Denver
The sun’s barely hovering above the skyline when I pull into the driveway of a modest blue cottage. The blue cottage Blair didn’t shut up about any time I drove her home back in high school. Just down the street from where her parents live, it’s set back from the road in a heavily treed lot. But there’s no missing the blue siding, white front porch, and sunshine-yellow door.
And the confusion on Blair’s face kills me.
“Why are we at Mrs. Weaver’s house?”
“Figured you haven’t had a piano lesson with her in close to twenty-five years, and since your leg is busted up, you need something to do—other than eye-fuck me at work every day.”
“ Funny guy. ”
“C’mon, I’ll show you.” I pop open the glovebox and rummage around to find a key. “She gave me a key. In case you’re worried there’s some funny business going on. Nobody’s coming to arrest us for this.”
Her face remains scrunched, with confused wrinkles on the bridge of her nose, the entire time I help her out of the truck and up the porch steps. The key slips into the lock with ease and I swing open the door, careful to catch it before it hits the interior wall.
“Key or not, I’m still not convinced we aren’t breaking and entering.” She hesitantly steps inside, and I flip the light switches, walking ahead of her into the living room and lighting it up.
But the space is empty, and the harsh, cool ceiling light reverberates off the white walls and recently polished hardwood floor. Blair squints when she steps through the archway.
“Wait—is Mrs. Weaver moving?”
“Moved already, actually. Last week. Down to Florida because apparently she’s sick of the cold winters here, and they have some pretty bomb seniors’ communities. I was tempted to dye my hair gray and tag along. Maybe find me some cougars down there.”
“I bet you could find some really wonderful women in need of a pool boy.” She leans on a crutch and runs her hand through her hair. “So she gave you the keys to her empty house? Like an Airbnb situation…sans the furniture?”
God, she’s really not understanding where I’m going with this. She’s supposed to be the smart one here.
“Blair. I fucking love you, but sometimes…” I massage my temples. “She gave me the keys because I bought the house from her.”
“Um, no you didn’t.” She laughs under her breath.
I swing the key around on the end of my index finger, smiling at the adorable look she has painted across her face. “Well, it’s weird that they took a mortgage payment from my bank account last week, in that case.”
“Why did you buy a house in Wells Canyon when you already have a place to live at the ranch? Plus, like…endless space to build a house there, if you wanted.”
I drag my hand along the live-edge wood mantel. “I bought it because it’s close to your parents—so you can still help out with your mom whenever you need—and you didn’t shut up about how cute it was when we were younger, and I was also kind of hoping that eventually we might want to live together.”
“So you bought it…” Her voice trails off, her eyes flitting around the room, taking it in with a new appreciation.
“For you. Yeah, I did. I actually stopped in here to talk to Mrs. Weaver the same day I came over for dinner with your mom. Completely unsolicited, too. She’s an old softie, and ate up our entire love story like I was giving her a live reading of The Notebook . Turns out, she was already debating putting it on the market before winter, so it was meant to be.”
“Do you know how ridiculous it is that you bought a house for us to live in before we even went on a date?”
Ridiculous? Maybe. But the way she’s admiring the room with a hopeful glimmer makes me think it was the smartest thing I’ve ever done.
“I figured it would either turn out to be the most romantic thing I could possibly do, or it would be a great business decision. Even if we didn’t work out, eventually you’d get tired of living with your parents and discover that your dream home is available for rent. Either way, I figured my mom would approve of me using my inheritance from her as a down payment.”
Looking around the empty room, she nods softly, traversing the hardwood floor until she’s in my arms. Her warm lips find mine immediately, and her hands wander over my torso. We sway to the music of our combined heartbeats until she tosses her crutches aside, relying solely on me for support. The simplest gesture means so much. And I hold her close, reassuring her I’ll never drop her—not again. I’ll be the man she can count on through thick or thin.
“So, is this place available for rent?” she asks with a teasing lilt. Hands clasped behind my neck, her mind’s clearly running a million miles a minute as she thinks about what this all means, until she blurts out, “We might need some furniture in here.”
“The thing is, I used my meager inheritance and basically every penny of my savings for the down payment. But, I got the next best thing. Hold on.”
I run to the master bedroom closet on the opposite side of the main floor, returning a minute or so later armed with all of the makings of a top-tier floor bed. Her laughter fills the room, making this place feel more like home by the second.
We kneel together on the hard floor, setting up layer upon layer of thick blankets and pillows until it’s a bed fit for a princess. And Blair flings herself backward in the middle of it, a radiant smile stretched across her freckled face.
“You’re the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” I admit. My cheeks are aching from how much I’ve been smiling since we walked into the house, but I can’t fucking stop.
