Chapter 18
Eighteen
Copeland
My hands trace the slope of her spine. I wish that we could live in this moment forever.
There is nowhere in the world I’d rather be than here, in this bed, with Ellison in my arms. I nip at her lip, and she moans.
When she moves to straddle my lap, my hard cock presses against her wet pussy, and my head feels as if it could explode from the contact.
How did I live without this? Without her for so long?
Sitting up, bringing us chest to chest, I grip her hips, never breaking our kiss. Ellison reaches between us, fists my cock, lifts onto her knees, and guides me inside her.
Home.
This woman is my home.
“Fuck,” I hiss on a breath, because nothing has ever felt this fucking good in my entire life. Nothing.
I wrap my arms around her, hugging her tightly, as I bury my face in her neck. I don’t think she understands what she means to me. I love you doesn’t seem strong enough, but I know two words that are.
Lifting my head, I move my hands to her cheeks. Her big blue eyes are bright and shining with not only desire, but love. “Marry me.” I couldn’t stop the words from leaving my mouth, even if I tried.
“I know this is the wrong moment. I know that sex is a terrible time to ask, and it’s a story we won’t be able to tell our kids, but, Ells, this moment is ours.
Our bodies are connected, but so are our hearts and our souls.
I want these moments with you forever. I’ll do it right,” I ramble.
“I’ll give you the moment to tell our families, our kids, and our grandkids, but this single moment, it’s just for us. For you and me. Marry me, Ells.”
She settles her hands on my wrists, her eyes swimming with tears. “Copeland.” There’s so much reverence in her tone that if I were standing, it would bring me to my knees.
“I have a ring, but it’s small. I’ll get you a better one. I can afford more now than I could back then.”
“You have a ring?” she asks.
I nod. “Yeah, when I came home from boot camp, I bought a ring. All those yards I mowed, plus the small wage I made during boot camp. I was going to ask you to marry me then.” I let the rest hang between us.
“You were going to ask me to marry you?” Her voice cracks.
“That was our plan, baby. It’s what we talked about. I changed it up because I wanted to leave you something, no matter how small, if something were to happen to me. I derailed our plans, but here… we made our way back to one another, and I don’t want to waste another day.”
“I don’t want to waste another moment,” she says, shaking her head as a single tear races down her cheek. I catch it with my thumb. “I don’t want another ring. I want that one.”
“You deserve better. I can afford better now,” I tell her. I lived modestly over the last seventeen years, and saved or invested most of what I earned. I can afford something so much better than what I bought for her the first time.
There were so many times over the years that I thought about selling the ring, giving it away, or just tossing it into the ocean, but I could never bring myself to do it. I bought it for her, and even though I was certain I’d never have the chance to give it to her, I kept it anyway.
Her lips press against mine, firm yet soft. “Yes.”
My heart lurches in my chest. “Yes?”
“Yes, I’ll marry you. Yes, I want this moment, our moment, and yes, I want my ring.”
“Anything you want,” I assure her.
She presents me with a devilish smile as she rocks her hips. “I want to make love to my fiancé.”
“Fuck,” I hiss. The movement alone would elicit that reaction from me, but hearing her call me her fiancé, it might have unlocked a kink that I never knew existed. “So good,” I tell her, my hands moving to her hips, gripping tightly as I hold on for the ride.
“Cope,” she moans, arching her back, which pushes her tits in my face.
Not a man to miss an opportunity, I latch on to one pebbled peak, nipping and sucking before moving to the next. Slipping my hand between us, I find her clit and gently rub circles because the woman I love, the one I’ve craved all these years, just agreed to be my wife.
Her warm, wet pussy strangles my cock.
I’m not going to last.
“You feel so good riding my cock,” I say, trailing my lips down her neck. “Are you going to come for me, wife?” I ask, and her pussy pulsates, clamping down on my cock with an iron grip.
“Fiancée,” she corrects, lifting onto her knees and slamming back down.
“We’ll change that soon enough,” I tell her. “But first, you need to come on my cock.” In one swift move, I flip her over. Her legs lock around my waist as I piston my hips into hers. “Fucking fabulous,” I pant. I lean over and capture her lips with mine, never breaking my rhythm.
“Don’t stop,” she pleads. “Please don’t stop.”
“I love you,” I answer because I can’t say it enough. “Come for me, Ells.” I rock into her again, and she arches her back; her body quivers as she does exactly as I asked of her. I wait until her body falls back to the bed to pick up my pace and chase my release.
That’s when it hits me.
