Page 88 of Holly Freakin' Hughes

“Ithink I should go lie down,” I confessed regrettably. “Is that okay? I don’tknow what’s, you know,acceptable.”

Henodded, squeezing my knee. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. This shouldn’t go onlonger than an hour, give or take, so I’ll be up soon.” He turned to hismother. “How about you and Dad? Heading to bed? I know you guys aren’t used tobeing up past six.”

Shereached over to swat him playfully. “Your father is at the bar, but I’ll bedragging him up to bed soon.”

“Andeverybody else?” Brandon asked, noticing the empty table around us.

“Theyalready headed up,” I informed him.

“Well,”he said, leaning in to kiss me softly, “you go ahead. As soon as I can, I’ll bethere.” He kissed me again before standing from the table, catching the adoringsmile on his mother’s lips. “And hey, don’t mind her. She’s just thinking aboutall the grandkids you’re going to make her. No pressure.”

***

Thebed was huge and exactly what I would have envisioned Heaven feeling like, orthat could have been the fatigue talking. I had hung up from my last phone callfor the night and told myself Esther would already be sleeping as I threw mycellphone onto the nightstand. I curled my knees to my stomach and closed myeyes, prepared to fall into a coma when the door opened and my fiancé walkedin, already pulling at his bowtie and looking as though he had maybe a few toomany glasses of Scotch.

Hestumbled as he kicked off his dress shoes and threw his tuxedo jacket on thecouch, and it hit me all at once that I was beginning the rest of my life withthis incredible man who was so much more than anything I could have dreamed of.

AndI deserve it. I deservehim.

Hepulled his hair loose from the ponytail, shaking it out with his hands, andwent to unbuckle his belt when he noticed my eyes were opened. “I figured you’dbe sleeping,” he said with a warm smile, coming to sit next to me on the bed.Shaking my head, I told him I had spent the past hour making phone calls. Hegrunted a chuckle. “And now your family is officially convinced you’re insane,after accepting a proposal from the man you walked out on over a month ago?”

Astab of guilt hit my heart. “No, but I was insane for leaving, and then … God,I should have at least called, or I—”

“Yeah,andIshould have never given you a reason to be upset in the firstplace.” Brandon reached a hand over to cup my shoulder. Through his dark eyelashes,his piercing blue eyes looked directly into mine. “Baby, we could both talkabout everything weshouldhave done since we first met, but why bother?The way I see it, we got to where we were supposed to be, and right now, that’sreally all that matters.”

“You’reamazing, you know that?” Brandon shrugged his response, a little smiletwitching at the corners of his mouth, and I asked the question I had beendying to get the answer to. “So, um, how long had you been planning this wholething?”

“Aweek,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“Aweek? You only decided you wanted to marry me a week ago?”

“Oh,no.” He held a hand up before resting it on the curve of my hip. “I’ve knownfor months that I wanted to marry you, if I allowed myself to get that close,but it wasn’t until I was driving back from Florida that I decided I was goingto ask you to be my wife.”

“Yourwife,” I repeated. I shook my head, cupping my hands over my mouth. Deepbreaths. “So, how did that happen?”

“Itook a detour into the city, stopped at Tiffany’s, and bought the ring thatspoke to me.” He squeezed my hip gently, biting his bottom lip. A lustfulglimmer ignited a heat in his eyes as they traveled over the curves of my body.

“Butwhat if I had said no?”

“Thatwas never an option,” he said gruffly, his voice lowering to a whisper.

Hishand came up against my cheek, stroking his thumb across to lay against mylips. My eyes closed as I kissed against the pad of his finger, and listened tothe sharp inhale of his breath. I felt him lean over me, and he replaced histhumb with his lips; moving against mine softly before I opened my mouth to hiswhiskey tongue, reminding us both of how badly we wanted—needed—eachother. I melted into the bed as he pulled back the blanket and groaned when hefound I was naked. Through his wanton smile, he kissed along the curve of mycollarbone and down between my breasts, taking a moment to suck slowly on onenipple before continuing his trail of kisses to just below my bellybutton.

Iwaited for him to move lower, desperately needing his mouth to relieve thebuilt-up tension between my legs, but he stopped and I listened. I listened tothe sound of his belt coming undone and listened as his pants hit the floor. Mysense of touch was reignited then, as I felt his muscular build ease on top ofme.

“Open,”he commanded, pushing my legs apart with the width of his hips. A duet ofgroans filled the room as he sunk into me, surrounding himself and filling mewith the desire fueled by our coupled lust and love for each other.

“Holly,”he growled, and my toes curled at the sound of my own name. “Have I ever toldyou how fucking good it feels to be inside you?”

Igrinned through a moan. “How good?” I asked between strangled breaths, glidingmy hands down the length of his back to dig my fingers into the sensitive fleshof his tight ass.

Strandsof his hair fell forward as his forehead pressed into mine. His eyes held mewith that hypnotic intensity, like a wolf staring down its prey. “So … fucking… good.” He emphasized his words with long, hard thrusts; burying himself untilthere was no telling where I began and he ended, pulling back until I wasafraid he would leave me empty.

“How… profound, Mr. B. Davis.” I smiled playfully, gazing into the depth of hisdarkened blue eyes. “I can see why you’re a best-selling author.”

Hisface was taken over by a lopsided smile, crinkling his eyes at the corners. “Isit that obvious?”

Itook in another look of his face before my eyes rolled, closing them to thesensations that passed through his body and into mine. I reveled in the want tofeel everything. The breath against my face, labored and desperate. The pumpingof his blood through the veins that made contact with my skin. The long, slickstrokes that brought me closer to the brink of utter bliss. The beating of myheart that seemed to say, “He’s mine, he’s mine, he’s mine.”

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