When my mom died, the house I grew up in didn’t feel like a home to me anymore. And when Blair and I broke up, that became even more evident. It was cold, and lonely, and I suddenly couldn’t stand being in a place with so many memories that had since been tainted by my own melancholy.
But this is a place to make new memories with her. And that’s all I’ve ever wanted.
Staring up at the ceiling, she asks, “How the hell did you keep this a secret in such a tiny town? Even when I lived in Vancouver, I knew everything that happened around here.”
“Oh, everybody knows. I will say, Mrs. Weaver has a damn good poker face. She kept telling people it was an out-of-towner who bought it, but word got out eventually. They all just know not to tell you.”
“This might be your best trick yet, Wells.” She pats the blankets with a small smile. “Come snuggle.”
“Let me do one more quick thing for you.”
After setting up a dozen or more candles, I shut off the bright overhead light and practically collapse next to her.
She nuzzles against me like she’s seeking warmth, and yawns into the crook of my neck. Candlelight flickers across us, and I kiss her temple.
“You’re sure you want to leave the ranch?”
I chuckle. “Be pretty silly for me to buy a house in town without considering that, wouldn’t it? It’s more important to me that your mom’s nearby.”
That’s never been more true than in the last week since Blair’s horseback riding accident. Spending so much time around the Hart family’s home has shown me what she goes through with her mom—from the extravagant safety measures to the general caretaking Blair does for her. Living in close proximity doesn’t just mean Blair’s close by in case of an emergency; this house allows her to pop over and style her mom’s hair, or help her find things she’s misplaced, or any number of little tasks to help out.
“It’ll be so nice to have some distance from my parents but also be close by when they need me. Mom’s only going to need more and more help as time goes on. And eventually we’ll put her into a care facility, but I know both of my parents want her to be home for as long as possible. That really only works with all of us helping.”
“Count me in. I want to help,” I say.
“I love you.” Her fingers tug lightly on my hair, pulling me into a kiss. “I don’t know what I did to deserve somebody as incredible as you. I hate that I lost you all those years ago because I wouldn’t hear you out.”
“Bear, I told you I forgive you. We’re here now, and that’s all I care about.”
She tilts her head to look up at me. “If we were in that situation now, I’d make a different choice, so you know.”
“No, I’d want you to make whatever choice you needed. I meant it when I said I only want you. The plan to have the house, wife, kids was taken off the table years ago. I want you, and whatever you want.” I scrub my hand over my stubbled jaw, staring into her eyes, which are ignited with the dancingflames of candles lit around us. “But I’d love it if you decide to live in this house with me…since I already bought it and all.”
“I’ll miss you sneaking in my bedroom window, but I can’t wait to make this place our home.”
“It’s already feeling more like home than anywhere has in a long time.”
With slow, sleepy kisses, I soak in the comforting warmth of being wrapped around the most incredible girl in the world.
“?” She breathes out my name like a question.
“Yeah, Bear?”
“I never stopped loving you. It’s never stopped being you for me.”
“Even when I thought you might not be mine in the end, I was always going to be yours.”
—
“Morning, baby,” she mumbles into the skin covering my collarbone. Her fingertips feather across my chest, and when I open my eyes, she smiles up at me.
“Hey, you.” I lick my lips slowly, letting my eyes adjust to the sunlight streaming in through the living room bay window.
The woman I love is wrapped in my arms, on a makeshift blanket bed, after spending our first night in our house. One day she’ll decorate this space with furniture and anything else she wants. One day I’ll carry her through the front door on our wedding night. One day, I’ll stand in this spot rocking our baby to sleep.
She squirms against me, covered only by a thin sheet, grinding my leg. When I scoop her chin in my hand, tilting her face so I can kiss her, she rolls her hips. Catching friction on my thigh, she lets out the sweetest moan, and the sound goes straight to my cock. Each movement of her hips has the leg of my boxer briefs riding up, until I realize she’s already ditched her underwear, and there’s a soaking wet pussy riding my bare thigh.
“Baby, fuck. Are you this wet for me?” I reach down and swipe my fingers up her slit, collecting her wetness. When I pull my hand away, it’s glistening in the sun, and I suck my fingers clean. That’s all it takes to turn my semihard morning wood into a fully erect blanket tent.
“You promised we wouldn’t have a single day where I’m not on your cock. It’s been a full week.”
“I think I said strangling my cock, specifically.” I kiss her, tangling her tongue around mine. “It’s not enough to just have you on it. I need you falling apart with my cock deep inside you. I need your pussy milking every drop of cum from me.”
“What else do you need?” She’s found the perfect pace now, rubbing herself against my leg with a symphony of lip-biting whimpers.
“I need to suck on your perfect tits.” I gently roll her nipple between my fingers, the metal barbell hot against my callused skin. I bend slightly, trying to keep my leg still between her thighs, and kiss her chest. “I need to see my cum all over you.”
