Chapter 4
ETHAN
Every inch of Callie’s body told me she wasn’t fine. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her stomach, her shoulders were stiff, and her mouth was trembling. But the worst part was that her soft brown eyes still carried the kind of hurt that gutted me.
My wife had agreed to give me a chance, but I knew I had a lot of making up to do. I just needed to figure out where to start. Which was going to be hard because she didn’t believe me. Not really.
Callie had needed me today, and I had let her down. What if she never trusted me to be there for her again?
A hollow ache cracked open in my chest, panic clawing at the edges. If she pulled further away—stopped believing in us—I didn’t know what the hell I would do.
“I’ll prove it to you.” I stepped even closer, and her head tilted up, her eyes wary, but she didn’t move away.
Words wouldn’t be enough. I had to show her that she was my center of gravity. That the life we were building together meant everything to me.
I ached to reach for her, to tear down the distance between us.
“I swear I won’t fail you like this again. I couldn’t bear to lose you, Callie.”
Her lips parted, the smallest catch of breath breaking free. The doubt was still there in her eyes, a shadow I hated, but so was something else. Love.
From the start, Callie hadn’t played games or tried to hide how she felt about me.
She was open and honest, even when it was hard.
Her candor was one of the reasons I’d fallen for her so quickly.
She was so different from the women my mother kept pushing at me—who dated for sport, all strategy and no sincerity.
Without Callie, I might’ve married one of them and been miserable for the rest of my life.
I closed the remaining distance between us, taking her trembling hands in mine. Her skin was cool, her pulse fluttering in her wrists. “I love you.”
“And I love you.”
I knew sex wouldn’t fix this. But tonight, it was the only language I had to show she was my everything.
Instead of taking from Callie, I was going to give. Each touch would be a vow.
“Let me worship you the way you deserve.”
I lifted her hands higher, pressing a kiss into each trembling palm before threading our fingers together. Her breath caught, but she didn’t pull away.
“I should’ve been there today.” My lips brushed the skin just above where my rings circled her finger. “So let me be here now for you.”
Callie’s lips parted, her chest rising faster beneath the thin fabric of her shirt. The doubt in her eyes hadn’t vanished, but I caught the flicker of hope threaded through it.
I wasn’t alone in this. She wanted me to prove I was worthy of her love.
I lowered my mouth to hers, the quiet press of a man desperate to earn back trust. The faint salt of her tears on her lips nearly undid me—a reminder that I was the reason she’d shed them.
My hands slid up her arms, carefully coaxing her closer inch by inch until her body softened against mine. Every little sigh felt like a prayer answered.
“Please, Callie, ” I whispered between kisses, my forehead resting against hers. “Let me show you how much you mean to me.”
“Yes,” she gasped.
I didn’t waste the chance she just gave me. Sweeping my arm under her knees, I lifted her into my arms and strode toward our bedroom.
The weight of my regret was heavy in my chest, but her warmth in my arms grounded me. I needed to show Callie how sorry I was, how much I loved her.
Laying her gently on our bed, I murmured against her ear, “My sweet wife.”
Passion flared in her eyes when I lifted her shirt over her head so I could wrap my lips around her nipple.
My tongue and teeth worked in rhythm to tease her breasts through the delicate lace of her bra before I undid the clasp and bared her perfect tits.
I bit, licked, and sucked on them until she writhed beneath me, her body trembling with need.
Only then did I trail my fingers down her stomach, my heart pounding with the urge to make this right as I felt her shiver in anticipation.
I pressed a kiss right above her belly button. “I know I’ve done a shitty job of showing it, but I love you, sweetheart.”
“Show me.”
Her pleading tone held a hint of desperation that I knew was more from fear than passion, making me even more determined to prove myself to my wife. “I will.”
My hands slid down to the button on her shorts, flicked it open so I could tug them down her legs.
Then I moved lower to grip her thighs and spread them wider.
Positioning myself between them, I bent down to lick from her knee, along the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, up to the seam of her panties.
When I pulled back to repeat the process on her other leg, she moaned in protest. “Don’t tease me, Ethan. I need you.”
I might’ve fucked up today, but at least I could give her what she wanted now. “You want to come on my fingers or my mouth?”
