Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
HARRY
E verything has to be perfect.
Candles—check.
New drapes covering the restaurant’s oversized windows—Mama’s input got that one over the line.
The old Italian lady’s famous fettuccine—check.
And, as if she hadn’t done enough for Louisa and me already, one Italian chocolate cake. Freshly baked, iced, and waiting for us to devour it, however we see fit.
After a bit of wrangling, I convinced Lou to return the Mancinis’ cake slide this evening, claiming they needed to pack. Tomorrow, the Mancinis leave for Florida. After all they have done for Louisa and me, I’m glad I could help them out.
The front door opens, the small bell chiming. Louisa stops dead in her tracks. She smiles and studies me where I stand, flowers in hand, dressed in the best clothes I own, behind the table set for two.
“What are you up to, Harry Rawlins?” She chuckles and takes off her coat. The cake slide sits in her hand.
“Sit, darlin’.”
She pads to her side of the table, and I tug out her chair. She drops into it, and I hand her the bunch of flowers. Dusting a kiss onto her temple, I push her chair in.
“I’m just returning the cake slide. Did you set me up?” Her eyes narrow playfully.
“Actually, I think you were set up on many occasions. Apparently, the women in this town don’t take runnin’ off at the first sign of a proposal as an answer.”
She rolls her eyes but laughs. I take the silver slide from her and place it by the chocolate cake. “We’ll be needin’ this later.”
Her eyes darken, as if the memory of our last Italian chocolate cake found its way back. So, I lean down and pluck a thin folder from the ground and hand it to her before I lose the nerve.
She takes it, eyes never leavin’ me. “What is this?”
“Part of your legacy.”
She drops her gaze to the folder and opens it. Her face crumples as she takes in the contents of the document.
“Harry, no. I can’t...”
I push out of my chair and squat by hers, taking the folder from her fingertips’ grip. I rest it on her lap and take her hands. “There is only one thing I have to do in this life, and that’s to take care of you. You have done the same for me, time and time again.”
“But the ranch. The money’s supposed to be for the ranch.”
“It is. Most of it. But this place is special to you. I want you to have it. The Mancinis received a more than fair price for it from the Connors. I simply bought them out. I think Brad had a little sway there. The first and last time that guy gets a pass from me.”
She huffs a small laugh. Her hands close over my jawline. “You, Harry Rawlins, are something else.”
I don’t respond. Not with words, at least, as I snatch that last thought up with a kiss. And I’m glad the new drapes are closed, because this man has zero control when it comes to this damn woman. I stand, my mouth still on hers. She reaches up, like I’m pulling away, likely to be lost forever.
Not this time.
Not ever again.
I sweep her out of her chair and deposit her on the edge of the table. Frantically, she shoves the food to one side. Turning back, her fingers make quick work of my shirt. It falls to the floor as I pull it over her head.
“Wait,” she breathes.
“Darlin’. No one can see. Nobody’s coming in here tonight.”
“It’s—” Each exhale crashes into my bare chest. She glances toward the kitchen before those green eyes meet mine. “What if I don’t want it anymore...”
“Which part, Louisa May?” I ask, my gut flipping over. Some wounds will only ever be easily picked scabs.
Only this time, instead of giving up, I push through. ’Cause she’s worth it.
“Working long hours. Spending so many hours in this old place,” she finally says.
“Then you can own it. Someone else can work it.”
Relief washes over her face.
Fuck.
“What is it you do want?” I cup her face with my palms and hold her eyes onto me. “ Really want.”
She swallows, and her arm moves behind her back. When cold, soft chocolate icing brushes over my bottom lip, she smiles. “I just want you.” Her finger slips between my lips. “And one other thing.”
I can’t speak.
One other thing...
So, like any man with a raging hard-on for the woman in front of him would do, I grunt.
She giggles, sliding her finger from my mouth. “I want your babies. As many as you’ll give me.”
The air snaps from my lungs. Mouth gaping, my chest caves into an erratic cycle of useless pants.
Fuck me, Louisa May.
I don’t respond.
“Say something, Harry.”
I swallow past a boulder and rasp the first words that surge into my oxygen-deprived brain. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I think you mean Captain?” She gives me the most ridiculous stern face I have ever seen before bursting into a laugh that echoes around the old restaurant.
“Woman, you can commandeer this man’s ship any goddamn day.”
“I was hoping you would say that,” she says, slipping off the edge of the table and onto her feet. Her palms push my shoulders, and I sink onto the chair. Her weight settles over my lap as she straddles me, her skirt bunching up over her thighs. “Give me everything, ’cause I want it all. The husband, the ranch, the babies. Fill me up, Harry.”
“You’ve already got the first two.”
“The last one, then,” she whispers, and her lips brush my ear, then skitter down my neck.
Oh, holy fuck, a man’s never been harder in his life. Blood, red hot in my veins, rushes my body. I snap the clasp on her bra and dive right in, tongue, teeth, and mouth, loving this beautiful woman the only way I know how.
