Page 61 of Teach Me to Laugh

I couldn’t believe that this was where we were when before she’d been mortified to find she’d agreed to spend a week sharing my bed. Now she was sharing her body and trust with me.

“Beckett,” my name sounded deep in her throat, and I thought that was the most beautiful sound in the world. No wonder I’d fallen for the girl so fast and hard. I’d known, subconsciously, that there was something amazing living beneath all her ice. I must have.

“Beautiful.” I murmured, kissing up the length of her throat. “So beautiful.”

I ached to touch her. I wanted to slide my hand beneath the t-shirt to cup her breast. Hell, I wanted to pull the t-shirt over her head and take her into my mouth. I wanted to hear her moan as I dipped my fingers into her panties . . .

Not tonight, man. Not. Tonight.

“I need, Beck . . .” she moaned. “I need.”

Oh, I knew she needed. But I wanted her to need. I wanted her to ache and desire andknow.I wanted her to know that when she took all that she needed from me—it was because she not only needed, but also wanted, and craved, and ached.I wanted her to know.

So I didn’t ask her to elaborate. I didn’t ask her to tell me what she needed so that I could give it to her, no questions or hesitations. I didn’t say a thing. I just put my lips on hers and kissed her harder.

That was when she lifted her hips, rocking herself against me. If I thought there was a moment I might be in risk of losing my mind, this right here, was it.

I wanted her like I’d wanted no other in my life. The need was an ache so desperate it was nearly painful.

Still, I didn’t lose control. And I reveled in all that we had together in this moment. The beauty. The rawness. Everything.

My hand found her hip and I stilled her movement, smiling against her soft lips. Her breaths were panted. Her chest rose and fell against mine. Her beauty was messy and perfect in this moment.

“Wow,” she said, and then perfection really did happen. Because her eyes softened on mine, and her lips started to curl. She smiled. She wasn’t laughing or giggling. She was just smiling up at me, like I was the knight she’d always been waiting for. And it might be corny as fuck, but I vowed right then and there that I would always be that to her. Until the end of my days, I’d work to be this woman’s knight. I’d be her protector and her friend. I’d be her lover and her confidant. I’d be everything that I could be to her, because this girl was it for me. I knew it in my bones. My soul. My heart. She was my one. She was my laughter and my dream come true.

She made life worth it all—good times and bad included.

“Yeah baby,” I whispered. “Wow.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off the little woman who was laughing with the others at the kitchen table. My woman. They each had glasses of wine, and they were fawning, no joke, fawning over Raina’s engagement ring. It was a nice ring. Kai definitely chose well. But it was the look on Amara’s face—the wet joy in her eyes as she watched the moment between Kai and Raina, a moment I’d missed because I hadn’t been able to take my eyes from Amara, which I couldn’t get out of my head.

I’d always known that one day I’d want to put a ring on a woman’s finger, get married, buy a house, and have babies. I just hadn’t expected the feeling to hit me so hard and so quickly.

Watching Amara watch the happy couple had me itching to make us the next happy couple. Still, we’d only officially been together for a couple days and moving that fast would have her running for the hills just to escape me. It didn’t seem to matter, though. I still wanted what I wanted. I could hide it from her, but I couldn’t deny the truth of it to myself. In the last few months I’d been living with Amara, getting to know the extraordinary ins and outs of her beautiful mind and lashing tongue, I’d fallen in love with her.

Raina said something under her breath and Amara’s eyes slid to me. Her cheeks flushed and she shook her head at Raina, looking down into the red of her wine. But I didn’t miss what she clearly tried to hide. The slow soft smile that formed on her lips took my breath away, and if my heart hadn’t already been lost to her, that smile would have stolen it.

Kaiden clapped a hand on my back. “Looks like I’m not the only one who deserves a congratulations.”

I raised a brow, “What?”

“You got through to her.” He lifted his chin in the direction of the table where Amara sat. “Pretty sure I just saw her smile. I was watching Raina, and when her eyes got so wide I thought the moon fell into her lap, I looked to where she was looking. Mar might have been trying to hide it, but we all saw it.”

“I think I’m getting through to her.” That wasn’t necessarily true. I didn’t think—IknewI was getting through.

“Yeah, I think so too.” Kaiden said, calling my bluff with his matter of fact reply. “Glad for you guys. You deserve it.”

“So do you, man.”

He nodded, his eyes finding his new fiancée. “I can’t wait to marry her. I already know she wants a summer wedding, but I’d marry her tomorrow if I could.”

“Tomorrow’s Christmas,” I said, laughing.

“I just want her to be mine.”

“She’s already yours.” I announced, but as soon as I said the words, I knew what Kai was talking about. He wanted her to be his in the way that she shared his last name. Shared a concrete future together. Shared dreams and hopes and everything. I got it.

“Think Mar’s yours now, Beck.” He replied after a beat. “You sure you’re up to it?”

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