Every drop was mine.
Just as she was.
Her nails scraped over my scalp, holding me against her even as she whimpered that it was too much. Growling, I released her hair and lifted her off my lap. Laying her across the bench seat, I spread her legs with my knees and cupped her pussy. “Yes!” she cried. “Yes, Ryan. Please, please, please.”
“Please what, my heart?” I gritted out as I lifted my head, meeting her lust-filled green eyes. “Tell me.”
“Make me come,” she pleaded.
I lowered my head again, ready to destroy the last piece of cloth separating me from what was mine and mine alone, but her hands grabbed my arms, stopping me. “Wait.”
“No more waiting,” I snapped and started pulling my tie free. “Waiting has only made you angry with me. And I can’t handle this shit anymore, Nova. I need you. All of you.”
Reaching up, she cupped the side of my face. “Ryan, look at me.” I looked down at her spread out on the seat, her thighs quivering, her pulse beating erratically at the base of her throat. She was so fucking beautiful, it hurt to breathe as I took all of her in. Laid out beneath me. Mine for the taking. “Can’t you see you already have all of me?”
My heart jumped into my throat.
“You always have,” she whispered, stroking her fingers down my throat in a butterfly-soft caress. “I’ve just been so scared that I would lose you if I told you.”
“Never,” I rasped. “We were always meant to be together. From the first time I set eyes on you, I knew I would never be able to live without you. I hadn’t anticipated wanting you this much, however. It threw a wrench in the plan.”
“What plan?” she asked, but her curiosity seemed more focused on unbuttoning my shirt. With every inch of my chest she exposed, she traced her fingertips over each muscle, making it difficult to think past making the pain deep inside both of us disappear. The light brush of her skin over mine felt like a million little electrical zaps that buzzed along each nerve and straight to my cock, making it pulse and stretch my right pants leg, testing the strength of the inner seam.
“To always be together,” I choked out. “As soon as you turn eighteen, we’ll get married and—”
She slapped her hand over my mouth, cutting me off, her eyes wider than I’d ever seen them before. “Excuse me?” Her voice came out strangled. “Did you say ‘get married’?”
I pressed a kiss into her palm and nodded.
“And when did you decide this?”
Carefully, I pulled her hand away from my mouth. “Do you remember when you had that ear infection the first summer you came for vacation at my house?”
She scrunched up her brow. “Vaguely, maybe? I mean, I was three.”
“After the doctor came in to examine you and the adults were talking, you were all cuddled in my arms. You said you wanted to marry me. Because I took care of you like your dad took care of your mom.” That moment was burned into my brain, the defining moment when I’d realized exactly what my future held. And I’d been on a mission to make it happen ever since. “We are so close, my heart. Less than a year from now, I will make it happen.”
“Ryan…” She gave a soft laugh, shaking her blond head, no longer trying to divest me of my shirt. “That’s insane. That was just an innocent fantasy I had when I was still practically a toddler.”
My heart stopped, my blood turning cold and sluggish in my veins. Hands shaking, I tipped her chin up, locking our gazes. “Are you saying you don’t want to be with me forever, Nova?”
“No, no, no, no!” She shook her head frantically. “I’m not saying that. I want nothing more than to be with you forever. To be yours forever, Ryan.”
Relief was so intense that it made me dizzy. “So, we’ll get married next November.”
“That’s the insane part,” she cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation.
“What’s insane about it?” I demanded.
“You’ve been making all these plans—for us to get married, and who the hell knows what else—yet, you haven’t consulted me once on any of it. This is my life, too, damn it.” She pushed at my chest, and I reluctantly sat up. I didn’t know if I was disappointed or thankful that she covered her chest with her hands. We needed to talk about this, and her beautiful body on display was the ultimate distraction. But I was starved for the sight of every inch of her. “Give me your jacket.”
Shrugging out of my suit jacket, I offered it to her, and she quickly shoved her arms into the sleeves. It was so big on her, it practically swallowed her, but she pushed up the sleeves to her elbows and poked her finger into my chest. “I am not going to be one of those teen brides. I don’t care if my cousins all thought it was fine for them. If you want to marry me, you have to wait until I’m at least twenty.”
A displeased growl left me, causing Nova to shiver. “I’ve waited long enough to make you mine, Nova. I would have married you already if it could have been done legally.” If her parents would have agreed to the marriage, I could have already had my ring on her finger. But as understanding as Jet Hannigan might be about my friendship with his daughter, I didn’t want to chance him cutting me off from her completely if I angered him by asking to marry her while she was still under the age of eighteen.
“Did you miss the part just a moment ago when I said I was already yours?” She stabbed me with her finger in an attempt to drive the reminder home. “No one said you had to wait for that, mister.”
“I want you as my wife and queen.” Disliking the physical distance between us, I lifted her back onto my lap. “We’re getting married in November.”