Two Years Later
THEO
There is nothing I love more than the taste of Charity Lawson. Except, perhaps, the sound of her moaning my name as she comes apart on my tongue.
Only, it’s not my name that she’s moaning.
“Who the fuck is Teddy?”
Charity jumps, pulled from the edge of her orgasm by my angry question. “Y-You are.”
“The fuck I am,” I sit up, letting her legs fall on either side of my hips. “Who is he?”
She groans, throwing an arm over her eyes as if she can’t bear to look at me while she says the words. “He’s you, Dickbag. I was trying to be sweet and give you a nickname.”
I watch her for a long moment, unsure how to respond. “And you went with Teddy?”
“Your name is Theodore!”
“Yeah, but I already have a Theodore nickname. It’s Theo,” I say it slowly, like she might not have already known that.
Charity flips me off, still not taking her arm away from her eyes. “I’m aware, you asshole. I was trying to...” she trails off, a deep blush staining her cheeks and spreading down her chest. She’s embarrassed. What could she possibly have to be embarrassed about?
“Trying to what?”
“Nothing.”
“Nah,” I crawl up her body, hovering over her face. Gently, I move her arm out of the way, waiting until she opens her eyes before I continue. “You have to tell me now.”
“Leave it, Dickbag.”
Shaking my head, I drop my full weight on her. Charity wheezes, mumbling something about overgrown idiots under her breath. “Tell me. I won’t make fun of it, even if it’s really fucking stupid.”
Her eyes narrow on my too-bright smile. “I might actually hate you.”
“You really don’t,” I promise, quickly kissing her lips. “Tell me.”
She sighs dramatically, rolling her eyes toward the headboard. “I was trying to give you a nickname that was just mine. Like how you’re the only one who calls me Viper.”
“I already have a nickname that only you call me.”
“Oh, yeah,” she snorts, her tone laced with sarcasm. “That’s super cute. I can’t wait to introduce people to my husband, Dickbag.”
“Your husband? That’s a bit presumptuous.”
“I think we need to revisit whether or not I hate you.”
“No, we don’t,” I smirk down at her, enjoying the way she’s writhing against me as she tries to crawl out from under my body. “You love me so much you just called me your husband. You cannot hate me and want me to be your husband. Trust me on this. I’m the expert.”
“How are you the expert?”
“I’ve been in plenty of relationships with women who hate me, and none of them ever called me their husband.”
“That’s a lie! You were never in relationships before me.”
The silence that descends around the room is palpable. “And how would you know that?”
“I asked...” Her voice trails off halfway through the word, but it’s too late.
“You asked about my relationships?”
“No.”
“Is that when you heard all those ‘rumors’ about my dick?”
Charity groans, covering her eyes again. “Shut up.”
“Or maybe you heard the rumors first?” I pull her hands away from her face, pinning them to the mattress on either side of her head. “Did you like what you heard about my dick-game, Viper?”
“Jesus Christ. Never say ‘dick-game’ again.”
I pretend to think about it for a moment. “What do I get in return?”
“You get to continue to use that dick-game on me.”
One eyebrow crawls toward my hairline as I watch the blush spread across her cheeks again. “We both know you’re not turning down my dick-game any time soon. You’re obsessed.”
“I’m obsessed?” she squeals, narrowing her eyes at me. “You gave up your entire life so I could go to art school before we even kissed. That’s obsession.”
“You’re damn right it is. And I would do it again because I love you, Charity Lawson.”
She stills, taking a deep breath as if preparing for something. “I think you got the last part wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“Yeah.” Her voice is too casual, and it’s starting to make me nervous. “I think you meant to say, ‘I love you, Charity Grady’.”
Everything stops. Time, my heart, the breath whooshing in and out of my lungs, all of it stops. “Charity.”
“Theodore.”
I can’t feel my limbs. I’m aware they’re still attached to my body, but I can’t feel them anymore. “Do not fuck with me.”
She smiles a sweet, soft smile I’ve never seen on her before. “I wouldn’t dream of fucking with you.”
“Are you saying you want to marry me?” It’s barely audible, but we’re so close I know she hears me.
“I believe I’m asking if you want to marry me.” I can’t hear anything over the roaring in my ears. Is that my heart? It shouldn’t sound like that. I should go to the hospital if it keeps doing that. “Theo?”
“Yes.”
“Are you okay?”
“No, but yes. Yes, I want to marry you.”
Charity laughs, relief flooding her face and easing the worried lines from her forehead. “Good, because I would very much like to marry you.”
I have nothing to say, so I don’t even try. I pull her into a kiss that has my head spinning and my heart threatening to explode. I don’t think I could be any happier than I am now, but I intend to find out. I intend to spend every day of the rest of my life finding out just how happy Charity Lawson can make me.
“But,” Charity pulls away from the kiss, a serious look in her eyes. “You are not putting any freakishly huge babies in me. That’s where I draw the line. I’m too old, and I like my vagina the way it is.”
I press another kiss to her lips simply because I can’t stop myself. She giggles but pulls away again. “Did you hear me, Theodore Grady?”
“I did,” I murmur against her lips, hardly able to contain the smile spreading across my face. “Anything for you, Charity Grady.”