Page 124 of Between Never and Forever
Then Olive asked across the plane, “Kee, you wanted to keep your location quiet until after the wedding, right?”
Her question made total sense, and I knew the answer, but my teeth dug into my bottom lip in an effort to keep from moaning. All I could focus on were his two fingers sliding into me fast and curling up against the walls of my sex, intensifying how close I was to the brink. My clothing clung to me now as heat washed over my body, and I saw how a sheen of perspiration glistened even on my arms.
“Answer your friend, heartbreaker,” Dex murmured in my ear.
“Yes, that’s great,” I said, breathless, but my friend seemed to take that as a good enough answer because she didn’t ask me anything further. “So great,” I murmured quietly.
“Now, spread your legs a little,” he told me, and I listened, complying without any hesitation. “That’s right. Let me help you relax, huh? So nervous about a little wedding like you haven’t been thinking of marrying me forever. I’m going to be your husband, heartbreaker. And you’re going to fucking like it.” He slid another finger inside me while pressing his thumb hard into my swollen clit. Then he worked me faster and faster. “You’re going toloveit, Kee. Say it.”
I ran a hand through my tousled hair, trying to keep myself looking normal for my friends behind me, but then I met his hungry gaze. Dex was fixated on me, his pupils dilated, his sight lingering on my lips. Somehow, our connection ignited the fire in me, and I couldn’t stop from rolling my hips. There’d always been something primal between us that simmered underneath it all there, something I’d never be able to shake, and in that moment, it took over. He must have felt it, too, because he pulled me close and kissed me as I came. I whimpered softly into his mouth as my pussy tightened around his hand.
He groaned and pulled his fingers from me before he brought them up and commanded quietly, “Open.”
I looked at him in question, but did as I was told, tasting my salty cum on his fingertips.
Against my ear, his voice rumbled out, “See how excited your pussy is to have me as a husband? Can’t you already tell what you taste like?” He waited a beat. “You taste like you’ll be forever mine.”
My heart probably fell all the way in love with him at that moment, jumping right off the cliff without being concerned at all with the repercussions.
Could we make it? Could we somehow work through everything and stay married? My heart was all for the idea, but my mind wasn’t as reckless.
I breathed in deep before I asked him, “What if we end up just a memory of each other, Dex? You speak of forever like it can happen. Do you really think—after everything we’ve been through—we should be walking down the aisle to try marriage when—”
“Who else would you try marriage with? Who else would you want ‘just memories’ with, Kee?”
I stayed silent as I took in that piercing green gaze of his, so alive with love now when before he’d looked at me with apathy. “I don’t want to lose you again.”
“You won’t because you’re marrying me.” He said it like it would be the easiest thing in the world. It rolled off his tongue, soft and coaxing. Then he bent down to grab his laptop from his bag again.
“I am marrying you, Dex. For just a little. We can annul it later.”
“Hm. How about forever?” He threaded his fingers through mine. Then he assessed the ring he’d put there. “This needs to change.”
I chuckled nervously. “It’s a beautiful ring, Dex. I don’t need—”
“You’ll like purple better.”
A laugh bubbled up out of me because he was right about that. “It doesn’t matter.” I was trying to cling to reality, trying not to get my hopes up as I said, “When you marrysomeonesomeday for real, Dex, you won’t have all this baggage, and you can get them the ring they want.”
“We will sift through our baggage for the rest of our lives together. Remember that, heartbreaker. When you meet me at the altar tomorrow, know that if you say I do, it’s for forever with me. Not someone else. You’ll never be withsomeoneelse again.”
I chewed on my cheek as I stared at him, trying not to give away that my stomach had butterflies flapping wildly in it at that moment. Dex would do anything to protect me, even give his forever away. I could see it in his deep-green eyes, so serious now before he leaned forward to kiss my cheek, softly and tenderly like I might break.
I had to not be reckless one more time for both of us. For him. He didn’t need my burdens in his life. I’d seen how the burden of someone else could take a toll. “You know, my dad didn’t gamble so much until my mother had problems.”
He squeezed my hand and rubbed a thumb over my knuckles. “Okay?”
“I think he just knew. Even when my mom had that stroke. Something wasn’t exactly right with her after. It’s when he really started to stay out late. He’d come home with news of a lost bet, stumbling around drunk, and sometimes when I’d find him that way, he’d look at me and say, ‘You think she’ll leave me, Kee?’” Dex kissed my hand but didn’t say a word as I thought about that. “Maybe he knew her mind was going even then. He was being left behind by the love of his life, and neither of them could control it. I think it broke him, not being able to help her. I think it still breaks his heart daily.”
Dex nodded. “I know it breaks your heart, too, Kee.”
I took a deep breath. “Right. So what would you do if you knew you were going to burden someone with your life, Dex? Someone you loved?”
“If I loved them?” he said, his eyes holding mine. And when I nodded, his dimples showed because he knew just as well as me that I was telling him I loved him right then and there. “I’d let them choose, heartbreaker. Let someone you love choose to hold that burden with you.”
His words rattled me. The corners of my mouth trembled with unspoken words. My heart warmed over the fact that he wanted me enough to marry me and then cooled over the reality that I shouldn’t do it.
He must have seen the anguish, because he kissed me hard and took what he wanted. His hand slid up my neck and pulled me close. I kissed him back with just as much fervor, not sure how many times we would be able to do this. The responsible thing would have been to never do it again. I felt myself starting to spiral out of control, wanting to act out and draw negative attention, but Dex didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve the life I was about to live.
