Chapter 18 #3
He nods slowly. “Harlow, I am trying really hard to not push you right now. I really want you to talk to me. I need to know. I need to fucking know everything there is to know. I want to know every fucking thought in your head. I want to know every fucking feeling you have. I want all of it. I want it so fucking bad, the need is riding me so fucking hard, and I am workin’ real fucking hard to not push that on you. Failing. But trying.”
I snort out a huffing laugh. I fucking love what he is saying. It is making me feel a lot more stable. “Promise you won’t leave me. Promise you won’t hurt me.”
His brows pinch.
“I know you have. I just… I need to hear it again,” I try to keep the worry from my voice, but I am absolutely certain he hears it.
His eyes move over my face, his head tips down and one hand pulls at the other, but I don’t look, I just stare up at him.
His hand wraps around mine, his eyes meeting mine, I feel warm metal slide onto my left pointer finger.
“My dad gave me this on my sixteenth birthday. He had it made, it’s a signet ring, but he designed it with me in mind.
Plain, white gold, just a rectangle, roughened and destructed looking, but inside—” he releases a slow breath, “—inside it says James Harker’s Son.
I always wear it. I wear it because it represents love, family, and choice.
Mom and me… he chose us. He chooses us—every fucking day.
I have never once in my life doubted my dad’s love for me.
He shows it to me every day in everything he does.
“Harlow, I will show you every damn day in every-fucking-thing I do that I choose to love you. My love for you is utterly obsessive, but it’s just how I fucking love.
If what you need is for me to vow it daily, or even multiple times a day, then that’s what I’ll fucking do.
I will never leave you. I will never walk away from this.
I will do anything it takes to make you happy.
“So, you hang on to this for me. You wear my ring that represents love, family, and choice. When I have worked hard enough that you truly believe those things, then you can put it back on my finger. My brand of love is yours. I am yours. Entirely.”
I reach up, wrapping my hand around his neck pulling him down to me, smashing my lips to his.
It is deep, chaotic, encompassing. My pants and underwear kick to the floor and my ass hits the cold countertop.
I frantically pull at the hook and zipper of his pants, and he shoves his boxers and pants down.
My nails drag up under his shirt on his back, I grip down on his mid back as he steps in close, lines up, then takes me with one rough thrust. Our lips break apart as we both moan.
My nails press into his flesh, his shirt bunching over my wrists as he sets a brutal pace.
His hand holding my hip at the edge of the counter just shy of bruising and I know it’s because he is being mindful of my skin and I fucking love it.
His other hand slips between us, his thumb rubbing furiously at my clit as his lips drag along my neck, his tongue licks and teeth nip.
I drag one set of my claws down his back pulling them out from his shirt.
My legs wrap around his hips in an encouragement to go harder.
He immediately complies and my body jolts with each slam of his hips.
I wrap my hand around the back of his head, my nails raking down his scalp.
His body tenses and he lets out a deep rumbling groan.
I scrape my nails down his neck, along his shoulder, then wrap my hand around his bicep. My nails digging into the flesh there, wanting to leave a mark. His hips snap faster, his thumb pressing down just a touch more and my eyes roll back.
“Frankie,” I cry out.
“Har—” he groans so deeply it almost goes silent as I feel him paint my insides, my body quaking around him.
I press kisses all over his face and neck as I try to relax my breathing, he holds me, gusts of air rushing from him. I brush the tip of my nose against his jaw. “Forever. Promise me forever.”
“Marry me,” he replies, his eyes connecting with mine. I blink at him. His brow lifts as his breathing finally calms. My own seems to have stopped. “Tomorrow, at the courthouse.”
“I… I thought… but?—”
“Sexy girl, you want forever, I’ve already given it to you.
You want promises. I have made them and will continue to make them.
Marriage, maybe that’s what we both fucking need.
Knowing neither one of us can walk away without having to try.
” His fingers brush back a hair clinging to my cheek.
“I want you bound to me in every possible way. You want to know I won’t leave.
So, marriage.” His head tilts as he watches me.
He has a point. “Okay. Let’s get married.”
You can just hush, I don’t care if you think I am crazy or this is too fast.
He nods. “Just us?”
I nod. “Yeah. I want it to be just me and you. I don’t want anyone else involved. This is about our needs. And fuck everything else.”
He grins. “And fuck everything else.”