Chapter 12 #3
“Your third child,” she corrected.
“Your third child,” he repeated. “SJ is yours in every way but DNA. Do you deny it?”
Dosia stuck her tongue out at him, which only made Pumpkin chuckle. “No,” she said with no bite .
“Good. Then we’ll get married, we’ll add your name to SJ’s birth certificate, you’ll move into my house?—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Dosia tried to stand but Pumpkin kept a firm hold on her. “I haven’t agreed to marry you. And move in with you? Pumpkin, we haven’t even been on an official date yet!”
“Which we are rectifying soon,” Pumpkin reminded her. “I paid a grand for the privilege to date you, so I also expect you to put out.”
Dosia’s mouth gaped open, but then she must have seen the teasing glint in his eye because she smacked his shoulder. “That was mean.”
Pumpkin laughed. “I know.”
Dosia fell quiet, biting her bottom lip. Christ, she was adorable when she did that. “Pumpkin,” she said seriously, “we can’t get married. We barely know each other.”
“We know enough,” he insisted. “And I will never stop wanting to learn about you.” He brushed her hair behind her ear. “I want to spend the rest of my life learning everything ,” he drew his hand down her neck, over her clavicle, and down her shoulder, “about you.”
She shivered, her eyes fluttering closed at his touch. “Pumpkin…”
He moved forward, licking the same path his hand had just taken until he reached the barrier of her clothing.
“Do you love me?”
Pumpkin’s head shot back at her bold question. She wasn’t looking at him, though. Her face, beet red with embarrassment, was turned away and she had her eyes closed like she couldn’t believe she’d just blurted that question out.
Like she thought there was a possibility he would say ‘no’.
Pumpkin carefully touched her chin, drawing her face back to him. “Look at me,” he demanded.
It took a moment for her to open her beautiful, caramel eyes to him.
He traced his thumb along her heated cheek. “Ask me again, baby.” He kept his voice low but encouraging.
Dosia’s ragged breath made her voice sound scratchy as she hastily asked, “Do you love me? ”
Pumpkin, though, gave an indirect shrug. “I mean, I don’t hate you.”
Dosia’s face turned redder than a tomato as her eyes widened, her entire expression horror stricken at his words.
When she scrambled off his lap, Pumpkin let her, but she didn’t get far.
Catching her wrists, Pumpkin stood and spun them around until she was the one with her back to the bed.
As he went down onto his knees, he pulled her down to sit on the bed where he had been.
Carefully, Pumpkin balanced himself until he was able to lift one leg, remaining down on one knee. She tried to pull her hands away from him, but Pumpkin kept a tight grip on her. Bending, he kissed her fingertips.
“There are many things in this world that I love. I love my bike and my club, I love my ridiculously high number of nieces and nephews, I love my job—or I did when I was able to work one,” he added offhandedly.
“I love our children. Christ, there aren’t words for how much I love them.
Me, a father?” He shook his head. “It’s as exciting as it is terrifying.
” Dosia had stopped fighting him now and was staring down at him with tear-filled eyes.
“The idea of having another child with you? Fuck, baby, it’s incredible.
And whether your period comes in three days or not, my question to you is still the same:
“Theodosia Woods. I love our son and I love our daughter. I will love this next baby with every fiber of my being. But most of all, I love you . I am in love with you. I am entirely and irrevocably yours. I have been since the day we met, even if it took us six years to find our way back to each other. I got my cut on your back, but now I need my ring on your finger. Will you marry me?”
Tears fell freely down her pink cheeks as she stared down at him. “I… I…” Her chin trembled as she struggled for words. Despite the nerves coursing through his body, Pumpkin squeezed her hands reassuringly. “I want to say ‘yes’, but I’m scared.”
It wasn’t a ‘no’ but her hesitation still turned his stomach. “What are you scared of?” He’d do everything in his power, quash all her fears, until he got that ‘yes’.
“It’s too soon. ”
“Says who?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Everyone, society, I guess.”
“Is everyone asking you to marry them? Is society asking you to marry it?” Pumpkin shook his head. “No, they’re not, because I am . So fuck what everyone and society says. What do you feel , Dosia? Do you love me? Do you want to marry me?”
Her pupils dilated as her breath hitched. “Yes,” she answered softly. “But you feel too perfect. These past few weeks, they’ve been amazing. You’ve been amazing. But I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop. I keep wondering what will make you leave.”
