One year later…
Ivy
“Do you know what today is?”
I arched a brow at Callum as I stood in our bathroom, taking out the braids in my hair. I’d had a long week with the Chicago team, and while I loved the internship, I was tired. It had started in June and had been four months of working my ass off. There was a full position opening in January, and it was going to be mine.
I wasn’t being cocky. Allpress told me he was saving it for me as long as I continued to bust ass. I didn’t know how not to work hard. It was in my blood, and every day I left the stadium bone-tired but happier than ever. I lived in a townhouse with Callum, and Esme was two blocks down.
It was a dream come true.
“Hmm, the fifteenth of October?” I set my hair ties on the counter. I needed to shower off the sweat before dinner. It was our date night. Once a week, Callum and I tried a new place to eat in the city. We held hands, laughed, talked about our future, and just enjoyed living life the way we’d fantasized as kids.
He found a kick-ass job with a Chicago hockey team, where he could work with players and the community. He also volunteered with a high school football team near us and went to every home Chicago game.
There were days I wondered if he missed football, but he assured me every time that he didn’t. Playing wasn’t his dream. Teamwork, laughter, leadership. Those were what he needed, and he found them with this position. I was also so proud of him for meeting with his dad. They weren’t as close as before, but they talked twice a month on the phone. Curt even came to visit this summer for one night with his toddler. Nolan was the cutest three-year-old ever, and Callum would never walk away from his half-brother. He didn’t have it in him.
“I’m so glad my girl can read a calendar.” He walked toward me, his collared shirt undone and his sleeves rolled up to his forearms. It wasn’t even fair how good he looked like that.
“Smartass.” I pursed my lips and took off my makeup before meeting his eyes again. “We leave for dinner in an hour, right?”
“Yes. Why?” He undid one button, then another. He removed his shirt and tossed it into our basket. Then he reached behind his head to take off his T-shirt. The move was ungodly sexy.
“I need to shave my legs to wear the new dress you bought me.” I took off my polo and bra, tossing them into the basket before undoing my joggers and underwear. Today was hotter than normal for October, and I’d sweated a ton. I started the shower before I felt large hands on my waist.
“Fuck, I love your body.” He kissed down the spine before stopping at my ass. His breath hit my skin, causing goose bumps to explode as I shivered. Sex with Callum only got hotter, better, and more intimate.
We lived together after his injury because, let’s be honest, we couldn’t separate from each other. He paid rent at the football house, but he never quite moved out of my room. He showed me every single day what I meant to him.
He bought us this townhouse as a congrats present when I got my dream internship. He covered all the big bills until the internship turned into a full job. He planned our date nights and made sure to tell me how beautiful I was every day. It made me feel so damn lucky and precious. I never knew life could be like this, that love could be like this.
“You know I can’t resist you when you touch me.” My voice was husky, throaty even.
“That’s the point, baby.” He caressed the sides of my breasts, holding my eyes in the mirror. “Look at you. Your perfect tits and strong-ass legs.”
He pinched one nipple, then the other. I moaned as heat spread between my thighs. “I love this farmer’s tan you have going on too.”
“Stop,” I teased, giggling. I loved how we could be sexy and laugh at the same time. It was uniquely a Callum thing, and it made me love him even more.
“Makes me want to kiss along the tan lines.” He started at my forearm, kissing toward my shoulder then up my neck. “Mmm, yes. I love when you’re sweaty.”
He did. He really loved when I was hot. My sweaty body was like kryptonite to him. “You want to help me shower?”
“I will never say no to that offer.” He grinned and tugged my earlobe between his teeth. “But I’m gonna need you to come on my fingers first.”
“Is that all?” I widened my stance as Callum dipped fingers into my pussy, swirling his thumb over my clit. I sucked in a breath as pleasure zinged head to toe.
“Is that all?” His eyes flared with the challenge. “You tease.” He cupped my neck as he thrust his fingers in and out. It was new for me—to love being claimed by him around my throat.
