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twenty-eight

Does my girl wake early? No. She seems more of a deep sleeper. Perched on an elbow, I watch her serene face and the gentle rise of her chest with every delicate breath. A sheen of sweat coats her forehead. Maybe she’s too warm from how tightly I wrapped myself around her all night.

Every jostle of her body against me made my cock even firmer than the moment before until I awakened with painful morning wood.

As if searching for its home, it throbs with need and oozes from the tip.

Another brush of her skin will send it surging with cum.

Carefully, I slip her panties off beneath the blanket and toss them aside.

Unable to wait, I shove the covers off her and situate my knees beneath hers. One of her arms flings over her eyes, as if shielding herself from the daylight, but she doesn’t move away. My hands grasp her thighs to tug her down onto me, pillaging her pussy with a swift shift of my hips.

The only response she makes is a panted moan and letting her free hand hold my forearm gently.

While straining against the urge to take her forcibly, my lower back shifts away from her core, drawing myself out of her, nice and slow.

Now I’m the one uttering a high-pitched whimper, but of longing, missing her wet, hot tunnel desperately until I rock inside her again.

She sighs. The sound is pleasant and fulfilling in a way that comforts my soul. My woman is alive, breathing, and happy.

Not-so-carefully, I raise the tank top she wears so her breasts are exposed. As we join again, fully sealed together, I lean over to capture one of her large, rosy nipples in my mouth. The sensation of sucking on it makes me ravenous for her. I can’t stop myself from what happens.

My cock buries to the hilt inside her as I rapidly thrust, my thighs burning from the work. With every slap of our skin, I pull on her tit harder, hoping one day her sweet milk will fill me while her belly is still swollen from bearing our child.

Her fingers slither through my hair until she tugs my face up to greet her gorgeous champagne eyes. Like breakfast bubbly. “Ryan…” The whimper escapes her plump lips as her hips writhe to meet every hitch of mine.

“Yeah, my pink cheeks. I need to make you come.”

“I was sleeping.” Her voice is hoarse from the long night.

“So?”

Blinking slowly, she looks as if she may return to dreamland for a moment before she replies, “So you woke me up by fucking me.”

“And there’s something wrong with that?”

“Well…”

“Well, better get used to it.”

“Mm, it-I-uh…” She’s nonsensical, just the way I like her. Neck raising toward the ceiling as she arches her back with the ecstasy only my dick provides.

“Tell me who makes you feel like this. Who is it who controls your pleasure?”

Her nails dig into my forearms as I lean over her face.

“Tell me, my love.”

With a whisper, she breathes what I’ve longed to hear. “You.”

Then she screams as her inner muscles clamp down on me, milking me for all I’m worth. Unable to stay up, I collapse on her, pressing my mouth over hers and soaking in the air she exhales into my lungs. The air I now breathe.

Swathing my tongue, I swallow her morning flavor, which is the most like Penelope . The water I now drink.

My teeth gather her bottom lip and apply pressure as she squeals, a pop of iron heat flushing my taste buds. “The blood I now bleed,” I say as I devour it.

“You’re insane.” She firms her mouth into a line, sucking on her bite.

I sit up on my thighs and slip out of her. An uncontainable grin stretches my face as I drag the back of my hand along my chin, wiping up our saliva. “Yeah, and you like it.”

“Out of all the men I could have been appointed to…”

Her words stab me like a dagger. With one swift movement, I grip the back of her neck and raise her off the mattress until we’re face to face. “Finish that fucking sentence.”

Black lashes tickle my cheeks as she looks down between us, a gasp escaping her chest. “Sometimes, Ryan, you scare me.”

“I love you more than I love myself, Pen. I’ll never let something happen to you.”

When she lifts her gaze, apprehension hangs on the whites of her eyes. “Do you really?”

A short huff comes from the back of my throat. She still doubts. “Yes.”

“You don’t know me.”

This makes my pain turn to riotous joy. Her arms jerk when I grasp them and force her face to mine, gathering her up for a tight kiss. With a sigh, I release her and leap from the bed, then slide into a pair of shorts.

“I know you like soft center-cut bacon, but no eggs for breakfast. You enjoy the feeling of your Harley under you as you take some of the back country roads. Math is not your forte, but that’s okay, because you read textbooks like a voracious vampire. It’s impressive.”

I move to the sink and run some water through my unruly black, shaggy locks.

It moves into the design I like with ease.

“I know which toothpaste you use and that you feel the need to floss every time you eat strawberries. Hell, I even know your brand of jumbo tampons and the pads you prefer on your light days. They’re right here, by the way.

” With a toe, I point to the lower cabinet where I stashed them.

