“Stop bitching. She’s yours now,” Royce tells him, and that’s all it takes to shut him up. It doesn’t take us long to take down the decorations, setting the vases of flowers throughout the room, once we have the furniture moved back into place.
“Looks like home,” Layla says as she waddles toward us.
“I thought you were putting your feet up?” Owen asks her.
“I was in the kitchen, but then I decided to help. The girls kicked me out.”
“Good. Sit.” Owen guides her to the couch.
“Nice to have it all back in order. Silly man changing it around so early.” She smiles up at him.
“Any excuse to keep you from changing your mind, Mrs. Riggins.”
“You’re stuck with me.”
“Fucking finally,” Owen says, and the rest of us roar with laughter, including his new wife.
“I’m going to go check and see what else needs to be done so we can get out of your hair.”
“You don’t have to rush off,” Layla announces.
“It’s your wedding night,” Royce counters.
“And we all know this one is eager to get you alone.” Marshall wags his eyebrows, bending to give Layla a hug.
“Welcome to the family, sis,” Conrad says, swooping in for a hug as well.
“You’re good for him,” I say, taking my turn to hug my new sister-in-law. There are tears in her eyes, but she nods, offering me a watery smile. I don’t stick around to get yelled at by Owen for making her cry yet again today. Instead, I hightail it to the kitchen, looking for my girl.
“Thanks for the lift,” Aspen says, reaching for the door handle.
I find her eyes in the rearview mirror. “Call us if you need us, and make sure you lock the door.”
“Yes, Dad,” she teases. “I’ll be fine. You just take care of this one.” She reaches up and squeezes Aurora’s shoulder.
“She’s in good hands.”
“Oh, I’m sure she is.” Her cackling laughter follows her all the way out of the SUV.
“Ignore her,” Aurora says from her spot in the passenger seat.
“I don’t know. Keeping you in my hands sounds like a pretty damn good plan to me.”
“That’s not what she meant,” she counters.
“That’s exactly what she meant, and you know I’m a man of my word, baby.” Glancing up at their apartment, I see the lights come on, and Aspen comes to the window, giving me a thumbs-up, which is all I needed to see, and I’m pulling back out onto the road.
“I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” she asks, resting her head back against the seat.
“You did.”
“Thank you for looking out for her.”
“She’s family.”
“You really feel that, don’t you? That she and I are your family.”
“Yes.” There is no hesitation in my answer.
“I love you, Grant. Thank you for showing me what the love of a good man is supposed to feel like.”
“Loving you is easy.”
She reaches over and runs her fingers through my hair, which is where they stay the remainder of the drive to my place. We’re quiet as we enter my condo. My hand rests on the small of her back.
“I’m going to take a shower. Is that okay?”
“Of course. You want some company?”
“Hmm.” She moves to stand directly in front of me. “I could use some help washing my back.”
“I’m your man,” I say. My words hold more than one meaning and the softening of her eyes tells me that she understands that as well. “Come on, gorgeous. Let’s get you out of the dress.” I lead her to my bedroom and proceed to strip myself naked while she stands there watching me. “What are you waiting for?” I ask her.
“Your full attention.”
“You have it,” I tell her. “Always.”
“Sit.” She points to the bed.
This is new for her to command and ask for what she wants, and I’m the man who’s going to give it to her. I take a seat on the bed. “Now what?” I ask her.
“Now, you watch.”
“That I can do.” I lean back, bracing my hands on either side of me on the bed. My cock is already hard just at the mention of her getting naked. I’ve got it bad.
“I’m going to need some help.” She walks to where I sit and turns, giving me her back. “Can you unzip me?”
My answer is to take the delicate zipper of her dress between my thumb and index finger and pull the zipper all the way down. It ends just above her ass, and I swallow back the groan that wants to be set free when I see just a peek of her ass.
She steps away and turns to face me. She’s just out of reach, which I’m sure is by design. She knows me well enough to know that if she’s within reaching distance, I need to be touching her. It’s not something that I can control. Hell, I don’t want to. I give her my full attention as the little lavender dress she wore to the wedding slides over her shoulders and pools at the floor around her ankles. Underneath is a matching lace bra and panty set, the same color as her dress.
“I might have splurged a little,” she says.
“I’ll pay for it,” I say, drinking in the sight of her.
“That’s the reason you’re sitting there, and I’m over here. I like these.” She slides her hands into the band of the tiny piece of fabric she’s calling panties and slides them over her thighs. “I didn’t want you to rip them.”
“You know me well, baby.”
“Can you help me again?” she asks. Each step she takes that brings her back to me is accentuated from the sway of her hips, and I’m close to losing control. I’ll buy her a thousand new sets as long as I get her naked now. She turns, giving me her back, and I waste no time unclasping her bra, only this time I don’t let her go. No, I move in close, pressing my front to her back and slide my hands under the cups of her bra, and palm her breasts.
“That’s cheating,” she pants, resting her head back against my shoulder.
“I think I can convince you to forgive me,” I say, pressing my lips to her neck as I pull the fabric from her skin and drop it to the floor. My hands go back to her breasts, cupping them, pulling on her hardened nipples.
“Maybe, I will. On one condition.” She’s breathless, and I want to beat on my chest. I did that to her.
“Name it.” I’d give her anything.
“Make love to me.”
Keeping one hand on her breast, the other travels down to her pussy, where I slide my fingers through her folds. “Is that what you want? For me to make love to you?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me how you want it.”
“I— Just you inside me.”
“That’s a given, sweetheart, but I need you to tell me how you want me inside you. It’s just me, and you can tell me anything.” I nip at her ear. “Tell me what you want, Rory.”
“I want to feel desired. I don’t want to worry about doing something wrong, and I want to feel.” Her words are whispered and haunted with the ghosts of her past.