She arches into me, and I shift on the seat, freeing my cock. I move to the next breast, and she moans my name.
Heaven has nothin’ on Louisa Rawlins.
With a quick sweep through her soaked center with two fingers, I have her vibrating in my lap. But this isn’t some quick-release moment. I want to devour her. I want to savor her. Over and over again.
I push to my feet and spin to the table behind us. It’s bare, save a small pot of napkins. They hit the floor as I swing a hand behind her and lay her down. The skirt and panties are comin’ off.
“God, Harry. How do you always manage to set me on fire?”
“I could be askin’ you the same thing.”
I groan through a strangled breath as her skirt and panties hit the floor, and her legs fall open for me.
Sweet Jesus.
I drop to my knees, my rough grip spreading her further. Her hands slide over the table, getting purchase on the sides of it. Deciding to take this slow, I track kisses up one soft, creamy thigh before the other. She wriggles her hips. Always so impatient, my Louisa.
“Please...” she whimpers.
“Woman, a man could die of thirst looking at you like this.”
“I’ll be ashes first if you don’t touch me soon.”
I chuckle and side with putting her outta her misery, running my tongue through her center. Her grip turns white as she snaps up off the table. Goddamn, she tastes so fuckin’ fine. The ache in my cock turns to a throb. The taste of her. The sight of her...
I lap her slick need as her legs begin to tremble with every suckle of her pretty little clit. As I press two fingers inside her, she stifles a cry, hips bucking off the hard surface. I curl them forward and take up a slow rhythm.
Hands leaving the table, she hunts for me. When she comes up short, she pushes up, bracing with one hand, her other running through my hair.
And damned if the sight isn’t enough to see me come. I dive in, sucking hard, picking up the pace my fingers are giving. Louisa’s mouth drops open, her breathing almost nonexistent when she tightens around me.
She’s so close.
“Come for me, Louisa May. Let this sweet pussy grind all over my face.”
Her eyes shutter closed, and she rocks her hips forward, doin’ as I said. I add another finger, nipping at her clit. The mewl falling from her parted lips tightens my balls.
Sweet Jesus, woman.
I suck down hard, and she grinds against me in erratic waves. Her pussy clamps down over my fingers, and wetness coats my face and the table where she sits.
“Har—” Her hold in my hair turns to a fist. “God above.”
I chuckle against her pussy, sending her feral. Her green eyes are burning when I look up to her. I’m not laughing at her. She delights me in ways I never expect. She always has.
Darkness clouds her gaze as she comes down from her high.
Still on my knees, I wipe my face and wait for her to come to me.
But she slips off the table and tugs me to my feet.
She says nothing as she sinks to her knees and tugs my cock free.
Jesus.
It’s impossibly hard. Her mouth finds the tip, tongue swirling, teeth grazing the sensitive opening. A fine hand takes my balls, and I all but lose it in her goddamn mouth.
“Loui—”
“Mhmm?” The syllables vibrate all the way down my cock. My fingers tangle in her hair, tugging hard. She takes me all the way in, eyes homed in on my face.
Fuck me.
I can’t control how she makes me feel.
I feel everything with this woman.
She pulls up, sucking hard. I groan.
“Fuck, no...”
The short, burnin’ breaths I’m barely surviving on have my head spinning. Louisa May wants babies, then who am I to say no...
Reaching the tip, her pretty pink tongue tantalizes my cock. I lean down and pull her to her feet. Her hands automatically close around my jaw, pulling me down to her. I devour her, forcing my way in, like she isn’t going to give in to me. She melts, and I sweep inside, tongues tangling, hungry and devastating.
I break away, and she stares up at me. Her lips puffy, gaze all doe-eyed. The best fuckin’ view this man will ever get.
I drop my forehead to hers. “You want babies, wife? I’ll give you babies.”
I stand tall, spin her around, and bend her over the table. Her desperate eyes glance over her shoulder. Canting her ass up to me, she wriggles back.
So fuckin’ needy.
So fuckin’ mine.
“Everything is not nearly enough, Louisa May. Ask for more.”
I slam into her. She arches, breasts bouncing as her nipples drag over the hard surface beneath her.
“More,” she pants.
I pull back, slow, as I lean over and track hot, open-mouthed kisses up her spine. She turns her head, capturing my mouth when I make it past her shoulder. “More, Harry.”
I slam into her.
Her cry rings through the empty, candlelit space.
“More...”
Her body trembles under my own. I send it harder, thrust after thrust, until she explodes around me, dragging me over the jagged edge with her. I give her everything I have. Stroke after stroke, hot ropey lengths of release dive deep inside her.
“This is only the beginning, darlin’.” I lift her from the table and fold her back into my chest.
She grabs for me, her mouth hunting for a kiss. A heady, hungry need finds me as she slumps into me. “I know, my love.”