Chapter 13 #2
He arrived a split second afterward. His body slammed into hers and he growled.
The sound was half triumphant, half fierce possession.
She’d never heard a sound like that, but she knew what it meant.
And she felt exactly the same. They were mated in a very animal way.
They were each owned by the other, each supported and held in a way that was closer than physical bodies, deeper than souls.
They were one, and she couldn’t have been more fulfilled.
Didn’t hurt that the sex rocked, too.
They rode the waves of pleasure as long as they could, but in time it eased. Gary collapsed beside her. A few breaths later they separated, and he managed to clean himself up with minimal fuss. Margaret didn’t have the energy to do more than lie there and grin.
Eventually he noticed. When he looked at her, a dreamy expression on his face, he said the very words she wanted to hear.
“I love you, Margaret. I want to marry you and have children. I know it’s too soon for you to hear that—”
“No, it’s not. I love you too.”
He looked at her, his eyes widening and his mouth dropping open. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
She touched his face, stroking across his hard jaw as she looked into his eyes—eyes that were remarkably similar to his grizzly bear ones.
“I’m saying that I love you romantically.
Sexually. Desperately. As in marriage, babies, and happily ever after.
I love you forever. I love you, my badass bear. ”
He whooped and then kissed her, a deeply joyous kiss, and when she finally pushed him back, she was glad she could make this extra special.
“So, I guess you owe me an apology, huh?”
He blinked. “What?”
“You said I could only love a cripple.”
He winced but said nothing.
“Obviously that’s not true….”
She waited a moment, watching every minute shift in his expression. Then he said, “What are you talking about?”
Wow, she’d done a really good job of distracting him. But now it was time for him to take the next step. Literally.
“Your legs, Gary. You’ve been using them this whole time.” Then, to prove her point, she rolled the edge of her big toe all the way up his calf.
His eyes widened. “I felt that.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, you did.”
He looked down and moved his legs. “I did that!” He wiggled his toes. “I’m doing that!”
“Yes, you are.”
He was out of bed, landing hard on his feet and dancing around the room. He leapt and spun in a disjointed but thoroughly beautiful way. “I’m doing it! I’m doing it!”
She sat up, clapping her hands in delight as he bounced all around her living room.
Then suddenly he was back beside her, pulling her out of the covers so they could run around the loft together.
He spun her past her couch and ran on tiptoes in front of her TV.
Then he hauled her up on the mattress where they jumped up and down like children.
“I can walk!” he cried.
“I can have great orgasms!” she shouted back.
Realizing what she’d said, he caught her in midair and hauled her against him. “Yeah, you can,” he said, his voice rough. “And you will.”
“Yes I will,” she echoed as she ran her hands over his bottom and squeezed his corded thigh.
“It’s because you said you loved me last night,” he realized. “That has to be it. Back when I was still in the wheelchair, you made me feel like I was whole whether or not I had working legs.”
“You are.” She grinned. “And I do love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said. Then his expression sobered. “But I’m a big guy.” He stopped bouncing on the bed, and she noticed for the first time how very tall he was compared to her. And how very broad and wide. “Do I frighten you?”
“No.”
“Not even a little?”
She didn’t have to think. He was her safe place. Big-ass man or not, badass bear or not, he would always protect her, always put her first. He was gentle and patient. He’d protected her and never once hurt her.
She grinned as she looked up into his eyes. “How can you frighten me? You’re my badass bear.”
He pulled back. “Your what?”
“You heard me,” she said as she stretched up and nipped at his chin. “Bad. Ass. Bear.”
“That’s a horrible name.”
“Comedy is repetition,” she said, echoing his quip from yesterday. Then she quirked an eyebrow. “You got a better one?”
“Yeah,” he said as he stroked a hand down her backside. “Greatest Lover on the Planet. Breast God. Clit Whisperer.”
“Awful!” she said with a laugh, pushing away and jumping off the bed.
He followed, catching her before she could go more than two steps and swinging her into his arms. Wow. Look at that. It was thrilling to be lifted up so easily by a big man. Lifted and cradled close.
“But true, right?”
She tilted her head back and pretended to think. “Nope. Not in the least.”
He stilled. “What?”
“You’re going to need a few more lessons before I can call you that. Maybe a lot more.”
“Oh really?” he drawled.
“Definitely.”
He walked her back to her bed and gently set her down. “I think I can handle that.”
She stared up at him, loving the look of his face, the feel of his gaze, everything about him. He leaned down until he was close enough to kiss her, but he didn’t quite close the distance. “I love you, Margaret. I could never be whole without you.”
“That’s not true—,” she began, but he cut her off.
“Yes, it is,” he said. “I don’t think I would have made it through any of this without you. That first shift…”
Margaret didn’t speak, not knowing what to say. Maybe he would have figured it out, maybe not. It didn’t matter, because she had been here with him. Together they had figured out both of their problems.
“You were right,” he said, and she glanced at him. “It’s all about you, Margaret. It’s not the legs, it’s you in my life. In my heart.” He waggled his eyebrows. “In my bed.”
She arched her eyebrow. “Technically this is my bed.”
He smiled. “Technically it’s ours now, because I’m not ever planning on leaving it.”
“Never? Not even for food and such?”
“Not unless you come with me. And at some point when you say, ‘I do.’ Because I’m not changing my mind on this. I love you and want to be with you for the rest of our lives.”
She swallowed, touching his face and stroking her fingers over his broad shoulders, reveling in his size and his power. She saw the grizzly bear in his expression and mentally petted him. Such joy. It filled her heart.
“I do,” she whispered. Then she said it louder. “I do.”
He blinked then abruptly grinned back at her. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” she said. “I love you. I will marry you whenever. And—”
She would have said more—hell, she had a whole book to write about how she’d loved him since they first met but had been too stupid to see the truth—but he held up his finger in a wait-a-second gesture then dashed out of her apartment.
He was stark naked, which left her pushed up on her elbows and gawking.
In the hall, she heard the beep of his keypad and the rumble of his loft door, then nothing for a moment before he was suddenly back.
“Did you just run out in the hall naked? What if someone saw you?”
He looked down at himself and shrugged. “They’d say, ‘Wow, your legs work. How cool is that?’”
Ha! Okay, so that might be true. But before Margaret could say anything, he was back by her side but not on the bed. Nope. He was down on one bare knee holding out his engagement ring. The very one he’d been offering her when this whole thing started. It seemed like a year ago.
“Margaret Taylor, will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?”
She looked at him, her heart swelling with love as her gaze blurred with tears. “You going to stay patient with me? Give me space when I need it?”
“Always. So long as you don’t ever stop teaching”—he gestured at himself—“your badass bear.”
“Don’t be a grumpy-ass and I won’t.”
He arched a brow.
She grinned. “Turns out I love him, too. And I’d never run from you. From now on, I’ll be running toward you for the rest of my life.”
“And I’ll catch you every time,” he promised. “Deal?”
“Deal,” she said. Then she plucked the ring out of the box and slid it on. It fit perfectly and looked absolutely stunning, even if she did plan on changing the setting. They could pick that out together. She had a feeling the rest of their lives would be about figuring things out together.
She stared into his eyes. “I love you, my badass bear.”
“I love you, too. But I’m the Clit Whisperer.”
She laughed. Good thing he could be both.