Page 26 of When I Should’ve Stayed (Red Bridge #2)

Josie

Flickering candles line the cobblestone sidewalk through the woods, a tiny, cozy cabin just ahead in the dimming light of day. We’re a couple hours outside of Red Bridge, close to the Canadian border, and Clay carries the bag of toiletries and essentials he packed for both of us behind me.

My heart is in my throat, its normal delicate positioning only disturbed by the overwhelming feeling of joy. Clay cared for the details of today like a man who’s been planning for years, though the execution was done in mere days.

On the drive up here, he shared stories about ring shopping with Summer and Bennett, and that Summer had decreed my ring as “pitty,” thus finalizing it as the one.

I took Clay’s suggestion and didn’t call Grandma, but it’ll be a few hours before she worries about me missing—she’s used to me disappearing with Clay and ending up at his place at this point. But I did manage to text Harold about missing my shift, and he was surprisingly understanding.

I’ve resolved to let go now and enjoy my wedding night with my new husband.

My husband . Holy hell.

“Clay, this is stunning,” I whisper, climbing the stone steps and turning back to look at his handsome face in the soft light.

He’s as modest as I’ve ever seen him, his smile collected in a way that’s peaceful. He’s normally so vibrant, so big and over the top and exploding all over the place.

“What are you thinking?” I ask as he stares at me rather than answering.

The corners of his mouth curl up serenely.

“I’m thinking I’m the luckiest guy on the whole of this amazing planet.

I’m thinking my wife is beautiful. I’m thinking that if I’d known it would feel this amazing to marry you, I would have done it the first night we talked and I chased you into my parking lot and kissed you.

I’m thinking I’m going to spend the next several hours showing you how much I love you.

I’m thinking it can’t possibly go up from here. ”

His words make my heart beat faster, and I can’t decide if I want to sob tears of joy right here on the porch of this cabin he rented for us or jump into his arms.

“You’re my forever, Josie,” he says. “Thank you for choosing me back.”

I choose the latter, rushing forward and launching myself into his arms, and he has to step back on a foot to stay upright.

I wrap my arms around his strong shoulders and put my lips to his, and we disappear into an otherworldly place.

A place where our kiss is the air and our connection is the water.

A place where we only breathe life when we breathe into each other.

A place where we can’t get enough, but it doesn’t make us gluttons.

A place I want to stay forever.

Clay lifts me higher, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he carries me the rest of the way inside.

Small birds sing and chirp, and the buzz of falling night surrounds us in the forest. We kiss and touch and caress our hands over each other’s skin, taking our time as Clay walks slowly through the little house to the bed in the back.

He lays me down gently in the middle of the fluffy white comforter, and I pull him down along with me. He sets the bag with our essentials to the side and holds my eyes, and I revel in the intensity of opening myself to him without looking away.

It’s a connection unlike any other, a vulnerability I didn’t know could feel so good. I don’t hide or mask, and I don’t expect it from him. “Clay Harris, I think you might just be the most beautiful man to ever live.”

He frames my face with his large hand and dusts back an escaping curl, sweeping the pad of his thumb first over my cheek and then my lips.

A tingle spreads in my abdomen and up into my chest, and I arch up into his body in an attempt to be closer. All our clothes are in the way, but this time, it’s not for a chase of pleasure. It’s for a feeling, a connection, an intimacy that can’t be replicated.

A thought pops into my head, and I can’t stop my cheek from lifting as my mouth curves upward. “Clay, I’m actually really scared…”

His eyebrows knit together in concern, and I tilt my head to the side as I finish. “I’m scared if you don’t make love to me right now, a werewolf or a vampire may appear in this forest and steal me away to be his lifelong mate right out from under your nose.”

Clay chuckles then, grabbing my hips and pulling me down the bed so suddenly I gasp. “No Pattinson or Lautner kid is stealing my girl.”

“Wait… what?” I giggle. “You know Twilight ?”

“It was part of the husband training course I took.”

I outright cackle. “Oh my God!”

He winks. “It was on TV in a marathon one day. What can I say? I got sucked in.”

A snort escapes my nose. “You’re so punny.”

“I get it, you know, the whole plot. Some say it’s unbelievable, but I’d totally fight a war over you.”

I smile and shake my head. “Take off our pants and get up here already.”

“That might be my favorite thing you’ve ever said to me.”

I can’t hide my enthusiastic grin as he undoes his belt and shoves his pants down his legs, taking the black boxer briefs I know he wears with them, and then comes back to me to roll my blue dress up from the bottom, past my belly and boobs, and up and over my head.

I hold him over me as he tosses my dress to the side, and I force him to stay. He chuckles, pushing the hair back from my face and leaning in to kiss both of my eyelids and then my lips. It’s so soft, so intentional, I swear I can feel him opening up his entire soul to me.

His hips settle to mine, and as the tip of him finds my center, he pushes in with one smooth stroke. My head falls back, and a moan slips from my lips. My eyelashes flutter, and Clay’s hands run across my skin from top to bottom.

Slow but firm, he pulls out and strokes back in, his hips grinding to mine as I lock my feet behind him and pull him as close as I can. This is lovemaking at its most pure. It’s storytelling with our bodies, promise-giving for our future.

It’s special in ways I can’t even begin to describe and boundlessly fulfilling. “You’re the love of my life,” Clay whispers, his voice just raspier than normal.

Ditto. I nod, soaking him in and willing our bodies to become one. I need to be closer, to have more, and he gives me everything he has from his hips to his hands and all the way to his lips.

My gasp is loud in the otherwise quiet space, and the sound of his thrusts builds a rhythm in my mind. I let it climb, chasing and chasing as pleasure spikes at our connection and spreads through the rest of my body.

Clay grunts, sinking a gentle bite into the skin of my shoulder.

It’s not enough to hurt; it’s claiming and primal and so right I can’t explain it.

I come in a blaze of glory and bright light and mind-pausing indulgence.

I am only this moment and nothing more, and it’s everything I need and then some.

Clay finds his release too, just milliseconds after me, toppling together into the most perfect union.

We’re married.

Happiness from now on is synonymous with the word “us.”

Serenity is this.

And I never want to know a world without it.