Chapter 9
DUKE
The door clicks shut behind us, and the frantic energy of the fountain and the proposal dissolves as I look at Riley. My wife.
I cup her face in my hands and look at Riley for a long moment.
This beautiful woman who said yes. Who is somehow, miraculously, already my wife.
“I love you.” The words come out rough with emotion, but I need her to hear them when I’m sober, when there’s no audience, when it’s just us. “I love you, Riley.”
“I love you, too.” Her voice cracks, and her eyes shine with tears that aren’t sad anymore. “I think I always have. I just didn’t let myself see it.”
I kiss her—slow, deep, full of promise. The first real kiss between two people who’ve finally stopped running.
Her fingers curl into the fabric of my shirt, and she melts into me the way she did on the balcony, the way she did in front of the fountain, the way I hope she’ll melt into me for the rest of our lives.
When I pull back, her lips are swollen, her breathing uneven.
“Tell me what you want,” I murmur against her mouth.
“You.” No hesitation. “Just you. All of you.”
I walk her backward toward the bed, my hands sliding down to grip her hips.
Reaching for the hem of her dress, I bunch the soft fabric in my hands and pause, letting the anticipation build.
I take my time lifting her dress over her body before giving in and pulling it over her head, tossing it in the corner of the hotel suite.
She’s standing in front of me in simple cotton panties, and she’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
Her hands come up automatically, arms crossing over her stomach, and I catch her wrists before she can hide from me.
“Don’t.” I press a kiss to her knuckles, first one hand, then the other. “Don’t hide from me. Never hide from me.”
She exhales shakily, but her arms don’t move.
I lean close, my lips brushing her ear. “Let me see you, Riley. All of you. That’s not a request.”
A shiver runs through her, and her arms fall to her sides. Her breath is shallow, and color is rising on her cheeks. She’s so pretty it fucking hurts.
“That’s my girl.”
I drop to my knees in front of her.
Her breath catches, surprised, and her fingers find my hair as I press my lips to the soft swell of her stomach. The skin there is warm and gives beneath my mouth, and I feel her muscles flutter at the contact.
“Every inch of you,” I murmur against her. “Perfect.”
“Duke—” Her voice wavers. “You don’t have to—”
“I’m not saying it because I have to.” I kiss the curve of her hip, then the soft flesh of her thigh, loving that these thighs are mine for the rest of my life.
“I’m saying it because it’s true.” My mouth moves closer to her pussy, the scent of her juices intoxicating me and making my cock strain against my pants.
“Because I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving it to you. ”
I hook my fingers into her panties and drag them down her legs. She steps out of them, trembling, and I guide her to sit on the edge of the bed.
“Lie back for me.”
She does, dark hair fanning across the pale duvet, and I settle between her thighs. Press a kiss to the inside of her knee, then higher, then higher still. Her legs fall open for me, trembling with anticipation.
“Look at you,” I breathe. When my mouth finally finds her pussy, she cries out.
I take my time, teasing her clit with the tip of my tongue, then licking her slick nectar.
She tastes like heat and honey, and I am going to do this forever, licking and sucking her pussy as her thighs shake around my head as I lick her and suck her clit.
I push two fingers into her hot pussy, and she arches her back off the bed, grinding on my fingers and urging me to move faster.
“Duke—” Her voice breaks. “I’m going to—”
I pull back.
“No.” She practically sobs the word, her hips chasing my mouth. “Please—”
“Not yet.” I press a kiss to her inner thigh, feeling her tremble against my lips. “I want you shaking first. I want you so desperate you scream my name loud enough for everyone to know you’re Mrs. Fucking Coleman.”
“I’m already—” She gasps as I blow a soft breath across her swollen flesh. “God, Duke, please.”
“Please, what?”
“Please let me come.”
I reward her with one long, slow lick. She moans, pressing her sweet pussy against my tongue. I circle her clit with my tongue, never quite giving her enough pressure.
I seal my mouth over her clit and suck hard, and she bucks as I lick and suck her clit. Her pussy clenches and squeezes my fingers as I work her G-spot, and my cock aches to plunge inside her and finally feel her clench me.
“Duke!” she screams, and her body shakes as she comes on my tongue and on my fingers. This is the most perfect fucking moment of my life.
“Come here,” she breathes, still trembling. “I need you inside me. I want to make you feel as good as you’ve made me feel.”
I strip off my shirt, my pants, my boxers. Her eyes rake down my body, and the hunger in her gaze makes my cock throb.
I settle over her, bracing my weight on my forearms. She’s flushed and beautiful beneath me, her hair wild on the pillow, her eyes soft and wanting and full of so much love it makes my chest ache.
She reaches between us, wrapping her fingers around my length, and runs the tip of my cock through her slick juices. Fuuuuck. I don’t know how long I can hold back. She rocks her hips over the tip of my cock, her pussy teasing me and making my cock throb so hard it hurts.
“Fuck.” The word comes out strangled. “You’re going to kill me.”
“That wouldn’t be fun,” she teases, then positions me at her entrance, grabs my ass, and lifts her hips.