His hand was so large, and he was so strong, but his grip was so soft and gentle that the juxtaposition turned me on even more. “Yes,” I moaned, closing my eyes as the orgasm neared.
“No, baby. Gaze on me. Don’t take this away from me. You know I love watching your eyes when you come.” His breathing picked up, and his erection dug into my back as I stared at him in the mirror. Callum demanded me to stare at him when I came, and every time, it drove him wild.
I was feeling a little wild tonight. “I’m close.”
“Such a good girl.” He sucked my neck as he pumped me harder. “My future wife is so fucking hot.”
“Oh, have I met her?”
“Fuck, Ivy.” He laughed and removed his fingers immediately. “You wanting to rile me up tonight? Is that your plan?”
“What if it is?”
I couldn’t stop my smile as Callum sat me on the counter and spread my thighs wide. I was so wet, and we both could tell.
“Are you going to just stare between my legs or do something about it?”
“I fucking love your mouth.” He gripped my throat and kissed me hard, sucking my tongue for a beat before groaning. “Sounds like I need to remind you that the only person I’d get on my knees for is my wife.”
“Then why are you standing?”
His eyes flared as he dropped down and sucked my clit with one loud sound. He spread my lips and ate me hard and fast, damn well knowing I wouldn’t come like that. “Marry me.”
“Is that a question?” I dug my fingers into his hair, urging him to keep licking me. This was an ongoing bit we did. He’d ask, I’d deflect. This was the first time he’d said it while his tongue was inside me though. “I need to come, Callum.”
“Then say yes.” He stuck his tongue inside me, humming against me to the point I was right there. So close. “Say yes, then I’ll let you come.”
“Bribery isn’t sexy.” I arched my back but then he jumped up and removed his pants in half a second. His very large and hard cock sprung out, and he slammed into me with one motion. “Fuck, yes, you feel good.”
“I want my future wife to come on my cock while looking at me.” He thrust, the muscles on his arms bulging as he gripped my thighs. “My perfect, beautiful, sexy as fuck Ivy. Show me your eyes, please.”
Maybe it was the deepness of his voice or the way he called me his future wife a million times, but I loved him heart and soul. Each thrust had me moaning and gripping the counter tighter. His body was beautiful, so thick and strong. Watching his muscles constrict while he fucked me had me even hotter. My pussy pounded with want as I cried out. “That feels so good,” I said.
“Come for me. Be loud.” He demanded a lot from me in sex, and I loved it. He pushed me and I had never experienced so much pleasure. He pinched my clit, and I came apart. “Yes, Callum, yes!”
“That’s my wife.” He grinned as he let me ride it out. “So fucking sexy.”
My skin buzzed with electricity as I came down, but Callum didn’t let me rest for long. He bent low and sucked one nipple long and hard, nipping the end as he pistoned even faster. The past year had been the best of my life. More laughter and joy, inside jokes, and experiences. He proposed often enough for it to be a joke, but the need to wait wasn’t there anymore. We lived together. We had a life together. We were so damn happy, and there was no reason to stall. I wanted to be Ivy O’Toole.
“Eyes on me, future husband. When you come in me, I want to watch.”
He froze. His large blue eyes widened as he stared at me with parted lips. “What did you call me?”
“You heard me.”
“Say it again.” He swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Please, Ivy Lee. Say it again.”
“I need to come again, future husband.”
“Fuck.” He closed his eyes as he rested his forehead on my shoulder. “I wasn’t expecting this. I had a plan. You weren’t… fuck, baby. Is this for real?”
I ran my fingers up and down his back, nodding as my eyes prickled. “Yes. You can tell me the plan later, but right now, I need your cock.”
He moaned as he lifted his head, his eyes a little watery. Just like that, the mood changed, and he slowed down. Yes, we were still on the counter, but he stared at me differently. “I’m memorizing everything about this moment. Every little thing because you are perfect.”
“So are you, Callum.”
