Chapter Nineteen #2
He shifted his position on the sofa. “I spoke with Keosha yesterday and she admitted that in her excitement, she had mentioned it to Sarah. At the time she’d had no idea of Sarah’s duplicity.
When Sarah told Longshire, he probably thought it would be the ultimate revenge to hurt the daughter of his enemies the way they had hurt him. ”
Leslie nodded. “Evidently. And even after that worked, he still wasn’t through with me and wanted even more revenge after Dad died.” Suddenly, a huge smile spread across her face.
Sloan raised a brow. “What do you find amusing?”
“No wonder Martin Longshire was beside himself with anger that day he came to my office after finding out the identity of my new business partner. Taking my company away from me was supposed to be the ultimate revenge. The finale, so to speak. How do you think he felt knowing the man who ruined those plans was the same man he stopped me from marrying ten years ago? The same man Longshire assumed I would never be with again.”
Sloan stood and crossed the room to stand in front of Leslie.
“And that’s where he made his mistake, Leslie.
Because no matter how things ended between us, there was no way I could have stayed away when I found out you were in trouble.
Undoubtedly, the man doesn’t know the first thing about true love. ”
Leslie tilted her head back to stare up at him. “But you do?” she asked.
“I think so. I believe that even people in love make mistakes. And when they do, they should own up to those mistakes, admit they were wrong and apologize. I was wrong to leave you at the cabin without asking you to come with me to Walker’s, and I apologize for doing it.”
“Why did you?” she asked softly.
He broke eye contact with her for a minute.
When he looked back at her, he knew he needed to try and explain how he felt.
“Leaving me the way you did ten years ago hurt deeply, Leslie. It took me years to recover, and there were days when I wasn’t sure I had.
But I knew I had to help you out when I found out what Longshire planned to do.
However, to protect my heart, I convinced myself I was doing it for my own kind of retribution.
That’s why I made that stipulation that you spend a week with me at the cabin. ”
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks and said, “As you know, things didn’t work out the way they were supposed to.”
“We did sleep together, Sloan,” she said. “That’s what you wanted.”
“Yes, but I was supposed to remain emotionally detached, and I couldn’t do that. When we made love, I knew.”
“You knew what?” she asked.
“That I still had deep feelings for you. That I still loved you. Discovering that made me feel vulnerable. I left the cabin to go visit Walker as a way to put distance between us and give me a chance to deal with what I was feeling. When I came back, you were gone.”
In a soft voice, she said, “I couldn’t stay at the cabin any longer, Sloan. Making love with you made me realize I still loved you as well. But I suspected it was one-sided and knew I had to protect my heart. I thought all we shared was a sex marathon.”
“I told you there was more.”
“Yes, but you never defined what ‘more’ was, Sloan, and I needed to know.”
He squatted down and boxed her in with his arms on both sides of her.
“Then let me define it now, Leslie. More means not just being a bed partner with you. It means you knowing that you are the woman I love, the only woman I could ever love. The woman I want in my life forever. More means sharing a life with you, having a family with you and you wearing my name. All the things I wanted to give you ten years ago, I still want to give you and with the promise that I will love you forever. It might be ten years in the making, but I believe we deserve our happy-ever-after.”
Leslie fought back tears at Sloan’s words. He loved her and ten years ago he’d intended to ask her to marry him. He still loved her.
“Leslie?”
She knew that now was the time to let him know just how she felt.
“I do love you, Sloan. Even those years when we were apart and I believed you had betrayed me, I still loved you. That’s why I could never become involved with another man.
In all this time, you’re the only man whose bed I’ve shared. ”
She saw the surprised look on his face. He straightened up to his full height. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, I am serious. The thought of another man making love to me was a total turnoff. That’s probably why I was all in when we made love almost nonstop for two days. I was making up for lost time.”
“And did you? Make up for lost time?” he asked as a smile touched his lips.
Leslie returned his smile. “Let’s just say I tried.” She stood and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Sloan. I love you so much.”
She pressed her mouth against his. Tightening his arms around her, he deepened the kiss. The hard erection pressing against her middle said it all.
When Sloan finally broke off the kiss, she said, “Just think, Martin Longshire’s plan failed, and we are back together. In the end, love won.”
