Chapter 11
Emily
I think I surprised Rory earlier in the shower. After I got mine, I dropped to my knees, pulling his cock into my mouth. I was a little put off by the fact I was all over him—licking your own cum just wasn’t something that I had any desire to do—but I knew how Rory reacted in my mouth.
He’d already been close so I didn’t have much work to do on him. As his thickness was in my mouth, my hand fondled his balls. Just when they drew tighter to his body, Rory pulled my head back.
“Not your mouth.”
If that wasn’t one of the oddest requests… I thought guys went all bonkers on that?
“Well not my face,” I argued with him, my eyes narrowing. Shooting a load on a girl’s face was just nasty.
His fist was around his cock, holding tight. “Your chest.” He tugged on his cock in a long, slow pull. “I want to see my cum all over you, Emy girl.”
It was better than my face and I didn’t quite understand the whole thing, but hey, it made the man happy.
We finally made it on the road at five-thirty, to which I may have done some freaking out. But Rory, being Rory, just laughed at me, shaking his head.
The drive to San Diego had us going back near our place but we continued driving through the desert mountains. We made minimal stops and were actually making great time but no sooner than we crossed the Arizona-California border and Rory was making a turn not on the map.
“Where are we going?” I asked, trying to eye the gas gauge. We’d recently stopped for fuel and a bathroom break, so it shouldn’t be that, but then again maybe he didn’t want to get gas again until we were headed home in two days.
“Detour.” His eyes never left the road and I frowned. We didn’t have time for a detour, and I told him as much.
“Just relax, Em. Your parents know we’re getting there late.”
I narrowed my eyes more. “What? Are you in cahoots with my parents all of a sudden?”
This elicited a laugh from him. With a smile and a shake of his head, he answered, “In cahoots. You’re somethin’ else, Emy girl.”
I shifted in the passenger seat, trying to angle toward him. “Well?” I asked, ignoring his jest. “Are you?”
“Just relax,” he said again.
Crossing my arms, I turned forward again. I refrained from mumbling under my breath, as much as I had to say to him at the moment.
It was Christmas Eve. We already were only staying with my parents through an early dinner, heading to Conor and Mia’s to sleep that night, where Brenna and Stone would be staying as well.
Sure, my parents came out for Thanksgiving, but we had limited time with them today! We didn’t have time for this joy riding near the Mexican border!
But your parents know, I mimicked in Rory’s voice in my head. This detour better be worth it.
There better be a whatever numbered wonder of the world where we were headed.
It was Christmas Eve! I thought again. It wasn’t like much was happening today.
When Rory pulled onto a dirt road, I started to get nervous. What in the ever loving world…?
Down the gravel and dirt road, we bumped along in his truck, but still he said nothing.
The asshat had a shit-eating grin on his face, though.
When he pulled into a driveway leading up to an older farm house, I really began to frown. What was happening?
He put the truck in park and tapped the middle console between our seats. “Get out.”
I unbuckled as he did, slowly stepping down and out of the truck. “What’s going on, Rory?”
He rounded the front of truck and stepped closer to me, holding out his hand. “C’mon,” he said instead of answering.
…and because after the last two years, more notably the last few months, I did trust him, I went with him. We walked past the house and toward the back, where young crying was happening.
But it wasn’t a baby’s cry.
It was…
I stopped in my tracks, pulling on Rory’s hand when he kept walking. With the shit-eating grin still on his face, he turned back to me. “Hmm?”
“I thought we were getting the puppy for the kids after my parents’ house tonight,” I said slowly.
“Who said anything about a puppy?” he asked, still trying to play coy.
He tugged on my hand and again, I followed him to the very back, where a woman was waiting with an adult Golden Retriever, and a puppy in her arms.
“I’m glad you made it,” the woman said, addressing Rory. “She’s the last one and she’s been waiting for you.”
Rory brought me close to the puppy holding woman.
“We had a later start this morning than I anticipated,” he answered.
He let go of my hand and I let my arm drop to my side.
I watched as he reached out and took the dark golden mass of wavy hair from the woman.
Awe struck, I simply watched as Rory cradled the puppy in his arms after lifting it, eye to eye, and having some sort of silent communication with the pup.
With the puppy in a football hold, Rory scratched the puppy’s head while having a conversation with the dog’s owner but I was stuck staring at the puppy.
I’d seen Rory with his nephew and niece.
Multiple times. But even cradling a puppy, he made my heart go all aflutter.
Mix that with our baby conversation earlier and I couldn’t wait for school to finish.
When Rory told me the other night about the puppy for Con and Mia’s kids, he said we’d pick it up after my parents’ Christmas celebration.
We were still a good hour from their house, and they were only twenty minutes for Con and Mia.
There would have been no logical way we would have back-tracked to pick up a puppy for the kids.
Which meant…
Just as my smile started to bloom on my face at the thought, Rory turned toward me. “You want to hold her?” he asked, holding the puppy out toward me. Seeing it’s mama was a Golden but this puppy had some curliness going on, my guess would be it was a Golden Doodle.
“Yeah, sure,” I finally said, holding my hands out. Rory handed me the puppy gently and I saw that on the back of its neck—her neck; she had no little boy parts and the lady did say ‘she’ a little bit ago—was a tiny red Christmas bow with a little note attached.
I was curious to see what it said, but I could feel Rory’s eyes on me so I refrained, instead choosing to cuddle the fluff ball close to my neck. She nuzzled her nose into my neck and the cold of her nose near a sensitive spot had me giggling.
“Thank you, Meridith,” I heard Rory tell the woman and he turned back toward me, putting his hand on the small of my back and turning me back toward the truck.
He took the puppy from me to allow me to climb into the truck, handing her back to me after I secured my belt. He quickly jogged around and got in, too, buckling as well before nodding toward the puppy. “What’s her note say?”
He took his keys and stuck the one in the ignition, cranking the truck back to life.
I pretended to not hear him, instead continuing to cuddle the puppy and rub under her chin.
She stretched her neck, offering me more to scratch and closing her eyes in bliss as I did.
She had a cute white patch in the middle of her chest, and her little chin was much lighter than the darker color of the rest of her fur.
“She’s so cute,” I finally said as the puppy sighed and curled into my lap. “Will she be ok not in a crate?” I looked over at Rory, who was now pulling the truck back on to the main dirt road.
Just as I ignored his question, he ignored mine. “What’s the note say?”
Again, I could feel my giddy smile starting to bloom. This puppy was totally ours. He screwed up on his story. I probably wasn’t supposed to see the email.
Oh my goodness, we had a puppy!
“Emily!” His eyes were still on the road but his knuckles were white as he gripped the wheel. “What’s the note say?”
“Is this puppy ours, Rory O’Gallagher?” I asked instead.
“Dammit, woman. Just answer my question.” He was getting agitated but in a cute way. It was as if he was nervous.
Rory? Nervous..?
Deciding to give the man a break, I did as he asked. By now the pup was sleeping so I was careful to turn the tag over against her wavy golden fur.
“It says,” I started, looking at the feminine writing that must have been the woman’s. “Merry Christmas, Emy. Love—” Tears immediately filled my eyes and I choked out the last word. “You.” I looked over at him through the blur of tears. “You love me?” I wasn’t expecting that.
But my goodness, I had grown to love this man too.
Rory’s body visibly relaxed again and he took his right hand from the wheel. With a glance in my direction, he reached out to cup my cheek, his thumb wiping away a tear. “Yeah, Emy girl. I love you.”