Chapter 14 #2
“He knows, baby. You don’t ever need to wonder about that.”
“I was kidding, Evan.”
Resting his head on her shoulder, he said, “I know.”
At home, Evan took a shower and shaved while Grace brushed her teeth and changed into a nightgown. Listening to him in the shower, she realized how much she’d missed sharing their home in the last week. Nothing was the same without him around.
She got in bed and picked up the book that had been keeping her company during her nights alone, but couldn’t seem to concentrate on what she was reading.
Evan emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam. Once it cleared, she saw that he was completely naked and heading for the bed.
She licked her lips in anticipation.
“Aaah,” he said as he settled in next to her. “Feels good to be in a real bed. That sofa in the office isn’t very comfortable.”
She rested her hand on his chest. “I’m proud of what you’ve done with the studio, Evan. It’s going to be an awesome success. I know it.”
He covered her hand with his own. “I sure hope so.”
“Why do you look so worried?”
“I’ve got a lot riding on that place. A lot.”
“You’re worried about protecting Ned’s investment, but you know he gave you that money free and clear—”
“That’s not the part I’m most concerned about.”
“Then what?”
“I can’t tell you. It’ll make you mad.”
She tugged lightly on a tuft of chest hair. “Now you have to tell me.”
“Only if you swear not to get mad.”
“I have a feeling I shouldn’t do that before I hear your big secret.”
“You have to swear you won’t get mad if you want to hear it.”
“Fine. I swear. Now tell me.”
“I promised your dad I wouldn’t propose to you until the studio is making real money.” He looked over at her. “And I really want to propose to you.”
Grace went cold all over with shock. “You… He… You did what? When did this happen?
“A while ago.”
“Oh my God! I can’t believe him! This is outrageous! You don’t have to honor that promise, Evan. I absolve you.”
“I do have to honor it, Grace, and you can’t absolve me. I gave him my word.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because it seemed to matter a lot to him that you not marry a freeloading loser.”
Grace had never been more furious in her life. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to kill them both.”
“No, you’re not. He has a good point, and if you were my kid, I’d probably feel the same way about my smart, studious daughter shackling herself to a musician who’s had more bad luck than good.”
“This is why you’ve been working like a madman over there?”
“Not the only reason, but the most important one. I’m determined to show him—”
“Stop,” Grace said, blinking back tears as she covered his mouth with her fingers.
“Don’t say any more. You don’t have to show anyone anything, least of all my family or me.
You’re everything. From the first minute you came over to me after that rat bastard Trey abandoned me here without a nickel to my name, you’ve been my everything.
You always will be. I don’t care if you’re dirt poor and never have another paying job.
None of that matters to me, and if you know me at all, you know I’ve long ago stopped letting my parents’ opinions matter to me.
If I’d continued to listen to them, I’d still be three hundred pounds and as miserable as any person could possibly be. ”
“Grace…”
“I love you, Evan. I love you exactly the way you are. The studio could be the most successful in the business, and I wouldn’t love you any more than I already do.”
“Do you know,” he said, leaving a trail of kisses from the crook of her elbow along the tender skin of her inner arm, “that I thank God every day for the rat bastard who abandoned you at our docks?”
“Is that right?”
Nodding, he kissed the palm of her hand and then looked up at her. “Marry me, Grace.”
“Of course I’m going to marry you. All you had to do was ask.”
“Stay there,” he said, bounding out of bed.
“Where’re you going?”
“You’ll see.” He returned a minute later, slid back into bed and tugged her in close to him. “Hold out your left hand and close your eyes.”
Smiling, Grace did as he directed, holding back tears as he slid a ring onto her third finger. “Can I look yet?”
“Go ahead.”
“Oh, Evan! Oh my God, it’s gorgeous!” A large, emerald-cut diamond sat surrounded by smaller diamonds in an antique setting. She couldn’t stop staring at it. “When did you do this?”
“Remember when I went to the mainland to buy the equipment for the studio?”
“That was a couple of months ago.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’ve had it all this time and never said a word?”
“I told you. I wanted to get the studio off the ground before I asked you.”
Grace threw her arms around his neck and held on tight.
“Do you like the ring? If you want something different—”
She kissed the words right off his lips, putting everything she had into a kiss that she hoped would tell him all he needed to know about how much she loved the ring—and him.
“Whoa, Nelly,” he said when they resurfaced many minutes later. “I take that to mean you like it?”
