Chapter Twelve #2
“What are you thinking about so hard?” Marit asked quietly.
Her head was resting on his shoulder as she snuggled into him.
She fit perfectly in his arms. She really was tiny compared to his six-six height.
It amused a lot of people how disproportionate they were, but he didn’t even notice anymore.
She was just Marit. Her larger-than-life personality made her seem as if she were ten feet tall.
“How happy I am that you’re here,” Zach said quietly.
“How well we fit together. Both physically and with our lives in general. How I’ve never been with anyone who fits me like you do.
How I could spend the rest of my life enjoying evenings like this .
. . you using me as a body pillow as we relax after a long day. ”
Marit’s head came up, and she stared at him, but Zach couldn’t read her expression.
“Too cheesy?” he asked without even a hint of a smile.
“No,” she whispered.
“Good. Because that’s how I feel. This morning, I almost tripped over one of your boots. It had tipped over and was partially blocking the hallway. I’d gone to the front closet for something, no clue why now, but I wasn’t paying attention and almost face-planted into the wall.”
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Marit exclaimed, sounding embarrassed.
But Zach simply smiled. “No, you don’t understand .
. . having you here, your things, it makes me feel less lonely.
Even when I was in the Navy, on a ship full of people, working with the other sailors in the galley, I felt alone.
Everyone was doing their own thing, in their own world.
Having your stuff in my place, mixed with mine, tripping over your boots .
. . it reminds me that I’m not alone. That you’re here. ”
Marit’s head dropped back to his shoulder. “That’s sweet. But I’m still going to be more careful about where I leave my boots from now on. The last thing I want is you bashing your head into the wall because of my crap.”
“How are you feeling?” Zach asked.
Marit looked up at him again. “Um . . . fine?”
“No, I mean, after spending all day with my crazy family. After our talk. After Linc taking you aside and telling you that he has no problem ‘dealing’ with Pearson if you want him to.”
“Honestly?”
“Of course. Always. My family can be a little intense, and I can tell them to back off if I need to.”
“I told you that I’ve never understood the concept of family. You know how mine was. But being around your brothers, and mom, and even Britt and Kash, it makes me feel incredibly lucky . . . and sad at the same time.”
“Sad?”
“That I missed out on what you have.”
“But you have it now.”
“Yeah, I do,” Marit said in a faraway tone, putting her head back on his chest.
“Look at me, Marit.”
She did as he said.
“I told you this before, and I’ll say it as many times as you need to hear it to make it stick.
You’ll always have a place with the Youngs.
I don’t care what happens with us, relationship-wise, you’re stuck with us now.
If you think my mom will ever let you just quietly slip away, you don’t know her nearly as well as you should.
And Linc, Knox, and Chad already see you as the little sister we never had.
They’re more than willing to fix this issue with Pearson, but I told them to back off until we need their help.
And Britt’s so happy you’re around. Chad said she’s really missed having someone closer to her age to talk to. ”
“She’s awesome,” Marit agreed.
“I can see us sitting just like this when we’re old and gray, exhausted after sending our grandkids home with our kids, happy with how our life has turned out.”
“Zach,” Marit whispered, her eyes wide.
“I just want you to know that this, us together, feels right. As if I’ve finally found my person. The other half of my soul. The person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I’m going to do everything in my power to not screw it up. To make sure you never regret being with me.”
“I won’t. I . . . I feel the same,” Marit told him almost shyly.
So many feelings welled up inside Zach. Gratitude. Relief. Love.
“I love you, Marit. Some people would probably tell me it’s way too soon to say the words.
That I should wait until you say them first. That we haven’t been together long enough for me to know if what I’m feeling is really love or not.
But they’re wrong. I know down to my very bones that you’re it for me.
“And I’m not telling you how I feel to pressure you to say the words back, or even to say anything at all.
I just wanted you to know that I’m in this for the long haul.
That I like being around you. Spending time with you.