Sloan caressed the side of her face as he stared into her eyes. “Yes, sweetheart, love won. Our love won.”
Leslie watched as Sloan took a step back, lowered himself to one knee and reached out for her hand. “I am about to do what I intended to do ten years ago. Will you marry me, Leslie?”
She threw her palm over her heart, shocked speechless. But it didn’t take her long to recover. “Yes! Yes! I will marry you.”
“And you won’t make me wait, right?” he asked, sliding a ring on her finger.
She was in awe at how beautiful it was. “No, I won’t make you wait.”
“Good. And the reason it took me two days to get here is because in addition to flying to LA to confront Sarah, while I was there, I went shopping for your ring. I decided I could afford a more expensive one than the one I’d planned to give you ten years ago.
I still have it and will give it to our daughter on her sixteenth birthday. ”
Leslie threw her head back and laughed. “Our daughter at sixteen? You are definitely thinking ahead, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “I would love to have a little girl who will grow up to be just as beautiful as her mother.”
She shook her head, grinning. “If you say so.”
“I do, and I can’t wait to announce our engagement to the family. Most are headed for Denver this weekend to spend the holidays with our cousins, the Westmorelands. I’d like you to go with me. Will you go meet my relatives and spend Christmas and New Year’s with me, Leslie?”
“I’d love to, Sloan. And you know what else I would love?”
“What, baby?”
“For you to make love to me.”
Sloan then swept Leslie into his arms. “Which way to your bedroom, sweetheart?”
“Upstairs. The first door to your right.”
And then, holding her tight, he took the stairs two at a time. Trembles rippled through her when he placed her on the bed.
He glanced around as he sat on the side of the bed to remove his boots. “Nice bedroom. You’re still into yellow, I see.”
“Um,” she said, running the tip of her finger along his jeans-clad thigh. “Right now, Sloan Outlaw, I am into you, and more than anything, I want you into me. Literally.”
“I am glad to accommodate you,” he said, standing.
He quickly undressed and then returned to the bed to remove her pajamas. Heat flared all through her as he studied her naked body. She drew in a deep breath when he cupped her breasts.
“Sloan...”
She breathed out his name as he leaned in and began trailing kisses down her jaw and along her neck.
“Later for the foreplay. I need you inside me now, Sloan.”
Leslie had dreamed of him every night since leaving the cabin, although she hadn’t wanted to do so. And those dreams had been off the charts.
“I’ll accommodate you now, but you know how I feel about foreplay.”
Yes, she knew. He called it foreplay, but she thought of it as sensual torture.
She watched him reach for his pants to retrieve a condom packet and then sheath himself, admiring his hair-covered chest and the trail that led down to his pelvis.
She had accepted years ago that Sloan Outlaw was friggin’ hot and overtly male.
And from the look in his eyes, and the huge manhood between his legs, he was definitely aroused.
“You’re going to owe me a whole lot of foreplay, Les.”
Hearing him shorten her name made her loop her arms around his neck. “I have no problem with that, Sloan.”
“Good.”
No, this was good, she thought as she placed butterfly kisses around his mouth. He then lowered her to her back and eased into position on top of her while simultaneously opening her legs wider with his knee.
His manhood rubbed against her center, and the throb there made her eyes flutter closed.
“Look at me, Les. I want you to see me as well as feel me.”
She fully opened her eyes to stare up at him, and what she saw in the dark depths of his gaze nearly took her breath away. She saw love, as deep as it could get, and she knew her own eyes displayed the same thing.
Then he entered her slowly, as if he needed to feel every inch as he made his way inside. His tight, hair-roughened stomach pressed against hers as he continued to go deep, and deeper still, until their bodies were locked together so tightly there was nothing that could get between them.
She smiled, and he smiled back. Then he slowly thrust in and out as she moved her arms from around his neck to his shoulders, sinking her nails into his skin. If her action caused him pain, he didn’t show it. Instead he picked up the rhythm, faster and harder.
That’s when he leaned in and captured her mouth, kissing her in a way that had their tongues tangling nearly out of control. Each time she lifted her body, he plunged down, gripping her hips as he pounded into her.
She let out a scream at the exact moment he released a deep, guttural growl, and she knew this was only the beginning of forever.