Chapter 46
RAQUEL
After everything that had happened today, my head was absolutely spinning, but right now, I didn’t care about family politics or even the future. I’d missed Theo with every fiber of my being, and for the first time in over a month, it was just him and me.
I straddled his lap and kissed him hard, needing him to know how much I’d been longing to feel his arms around me again and how terrified I’d been that I never would.
He groaned into my mouth and kissed me back, one hand coming up to catch my face while the other banded around me, pulling me even closer to him.
“I love you,” I whispered into his mouth when it occurred to me that I hadn’t told him yet. “I love you, Theo Westwood.”
He stiffened against me, then let out an actual moan and gave me a bruising kiss before he pulled back to look into my eyes. “Say it again.”
“I love you.” I held the sides of his neck, my gaze fixed on his. “I’m so desperately, wildly in love with you that I didn’t even want to say it before because if I admitted it, I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to let you go.”
“I love you too,” he said after just staring at me in absolute disbelief for a few long seconds. “Hopefully, you’ll never let me go because I have no intention of letting you go again. Never.”
He stroked his fingers across my back, dropped both hands to my ass, and abruptly stood. Surprised laughter tore out of me, but it faded when I realized he was carrying me to our bed. Ours. The first one we’d ever sleep on together that was meant for us to share for the night.
The suite Theo had gotten us was insane, with an expansive view of the city, a sunken lounge, a tub the size of a swimming pool in the bathroom, and a truly monstrously sized bed.
I wasn’t sure why the honeymoon suite had such a big bed, considering that honeymooners probably never wanted quite that much space between them, but none of those things mattered to me right now.
The only thing that mattered was that this crazy, luxurious, way over the top hotel suite somehow seemed to signify the beginning of our lives together. Before, we’d either been at his place or mine. Those two things had always been separate, but not now.
Not tonight and hopefully never again.
As he laid me down on the bed, he looked at me like he’d had the same realization. Like he was suddenly feeling as protective and reverent of this moment as I was. When his mouth met mine again, his kisses had changed too, slower and gentler, but somehow more meaningful at the same time.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” he murmured against my mouth. “You came to Chicago for me.”
“I felt so crazy for doing it until I saw you,” I admitted quietly, opening my eyes to look into his. “Until you got here, I kept wondering if I made a mistake.”
“You didn’t.”
I smiled and pushed both of my hands into his hair. “I knew that the second you walked in, Theo. Life just wasn’t the same without you and none of the differences between us seem to matter when we’re together.”
“They really don’t.” He laid another kiss on my lips, then broke it to press his mouth to my eyelids, my temples, and the tip of my nose.
“You’re the one. I’ve known that for a while, but you really are, Raquel.
I genuinely don’t care about our differences.
I think they might even be what makes us fit together so well. ”
Tears filled my eyes, but I arched an eyebrow at him anyway. “Look at you, getting all deep and corny on me.”
“I’m not deep yet,” he teased, dragging his lips along the line of my jaw. “I will be soon, though.”
“That’s presumptuous.”
“Still true.” He reached for the hem of my sweater and lifted it off over my head, groaning when his gaze dropped to my chest. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”
Both the sweater and my bra were plain cotton, a little washed out, and definitely nothing like any garment his sisters-in-law owned, but he still looked at me like he was enraptured by the sight.
Slowly sliding a hand around my back, he unhooked the bra and pulled it off slowly.
Then he lowered his head and pressed kisses around my breasts too.
Cool air washed over my exposed skin, but I felt my chest and face flushing with the heat rising from deep inside. My nipples formed sensitive points and Theo sucked each of them into his mouth like he was welcoming them home.
I moaned and writhed underneath him, reaching for his fitted, long-sleeved Henley and pulling it off over his head. Thankfully, he’d taken the jacket off when we’d walked into the suite, so all it took to feel his skin against mine again was that one garment being removed.
As soon as both our torsos were bare, he settled his weight more firmly on me, allowing me to feel his heart racing against my chest. We kissed as we rolled around on our gigantic bed, neither of us rushing but not really waiting or moving slowly either.
The rest of our clothes disappeared in a flurry of hands and moans, but he started to sit up once we were both naked to look around for his pants.
I caught his wrist and pulled him back to me.
With the position we’d landed in, the movement made his cock slide across my folds when he let me pull him back down, and he went as rigid as a board, those eyes wide as they flew to mine.
“Fuck, Raquel. We still need a condom.”
I repositioned myself underneath him, arching my hips until his tip was nestled right against my entrance. My heart was pounding, my body aching for him to move, but this was important, so I did my best to focus through the urgent need coursing through my veins.
“We don’t,” I said. “I’m on the pill and I have been for a long time. I won’t get pregnant and I trust you. I love you.”
He swallowed hard, those eyes suddenly like twin green flames staring into mine. “You’re saying…”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. We don’t need condoms anymore.”
“Shit.”
“Unless you want them.”
