Chapter 50
MORGAN
God, Jamie is making me work for this. I’ll admit I deserve it.
His eyes are wide with disbelief. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“You’re insane.”
“So?”
“Wh—but—you hardly know me. I could be terrible. I could be—I could be a serial killer.”
I tuck his hair back from his face. “I know enough.” These months without him have been agony. It took Gia four weeks to convince me that the reason the suppressants weren’t helping with the constant ache was that it wasn’t just the beast who was missing him.
As soon as I smelled him again, I wanted to pounce, to lock him in my claws, to never let go. Now that he’s against me, all feels right again.
“But I… what if I’m not…”
I tuck my cheek against his forehead. “Someone I respect very much… once told me something doesn’t have to be perfect to be enough.”
Tears spill from his eyes, and I squeeze him tight.
“I love you,” he whispers past the tears.
A knot lodges in my throat. “I love you, too.” I can’t let on how much I ache for the answer to that one all-important question, though. Still, my voice shakes. “So is that… a ‘yes’?”
Jamie musters himself. “I meant what I said at the loft… about being willing to take the risk. And I still… I still feel the same way. But you don’t—you don’t have to marry me.
I don’t want to—I mean, I get it. I know how it goes with omegas, and it’s—it’s okay with me if you want to keep your options open, and—”
“Jamie,” I cut in. “You’re doing it again.”
“What?”
“The martyr thing. Where you hurt my feelings.”
“Oh shit, I’m so sorry, I…”
“I don’t want options,” I hiss, straining to gentle the anger swirling in my chest. Intellectually, I know why he’s reacting the way he is.
Instinctively, I won’t stand for this. “I want you to be mine. Utterly. Body and soul. I want everyone to know it. I want a ring on that finger because if anyone so much as touches you, I’m separating their throat from their body.
I want the press talking about how there’s no prenup, and just how soft I’ve gone for you.
” My voice drops lower, wavers. “And I want you to want me. The absolute last thing I want is for you to placate me.”
Jamie’s eyes shine up at me, and I swear I see a shell crack away deep inside of him.
“I’m yours,” he breathes.
I force my breath to stay even. Force myself to be patient. “So, let’s try that again. Will you marry me?”
“Yes, yes, a million yesses,” he says, throwing himself against my chest.
Relief floods my body. I squeeze him tight, a purr rising in my chest as I nip at the base of his neck. “Much better. I also… got you a little something.”
I shift to my feet, easily holding him against my chest, and carry him back inside to my bedroom. I set him on the bed, reach into the nightstand, and pull out a little black box.
Then I do something I never thought I’d do for anyone.
I kneel.
#
JAMIE
Morgan fucking Hunter is kneeling in front of me.
And she opens the box.
Inside is a ring with a band made of twined gold and silver vines. At the top blooms a golden rose, and in the center is a perfectly clear diamond.
She slips it onto my finger, and I slide off the bed and into her arms. Morgan catches me with a laugh.
I lean into her and hold up my hand. “Where do you even find something like this?”
“It’s custom.”
“Oh… Mor, wait, this was… premeditated?”
“Extremely. I may have been… stalling, planning the perfect proposal. Inviting you tonight was Eileen giving me a kick in the balls. Which I deserved.”
“No kidding,” I say, trying to find some levity again. “I’ve been crying myself to sleep and—”
Morgan looks stricken.
I swallow hard.
She cradles my cheek in her hand. “You broke your promise.”
“I… I did?”
“To tell me when I hurt you in a way you don’t want to be hurt.”
I press her hand against my cheek. “I’m sorry,” I murmur. “I’ll do better.”
“I did think about texting you, maybe dating remote for a while, but… I wasn’t going to be able to handle it. Talking to you and not being able to hold you, touch you. So I’m… I’m sorry I held out on you. And I wanted to be sure that my feelings ran deeper than just… hormones.”
“Do they?” I breathe.
Morgan grabs my hand and lifts my ring back into my field of view, her expression emphatic.
I blink. “I’ll… take that as a ‘yes.’” It’s slowly settling in. “So, this means we have… a wedding to plan?”
