I looped my arms around his neck, trying to ignore the fact that his arousal was prodding my stomach, making it tough to think, much less speak. Every night without him in my bed had been agony, and I wanted nothing more than to make up for lost time, but not before we got a few things straight.
Before we could he was kissing me, fisting my wet hair… slipping his hand between my legs.
“Rhett, wait.” I planted my hands against his chest. “Before we go there, I need to know what you’re thinking, how you’re feeling. I’ve been dropping bombshells ever since I walked in here last night. Your head must be spinning.”
“It is,” he said, dipping his head while his tongue skated down my neck. “I’m thinking about all the things I want to do to you now that you’re finally mine.”
I sucked in a breath, tugging his hair, forcing him to look me in the eye. “What does that mean?”
He gave me that sexy half-smile that made me melt. This man. My teenage crush. My first lover. My friend. My bootie call. My protector. My fake fiancé. And now… my boyfriend? The father of my baby.Myhead was about to explode.
“It means…” he said, kissing me. “That I’m done chasing and you’re done running, baby. We’re gonna do this thing. Finally.”
“This thing?” I asked, trying to stay focused while his lips explored my neck. “Define this thing.”
“Hmmm…”
His hands caressed my breasts before his fingers found their target. I inched my legs apart, holding on to his shoulders for stability while he distracted me in the best possible way.
“This thing,” he whispered in my ear. “Is going to be the best goddamn thing that ever happened to you. This thing that you’ve been fighting since you were eighteen years old is real.” He tugged on my hair with his free hand, forcing my eyes to focus on his, which was no easy feat since they were already rolling back in my head thanks to him.
“You hear me? It’s as real as it gets. You may have thought I was faking it when I slipped that ring on your finger, but I wasn’t. Those words I said to you that night, I’ve been rehearsing them for years, knowing when the time came, you’d be the woman I’d be saying them to.”
“Rhett.” My hands framed his face while the tears blended with the hot water streaming down my face. “I’m sorry I made this so difficult—”
He laughed before claiming my mouth in a passionate kiss. “No one knows better than I do,” he said, his head resting his forehead against mine. “That nothing worthwhile is ever free or easy. I worked my ass off for everything I’ve got, girl. Why shouldn’t I have to work just as hard for the love of my life?”
The love of his life? I was having an out-of-body experience because guys like Rhett Lennox, with gold-diggers beating a path to his door, didn’t fall for snarky sales managers with commitment issues who ghosted them after incredible sex.
Maybe that was my fear all along. The reason I’d been afraid to give up my heart… because I thought he was too perfect.
“You say shit like that you better be willing to back it up, Lennox.” I pushed him down on the built-in bench before straddling him while he held me steady with strong arms curling around my waist. “You call me the love of your life that means you’re stuck with me. For. Life.” Those two little words would have caused me to have a panic attack a few months ago, but that was before I’d shared a bed, TV remote, and shower with Rhett.
I inched down slowly while he gripped my ass and bit his lip as his eyes drifted closed.
“Look at me.” I waited until his eyes were locked on mine before I said, “I. Love. You.”
“Bri—”
I pressed my fingertip against his mouth when I felt him swell inside of me. Being joined with him like this, knowing I was pregnant with his baby, made this hands-down the most intimate experience of my life. So it seemed like the perfect time to be raw and vulnerable, to say the words he’d deserved to hear a hundred times before.
“I loved you the night I had to go to my senior prom with the captain of the football team.”
He glared at me. “Don’t remind me. You were too young for me to take you—”
“I loved you,” I said, drawing him deeper, clenching him harder while wrapping my arms around his neck. “The night I found out you’d enlisted and I cried myself to sleep because I was so afraid you wouldn’t be coming home.”
“Sweetheart—”
“I loved you when you showed up to my college graduation party with that brunette bitch I hated on your arm.” I scowled at the memory, making him smile. That earned a little rock of my hips and he wasn’t laughing anymore. “I loved you when I was staring across the aisle at you at my brother’s wedding ceremony thinking if I ever had the courage to repeat those vows, I hoped it would be with you.”
He dropped his head, swearing softly. “You’re killing me here, Bri.”
I could see the emotion in his eyes when I wrapped my hand around his cheek. “I loved you every single time I slipped out of your bed in the middle of the night, Rhett.”
“Then why did you leave? Why didn’t you tell me how you felt? You had to know I was feeling it too.”
I made love to him so slowly. It felt cathartic. Saying words that had been locked inside for so many years. Releasing fears that had their grip on me for so long. Letting the water wash it all away while we forged a deeper bond than we’d ever had before. One that could withstand any test.