“I love it. It’s absolutely beautiful.”
“I want you to know I paid for it with the money I made on my record deal, not the money Ned gave me for the studio.”
It touched her to know that he cared about such things. “You shouldn’t have spent so much on me.”
“Who else should I spend it on?”
“When I went to fetch you tonight, I didn’t think our evening would turn out this way,” she said, still gazing at the gorgeous ring.
“I can’t believe it. I never thought anything like this would happen to me.
And then last week, when you were missing all that time…
I found out what it feels like to have your heart literally break. ”
“Aww, baby. I’m so sorry I put you through that. You were all I could think about out there. Thinking about you kept me going.”
They held each other for a long time, and then he drew back so he could see her face. “Are you happy?”
“So happy. Happier than I’ve ever been.”
He kissed her softly, holding her gaze. “So am I. No one has ever had so much faith in me or loved me the way you do. Have I ever told you how glad I am that you insisted on trying to pay back the money I loaned you?”
“If I recall correctly, you were annoyed with me for tracking you down.”
“That wasn’t annoyance. It was relief. Pure and simple. I’d never been so happy to see anyone.” As he spoke, he moved them as one so he was on top of her. “I’ve been happy to see you every day since then, too. There’s no one I’d rather be with in this whole world.”
Cradling him between her legs, she raised her hips, letting him know what she wanted.
He didn’t have to be told twice. “There’s nothing like this, Grace. No one like you.” He made slow, sweet love to her, driving her crazy the way only he could, her one and only love. “When do you want to get married?”
“As soon as we can.”
“We can’t upstage Laura and Owen.”
Grace wondered how he could think so clearly when he was making a muddled mess out of her brain one stroke at a time.
And then he reached down to where they were joined and caressed her in all the right places, clearing every thought from her head that didn’t involve the incredible high that came with loving him.
“God,” he said, groaning. “I love you. I’m so glad you’re gonna marry me.”
Laughing and crying, she held him close, soothing him as he reached his own release.
“This winter,” he said when he could speak again. “We’ll get married this winter.”
“Fine by me.”
Reclining against a huge pile of pillows, Abby couldn’t take her eyes off Adam as he unbuttoned his shirt and took it off at her request but left his pants on. “Could I ask you something?”
“Anything you want.”
“Is it weird that before yesterday we never thought of each other this way, and now…”
“Now it’s all we can think about?”
Biting her lip, she nodded.
“I think,” he said, as he crawled from the foot of the bed to join her, “it’s a matter of timing. It’s a matter of both of us being in this place and this time and finding something in each other that we need right now.”
“That’s a nice way to put it.”
He reached out to run his index finger over her cheek, a soft touch that sent tremors ricocheting through her body. “Are you nervous about doing this with me?”
“A little.”
“Why? Because of Grant?”
“No. I’m not thinking about him. I haven’t thought about him that way in a very long time.”
“Then why?” His finger moved from her face to her neck and down to the valley between her breasts, which were still contained by the bra.
“I’m afraid it’ll be like it was before.”
“Unsatisfying, you mean.”
“Yes.”
“If it is, will you tell me?”
“I don’t know…”
“I’d want you to. I don’t want you to fake anything with me.”
Abby tried to focus on the conversation, but that was hard to do with his finger moving slowly over her belly, circling her navel and continuing straight down her middle, over the seam between her legs.
“Does that feel good?”
“Yes.” Her heart beat wildly as she waited to see what else he would do.
The tip of his finger moved lightly down her inner thigh to the back of her knee, before taking the same slow, torturous journey back up. This time when he reached the juncture of her legs, Abby gasped.
“Don’t think,” he whispered. “Close your eyes and just feel.”
Although she was hesitant, she did as he asked and gave herself over to the darkness and the tingling trail of sensation he left as his finger slid over her skin. If he could arouse her so fully with the tip of one finger, what else was he capable of?
“You’re thinking. I can hear your wheels turning. Let it all go. It’s just you and me, and I think you’re amazing, beautiful and sexy as all hell. Every guy in the bar was jealous of me tonight because I got to leave with you.”
“I doubt that.”
“Shhh. You’re not thinking. You’re feeling.”
Abby released an exasperated sigh that turned into another gasp when she felt his lips between her breasts.
“Relax, honey. Let me worship you.”
How long had she waited to hear those words? Did he have any idea what a turn-on that was for her?