“Give me your wish list. Anything. I’ll do the planning. You won’t have to lift a finger.”
“So… Eileen will do the planning.”
Morgan laughs. “You catch on fast.”
#
MORGAN
Jamie is still on-edge, and I can smell his anxiety. I wrap my arms around him where we sit on the floor, pulling his back to my chest and tucking my chin over his shoulder.
“O-okay. This is happening…”
“You’re hesitating.”
“I just… I want to be with you more than anything. I really do. But… I don’t want you to regret moving too quickly. I don’t want you to feel… stuck with me.”
“I want to be stuck with you,” I murmur.
“I… I don’t need a wedding to feel… to be… yours. I’m not sure I… want a wedding. It seems like… a lot of fuss.”
I force my breathing to stay even. “Jamie,” I plead, “if I am going to claim you, permanently, it’s the least I can do. Let me fuss over you. Let me parade you around, show you off. Dress you in pretty things. Could you do that for me?”
His heart flutters under my touch. If I couldn’t smell the change in his scent, the desire that he’s finally letting through, I’d be panicking right now.
“Yes… B-but what about the campaign? The deal with the state?”
“It’s not public yet, but… signed and sealed.”
“You did all that in three months?”
“You are responsible for that part. The response to you was fantastic. We used the funds raised to run ads with snippets of your story, and so many hundreds of regular people called the state to beg them to approve the deal that the committee reviewed it early. We’ve got the green light.”
“Oh my god that’s… that’s amazing.”
“You are amazing.” I kiss his forehead. He leans against my chest, clinging to my jacket in a way that says so much more than words can.
#
JAMIE
I never thought I could hurt somebody while trying to do what was best for them. But I heard the pleading in Morgan’s voice. Letting her in—really letting her in—won’t be easy. But it’ll be worth it.
“I’m sorry if I don’t always show it,” I breathe. “But I want this. I want you. So fucking bad.”
“You have no idea how badly I want you,” she purrs, and I shiver.
I’m about to arch into her, but a distinctly un-sexy thought comes to mind. “Oh, shit.”
“What?”
“I have… a lot to catch my mom up on.”
“Have you told her about… us?”
“Not… really. And she is gonna be… so mad.” I wince.
Morgan drifts a soothing touch down my arm. “Do you think she’d take the news better on a yacht with champagne in hand?”
Relief floods me. I don’t have to figure this out alone anymore. “Yes. Yes I do. Which of the three yachts would you recommend? What was it? The fast one, the party one, and the house one?”
Morgan chuckles. “Oh, this will require the purchase of a fourth kind of yacht.”
“Oh yeah? What kind?”
“A bribery yacht.”
I snort. “Aren’t they all already bribery yachts?”
“A super bribery yacht.”
“Wait… if we get married, that means these are my finances too, right?”
“Mhm.”
“So I have… veto power on the super bribery yacht?”
“Of course.” Morgan kisses my cheek. “As long as you can beat me at arm wrestling.”
I scoff. “Well, that’s not fair at all!”
“I don’t make the rules. That’s just how marriage is. All conflicts are decided by arm wrestling.” She shrugs. Then her tone turns to a purr, words landing next to my ear. “I’m going to buy you a super bribery yacht, and you’re going to like it.”
I wriggle, and my cock starts to tighten.
Morgan’s nostrils flare as she marks the change in my scent.
“This is not fair,” I complain.
“Do you want it to be?” Morgan croons, brushing her fingers across my upper thigh.
Fuck.
“No…”
“That’s what I thought.” Her fingers brush higher. “It’s really funny that I can findom you by spending my money.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Someone’s so cute and overly responsible.” She sucks at the tip of my ear, and I moan. “And so quick to get so needy for me.”
My heart is pounding, and my cock keeps tightening.
“Your house is full of people,” I hiss.
“So?”
“W-what if they walk in?”
“I’ll lock the door.”
“What if they hear?”
#
MORGAN
“What if they hear,” I purr, trailing kisses down his neck, making him shiver. Fuck, I missed this. I missed him. “Yes, what if they hear what a needy little slut I make you… How much you sing for me…”
His breath shudders in the most delicious way.
