Belle
When I opened my eyes, Mason was caressing my shoulder.
“Morning, beautiful.”
“Good morning.”
“Did you sleep well?”
Covering my mouth, I yawned before I answered, “Feels like I slept for a total of twenty minutes.”
As soon as I tried to move my body, my muscles protested and I winced.
“Are you sore?”
“Like I battled an army of demons.”
“You sort of did.” Mason stopped circling my shoulder and pulled his hand away. “Or at least you helped me tame my demons. I promise to be gentler with you.”
Spying a bag of teeth cleaners on Mason’s nightstand, I stretched over him to grab one and put it in my mouth. The taste of spearmint spread as the rice-grain-sized cleaner worked its way around my mouth.
When I tried to roll back, Mason held on to me and turned me to lie on top of him. His warm breath on my face had the same minty scent.
“Belle, I meant what I said last night. I want to go to bed with you every night and wake up with you every morning. I want to watch the bump on your stomach grow with our child. And I want to make love to you as many times as you’ll let me.”
Leaning my forearms on his strong chest, I lifted my head and looked deep into his eyes. “And what happens after the baby is born and you get tired of me?”
“This isn’t Old Europe. We don’t have casual sex before moving on to the next. I’m talking about spending our lives together as husband and wife.” Mason cupped my face and looked deep into my eyes. “Please, Belle, it would mean everything to me if you became my wife. I would be so fucking proud.”
Emotions made my throat itch and moisture gathered in my eyes. “You’ll make me cry.”
“I’ll try not to. I’ll be good to you, Belle, I promise. This is all new to me, but I’ll give you permission to kick my shin if I’m being unreasonable.”
“No, I meant right now. You’re making me cry.” All my life, I’d been taught not to let emotions take over, but at that moment, twenty-four years of suppressed emotions came rushing out like a new avalanche threatening to bury me alive.
“What’s wrong?” Mason asked, but I couldn’t explain myself. I tried to roll down from his body, but he rolled with me, closed his arms, and held me tight. “Don’t go. Talk to me, love.”
His acceptance of my breakdown made me cling to him while I cried my eyes out.
“It’s okay, I’ve got you.”
I don’t know how long it took before my crying stopped, but Mason held me and soothed me the entire time.
“Breathe, sweetheart. Just breathe.”
When I could finally speak again, I dried away my tears and looked into his eyes. “Do you love me?”
His worried gaze softened. “Yes. I loved you long before I admitted it to myself. I see that now.”
“Mason.” I gathered all my strength and let my heart speak for me. “When I said that I didn’t want to marry you, that wasn’t true. What I meant was that I don’t want you to marry me out of a sense of obligation.”
“I’m not!” His eyes glowed with an earnest intensity. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” My voice broke. “And there’s nothing I want more than to be with you.”
Mason’s eyes widened. “You mean that?”
“Yes.”
He dipped his chin and stared at me with hope in his eyes. “So, you’ll marry me?”
“Yes.”
With a roar of relief, he squeezed me so tight that I had to cry out that he was crushing me.
“I’m sorry.” Mason was out of breath despite the fact that we were lying down. Rolling to his back, he pushed both hands through his hair. “I’m so relieved right now that I’m shaking. Look.” Holding up his right hand he showed me.
“Is it a good thing?” I asked and felt my heart race as if the teen version of me with the biggest crush on Mason was sprinting around in victory circles.
“I’ve waited a long time to start my family. If you knew how much I argued with my parents when they pushed me. We even fought the morning of the arrival dinner. I’ve been frustrated that I couldn’t fall in love. I should have known it was because you were already in my heart.”
With a broad smile, I planted kisses on his shoulder. “I love hearing you say that you’re in love with me.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t kiss me, Belle. I don’t want to wreak more havoc on your body and you’re making me hard.”
We laughed together.
“Come on. You’re coming to the shower with me.” Picking me up in his arms, Mason walked us to the bathroom where the mirrors showed our naked bodies.
“I would tell you that I have feet, but this is so nice.” I rested my head against his shoulder. “For years I’ve been carrying babies around. I love that I get to be the small one for a change.”
Mason kissed my forehead and set me down in the large shower stall. “Soon you’ll be carrying a baby in your arms again, but this time it’ll be ours.”
“What should we call our child?” I asked and watched him turn on the water.
“If it’s a boy I’d like to name him Victor.”
“You’re joking.”
Mason laughed and pulled me into his arms again. “We have time, my love. We’ll figure it out together. All that matters to me is that you’ve agreed to become my wife. I have tons of name suggestions for our children.”
“Children?”
He leaned his head back and let the water pour over him before stepping back to give me space. “I’m thinking three children is a good number.”
Hearing him say that broadened my grin. It was a reminder that Mason wasn’t planning on swapping me out after our first child. He wanted us to have more together.
“When are we getting married then?”
Mason turned quiet and began washing my body with gentle movements. After a long moment, he said. “I never imagined marrying without Aubri and Indiana present.”
“We could wait.”
“Not for a full year.”
“But they’ll be back this summer.”
Lifting my arm, Mason turned me around. “Yeah, so maybe we could have a small ceremony now and push along the celebration until they’re back.”
“That’s fine with me.”
Stroking his hand over my stomach, he reminded me, “You’ll have a large belly then.”
“Is there a rule against that?”
“It’s not how we usually do things here, but then our wedding will be a first in many ways.” Mason leaned down and kissed me with soft lips. “You don’t know how bad I want to pick you up and fuck you against the wall.”
All our talk about a shared future had energized me and rising up on my tiptoes, I linked my hands around his neck and smiled. “Why don’t you then?”
Everything on his body was hard from his biceps to his abs and erection.
With a growl of lust, Mason picked me up and pressed me against the wall.
My fingers ran through his gorgeous red hair as our lips met in a long passionate merging of our bodies.