From a dresser drawer, I produce a clean, white T-shirt and pull it over my head.

I search for the shoes I need from the closet while continuing.

“Oz was the closest person to you, though you never told him about us, which makes me think you’re not ashamed , but you’re afraid .

Scared your father, Adal, and he would take freedom away from you. Like they’re the keepers of it.”

As I slide my feet into a pair of leather sandals, I give her a broad smile and cross my arms, leaning against the door to the hall.

“You’re fiercely independent, but never had the opportunity to be on your own.

Still timid that you may need someone to watch over you while you try things out and search for what you want. ”

When I lick my bottom lip, she leans forward, her eyes growing wider. She gathers the comforter and holds it over her chest as I say my final analysis. “Because I know that what Pippi Freidenberg wants most is to be independent, but to have someone to do it with .”

Perching on the edge of the bed, I give her my best puppy eyes and peel her knotted knuckles from the blanket. Holding her hands, I press my lips to the backs of them and say, “And I want to be that someone.”

She seems stunned into silence, but finally relents with a pert nod. “Yeah. Okay.”

I tug on her arms until she’s kneeling with me and tap a little kiss on her cheek. “Get dressed.”

“We’ve stopped.”

“Yep.”

“Where are we?”

“That’s what I’m going to show you.”

She reaches for some jeans, but I stop her. “Uh, try some shorts instead. It’s probably hot out there.”

Her dark eyebrows pinch, but she listens and pulls on a pair of denim cut-offs and a wide-neck T-shirt over a bright blue bra. Watching her move about our room makes my cock stir. It’s so natural, like this is it. The beginning of our life together.

Once she’s finished in the bathroom, and we freshen up for the day, I grip her hand and tug her toward the living area.

“Where’s the driver?” she asks, looking around the cabin.

“Probably inside his bunk, sleeping. He drove all night.”

“To where?”

With a flourish, I flip the lock and swing the door open, bright sunshine assaulting our eyes until we both shield them with our hands. Helping her down the stairs, I wave my arms out to showcase our surroundings.

“Holy shit, Ryan! What is this?”

“Our beach house. Well, beach neighborhood .”

She tosses her hands on her hips, gazing up at the gray-shingled cottage hugging the short cliff to the sandy shore.

Myrtles hung with Spanish moss cover most of the windows and roof, providing much-needed shade for the interior.

A tiny, pebbled path leads to the front porch past a white gabled gate.

Shuffles on the driveway make me turn and watch her spin to scan the private road. “Neighborhood?”

“Yeah, I bought the houses along this lane. You can take your pick, but this one was in the best shape. Figured the kids could have the others for family vacations.”

“Kids?”

My only reply is a casual smirk.

“They look, um, a bit abandoned.” Her big eyes observe the house in front of us.

“They need work. That’s why you’re here. To help the contractors decide what to do with it. If you just let me do it, it’ll end up as a modern industrial.” Raising onto my toes, I give her a shrug.

She slips her hand into mine and pulls me forward. “Maybe I want that, too.”

“Yeah?”

“I like your apartment. So it could be cool to do a spin on that look in one of these. You know, for the kids.”

My knees nearly buckle. Bliss makes my heart beat harder. Fuck, I never thought I could be this happy.

While we stroll under the tree branches that I hold out of her way, I ask, “You know I’m from a decent-sized family.”

“Two brothers and two sisters. Five children total?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Is that how many you want?”

“I want as many as you’ll let me have.”

She considers me for a long moment, as if seeing a future vision before her eyes.

When we reach the glass doors off the sagging wooden porch, I throw them open, and we step inside the large space.

The floor is cleared to concrete, and the walls are bare to the studs.

Bones of an old kitchen are visible through an arched hallway.

But the reason I wanted the place lies to our right.

Pen gasps and wanders over to the wall of clear doors leading to the beach and the blue-green ocean roaring up on the sand without a break in the view.

I follow, kicking off my sandals, and she does the same.

With a girlish giggle, she takes off to the water, and I pursue her as we splash into the tepid waves that rise to our shins.

A frothy one rolls up, and she tries to sprint away, but I grab and lift her until she nestles her legs around my waist. The foam rushes over my knees, but I keep her safely above it, and we hold each other’s gaze.

Her eyes have sparkly bits of gold I never noticed, and the longer I look into them, the deeper I fall for her.

“I think I could love you, Ryan Cardell.”

“I think you already do. You just don’t know it yet.”

She fakes a scoffing breath, but I use her open mouth to press mine to hers, relishing her contented hum. We embrace tightly as the force of water swirls around us.

I won’t let her go, no matter how high the tide gets.