My cock slides into her, and stars burst in front of my eyes. Nothing has ever felt as perfect as my cock buried in Riley’s slick pussy.
“God, Riley.” My voice breaks. “You feel—”
She pulls me down and kisses me, deep and messy.
I move slowly at first, but her tight, hot pussy makes it impossible to hold back. Her gasps and moans shoot straight down my spine, and I thrust into her faster and faster, unable to control myself. I can’t get enough of Riley.
“Look at me,” I tell her.
Her blue eyes, hazy with pleasure, lock on mine.
“Duke—” She moans my name as I drive deeper.
“I’m giving you everything.”
I force myself to slow down a little, to keep this first time going as long as possible.
I keep the pace slow, steady, teasing her.
I fucking love how she’s squirming below me, needy and aching to come again.
But there’s something I want. Something I’ve been thinking about since I walked into this room and saw the mirrored closet.
I pull out, and she whimpers.
“Turn over,” I demand, helping her shift and position her so she’s facing the mirror.
“I don’t know about this,” she whispers, and I see her close her eyes and not open them.
I slide in behind her, one arm wrapped around her waist, and push back inside.
The angle is different. Deeper. She gasps, her hand flying back to grip my hip.
“Open your eyes.”
She does—and freezes when she sees us in the mirror. My broad chest pressed against her back. My arm wrapped possessively around her middle. My hips moving against the curve of her ass.
“Watch,” I command. “See what I see.”
“Duke, I—”
“No.” I thrust deeper, and her eyes flutter. “Don’t look away. Watch how beautiful you are when I’m inside you. I want you to watch yourself come.”
My hand slides up to cup her breast, thumb circling her nipple, and I watch her watch us. Watch her see my big hand cradling her stomach because I love it. Watch her see the pleasure on her own face, the flush spreading down her chest.
“This,” I growl against her ear. “This is what drives me crazy. These curves. This body. You.”
I grip the flesh of her hip and hold her still as I pound into her, my cock on the verge of exploding.
“You are fucking beautiful, Riley. I’m never going to let you forget it.”
Her eyes are wet as she meets my eyes in the mirror, but she doesn’t look away. She watches as I fuck her, as I claim her, as I prove just how damn crazy she makes me.
“You’re mine now,” I growl. “Say it.”
“I’m yours.”
“Again.”
“I’m yours, Duke. I’m yours.”
I reach between her legs, fingers finding her clit, and her whole body jerks.
“That’s my good girl. Now come for me. Watch yourself come.”
She does, with a cry that echoes off the walls, her body clenching around me so hard I see stars. In the mirror, I watch her face transform, watch the pleasure crash through her, watch her finally see herself the way I’ve always seen her.
I pull out, breathing hard, trying to hold on. She makes a sound of protest that turns into a gasp when I roll her onto her back again, spreading her thighs wide and sliding home in one deep stroke.
I drive into her harder, faster, the headboard slamming against the wall. The wet sounds of our bodies moving together fill the room. Sweat slicks between us. The sheets are a twisted mess beneath her. “I want to feel you come on my cock when I fill you up.”
“Oh god—” Her back arches, her breath coming in sharp gasps. “Duke—”
“That’s it, wife.” The word rumbles out of me, dark and possessive. “Come for your husband.”
Her whole body locks up, her pussy gripping me like a vise, and I bury myself to the hilt and let go. The orgasm tears through me like nothing I’ve ever felt—not just release, but completion. Connection. Every pulse of my cock is a lightning bolt racing over my spine.
I collapse over her, both of us slick with sweat, hearts pounding against each other.
“Holy shit,” Riley finally whispers. “I can’t feel my legs.”
I lift my head to look at her, and I feel so lucky that I was able to win her back. “Is that a complaint?”
“Absolutely not.”
I kiss her, soft and slow, then carefully roll off her. She immediately curls into my side, her head on my chest, leg thrown over mine. Her fingers find the chain of my dog tags, tracing the warm metal.
“I love you,” she murmurs.
“I love you, too.” I press my lips to her hair, breathing her in.
We lie there in comfortable silence, her fingertips tracing lazy patterns on my chest. My hand strokes down her spine, over the curve of her hip, settling on the soft flesh of her thigh.
She shivers. “Again?”
I glance down. I’m already half-hard again, my cock twitching against her hip like it didn’t just have the best orgasm of its life.
“That’s your fault.” I squeeze her thigh. “You’re too fucking beautiful. Are you ready for more?”
“Definitely.” She stretches against me, deliberately moving closer. “We have all night.”
I pull her tight against me, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “We have the rest of our lives.”
Her smile softens into something tender. “I like the sound of that.”
“Good.” I close my eyes, letting the warmth of her seep into my bones. “Because I’m not letting you go, Mrs. Coleman. Not ever.”
Six weeks until deployment. But for the first time, my fear of not coming home isn’t the loudest thing in my head.
I’ve found the love of my life, and I’ll always come home to my wife.
Thank you so much for reading “Soldier’s Proposal”!