He responded by planting a searing kiss on my lips and thrusting into me. Both of us moaned when he encountered no resistance whatsoever on his way in. I hooked my legs around his ass, so wet there wasn’t even a hint of discomfort.
Without anything between us, Theo started trembling almost immediately. He started moving. His thrusts were slow and deliberate. His breathing was as labored as mine. I rolled my hips in time with the pace he was setting, unable to control myself.
Feeling him everywhere, in all the right places, my orgasm started building very soon after. I clung to him, losing myself in his love, his kisses, and the way it felt like our bodies were melting into each other.
When I felt myself approaching that point of no return, Theo’s stomach dipped against mine and he swelled deep inside me.
His kisses faltered for a just a beat as we went over the edge together.
The orgasm was so intense that it made me feel boneless in its wake, leaving me a writhing, panting mess.
Theo moaned my name, waiting until I’d ridden out the last of its waves before he gathered me in his arms and rolled over, setting me down on the mattress beside him.
Wrapped in soft hotel sheets and with the glow of Chicago’s skyline outside our windows, I lay tucked against Theo’s side, tracing lazy circles across his chest with my fingertips.
I didn’t say anything for a long time as my heart rate returned to normal and my brain went back to trying to process everything he’d said earlier. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it.
Avery was going to let Theo help us and Alex had approved of Theo’s plans to move to Quartz Pass. Neither of us would have to give up our families and we got to be together anyway.
It was incredible.
He pressed a kiss into my hair and I smiled against his shoulder before finally glancing up at him. “Now what?”
His grip on my hip tightened and I honestly thought he was going to give me a thoughtful answer about the future, but instead, he rolled me onto my back and hovered over me with a devilish grin.
“Quick marriages are a family tradition for me.”
My heart started racing as I stared up at him, trying my best to gauge whether he was serious. “What?”
Those eyes were bright and alive, but I couldn’t find any trace of joking in them. He seemed completely sincere. “You heard me.”
“Yeah, but…” I trailed off for a beat. “Well, how quick?”
He chuckled, leaning down to brush his nose against mine. “Don’t worry about it. Clearly, I’m not much for family tradition.”
“Is this part of what you discussed with your brother?”
His fingers swept through my hair before he dipped his chin in a nod, his eyes never leaving mine. “Alex has approved of us, but we can still take our time and savor every step.”
I lifted a hand to brush my thumb across his cheek. “Colin told me that Alex still wants you married, though.”
“Yeah, he does, but I told you. I don’t care. I’m downright obsessed with you.” I laughed, but he remained completely serious. “No, really. I am.”
My cheeks flushed. “I’m pretty obsessed with you, too.”
“I want to take my time with you,” he murmured, lowering his mouth to my neck and pressing tender kisses to my skin. “I want to treat you right and really get to know what makes you tick.”
I groaned. “Stop talking about me like I’m a motorcycle engine.”
He pulled back to look into my eyes, then made a revving sound with his mouth.
I laughed. “Oh, God. You’re ridiculous.”
“I think you pronounced that wrong. Charming was the word you were looking for.” He descended on me for more kisses and I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck and holding him to me, unable to comprehend how I’d gotten so lucky.
This was what I’d always wanted, someone I could be myself with completely and who loved me for exactly who I was. Someone I could laugh with until my ribs hurt and be ridiculous with without fear of judgment.
Theo was all that and so much more. I didn’t care about his money or the fancy suite. I didn’t care about the giant castle he’d grown up in. Hell, I didn’t even care about the exceptionally intimidating family he came from.
All I cared about was him. Getting to be with the guy who allowed me to be every facet of myself and loved them all. I slowed our increasingly passionate kisses to a natural end and looked straight into his eyes.
“If you asked, I would say yes. Whenever you’re ready.”
He blinked hard, his chest stalling against my own, and he stared at me like I’d just handed him the keys to a whole new kingdom. As I looked back at him though, I knew with absolute certainty that I would be the happiest woman on earth if I got to spend my life getting lost in that gaze.
A weirdly nervous smile ghosted across his lips before he sat up, let out a long, slow exhale, and reached for my hand. “Raquel, will you marry me?”
My heart nearly burst with joy, tears suddenly streaking down my cheeks. I pushed myself up on one elbow and nodded, bringing my free hand to his cheek and stroking that patch of soft skin under his eye. “Yes.”
After everything we’d both been through to get here, that was really the only answer I could give.
I’d flown to Chicago without even knowing how to find him, without any idea how it would play out or if there was a way we could make it work, and I’d missed him because he’d already been on his way to me in Arizona, determined to make things right, no matter what he had to give up to do it.
Theo laughed and his mouth crashed back into mine, I held him tight and thanked every deity out there for having Martha give up outside of Quartz Pass.
Given how much he’d traveled, the universe could’ve stranded this man literally anywhere, and instead, it’d sent him straight to me—and I was going to get to keep him.
Forever.