Chapter 9
Marissa
Sawyer was made of hard lines and unyielding strength. But right now there was a softness in his touch as he held me close.
His eyes… those intense, piercing eyes, swept over me with a possessiveness that made my breath catch.
“Come back inside with me,” he finally growled after we’d held each other on his front porch so long the sun had moved partway across the sky. The morning was over and a new afternoon was opening up for both of us.
He loves me. He really loves me.
It felt like all my dreams had come true as he guided me back to his bedroom again.
But I shook my head. “No. I’m a hot mess. I want to feel clean for you. Let me take a shower first.”
Sawyer groaned in disappointment, his hunger getting the best of him, but then he nodded.
He showed me where the bathroom was, laid out a fresh towel and toothbrush for me, then gave me some privacy.
I needed these ten minutes alone to try to calm my racing heart.
He loves me. Sawyer loves me.
As I lathered his manly-smelling shampoo through my hair and soaped my body with the bar that had glided across his skin previously, I thought about what this meant.
Could he really be telling the truth? Had he wanted me this entire time and only held back because of my brother?
Matt had a volatile temper at times. And if he didn’t want Sawyer dating me, I was nervous about what would happen when he found out.
But it didn’t matter what Matt thought. If Sawyer wanted me, I was his. I’d always been his, even when I’d been a girl, too young and stuck in some serious puppy love.
A few minutes later I emerged from the bathroom, surprised to find a freshly washed Sawyer greeting me.
“I slipped into the other bathroom. It seemed like you wanted a moment to yourself, otherwise I would have joined you in there,” he said as he led me back to his bedroom.
“Next time you should join me.”
His lips quirked up in a devilish grin as he grabbed a soft towel from his closet and gently began to dry me.
He started with my hair, carefully drying my wet strands before moving down my neck and shoulders.
He was tender, his touch almost reverent as he rubbed the towel across my breasts, my stomach, my thighs.
His delicate attention was a delicious contrast to his roughness from last night.
Then he slipped the towel between my thighs, rubbing me through the cloth until I thought I was going to have another orgasm. Two more minutes of that and I would have.
But when I was just starting to lose control, he tossed the towel aside and led me to the bed. Then stretched out beside me, propped up on one elbow.
His fingers traced a path from my collarbone, down between my breasts, and over the rounded plane of my stomach.
He sighed. “I’m worried about Matt. Are you okay with this? Knowing he’s going to be upset?”
“My brother shouldn’t have a say in who I date. That’s what we’re doing now, right?” I didn’t want any more misunderstandings between us.
He set the last of my worries aside. “If it’s up to me, you’re never leaving my house again. Can we get married tonight?”
I laughed lightly and hugged him, taking in the firmness of his muscles against my skin.
“Yeah. Let’s do that. You can keep me forever.
I’ll be your captive princess while you pump me full of babies.
I’ll quit the forestry division and Red Oak Market so I can stay home here as your wife. Does Josie like babies?”
He leaned down and kissed me again. This kiss was different. Slower. Deeper. He explored me as his tongue swept against mine. One of his hands cupped my face, stroking my cheek.
Sawyer broke the kiss, his forehead resting against mine.
Then he murmured, “Josie loves babies. I’m sure of it. But I like you working for the forestry division. I remember the first time I saw you. You were knee-deep in mud. You always did like playing in the dirt. Don’t give that up if it’s what you love doing.”
It was… overwhelming. This gentle, deliberate affection after the frantic heat of last night. It felt more intimate than anything we’d done before. A lump formed in my throat.
“Okay,” I told him breathlessly. But I hadn’t been kidding. I wanted that traditional dream, being a mom with my babies running underfoot. A career could come later once they were older and more settled.
But here I was already planning out our whole family on day one. I’d wait to discuss details like that with him. We’d have plenty of time. A whole lifetime in fact.
Right now, we still needed to make some babies.
Sawyer gave me a soft smile that transformed his face. Then he kissed a trail down my body.