“Nothing,” he vowed. “Baby, I knew at that steakhouse that you were mine. Before we had sex, before I even knew JJ existed, you were mine. I put my cut on you that night, remember? I’ve made my intentions clear from Day One.
I always intended to make you mine. As for the other shoe dropping?
” He shrugged. “That’s life. Look at me and everything I’ve had to endure since April.
But I promise you, baby, whatever life throws at us, we’ll face it together. ”
Dosia licked her lips. “And the club?”
“What about them?”
“You haven’t introduced me to them yet.”
From her expression, she looked unsure of herself, almost chagrined. Fuck that. “Dosia, get that look off your face right now,” he snapped. “I am not, nor have I ever been ashamed of you. Keeping you away from them was solely about me and my selfish desire to claim all your time.”
She bit her lip again. “Really?”
“Really,” he confirmed.
Dosia stared down at him, and then, by some miracle, she nodded.
Pumpkin’s eyebrows lifted as his heart leapt, but he didn’t want to make any assumptions. He needed to hear her words. “You’ll marry me?”
“Yes,” she said with a smile. “I’ll marry you.”
Pumpkin grabbed her face and kissed her with all the love in his body. He delved into her mouth with his tongue, staking his claim. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back .
When they broke apart for air, Pumpkin held her forehead to his. “In sickness and in health, for richer or poorer?” he asked.
She nodded, still gasping for breath.
“Good, because my leg seized up and I’m going to need help standing.”
Dosia pulled back, her eyes wide with worry. “Oh no!” She leapt to her feet. “How can I help?”
Pumpkin worked his right leg under him again, hoping to take his weight off of his left leg.
“Let me get over to the bed.” Dosia guided him forward a few shuffled knee-steps until he was able to brace his upper body onto the mattress.
She moved behind his left side as he hiked his right leg up once more, using the bed to balance, and then placed his weight on his right foot.
His back and hips protested the action, making his body shake and his movements jerky.
“You know,” he gasped out as his ass slowly started to rise up, “if I was into pegging, this would be the perfect position.”
Dosia gasped and slapped his shoulder.
“Ow!” he complained. “Woman, I’m already injured!”
“That’s what you get for getting down on one knee,” she scolded, putting her hands on his hips to help guide him. “What were you thinking?”
“I was trying to be romantic,” he bit out. Tucking his shoulder, he more or less flopped onto the mattress on his back. It was the best he could do right then. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he lifted his head to see Dosia staring unimpressed down at him. “No take backs,” he warned, gasping.
“I don’t see a ring on this finger,” she said evilly, holding up her bare, left ring finger.
Pumpkin waved her off. “I’ll take you and the kids shopping tomorrow. Then we’ll get Frankie to watch them so I can take you on your thousand dollar date. We need to pick up a pregnancy test too.”
Dosia crawled onto the bed next to him. “It might still be too early to take one.”
Pumpkin shrugged. Lifting his head, he realized he was at the wrong angle to see the baby monitor. “Kids asleep? ”
Dosia twisted, looking over her shoulder. “Yeah.”
“You wanna…?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Really?” Dosia asked back, unimpressed. “‘You wanna’ is how you’re going to ask me to have sex with you?”
“Well, do you?” he challenged brazenly.
She gave his body a once over. “ Can you?”
Pumpkin never got his pants unbuttoned so fast in his life. The seam at the bottom of his zipper almost ripped at his swift movement. His erection tented his boxer briefs, and he lowered them down below his balls. Free, his dick slapped against his navel, leaving behind a splatter of precum.
Then he turned back to Dosia with a smug smile on his face.
“Be still my beating heart,” she deadpanned. But he could see how his body affected her. Since he still wasn’t wearing a shirt from bath time, he was nearly bare for her. Dosia licked her lips.
“I’m manly enough to admit that you’re going to need to do about ninety-five percent of the work, but I’m all yours.”
Dosia laughed. “If I have to do that much work, I’d rather just use my vibrator.” When Pumpkin’s face lit up at those words, Dosia backtracked. “No, stop! Not happening.”
“Please…” Pumpkin begged. He fucking loved the idea of watching her fuck herself with a vibrator.
“No!” Dosia protested. “Now, come on. If I’m going to ride you, I need you further up on the bed.”
“Such a romantic,” Pumpkin chastised. “I can really feel the love emanating from you.”
She removed her shirt and bra, baring her incredible breasts to him. His cock twitched. “If you’re only doing five percent of the work then you only get five percent of a say on what happens next.”