She moans, with a breathy, “Yeah?”
“Fuck, Blair. I need you .”
“You have me. All of me is yours for the taking.” A whimper slips free from her lips, pussy hot and wet on my thigh. And I bite down on her nipple piercing.
I want nothing more than to be inside her, but I also promised I’d take care of her. And that means putting aside the things I want, if she’s not feeling up to it.
“How does your ankle feel? Any pain?”
The instant her head starts to rock side to side on the pillow, I’m tearing her from my thigh and aggressively pulling my underwear down. My cock snaps to attention without the restrictive fabric, and the slow lick of her lips has me ready to burn the world down for a taste of her pussy.
So I kneel between her legs and drag my tongue up her slick cunt, savoring the sweetness. Then I sit back and admire my girl—her breasts jiggle slightly with every panting breath, and a few barely-there hickeys fill the empty spaces between the smattering of freckles painting her skin. “Look at how perfect you are.”
I slip a finger inside her, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth when her back arches, hair splaying across her pillow. I suck and bite at the delicate skin around her pussy, creating a watercolor smattering of light purple bruises on her creamy skin, encouraged by the slap of her hand down on the blankets and the accompanying moan.
“Holy fuck, why does that hurt so good?” She squirms under me.
“Because you love being mine.”
Blair shifts to force my lips close to where I know she’s desperate to be touched, with a panting, exhaled “Yes.”
I dive back in for meaningful licks, flicking the tip of my tongue across her clit until she’s grinding against my face, tugging my hair at the root. Thighs constricting around my head.
Suffocate me, baby.
She comes with a stuttering contraction of every muscle in her body, her good leg wrapping around my skull to make sure I don’t let up until the hurricane tearing through her is over. And all at once, her muscles fully relax.
I look up at my girl, licking the taste of her from my lips, and she stares back with a needy glint in her eye. Rocking her hips and grabbing at my shoulders, nails dug into my flesh to force my cock toward her pussy. The head of my cock slips inside her tight entrance, and it steals my breath like a blow to the chest. Nothing has ever felt as good as being with her.
“ Fuck. Don’t think I’ll ever get used to how good it feels when you stretch me with your cock,” she pants.
“It’s so fucking good, baby. So fucking tight.”
Sliding my hand under her ass, I lift up and her muscles get even tighter around my dick. It takes a deep breath to adjust to the sensation, so I don’t come before I’ve even moved inside her. Then I slip a pillow between her and the floor bed and fill my girl to the hilt. The moan that escapes her only makes me more wild with need, turning each thrust into a rough, hungry attempt at getting another sound to slip from her kissable lips.
She claws at my thighs, eyes rolling into the back of her head, and when I ease up on her mouth, she replaces it with a pillow. Her muffled voice cries out my name, and a string of expletives, into the down. And I punish her hips with my fingertips, pulling her to meet me with every push, bearing down on her.
My cock’s swollen, begging for release with the feel of her ridged inner walls squeezing it. “Lose the fucking pillow and look at me. I want my name to echo off the fucking walls when you come.”
Her eyes snap to meet mine, and she eases up on the pillow clenched between her teeth just enough to whimper, “ Fuck, you’re so deep.”
“This pussy’s perfectly made for my cock, isn’t it?”
“Your cock’s perfect for me.”
“That’s right it is, baby. Made for you. Now come on it. Show me how perfect we are for each other, and come with me.”
I brush the wild hair from her face and lean in to suck on her pretty pink nipple. Swirling my tongue to push her over the edge as she grips my skull like she’s trying to crush it between her palms, and her body convulses under mine.
“Don’t,” she pants. “Stop.”
She pulls me into a kiss, my fingers traversing her clavicle and dropping down to play with her nipple. Toying with the barbell, and coming closer to falling apart inside her with every perfect moan from my satiated girl’s throat.
“Come in me,” Blair whispers. “Put a fucking baby in me. Please. Let me give you everything you want.”
“Blair.” I choke on her name. Vision blurring, heart racing at the vision I’ve denied myself for years—Blair pregnant and happy here with me. Fucking hell, I want to fill her with cum, pregnancy or not. I want to come on and in her, I want her covered so she knows exactly who she belongs to. Watch it leak out of her pussy and run down her perfect ass.
“I need you to remind me who my pussy belongs to.”
“Baby, that’s the hottest thing I have ever fucking heard. Your beautiful cunt is mine, and your ass”—I slap her butt hard enough to leave the outline of my hand in red—“and your perfect tits. And I have no problem marking up every part of your body so you never forget it.”