Hearing about your day when we both get home.
Bouncing marketing ideas off of you. Watching you interact with my family.
Seeing how happy you get when we’re at Lobster Cove.
Sleeping with you in my arms. It’s all stuff I’ve never experienced with anyone else.
It feels like I’ve finally come home, literally and figuratively. ”
Marit opened her mouth to respond, but Zach quickly covered her lips with his, stopping whatever it was she was going to say.
When he broke the kiss, he ran the backs of his fingers over her cheek tenderly. “I just wanted you to know.”
Marit reached up and took his hand in hers and pressed a kiss to the palm before moving so she was straddling him. She then took his face in her hands and stared into his eyes. “You’re braver than I am—”
Zach snorted. He couldn’t help it. This woman, she had no idea how amazing she was. How much he admired her.
“You are!” she insisted. “It scares the shit out of me to say this, but I love you too, Zach Young. I don’t know how it happened.
I wasn’t in the market for a boyfriend. I was simply doing my job, keeping my head above water.
Trying to stay under everyone’s radar. Trying not to draw any attention to myself.
And then you entered my life, asked me out .
. . and here we are. Your family intimidates me, but not in a bad way.
They all seem so put together. They know what they want, and they don’t take shit from anyone. ”
“We’re all a little broken inside, for different reasons. But we’re stronger together than apart. I think that’s what has made our move back to Maine work out so well,” Zach admitted.
“Well, whatever it is, it’s definitely working.”
They smiled at each other.
Then Marit chuckled. “Now what? Now that we’ve admitted our feelings for each other . . .”
“Sex. Definitely,” Zach said with a straight face. “Lots and lots of sex.”
Marit burst out laughing. “I need to get up early and go work on lobster traps out at Eliot’s place tomorrow,” she reminded him.
“I know. And I have a bunch of orders to make first thing. So maybe just a little sex,” he conceded.
Marit smiled, then collapsed against him.
Zach ran his hands up and down her back, loving that he could feel her breaths against the bare skin of his neck.
He was half hard thinking about the sex he was going to have with her in the very near future, but for the moment, he was content to simply hold her and bask in the aftermath of them sharing their love for each other for the first time.
“Speaking of your family and everyone being a little broken. Did you see Harper and Linc when she dropped off Kash? I think they like each other.”
It was an abrupt change of topic, but Zach was used to that kind of thing, growing up in a big family. Everyone took the chance to talk whenever possible, even if it wasn’t exactly on topic.
“Are you crazy? There’s no way. Harper bullied Linc all through high school.”
But then he recalled the conversation he’d had with his brother earlier that day. How he’d thought it . . . interesting . . . that Linc kept talking about Harper.
“Maybe she did. But she’s not fifteen anymore, Zach. It’s like they’re pretending they don’t like each other, but they actually do.”
Zach shook his head slightly. “I don’t know.”
“Mark my words,” Marit said firmly. “Harper’s been through some shit, and so has Linc.
Different shit, but shit all the same. That can bring people together.
But more than that . . . Kash is gonna bring those two together.
Linc already has a soft spot in his heart for the kid, and Harper would do anything for her son.
From what I understand, she already has.
She’s suffered, Zach. Even lived in her car with him for a while.
And she’s working hard now, trying to give him the life he deserves. ”
“Well, if you’re right, it makes what I suggested today all the more interesting,” Zach mused.
“What did you suggest?”
“That Harper and Kash move into the other rental house on Lobster Cove. It’s just sitting there unused now.”
“Oh! That’s a great idea! Your mom would be over the moon if she accepted. Having Kash so close would be the next best thing to her having a grandbaby already.”
Zach chuckled. Marit wasn’t wrong.
“Speaking of babies . . . you want them?” It was another awkward transition, but he didn’t really care.
“Yes.”
One simple word. It made Zach’s lips move up into a huge grin. “How about we go practice making them?” he suggested.
