Ten
Pax
“I’m not,” Candy insisted, but the words weren’t a balm to the desperation that rose inside me when she’d taken off an hour ago. Sure, she’d only gone in the house, but I’d felt her panic. My first instinct was to race after her, but I’d been cornered by Adrian. Then our dads had converged, wanting to know my intentions with Candace. I hadn’t wanted to tell them, since she had the right to know exactly what I planned with her before anyone else knew.
Once I got away from them, I couldn’t find her. All I knew was she’d pulled away again. We weren’t going through that cycle again.
“Do I need to remind you who you belong to again?”
“No,” she said. “I mean…I wouldn’t mind . I never mind. I…” She paused and licked her lips that I wanted to devour. Hell, I always wanted to be kissing her or touching her. Once we got back to work, school hours would be an interminable purgatory.
“You what?” I asked, trying to keep impatience from my tone, but I was heartily impatient. Not at her, but for the start of everything I’d have with her. That we’d be together.
“I was thinking. While I was down here. I was thinking about how everyone seems to know about us and how you’ve always been the one to push. And…well…it’s my turn.”
“For what?”
“To push. Or…well…to make my feelings clear, anyway.”
She took a deep breath, but this time, I didn’t rush into that space, holding my breath as I anxiously waited in anticipation and worry. If she didn’t feel like I did… Honestly, I didn’t know what I’d do.
Her hands skimmed along my chest and onto my shoulders before she cupped my face and stared into my eyes. “I love you, Pax. I…I love you.”
If I hadn’t been kneeling, I would have staggered. Joy exploded in my chest. Gathering her tight to me, I pulled her off her seat and onto my lap as I sat back on my heels. My hand buried in her hair, and I brought her mouth to mine.
“Marry me,” I demand between kisses, minutes later. “Candy…Candace Noelle, marry me.”
“Are you asking?” she giggled.
“No. You’re going to marry me.”
“Pax…”
“It’s been eight years coming for us, baby girl. Hell, we’ve known each other forever, so it’s been longer. It’s not like this isn’t sudden.”
“I know.” She leaned her forehead to mine, her eyes closed. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too. God, I almost forgot to say that. You got me so excited. All I could think of was holding you.”
“I know you love me,” she assured me with a soft smile, caressing my face then gently scraping her nails back into my hair. “You might not have said the words before now, but the way you are with me made me brave enough to take the leap and tell you first. I didn’t doubt your feelings.”
“And you also know you’re going to marry me then,” I growled, so fucking ecstatic I couldn’t begin to contain my happiness or my need for her now. It didn’t matter that we were in her parents’ basement. I needed her.
“Yeah, I think I am,” she said.
“You are,” I insisted.
“I am.”
“Good because I’ve been carrying this around.” I dug into my pocket and pulled out the ring placed there earlier today. I’d had it in my suitcase because I’d hoped, perhaps foolishly, to give her during this vacation. I didn’t feel quite so foolish now.
I held out the gleaming princess-cut solitaire as I grabbed her left hand. We both stared as I slid the gold band onto her marriage finger.
“You’ve been carrying around a ring for me all these years?” she asked in disbelief.
“No. I bought it after the wedding last year. I thought, if there was a chance during our time here, if things by some miracle things turned around…”
“And you got your miracle.”
I nodded. “I got my fucking miracle. You’re marrying me, and you’re moving in with me when we get back home.”
“Pax…”
“There’s no need for us to have two sets of living expenses when we’re going to be together every night anyway,” I insisted.
“Pax.”
I shook my head, and my hand tightened on hers. “I told you I wasn’t giving you up anymore.”
“Me having my own place isn’t you giving me up. Also, you promised you wouldn’t push me around—outside of sex.”
My teeth ground because what could I say? I had promised that.
“But, yes,” she went on, peppering kisses across my face. “I want to live together. And your place is bigger—and a corner unit, too. I toured it when I was going to move into the complex, but you got it first, jerk.”
I chuckled. “I knew you’d like it. Now, it’ll be ours.” My hands slid along her tight-clad legs. “I want you, but we’re stuck here until the end of the party when the road reopens. So how difficult is it to get you out of these things?”
“Not too bad.” She shimmied around, freeing one leg, while I opened my pants and shoved them down just enough to be out of the way. I pulled her back over me, and her full skirt mostly hid the way I pushed into her. Her warm, tight grip welcomed me home with her silky embrace.
“Mmm,” I hummed. “My Candy. All mine.”
“And you’re all mine Pax Kane.”
“You’re going to be my Candy Kane for real.”
“Oh my God,” she groaned into my neck, but I wasn’t sure if it was from my words and from my hard upward thrust. Her nails dug into my shoulders through my clothes. “How did I not think of that? I change my mind.”
“No take backs.” Grasping her wrists, I brought them behind her, holding them at the small of her back while my other hand gripped her hip and guided her to ride me harder. She shuddered, always so aroused by my control.
I leaned in, my lips to the soft flesh near her ear. “You already gave yourself to me,” I whispered. “And I’m not letting you go.”
“You never did,” she groaned, rocking faster. “You never let go.”
“And I never will. I’m tying you up, all for me. I love you, my naughty little elf.”
“I love you, too.” Her back arched, her thready breathing growing agitated. “Oh…I’m… Please, Santa, I need to come.”
I growled, satisfaction rolling through me. She was mine and looking to me for her ultimate pleasure, accepting the control I couldn’t contain when we had sex. This was us, dominant and submissive, even if we didn’t put formal labels on it, even if we might not delve too far into the kink. I owned her pleasure and I took care of her. Me. Only me.
Intent, I pulled her off my lap. Before she could do more than whine her displeasure, I flipped her to bend over the seat where I’d found her, then pushed back inside her, one hand on the small of her back. The other smacked her delectable ass.
Candy cried out into the cushion beneath her, muffling the sound from anyone who might have ventured inside from the party. The scenario reminded me of the coat room at my sister’s wedding, only this time, I no longer worried my sweet Candy would escape into the crowd and leave me behind. Again.
Now, I had my woman, and she was clinging to me as tightly as I would to her. There would be no more running. This time, we would have our happy ever after.