Leaning forward to suck on her skin, my lips leave behind dark welts on her breasts. Just in time, too, since last week’s bite marks are almost fully faded. She glances down and sucks an exhilarated breath through her teeth, grinding her pussy on my cock. And I hit a tempo I’ve never found before, fucking her until I’m dripping sweat and my fingers working her clit are getting a muscle cramp.
Blair grabs my ass, forcing me to stay fully seated inside her while I pant and struggle not to come. “ Come. In. Me. I want you to fill me so I can’t move for the rest of the day without it leaking out of me.”
How the fuck do I say no to that ?
I pump into her repeatedly, succumbing to the electric heat coiled at the base of my spine, letting her pussy grip my cock and pull out every last drop of cum, until I’m throwing my head back with a hoarse moan.
“Holy fuck. Holy fuck. ” My brain’s broken, unable to do anything but revel in the aftershocks of her pussy hugging my cock, sending shivers up and down my spine.
“I love you.” She kisses my forehead. “I love you so fucking much.”
My lungs strain with every aching breath.
“Bear…” I talk through the exertion. “About the baby thing—”
She shushes me, pressing a finger to my mouth. “I wasn’t lying about birth control. I just…it was the heat of the moment.”
“ Fuck, you have such a filthy mouth on you.” I trace her lips with my thumb. “I love it.”
“For the record, I do want to have your baby one day. I’m ready for the future we planned, whenever you are.”
“Given up on your bullshit about taking it day by day?” I slowly pull out of her and, if I were physically capable of it, I’d be immediately trying to fuck her again after watching a small stream of my cum run down her ass.
Her elbow’s crooked over her eyes in a post-orgasm glow—the most gorgeous she’s ever looked to me. Face awash with perfect contentment, she shifts her arm to look at me. “We spent fourteen years without each other. And, in the absolute worst-case scenario, we could have our time together cut short like our parents have. I mean, you could’ve killed yourself when you fell off that bronc, and I never would’ve been able to forgive myself for not telling you how badly I missed you for all those years. And I could’ve suffered worse things than a broken ankle, considering a horse fell on top of me. Luck’s been on our side. But it might run out, eventually.”
Her eyes track mine as I settle in next to her on the blankets. And she continues in a hushed tone while my kisses roam her goosebump-covered arm.
“When one of us dies or loses our memory one day, I want to know we had as much time together as possible,” she says. “I don’t need more time to figure out whether I still love you. I do, and I always have.”
“And you’re finally ready to let me love you?” I smile.
“Actually, can you grab me my purse?”
Weird segue to avoid my question, but at least she’s asking me for help. A couple days ago, even with the cast on her leg, she would’ve insisted on dragging her ass across the floor to get it herself.
“Of course, baby.” I hop up and grab her small black bag from beside the front door.
“Okay, ask me that question again.” A smile dances across her face, and she looks like she’s ready to explode with giddiness.
I side-eye her and hesitantly ask, “Are you ready to let me love you?”
She digs in the bag for a few seconds, and I’m fully anticipating that she’s going to dump her clutter all over our laps to find whatever it is she’s looking for. But instead she produces a box.
A black velvet box I haven’t seen since that night in her dorm room.
“You kept it….” I stroke her milky-white upper thigh, waiting with bated breath for her to explain herself.
“Of course I did. Not just because it was your mom’s, either. Part of me hoped I’d have the chance to give it back to you one day.”
My fingers stop, and I stare at her with my heart pounding in my ears. Maybe this was all in my head, and I was chasing the same dream I had as a kid. Back when I tried to coerce her into marrying me and having my baby, all in a futile attempt at piecing together a family to replace what I’d lost. Without realizing it, that’s what I just did again with this fucking house. I put her in a place where she felt pressured to tell me what I wanted to hear.
Noticing my spiraling, she slides a hand along my jaw, bringing me back to her.
“Hey, I don’t mean it that way. I mean…will you take this ring so you can give it back to me?” She slips the box into my open palm. “, I want to know if you’ll marry me.”
Everything in my body turns to Jell-O—brain included. My unsteady fingers fumble frantically with the box, desperate to pry it open and give her back the ring before she changes her mind. I lift myself up so I’m on one knee, determined to do it right and make my proposal stick this time.
But she laughs, pulling me back down to sit in front of her. “It’s weird for you to be hovering above me.”
“Baby, I’m trying to give you the proposal you deserve.”
“So quit leaving me hanging—tell me you’ll marry me.”
“Bear, I’ve wanted to marry you since I was sixteen.” I pull the delicate gold band out, and the small diamond sparkles light beams across the empty wall. It slips onto her finger with ease, and she smiles up at me with tears dotting her lower lashes.
“And I promised you I would one day.”
Blair kisses me, melting her body into the cradle of my arms. The years of feeling broken and lost disappear with the soft touch of her lips. It’s always been us. In any lifetime, any universe. We were meant to end up here.