He took his time, nuzzling the valley between my breasts before pressing a soft kiss there.
Sawyer’s hands roamed my sides, then the curve of my waist, as if he was trying to learn my shape by touch alone.
He built a different kind of heat in me. It was a slow, deep burn that started in my core and spread outward. I was on fire for him. Every touch of his lips was a brushfire, leaving a blaze in its wake.
He moved lower, his lips grazing over my stomach before he continued his journey downward.
Then Sawyer hooked his hands under my knees, gently urging my legs apart. He settled between them, but he didn’t dive in. He just looked up at me, his eyes dark and moody. “I just want to look at you, Rissy. Is that alright?”
I could only nod, my heart hammering against my chest.
And then he did.
His gaze was a physical touch, hotter than his mouth had been. I felt exposed and worshipped… completely his.
After a long moment, he leaned forward and pressed a single, soft kiss just below my navel. Then another an inch lower. He was taking his sweet fucking time, and the anticipation was a delicious torture.
His mouth moved lower, his breath ghosting over the most sensitive part of me. I whimpered as my hips lifted off the bed of their own accord.
“Shhh,” he soothed, his hands sliding under my ass to hold me still. “We’ve got the rest of our lives. I’m not going anywhere.”
And then his mouth was on me.
Not with the hungry fervor from last night, but with a slow, devastating precision. His tongue traced my folds, a languid exploration, before finally finding my clit. He licked it slowly, once, twice, then a thousand times. His lips were a soft caress that made my entire body arch off the bed.
He rumbled out a laugh as he made friends with my pussy, the sensation vibrating through my core. Then he built a rhythm of slow, broad strokes, his tongue my new best friend.
Sawyer wasn’t trying to drive me to a quick finish. It was about savoring.
That’s how the pleasure built inside me, in slow, rolling waves. It was deeper, more thorough than the frantic peak in the hot tub or the wild pounding in his bed last night.
This felt like he was unraveling me layer by layer. My fingers tangled in his damp hair, holding on. My moans filled the quiet room, mingling with the soft crackle of the fire.
I was floating, tethered to the earth only by his mouth on me. The pressure mounted as a heavy ache coiled between my thighs. “Sawyer, just like that. Don’t ever stop. Please don’t ever stop…”
It was too much, too perfect, and before I knew it, I was spiraling.
My orgasm rose up from some deep, untouched place and blossomed, spreading through every limb in a wave of liquid heat. I cried out, a broken, gasping sound, as my body clenched against his lips, the pulses long and rhythmic and endless.
He held me through it, his mouth gentle until the very last tremor faded.
Then he let out a low, guttural laugh and crawled back up my body, kissing my stomach, my breasts, my throat, before finally finding my lips. I could taste myself on him, salty and sweet, and I wanted to die in this moment, just so it would never end.
Sawyer settled over me, his weight a welcome comfort. His hard length pressed against my thigh in a hot, urgent promise. He looked into my eyes, his own dark with a need that mirrored the one already rekindling in my own spent body.
“My turn,” he whispered, his voice thick. “I want to hear it from you, Marissa. What am I to you? Are we more than just a special Valentine’s Day? Do you really want to spend forever with me?”
More gorgeous words had never rolled out of a man’s lips before. And it was the right man saying them.
“You better not be messing with me, Sawyer Reed. My heart’s a fragile thing, and all I’ve ever wanted is you.”
A beautiful smile spread across his face. Then he rumbled, “Can we do a courthouse wedding before your brother finds out? I really am worried about what he’s going to do.”
I laughed and snuck my way lower until I found his hard cock waiting for me.
Right before I slipped my lips around his tip, I told him, “We can do that. But my parents get to be there.”
“It’s a deal,” he groaned out as though he were in pain. But I knew he wasn’t. He was just cherishing the feeling of finally having my lips wrapped around his cock.
And then there were no more words as I told my man exactly how I felt about him.