“I love you too.” She raises her hands up and behind her head to wrap around my neck.
I glide my fingers down her stomach, through the lips of her pussy, and roll over her clit, pressing my hips into her ass, my cock nudging her sex.
“You’re so wet.” I nip her ear. “Are you ready to come?”
“Yes.” She digs her nails into my thighs and rolls her hips back, causing the tip of my cock to slide against her entrance.
“Calvin.” She tips her hips back toward me, trying to take more.
“Easy.” I lick across her lips, then shove my tongue into her mouth, entering her and feeling her gasp against my tongue.
“Oh God,” she whimpers, falling to her hands as I thrust in and out of her. Her pussy convulses around my cock. I cup her ass, fucking into her as she cries out my name.
Needing more from her, I pull out and carefully flip her to her back, then enter her once more before lowering my head and taking her mouth. When I pull away, I slide my fingers into the hair at the side of her head. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” I say, watching tears slide down her temple into her hair. “I want to marry you, Anna.”
“Calvin.” Her hands go to my shoulders, where her nails dig in, and I plant myself deep inside her, locking my eyes on hers.
“Tell me you’ll marry me.” I’m not afraid to beg, if that’s what she needs me to do.
“I’ll marry you.” She cups my jaw, then lifts up to touch her lips to mine. I kiss her back as her inner walls ripple around me, pulling my orgasm closer to the surface. “You’re the best chance I ever took.”
“Fuck.” I thrust into her three more times, then squeeze my eyes closed and lose myself inside her. Breathing heavily, I lean back to look at her. “How the fuck did I get so lucky?”
“How did I?” she asks with love shining in her eyes.
“You baited me the first time I saw you, Anna, and since then, you’ve hooked and reeled me in. I’m so fucking lucky you took a chance on me and on us, and I promise you will never regret that decision.”
“Are we really going to get married?” she asks quietly, her eyes roaming my face.
I smile, skimming my thumb along the edge of her bottom lip. “We are definitely getting married and having lots of babies,” I say, letting her go as I sit up, bringing her with me so I can open the drawer on my side table and find the box I’ve been keeping there. Once I have hold of it, I take out the simple diamond ring inside, and she laughs as I slide it onto her finger.
“I planned on asking you when I took you fishing next weekend and was going to hook the ring onto the end of your line.” I lift her hand and kiss her finger. “I hope this moment is just as memorable.”
“Oh God.” She wraps her arms around me right before she sobs.
“Why are you crying?” I ask softly, kissing her hair.
“I . . . I’m so . . . so happy.” She leans back to look at me. “That’s all I wanted. All I wanted was to be happy, and I thought I knew what that would feel like, but I was wrong. What I feel is better than anything I could have imagined. Thank you for helping me find happiness.”
“You found it on your own, baby,” I tell her, taking hold of her chin. “It was in you.”
“I know, but you made it so much better. You make me better, my life better, and I’m so happy I get to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Forever won’t be long enough with you, Anna,” I say right before I kiss her.
When I pull back, she grabs my face between her palms. “Will you do something for me?”
“Anything.”
“Give yourself a break.” She leans in, touching her lips to mine. “I know what happened has been plaguing you, but you couldn’t have known what was going to happen, and none of it was your fault.”
“Baby . . .”
“Please do it for me . . . for our future. Don’t let her have any more of you. She doesn’t deserve any part of you that should be mine.”
Fuck, she’s right. “I’ll work on it, baby.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” She kisses me once more, then curls against my chest.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” I turn out the light, then hold tight to the woman who was made for me, vowing to keep my promise to her because she’s right: she deserves all of me.
Epilogue
ANNA
With my eyes closed, I listen to the sound of water lapping the shore and the sweet sound of my husband’s and daughter’s laughter as they play a few feet away in the sand. It’s been five years since I left my life behind in Chicago, having no idea if I was doing the right thing but just hoping beyond hope that I was. Obviously things worked out just how they were supposed to and better than I ever imagined they would. Since I took that leap of faith, I’ve made some really great friends, met the man of my dreams, had a baby girl, and am now pregnant with a little boy. My life is filled with love, happiness, great friendships, and, thankfully, very little drama.