No One But You

“I don’t want to. Well, some of it I do, but the living with you part…I want that. A lot.” She traced her fingers over my damp face. “But I need you to understand that there are things that I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready for.”

“All I want and all I need is you. Everything else, all the rest, is a bonus.” I squeezed her hip slightly.

“I need to say it so you know what I mean. I don’t ever want you to feel like I misled you. I need to give you the opportunity to choose me above the other things you mentioned yesterday.”

“I choose you, baby.” I dragged her a little closer to me. “It’s always been you and it’ll always be you.”

“Even if I can’t give you another child?” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I might never be ready for that. I love the idea of it, but I-I-I can’t…the thought makes me anxious and-and-an—”

“I still choose you.”

Her breath hitched and her features relaxed a little.

“The marriage part is something I could work up to. I think maybe if I started seeing Rebecca again, that I could work through my issues with it. Maybe? I don’t know? But I’m…I would like to work towards that with you. I just need time, you know?”

“I’ll give you all the time you need, sweetheart, and if marriage isn’t something that you ever want again? I’m still choosing you.”

“You do? You are?”

I would always choose her and as I sat waiting for her to finish getting ready for the gala, I was more certain of it than anything else.

Of course, a part of me still hoped that one day she’d be ready for all those things, but if she never were? I would be more than happy to just have her and our girls.

We’d spent a long time working our way to this point. Slowly edging toward what we wanted. The reality was that although I did want to marry her and just the thought of having a child with her excited me, it was her that I wanted above all those things. And it wasn’t just having her, it was making her happy. Every nucleotide of my DNA was marked to make her happy. To give her everything she needed.

That was all I wanted and that would be my most important role.

I took one last swill of my drink, finishing it as I heard the tapping of her heels in the

hallway coming closer and becoming silent as she stepped onto the rug in front of me.

Oh God, that was all I could think as I took her in.

Her honeycomb hair was tousled to one side in light, carefree waves that just grazed the fullest part of her bust. The deep wine-red velvet dress hugged the curves and dips of her body before it just about grazed the floor around her feet.

The exposed slithers of skin at her waist making my mouth water as my eyes travelled up to the low slashed décolletage showing just a small hint of her perfect plump boobs before closing off at her neck again.

She tilted her head to the side as though feeling bashful. Her dusky rose lips pursing slightly as she looked at me from under her thick, deep midnight lashes. The satin barely there pink blush of her cheeks deepened slightly before she turned her back to me.

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

She straightened her back as she combed her hair over her shoulder, completely exposing her back all the way to the top of her pert and rounded bum.

“I managed the bottom zip, but that top one is impossible to do up without help.” She said as she looked down at the floor, her voice a little grainy and tinged with lustrous smoke. “Would you mind?”

I could barely push up from the arm of the sofa thanks to my stiff, shaking hands. The creamy, barely freckled skin of her back making it impossible to think about anything else other than brushing the soft fabric off her shoulders. Working the slightly puffy short sleeves down her arms.

“Jamie?” She murmured as she looked over her shoulder.

“Hmmm?”

“My zip.”

Her zip.

Shit.

Her fucking zip.