Silence greeted me.
I didn’t find her in our rooms, so I jogged down one floor to the master suite where London slept and knocked loudly.
“Come in.”
I pushed open the door and stuck my head inside, my eyes doing a quick sweep and finding my girl curled up on an overstuffed chair with London, munching on popcorn from the bucket situated between them.
“You’re home early,” London observed as she pointed the remote at the big flat screen and turned it off.
My eyes were glued to Gracie as I approached, inspecting every inch of her face as if I’d find remnants from her earlier tears. “Your dad dropped by my office,” I murmured to her.
Gracie’s brow knitted, and she cocked her head to the side. “Am I supposed to infer something special from your boss stopping by your office?”
I stopped in front of her and unlodged the bucket, handing it to London. “He wasn’t there as my employer, Gracie.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “More like my future father-in-law.” I used the phrase with a pointed tone.
Gracie paused in the process of putting her arms around my neck. It was so subtle I almost missed it, and I probably would have if not for the meaningful look she shared with London. “Other than the visit from my dad, how was your day, babe?” she asked brightly before pressing her plush lips against mine.
Worry had been festering since I’d left my office, so the feel of her in my arms unlocked a flood of relief, which opened up my blood flow to my entire body. I palmed her ass and lifted her into my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I tore my mouth away long enough to say, “Later, Cos.” Then I kissed Gracie all the way back upstairs to our bedroom.
I wanted to talk. To get to the bottom of whatever had made my woman cry and find out if it had anything to do with how distant she’d seemed lately. But Gracie had other ideas, and I had no armor against her sweet, enthusiastic seduction. It took over an hour to get back around to why I’d come home in search of her.
“Your dad told me what happened with your mom this afternoon,” I said softly as I ran my hands through her long auburn tresses. We were reclined against the headboard in our bed, and her cheek rested on my pec. I felt her expression change, but her head was bent forward, so I didn’t have a sense of what it indicated. “Do you want to tell me why the sight of a wedding dress made you cry, baby?”
Gracie sighed. “It wasn’t the dress...not really. It was just the pressure, you know? Everyone’s expecting us to get married. They’re already planning the wedding, and you haven’t even popped the question yet.”
I’d been doing my very best to appear patient when it came to my relationship with Gracie. I was still a possessive, dominant, jealous asshole—at least I didn’t keep her chained to the bed, right?—but I tried not to let on how much I hated that we weren’t already planning our wedding and working on munchkin number one. It was looking as though I hadn’t been as successful as I’d thought. “Have I been pressuring you, Gracie?” I lifted her chin with my index finger and drank in her beauty as she gazed back at me. “I’m truly sorry if you felt I have been. The only thing I want in this world is for you to be happy, baby. I love the strong woman you are and admire the fuck out of you for wanting to make your own place before we start the next chapter of our lives.”
“You don’t want to get married and have a baby right now?” she asked softly.
Fuck, yes! But what I said was, “Stop worrying about me and everybody else but you, Gracie. When you feel the time is right, I’ll drag your gorgeous ass to the altar and put enough babies in you to fill a mansion in the Hamptons,” I teased with a wink. To my surprise, she barely smiled in response. What the fuck is going on?
“When the time is right?” Her tone was small and quiet, almost...fragile. She’d been a little more emotional than usual, and I didn’t know how I could really reassure her.
I kissed her nose, then her lips. “In four years, you’ll be done with your bachelors, I’ll be nearly done with my second PhD, and we’ll have enough money set aside from me working for your dad to buy our own place. It’ll be perfect.”
Smoothly, I flipped us over so she was lying on her back beneath me again and I gently slid inside her. “That gives us plenty of time to perfect this baby making process,” I tried to joke, but her muscles spasmed and I ended with a deep groan as I drove deep into her hot, wet pussy.