Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
CAL
W e were all sitting out on the back deck. Someone—probably Jace—had started a fire in the firepit. A bottle of whiskey was going around, and when it got to me, I poured a finger into my glass.
Rod had fallen asleep, crying in Sabrina’s arms, and Mrs. Claudia had carried him off to bed. So much had been lost, but watching that kid’s heartbreak was the worst. Fort was working on getting Mrs. Claudia set up as a system caretaker to keep Rod here and with as little disruption as possible. What was hard was not being able to answer his questions about what would happen or make any promises. The system was the system, and it wasn’t a good one.
I handed the bottle to Jace. Sabrina was sitting next to me, her foot elevated, a blanket over her lap, her hand entwined with mine. “I might be in the system. I’ve had a background check and all that. Maybe I could take him. Maybe I would be a faster alternative.”
“In Texas you are. Not here.”
She blew out a weary breath, and I kissed her temple. She squeezed my hand and scooted in even closer. My girl.
Paul cleared his throat and rubbed at his scruffy chin. “Not to be indelicate, but I have to…” He looked at me. “I need to know if you’re going to cancel your attendance at the gala. Not only are they assholes for canceling the award, but they’re cowards, too, because they’re scared you might show up and create a scene.”
Jace barked out a laugh. “That means you should go.”
“I should.” I took a drink. It would serve them right. Part of me wanted them to have to look at me, knowing they had caved. A little discomfort went a long way.
“And you know what else?” Jace leaned forward, the glow from the fire showing his devilish grin. “You all should get married. That would really piss off the old man. Make his head explode.”
“What?” Sabrina and I said in unison.
She sat up. “Are you seriously suggesting a revenge marriage? If I had something to throw at you, I would.”
Jace put up his hand before I could speak. “I’ve known you two forever, right? And I have to say, if you are sitting here, pretending that you’re just taking it slow and figuring things out”—he spoke mockingly—“then you’re both stupid. For a decade, you two have been pining away for each other. And now you’re back together, and really, it’s just a matter of time before you tie the knot anyway. Besides, what more can that piece-of-shit father do to you?”
I shook my head. “I feel like every time someone says that, it jinxes us.”
“It would really piss him off,” Brynna said.
“But you don’t get married to spite someone.”
Jace snorted. “You get married because this is a forever thing, nitwits.” He wagged a finger between me and Sabrina. “The spite is the extra bonus. Like a wedding gift to yourselves. He has tried to rule you, ruin you, and keep you apart, and he has failed. Fuck him.”
“Fuck him,” Brynna said with a chuckle, then took a drink of her whiskey.
“Every day you aren’t together is another day he wins,” Paul said.
I looked at him, surprised. “You agree with this?”
“But we are together,” Sabrina said.
Jace nodded. “Sure. We all know that—those of us here. Everyone else sees a couple dating. A couple seeing if it might turn into something more. Which means it could go either way. You’re like a reality-TV show. Will they, won’t they, and people are taking bets whether when all this is resolved, you two will still be together. They don’t know what we know or see what we see. If there ever were two people meant to be together, it would be you two. Hell, even the universe got involved and said, ‘Enough of this bullshit; these two should be together.’”
Meredith put her hand on her husband’s thigh. “You can be such a romantic,” she said breathily.
He leaned over to kiss her. “You like that? I’ll show you a little more of that later when we’re alone.”
She giggled and kissed him again.
When they were done, Jace turned to the crowd. “I forgot what I was saying.”
Brynna gave an envious sigh.
“Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day your parents met. Did you know that?” Mom asked. All this talk of marriage and forever had her beaming bright as the sun.
Sabrina pulled out her phone and checked the date. She nodded, then smiled at me. When we had run off to Vegas, we’d picked our wedding date to be the same as her parents’. And to be honest, I was thinking we’d maybe make that happen next year and the date we’d originally picked could still be our date. But now Jace’s suggestion was on my mind.
A few hours later, I piggybacked Sabrina up to my room because Fort and Cori were staying in hers. Jace and Meredith were in the remaining spare bedroom. No one had felt like driving home.
Sabrina was flat on her back in bed, her hair around her in dark waves. I knelt between her legs as I helped her get out of her clothes.
“This is my favorite part.” I pulled down her pants and eased them over her wrapped ankle.
She arched a brow. “This is your favorite part?”
I gave her a lecherous grin. “My favorite part of the foreplay. Getting you naked is a natural high for me.”
She sat up and pulled off her shirt.
I gave her my sad face. “Why’d you do that? What a buzzkill. I like to undress you.”
She laughed and leaned back on her elbows. “You were taking too long with all your talky talky.”
I ran my hands up her legs, then dropped a kiss on the inside of her thigh. I did another when she shivered with pleasure.
“Well, bad news, babe, because I’ve got a lot of things I want to say.” I crawled up her, planting little kisses on her body along the way.
Sabrina grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me close. Her eyes dropped to my lips, and she licked hers. “Can it wait until later?” She kissed the corner of my mouth, flicking her tongue across my lips.
“I guess, but I thought maybe you’d like me to tell you about all the things I’m about to do to you.” I met her gaze. Heat flared.
She dropped her hands to the fly on my jeans. “Well, in that case, you should get started.”
And I did, in very explicit detail. I was a man writing a how-to manual, not forgetting any step. I even included some footnotes on alternatives that could be used. When I finally slid into her, we both groaned with pleasure and relief. It was good to be home. And I didn’t leave until she called out my name and collapsed in bliss.
Afterward, she snuggled up next to me, her hand making lazy loops on my stomach. “This feels surreal. Like I’m going to wake up from the best dream I have ever had.” She placed a kiss on my right pec.
“You know, Jace isn’t wrong.”
Her hand didn’t stop with the patterns. “About what he said tonight?”
“Yeah.”
She said nothing.
“Do you disagree?” For a moment I wondered if I’d been reading it all wrong. I had hurt her pretty badly. Maybe she would need more time before she would be ready to have me forever.
She looked up at me and smiled. “No.”
“Then why were you so quiet just then?”
“Because I was thinking of all the time we’ve lost. His advice would have been good ten years ago.”
I kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer, almost on top of me. “We can’t do that. I did what I thought was best then. I’m not convinced it would have all turned out okay if I had done otherwise.”
She pushed up onto her elbow and looked down at me. Goddamn, this woman is beautiful. Her eyes told you everything. And at the moment, they were telling me she was a little bit horny and a little bit…
“You’re right. We needed to have all the information about my mom and your dad. I’m not sure my dad would have told us.”
Acceptance. That was the other thing I saw in her eyes. It was the best gift she’d given me besides forgiveness. And her body, of course. She was no longer reliving the past but looking toward the future. Speaking of the future…
“I have an idea.”
“So do I.” She climbed on top of me.
I was already hard. In one second, she held me in her hand as she lowered herself onto me, then she bent forward and angled her hips back to take more of me in. I groaned from the heady pleasure of it.
“Before I lose you.” She leaned forward and whispered her idea into my ear.
Did I say how much I loved this woman? Damn, she’s a dream.