Page 121 of At The End Of The Day

Grinning and laying on my chest, his arm curling over the top of my head, he began moving again, slowly, deliberately, grinding his bottom against my pelvis. “I feel pretty fucking stuffed right now, and frankly, you’re messing with my orgasm, so shut up and make love to—”

Viciously grabbing his throat, I shoved him away and squeezed, that fear growing thicker. “Stop it. What do you feel, Dario?”

He gulped against my palm, his eyes bouncing back and forth between mine. “Home,” was all he whispered, his fingertips petting through my thin hair.

Everything inside flipped over and I choked on an inhale. My hold remained but loosened as I stared at him in wonder. He meant it, this was real! This wasn’t some kind of lingering traces of my manipulations in Georgia. Yeah, that may have started it, but, apparently, it planted a seed that grew into something…real. He honestly fell in love with me and wants a future…with me.

His palm traveled down the length of my torso to tuck between us and leisurely jack off. Pushing against my palm to lower, holding my stare, his tongue snaked out a second time, flicking past my teeth, and into my mouth for a tender but heated kiss.

My brows lifted and I actually whimpered, having no idea what to do with all these thoughts and emotions. In my thirty something years of living, I had only ever been in love once, to the first person I was ever attracted to, and he inflicted some seriously heavy glitches on my psyche by locking me into a relationship where I was conditioned to be a secret and, if I dared try to leave or have something else, I was worried about the irreversible consequences. Consequences I learned too late were not bluffs. Had I, in a way, also been groomed, just like Jackyl did to my sister? All I knew was I was a grown ass man and terrified of how happy I was because it was so foreign.

“I love you, Vin. I ain’t going nowhere and I sure as hell ain’t hiding you. I’m fucking honored you love me.”

Once more, my heart flipped over, my ribs compressing around my lungs as the emotions intensified. Barely above a whisper, I confessed, “I’m so fucking scared, Dario.”

Releasing his cock, he pressed the back of his wrist to mine and gently coaxed it away from his throat. His palm to mine, he twined our fingers and pushed it into the pillow. “You don’t have to be, babe. Just like we told everyone else, nothing’s chang—”

“Everything has changed,” I bellowed, startling him. “There’s so much to risk now. So, fucking much,” I added with a croak to my tone.

“There’s nothing to risk, Vinny. I promise you. On my life, on my daughter’s life, I’m right where I wanna be and got no plans to change nothing. You gotta trust me, baby.”

“I…I do trust you, I just…”

He forced another smile, rose a little, and gradually sank down, shifting a bit to the side. I grunted, a hand grabbing his ass cheek.

“Unh.”

“Would it make you feel better if we went ahead and got married now?”

I jostled so hard, the headboard tapped the wall. Ice flushing my veins, my head jerked off the pillow, my lungs collapsing. “What?”

His smile vanishing, his breathing shallowed once more, his irises glossing back over. “Marry me, Vin.”

A burst of energy hit and I growled, flipping him to his back. Grabbing his throat again, I pinned him down and snarled, infuriated at his manipulations. “What are you trying to prove, Dario?”

“I ain’t trying to prove nothing, I got nothing to prove.”

“Then why you changing your mind? Huh? You said not now, not for a long time.”

His feet hooking behind my thighs, his fingers splayed over my chest over my thumping heartbeat. “Because of acorn. I thought she would take longer to adjust without Mary but.” He snorted and shrugged. “She’s perfectly fine with me and you together. She don’t seem to be having any bad reactions to her mom being gone and her dad living with another man. Since she ain’t got a problem, I don’t see the point in waiting. Marry me,” he stated again, his hand now on the side of my neck, his fingers curled around my ear. “Be my husband, now, tomorrow, the rest of our lives.”

I was trembling, the rage fading to a sensation I wasn’t familiar with. Validation? What was this? It was so intense and so goddamn scary because it was so amazing and, if history repeated itself, I was going to be crushed and annihilated for daring to believe.

He grinned mischievously. “Vincent Mangiacavallo. Sounds pretty fucking hot, don’t you think?”

A ripple of ecstasy rolled through and I groaned, growing dizzy. “Oh, shit. Yeah, that…sounds amazing.”

“Then let’s do it. When Tiny gets home, just you, me, acorn, the kids, her, and bitch…we’ll have a justice of the peace come out here, have a private ceremony—”

That insecurity hit again and I snarled, “Secret.”

He frowned and stiffly shook his head. “No, baby. Never secret. Private, just us and our family. Maybe Wads and Einstein since they’re our closest friends. Look, the way I see it, we can do it under the carport and Tiny can do her thing where she likes to decorate everything with lights. I mean, I don’t care, but I have a feeling she will. We can do everything legit with a cake, and all. The kids will really like that. Gotta have caramel somewhere. We’ll get fancy suits, the girls can get their pretty dresses, and—”

“Dario,” I croaked, gulping past my constricted throat. “You’ve thought about this.”

“Of course, I have. In fact. Hey, sit up a bit, babe.” He patted the side of my ass cheek and, when I lifted off him some, he grunted and rolled to his side. His features grimacing a bit, he ignored it, opened the drawer to the nightstand, and pulled out a small, velvet, dark box. Heaving a sigh as he plopped to his back again, he set it on his chest, lifted the top, and turned it to show me two black bands, each with a small, inlaid diamond.

“What the fuck?” I wheezed, shooting up to my knees.