Marit sat up again and stared at him. They were eye to eye in this position, and Zach couldn’t help thinking about how much he loved when she took him like this, and he could look her in the eyes as he exploded deep inside her body.
In response to his suggestion, she sat even straighter and peeled the T-shirt she was wearing up and off her body. “How about we don’t bother going over to the bed?” she asked instead.
Clothes went flying, and Zach was almost elbowed in the face as they raced to get their pants off without losing contact with each other or getting up from the chair.
It seemed that Marit was just as ready as he was, because Zach slid his cock into her with hardly any resistance.
Her inner muscles gripped him like a vise and his eyes almost rolled back into his head.
“Damn, woman. You feel amazing. I love you. So much.”
“I love you too,” Marit replied, as she began to move up and down.
It wasn’t enough for Zach. He wanted her hard and fast. He felt as if he was two seconds away from exploding as it was.
He needed her to get there too. One hand went to her clit, and he roughly stimulated her as she rode him.
Her hips rocked as she bobbed up and down, her tits bouncing in his face.
Any other time, Zach would’ve taken one into his mouth and feasted, but he could feel his come building up in his balls. He was way too close.
His fingers dug into her hip as he helped her take him. Marit’s back arched, her upper chest flushed, and thankfully she seemed just as on edge as he was.
“I’m going to come,” he warned.
“Me too,” she agreed, reaching between her legs and pushing his hand away from her clit, taking over stimulating the small bundle of nerves herself.
That left Zach’s hand free to grip her hips more firmly. He held her still and began to fuck her from below, able to go faster and harder with him doing the work. Her pussy gripped him even tighter as her orgasm neared.
She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen . . . and she was his. Just as he was hers. It was a dream come true, and Zach felt like the luckiest son of a bitch in the world.
Her muscles began to shake, and he knew she was coming. That was his signal to let himself go as well. Grunting, Zach felt the come burst out of the tip of his cock, deep into her channel. Each burst made Marit even more slippery, as he continued to fuck her through their orgasms.
It wasn’t until she sighed in contentment that he pulled her all the way down onto his dick and enjoyed the aftershocks of both his orgasm and hers.
“Um . . . Zach?”
“Hmmmm?” he asked, lost in the pleasure of the moment.
“You didn’t use a condom.”
He froze in shock. “Fuck. I’m so sorry!”
“It’s okay. I’m still on the pill.”
He knew that, as the little pack of pills sat on the counter next to her toothbrush and toothpaste in his bathroom. “I swear I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“I know. And other than it being messy . . . I actually prefer it.”
Her words made his cock, which was still inside her, twitch with interest.
She laughed, and the movements of her internal muscles around his still-sensitive dick signaled that he wasn’t done showing this woman how much she meant to him.
Scooting forward on the chair, he stood with Marit still in his arms.
She laughed, hooking her ankles together at his back as he kneaded her ass cheeks while making his way over to the bed.
“Just to be clear . . . we’re done with condoms?” Zach asked.
“If it’s okay with you. We’re exclusive, and I haven’t been with anyone other than you in . . . well . . . a long time,” she said.
“Same. And yes, we’re damn sure exclusive. For the rest of our lives. I know we both need to work early, but it might take me a while to tire out tonight. I’ve never had sex without a condom, and it wasn’t until you pointed it out that I realized why you felt so different tonight.”
“Men,” Marit said with a roll of her eyes.
“Your man,” Zach corrected.
“My man,” Marit agreed.
It was indeed several more hours before either of them got any sleep.
Right before Zach drifted off, his ass in the giant wet spot on the bed—and not giving one little shit about it—Marit deadweight on his chest, his cock finally sated but still embedded inside her soaking-wet pussy, he couldn’t help but think about how blessed he was.
He had a job he loved, lived in a supportive community, had his family nearby, and a woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, and who felt the same about him. He never thought moving back home could have this kind of outcome.
With any luck, they’d both continue to be blessed with nothing but goodness in their lives and future.