He pumped harder, the friction causing another orgasm to build, and just as I came, he moaned my name, never breaking eye contact. It used to feel strange to be so open and vulnerable, but now it was only us. Our thing.
“You.” He kissed my forehead. “Are.” Then my lips. “Amazing.”
“Did you just propose while fucking me?”
“I’m pretty sure you did.” He grinned and kissed me slow again. “Can I wash your hair, or is today a no-wash day?”
“We can wash it.”
He grinned wide as he pulled out and made sure I was okay. He ran his hands over my scars, the one on my arm and the one on my leg. It was his thing. My gaze drifted to his ankle, where he had a wicked scar from the break, but he’d covered it up with a tattoo.
Of what, you ask? Ivy. Ivy with blue flowers.
I’d seen it a hundred times, but it still made me so emotional to see my mark on his skin. He told me it was to give him strength when he needed a little boost, and seeing Ivy on him was all he needed. He carried me around everywhere he went.
How could I not say yes to a guy like this?
He turned the water on but held up a finger. “Let it warm up for a minute. Wait here, and I’ll find some towels.”
I watched his tight ass walk away and smiled to myself. We’d have to come up with another story of how he proposed. I couldn’t say it was having sex on a counter. But I giggled as I thought about what I’d just done.
“Ivy.”
Callum’s voice changed, and he stood with a towel wrapped around his waist and a box in his hands.
“Wait, I’m naked!”
“I don’t care.”
“Then you get naked too!”
“But I can’t be naked for the story!”
“Neither can I!”
He laughed and dropped the towel. “Fuck it.” He walked toward me, naked as sin, and dipped down on one knee. “Ivy Lee, I told you a year ago that I’d ask you to marry me today. I wasn’t joking. I want to be your husband, your partner, your everything for the rest of your life. You are already a part of me, the best part of me, and I can’t live another second without having you as my wife. I love you, all of you, and always will. Will you please marry me?”
A frown line appeared on his forehead, a slight trickle of worry crossing his eyes. I hated that he had even a fraction of a doubt. I slid off the counter and wrapped myself around his naked body. “Of course I’ll marry you.”
He trembled as he rested his forehead on my shoulder for a second. “Thank fuck.”
I rubbed his back and kissed his shoulder a few times. “So, do I get a ring, or is this a marriage by imagination?”
“Right. Duh.” He held onto my lower back with one hand as he opened the box with the other. “It’s a princess cut diamond with blue sapphires around it. The blue is to represent me. I’m always with you, supporting you, there for you. I’m all around you, baby, and I’m never leaving.”
God, I loved him so much.
“It’s stunning.” My breath caught in my lungs as he slid the ring on my finger. “Oh my god, this is… Callum…. I can’t… I love it.”
Tears welled in my eyes, and a sob escaped. “It just hit me. I get to be your wife.”
He smiled softly. “And I get to be your husband.”
“I love you and our life.” I sniffed and hugged him hard. “You are the best thing in the world.”
“Nah, you already have that title, but I can come in second. That’s only fair.” He picked me up and brought me to the shower. “My hands are shaking from nerves, so I’m gonna wash you, okay? You just stand there looking gorgeous and thinking about how hot I’ll be as your husband.”
I snorted. There he was. Back to normal. “I’ll think of the story we can share with people when they ask how you proposed.”
“We tell the truth. You said you’d marry me because you were cock-shocked.”
“Callum!” I swatted at him, but I couldn’t stop laughing. “No. We need another story.”
“Then, baby, you let me take you out to dinner where we can craft the best story ever.”
“Like how you sobbed and wrote me a love note in rose-scented pens?”
“My future wife thinks she’s funny, huh?” He smacked my ass. “God, I love saying that now.”
“Yeah. I love hearing it.” I turned around and kissed him softly. He hummed against me, something he did when he was super content, and I vowed then and there to be the best wife ever.
He was letting me chase my dream of making it in the NFL, so I could show him how much I loved him every day. We didn’t keep score of who was doing more, but we both knew we’d be together forever.