“Fuck,” I curse out a breath, stilling.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“No condom,” I mutter. I’m barely holding on by a thread. “Tell me what to do, Ells,” I ask, with a desperate plea. Rain thrashes against the windows, and I feel as though it’s the same tempo as the thunderous beat of my heart. I’m losing control.
“You really want to marry me?” she asks.
“What the fuck kind of question is that?” I ask, still thrusting in and out of her. This is ridiculous, but I love every minute of it.
“A valid one, seeing how you asked me,” she fires back, her nails digging deeper into my skin.
She has a point. “More than anything. You will be my wife, Ellison James,” I say, leaning down to kiss her lips. My cock throbs, begging for release.
She chuckles. “Ellison Moran for now,” she sasses.
I start to pull out because I’m about to lose all control, but she locks her legs around me again. “Finish inside me.”
That’s all it takes. One more thrust, and I hold still as I spill over inside her. It’s a feeling I can’t explain, and I’m the lucky bastard who gets to repeat it over and over again for the rest of his life.
Careful not to crush her, I swoop in for another kiss as I pull out. “Stay put,” I say, before rushing across the hall to the bathroom to get a washcloth to clean us both up. I didn’t get to take care of her the last time before she freaked out on me. This time, I’m doing it right.
After cleaning us both up, I toss the washcloth onto the floor and climb back into bed, pulling her into my arms. “I love you,” I tell her, pressing my lips to her hair.
She tilts her head up to look at me. “I love you— Oh shit.”
“Ells?”
She scrambles to sit up. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”
“Ellison. What’s wrong?”
She pulls the blanket up to her chest and turns to look at me. Her face is as white as the sheets we’re lying on. “I’m late.”
“Late? I thought we were staying in, but I can take you wherever you need to go.” I move to climb out of bed so we can get ready.
“No, Copeland. I’m late, late. As in my period.”
I can hear the panic in her voice. I pause, waiting for the same emotion to hit me, but all I feel is happy.
“You’re smiling. Copeland, why are you smiling? I just told you I might be pregnant.”
“I know.” I nod slowly. Still no panic. “We need to take a test. Do we go to the hospital? How are you feeling? Was I too rough with you?” I fire off questions.
“No, we don’t need to go to the hospital. We can buy a test at the grocery store—hell, probably the gas station. I’m fine, freaking out a little, and no, you were not too rough with me.”
“A test. Got it.” I climb out of bed and quickly slip back into my clothes.
“You’re leaving me?” she asks, eyes wide.
“No, baby, I’m going to get us a test.” Bracing my arms on the bed, I lean over and kiss her. “Do you need anything else while I’m out? Have any cravings?”
“I don’t even know if I’m pregnant, and it’s pouring down rain.”
“I won’t melt.” I kiss her again. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I stand and turn to leave.
“Copeland.” I stop and turn to look at her. “Be careful.”
“Always.” I take the stairs two at a time, sliding into my shoes that I left by the door, and rush out into the rain. I make it to the pharmacy in time, mere minutes before they close. I rush in and go straight to the register. “Pregnancy tests?”
The older lady behind the counter grins at me, and that’s when I realize it’s Edith from my mom’s quilting group.
“Aisle three, all the way at the end,” Edith tells me.
“Thanks.” I slap my hands on the counter and turn for aisle three. However, I know I need to say something to Edith about my mom. I stop and pivot so that I’m once again facing the counter. “Don’t mention this. We don’t know yet.”
Edith makes a show of zipping her lips and tossing away the key.
There’s a gleam in her eye that I don’t know if I can trust, but I can’t worry about that right now.
I have tests to buy. At the end of aisle three, I find what I’m looking for, but the options are overwhelming.
I don’t know which one is the best, so I do what any man excited about the prospect of becoming a father with the love of his life would do.
I buy one of each.
Edith checks me out, wearing a grin, and I make her promise again to keep this between us, before I take my two bags of pregnancy tests and a large pack of peanut M&Ms for my girl and rush back out into the rain to my truck.
The drive back is short, and as soon as I’m in the house, I find Ellison, now dressed, sitting on the couch with a pillow on her lap, wearing a worried expression. “Ready?” I ask, holding up the two bags of tests.
“You bought two bags of tests?” she asks.
I shrug. “Yeah, I didn’t know if we would need more than one, and I didn’t know which one to get.”
“One would have been plenty.”
“But they have false negatives sometimes, right? We might need to take two.”
With the bags in one hand, I offer her the other to help her off the couch. “Let’s do this, Ells,” I say, smiling at her.