I want you. I want us.”
She nods. “How do you want to do this?”
I’m sitting here stark-ass naked with the woman I love. I want to do it however the heck she wants to do it.
Chuckling, I murmur, “Honey, I think for this first time, it’s best you take the lead. I promise I’m a quick learner. Tell me what to do.”
“Really? I get to be in charge?”
The excitement that brings her makes me glad I said it.
“Absolutely. Whatever you want or don’t want. I want you to be happy and comfortable and know you’re loved.”
“Pinch me,” she whispers.
If that’s what she’s into, all righty then. I pinch her ass cheek, and she gives a yip of surprise.
“I’m not dreaming. Holy shit.”
She starts laughing and crying at the same time. Shit, did I screw this all up? When she throws her weight against me, I fall back on the bed. She straddles my cock. Maybe I didn’t mess it up.
“Hey.” I brush her hair off her face and tuck it behind her ear. “Are you okay?”
She nods enthusiastically. “Yes! I’m getting what I’ve dreamed of.
You love me. We’re getting married. Hopefully we’ll have a family.
” At that, the tears fall, and she lets out a shaky breath.
“I’ve been so lonely. All I’ve ever wanted is to have someone love me and to have a family.
The universe had me believing I didn’t deserve it. ”
I wrap my arms around her, pull her down to my chest, then roll so she’s tucked underneath me. We’re talking too much, but I have one last thing I need to say.
“Phoebe, you deserve the sun, moon, and stars, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you have all of it.
” I kiss away her tears, then move to her neck and upper chest, peppering kisses as I go.
After kissing along her belly, I pause at the waistband of her blue panties and raise my head to meet her heated gaze. “May I?”
“Mm-hmm!” The enthusiastic nod and suddenly bright eyes are adorable.
I slip my fingers under the waistband, and she raises her hips so I can slip them off.
Being a Bigfoot shifter, I have heightened senses, and the sweet scent of her arousal is driving me wild.
With her panties out of the way, I kiss up her leg, starting at her ankle.
When I reach her knee, I discover that my beard brushing along the back of it hits one of her ticklish spots and makes her giggle.
The laughter stops as I spread her legs and drop kisses up her inner thigh, closer and closer to her center.