Page 25 of My Dad's Best Friend

“I know,” I say. I bite my lower lip, knowing I need to talk to him about what’s been on my mind all day. I need to say it, need to know what’s going to happen. “But to what extend?”

“What do you mean?” he asks, looking down at me.

I look up at him and break away from his hold, folding my arms as I look at the ground, unable to keep his gaze while I say what needs to be said. “I mean, are we in a relationship?”

“I think it’s clear we are. I think it means we’re in more of a relationship. I’ve never felt like this about anyone. Only you. I don’t do the things I do with you with anyone else, and I never have.”

“That’s what being yours means?” I ask, hope filling me. I’m special. I’m his. Just for him. Except…

“It means…you’re mine, every piece of you,” Conner says, his voice that deep rumble, soft, barely audible but firm.

He steps close to me and I feel myself getting turned on just at the sound of him, at his nearness. But I can’t get turned on right now. I can’t acknowledge the wetness in my panties as images of every time he steps this close to me go rushing through my mind. The times he’s picked me up and fucked me on the counter, when he’s eaten me out on the back porch in the middle of the night while I bite the palm of my hand to keep myself from screaming as I orgasm.

Does he know what he does to me?

I shake my head. I can’t think of any of that. I need to tell him. I need to know how far his want for me, his owning of me, whatever it is, how far it goes. To what end is he willing to be with me?

I take in a deep breath, trying to work up the nerve to ask what I have to ask.

“Every piece of me,” I repeat. “Does that mean the baby that’s growing in me, too?”

There. It’s out in the world, hovering between us in the evening air.

Conner doesn’t say anything for several long, painful minutes. My heart is pounding in my ears, as I don’t dare move. I don’t want to force an answer from him, I don’t want to do anything that could jeopardize whatever it is that we have. But I want to shake him, to beg him to say something, anything, so that I’m not stuck in this limbo.

“A baby?” he repeats, his words more rumble than actual syllables.

I nod, feeling tears coming to my eyes.

His hand goes to my belly. It’s big and it feels like he covers the entirety of my middle.

“Right in here?”

“Right in there,” I say, putting both of my hands on his. I try to blink back the moisture in my eyes, but a tear escapes and falls down my cheek.

“Fuck yeah,” he says, a smile coming across his lips. “Every single piece of you.”

He leans forward, his lips hovering in front of mine, his breath entangling with mine. His closeness makes my body tingle with want for him. Every nerve in me is on end, and the joy I feel is overwhelming. He wants me. I’m not ruined to him. I’m not a fling to him. He wants me. I’m his. I’m fucking his.

“I love you,” he breathes before he kisses me, deep and passionately.

I moan as the moment takes me away, strips reality and the world around us away. There is nothing else, only him. Only me. Right now. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back, wanting to wrap my legs around him, wanting him to take me to the bedroom and show me how much he loves me, to let him know that I love him, to let him truly claim me.

His fingers push into my hair, pulling a little at the roots, sending the thrill of possibly being seen, his act possessive .

Keeping his fingers in my hair he pulls away. “Do you love me?”

“I love you, Conner,” I say, knowing he wants to hear his name. And all I want to do is sing his name. I love him, and he loves me.

“Then marry me,” he says. “Let’s give this baby a family.”

I can barely understand what he’s saying. Marry him. Did he just say that?

“Will you?” he repeats, his eyes moving between mine.

“Yes,” I say. “I’m yours.”

His mouth spreads into a smile. “Fucking right you’re mine. Let’s go give your dad a heart attack and tell him the news.”

Epilogue

One Year Later

Marie

It’s amazing that there are moments you can steal, even when you’re the bride, where you’re separate from the world. You can watch everyone going about their own lives in the same place, and simply watch them.

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