“Yes,” she gasped. “Both, fingers first.”
I loved that even though I’d hurt her, Callie wasn’t holding back her passionate response.
I dipped the tip of my finger inside her slick heat, her inner walls clenching around me. “That’s my greedy girl.”
“Only for you.”
Those words hit me like a vow, deepening my need to show her how much she meant to me. She was mine, and I’d spend every moment proving it.
“Damn fucking straight. You’re mine, Callie.”
I added a second finger, twisting my hand so my thumb rubbed her clit with each thrust. She arched her hips, meeting my movements, and I bent to suck a nipple into my mouth. When I bit down gently, she shattered, screaming my name.
Her cries filled the room, every sound a tether pulling me back from the fear I’d lose her.
“Ethan!” Her hands gripped the sheets so tightly, I thought they might tear, and I felt a surge of pride at how she responded to me.
“So fucking wet for me,” I murmured, kissing the spot on her breast I’d bitten before trailing my lips down to her pussy. “It’s a good thing you wanted my mouth on you next, ‘cause I can’t wait any longer to get your taste in my mouth. I crave you, Callie. Every minute of every day.”
I tore her panties off, opened her pussy with my thumbs, and licked her from top to bottom. A growl rumbled from my chest as her flavor exploded on my tongue.
I devoured her like a starving man, my grip unrelenting as her pleas spurred me to give her more.
“Please, Ethan. I’m already so close again.”
I thrust my tongue into her, scraping my teeth against her clit, and she came undone, her body arching as she screamed my name a second time.
Hearing her break for me again lit a fire under my skin, desperation clawing at me to claim her fully before doubt could steal this fragile chance.
I didn’t give her a moment to recover, rising up, whipping open my pants, and positioning my cock at her entrance.
Then I waited until her lids lifted, her hazy brown eyes meeting mine. “Ready for me, sweetheart?”
She reached out and wrapped her fingers around my forearm, urging me on. “Uh huh.”
That was all the encouragement I needed. I pushed into her, going deep in one rough thrust, her pussy gripping me tightly. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I moved faster, my muscles straining as I poured my apology and love into every thrust.
With her eyes locked on mine, I fucked her hard, her body jerking with each movement. I felt her tightening, a third orgasm building. Every thrust was a vow, my body speaking what my words had failed to prove.
Desperate to feel her surrender, I rasped, “Come for me. Squeeze me tight while you come over my cock.”
She obeyed, crying out as her pussy clenched around my dick, milking me with her release. “Yes, oh yes! Ethan!”
“That’s just what I needed, my Callie,” I groaned, feeling her pull me closer to the edge. “Your sweet pussy milking my cock while I scream my name.”
Her inner walls tightened even more, and I had to punch my hips forward to push through them on my next thrust. “You want my come now, don’t you?”
“More than anything.”
There was an added weight to her words that didn’t just come from our desire to have a baby. My wife was just as desperate as I was for me to prove myself to her.
“I’m going to fill you up, mark you as mine from the inside out.”
With one final thrust, I planted myself deep, my fingers digging into her hips as I came, filling her completely without anything between us. The rush of release wasn’t just lust—it was relief, a frantic promise that I’d never let her feel alone again.
Keeping us connected, I stayed inside her, my heart racing.
When I finally caught my breath, I gently lifted her, moving us to the center of the bed before I pulled out and brushed my lips across her forehead. “Back in a second, sweetheart.”
Rolling off the mattress, I strode to the bathroom for a warm washcloth. Then I cleaned her carefully, dropping a kiss on her navel, my mind locked on the future we could have.
Her eyes widened slightly when I tossed the washcloth aside—something I’d never done before. Smiling, I slid back into bed, pulling my wife into my arms with her head resting on my chest.
The silence stretched, and I felt her tense slightly.
“Say something,” she whispered, her voice soft with vulnerability.
I tilted her chin until our eyes met, letting her see the determination in mine. “Thank you, Callie. I’m so sorry, and I love you more than words can say.”
What I left unsaid was my desperate hope—that today would be the start of the family she longed for. And the chance to prove I’d never let her face it alone again.