Page 94 of Rainstorm

Plus, they already had a lot on their plate to deal with.

And that was the only dark cloud hanging over our happiness. My father’s deteriorating health. He wasn’t doing well. They said it was lymphoma, some aggressive motherfucking shitty condition stealing his life away. Other than making him comfortable with palliative care, there was little the doctors could do. Plus, my father was adamant that he wasn’t going to spend whatever time he had left searching the world for some kind of a miracle cure, preferring instead to spend whatever time he had left with his family. So that’s what we were all focusing on, making him as happy as we could.

It had been so fucking hard for us to get that news. Our mother might be the heart of the family, but our father was the rock that supported us all.

And that rock was crumbling, along with all of us, as we watched our brave warrior being defeated in front of our eyes. Painfully but with so much composure, setting an example as ever. I couldn’t have been prouder of him.

It turned out both sets of parents got on really well, so my father accepted Rose’s parent’s’ invitation to stay with them during the week, since they lived closer both to the hospital and the doctor’s office.

My father’s condition was another reason for us not to delay setting the date for the wedding. We both desperately wanted him to be there, standing by my side. Originally, I’d thought I’d ask Zeph to be my best-man, but now I wanted the man who’d raised me standing by my side as I waited for my bride to walk down the aisle.

“I just said no!” Rose snapped, bringing me back to the moment. My bride-to-be wasn’t turning into a bridezilla, in our case it was totally the mother-in-law-zilla trying to take control. “Mom, enough, we aren’t getting married in…”

I walked into the living room to find her pacing around the coffee table, but as soon as her eyes landed on me, a switch flicked and her anger morphed into something else entirely.

“Gotta go. Chase’s here.” And without giving Lynn the chance to protest, she ended the call.

“Hey, doll…” I was about to ask about her day, and the discussion with her mother, but I was suddenly silenced as her lips attacked mine.

Which was totally fine by me.

Then her hands were fumbling with my button-down shirt, while her lips trailed a line of open-mouthed kisses along my neck.

“Fuck it, never mind about your shirt,” she muttered impatiently, as her fingers took charge of the zipper of my jeans, palming my growing erection. “All I need is this.”

That’s good, doll. I’m right here for you.

I loved this side of her, the wild, untamed, fierce and passionate woman who took my breath away.

Her fingers circled me, stroking my dick, while my large hands cupped her beautiful butt under the little dress she was wearing.

“Commando today?” I mumbled between kisses, thrilled with my discovery.

“I wanted to be ready and waiting for you,” she murmured, jumping up to wrap her sexy toned legs around my hips. My cock was so happy to find her hot, wet pussy already waiting for me, making it easy for me to take her.

I groaned again, pleasure shuddering through my body.

I’d missed her so much, I couldn’t wait to make her my wife and start the new chapter of our lives, together.

We fucked in the middle of the living room, no walls needed to support us. Just my fingers, my lips and my cock making her moan and fall apart.

After a crazy week at work, no man would ever complain about a welcome like this, that was for sure.

Later, we lay together on the couch, satiated after our urgent coupling. Rose’s delicious body was naked under mine, my head resting on her flat belly, while her hands lazily caressed the short strands of my hair. I was so freaking in love with this woman, and although now she seemed happy, I couldn’t help worrying about why she’d been so upset when I first arrived home.

“What did your mother want this time?” I asked, knowing that Lynn was a woman on a mission to make her girl’s wedding a fairy tale.

“A few days ago, I had the brilliant idea of telling my mother we were looking for a location in Santa Barbara for the wedding,” she sighed as she gazed up at the thick wood columns on the ceiling. Originally, we’d both wanted a destination wedding, but my father’s condition precluded that option since he was too ill to travel to some faraway destination. So, as the city called The American Riviera had been our first getaway location, we thought it could be a special place for us to get married. “So Mom called the event coordinator at The Four Seasons and got an appointment this weekend. But I told her no, I don’t want this wedding getting out of control at an over the top place like that. But she wouldn’t listen, and she can be really stubborn.”

I knew exactly where Rose was coming from. I’d seen the way my mother had gone crazy trying to plan the perfect wedding for each of my three sisters, so I understood what Lynn was trying to achieve for her precious only daughter.

“Doll, I think we’re going to have to compromise here,” I murmured after kissing the soft skin under her bellybutton, thinking of how we could follow Rose’s wishes while also keeping her mother sweet. “After all, we did like the idea of having the wedding in Santa Barbara, so maybe humor your mother and see what the deal is at the hotel. If you like it, fine. If not, we’ll say no thanks and keep looking for the perfect place.”

Rose turned her golden gaze on me, placing her hands on my chest as I propped myself on my arms at each side for leverage. “You’d do that for her?”

I kissed her pouty lips before answering. “No, Roselynn. I’d do it for you, my love.”

“I love you, Holland,” she murmured before kissing me on the jaw. “I’ll call my mother later and let her know. But you do still want to keep things simple, like we first talked about?”

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