“What if I bring you down and announce our engagement in front of all of them, when your cheeks are still red and your breath is still ragged…”
He pants, eyes darkening.
I flip him out of my lap and onto the carpet, pinning his hands over his head. My knee slides between his legs, and he arches desperately against me, biting his lip to keep from crying out.
“What if,” I tease again in a whisper, and then I’m losing control, kissing him hard and pressing him down into the carpet.
He unbuttons his shirt for me, and my hands search his bare chest, claws curling around his ribs, thumbs grazing his pecs. He reaches up for me, gripping my breasts through the corset, and I reach behind to unzip it, letting it fall away.
He squeezes hard and I groan, then he leans up to find my nipple with his mouth, sucking hard as he uses the other hand to wiggle out of his pants.
“Fucking good boy,” I moan.
As his cock springs free, I catch it in a hand, stroking lightly, making him moan and shake.
The sound of him is too much, and I can’t wait any longer. I pull away, and his displeased whine turns into a yelp as I scoop him up and throw him across the bed, shrugging out of my jacket and kicking my pants away. I pin him down with another hard kiss, and he melts into the bed for me.
As good as he tastes, I have a better use for his tongue, and I pull away one more time, spinning to straddle him the other way before I sink my mouth down around his cock.
#
JAMIE
Morgan has pushed me down, down into that headspace where doing whatever she asks of me is the only thing that matters.
Her mouth closes around my cock, and I’m lost in bliss for a moment before I realize her cunt is right in front of my face, and it’s the only thing I want in the entire world. Her taste is salt and sweet, and I can’t get enough.
Morgan edges me until I’m a whining, shaking mess, and when she makes me cum, she succeeds at making me scream loud enough for the whole party to hear.
While I’m still panting on the bed, she throws my clothes at me.
“C’mon. We have an announcement to make.”
I scramble to get dressed, my phone buzzing in my pocket.
There’s a brand new message from Eileen,
ATTABOY I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT
Oh god, the party really did hear. This is mortifying. Almost as mortifying as how much I’m getting off on it.
I’ve hardly gotten my clothes on when Morgan grabs my hand and drags me to the door. Shit shit—
But she stops short and pulls me against her chest, laughing as she leans down and kisses the top of my head.
I stand in confusion for a moment, then put two and two together and cast an accusatory glance up at her. “You’re messing with me again!”
She chuckles and presses her lips against mine with a tenderness that threatens to make me cry again.
Finally, she leans back and straightens my shirt and suit, tucking my hair back into place.
“Was that alright?” she asks. “Or did I go too far?”
“That was… good. Yep. Th… thumbs up.” I’m still dizzy from how hard I came, from the adrenaline rush of thinking I was about to be dragged downstairs.
“We don’t have to go back down there tonight,” she says.
“But it’s your birthday party.”
“And I want to spend my birthday with you.”
My heart glows. “I want… to celebrate you. To celebrate… us.”
Morgan smiles. “Okay.”
“And besides, that magician was cute.”
Morgan’s body goes stiff, and a deep growl rumbles in her chest.
I laugh, giving her a shove. “I’m kidding.”
“Naughty little thing,” she says, pinching my ass. She steps towards the door, but then it’s her turn to hesitate. “This is your last chance to decide if you want more time. As soon as we go out there… it’s going to be tabloid express.”
“Oh, right… That’s… a lot.” I chew my lip. “Can we get them to hold off until we get Mom on the yacht?”
“If she can come for lunch tomorrow, then yes.”
“Yeah. That’ll work. Okay. I’m… I’m ready.” But my feet aren’t moving.
“Are you sure?”
“Can… can you tell me that… it’s all going to be okay?”
Morgan wraps her arms around me from behind, nestling her lips against my neck.
“Baby, don’t worry. It’s all going to be just fine. I’ve got you. I’ve got you forever.”
I take a deep breath, letting the words sink in. And as I exhale, all the worry floats away.
“Okay. Let’s go.”