Page 83 of The Pucker and the Princess
This time he doesn’t try to stop me, just continues rocking up into me, letting me move freely, my hands on his shoulders, my head thrown back as I ride him over the edge, shattering into a million pieces as I dive into orgasm number two.
His fingers tighten their grip on my hips, and he doesn’t hold back, prolonging my orgasm as he follows me into bliss. I collapse onto his chest, breathing hard, enjoying the way his fingers sweep up and down my back, still caressing me like I’m precious and delicate.
After a moment, he kisses me and moves me to the side so he can get up and clean up before coming back to cuddle.
“Thank you,” I say quietly, kissing his chest where my head is pillowed on it.
He kisses the top of my head, toying with the ends of my hair. “You’re welcome. But what are you thanking me for?”
“For coming, even though I didn’t ask. For taking my wishful thinking statement and deciding that was a good enough reason to fly down here so I wouldn’t have to face my ex and his fiancée alone. For caring about me enough to do that without getting jealous or feeling worried I might not be over my ex or something.” Lifting up, I meet his eyes. “I am overhim, for what it’s worth. Once I ended it, I didn’t want him back. It’s just taken a long time to get over the pain he caused me.”
He pulls me in for a kiss. “I know. I can tell from the things you’ve said about him before. I’ve never been under the impression that you missed him or regretted breaking up with him. More like you regretted not breaking up with him sooner.”
I grin. “Exactly. A lot of people seem to have trouble making that distinction.”
He shakes his head, smiling back at me. “I also know you waited for him to decide he was ready to get married for a long time. So I can only imagine that it feels like a slap in the face to see him not only engaged, but to be forced to attend his engagementparty and act like he didn’t do anything to you at all.” He cups my face, his gaze soft as he looks at me. “I couldn’t let you face that alone. Not if I could do something about it. The hard part was wondering if I’d make it in time and worrying that you’d think I was way overstepping.”
“God, no. I’m so glad you came. Honestly, though, it wasn’t as hard as I was afraid it might be. He’s a supercilious dick, and I’m so glad to be done with him. More than that, I’m glad I don’t live here anymore and I won’t have to see his stupid face all the time. Even after we broke up, even after I quit working at the shop, I’d still see him from time to time. The fact that I didn’t even know he was dating anyone until Mom announced his engagement makes me think this relationship hasn’t been going on very long, either.”
Dozer shrugs. “While I don’t want bad things for his fiancée, let’s hope she wises up and leaves his ass too, and he’ll be lonely and miserable forever.”
Laughing, I give him a kiss. “Too bad we left before the toasts. You could’ve made that one.”
He laughs too, miming raising a glass. “To Peter. May he have a lifetime of misery and failed relationships.”
I clink an imaginary glass against his. “And may we have a lifetime of happiness and successful ones.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Dozer
The next morningwe get up earlier than I’d really prefer—because it’s my day off and I traveled yesterday and I’d really like to just sleep in and laze around naked with my girlfriend—and head over to Marissa’s parents’ house.
“Thank you for going along with this,” she says in the car on the way there.
I glance over at her, brow furrowed. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
She shrugs, wrinkling her nose in that adorable way she does. “My parents can be … a lot. Dad’ll probably try to suss out if he considers you a ‘real man,’ so just be prepared for that. When Gabby brought Jonathan home for the first time, he ran that poor guy through the wringer.”
Chuckling, I shake my head. “You don’t think being a professional hockey player who’s known for fighting will help with that?”
“You’d think so, yeah, but …” She shrugs. “With Dad, it’s hard to say.”
Squinting, I refocus on the road. “So basically no one lives up to his standards?”
She lets out a shocked laugh. “What makes you say that?”
“Well …” I shift in my seat, hunching my shoulders as I consider the wisdom of what I’m about to say. “It just seems like there’s no pleasing him for anyone. You’ve mentioned several times that your dad treated you like the son he never had until his actual son came along. He treated you like a boy, though, even when he made it clear you weren’t the one he wanted to have work with him and someday take over his shop, right?”
I glance over at her, and she nods, squinting at me like she’s skeptical but curious to see where I’m going with this.
So I plow forward. “Right. And then when he couldn’t ignore the fact that you were growing up and developing an interest in ‘girly’ things,” I put air quotes around that with one hand, “he started to shut you out completely, making it clear that he didn’t think ‘manly’ interests like fixing cars and ‘girly’ interests like makeup and dresses could coexist in one person, despite the living evidence to the contrary right in front of his face.”
Now it’s her turn to squirm uncomfortably. “That’s … I’ve never put it so succinctly before.”
“Sorry,” I murmur, and she shakes her head.
“You don’t need to be sorry. Keep going. It’s interesting to get an outside perspective on this. I mean, I’ve thought similar things, but never laid them all out like that. But that’s just me. I’veknown I’m not what he wished for my whole life, pretty much, so none of that is really a surprise.”
