She eases back and wipes her chin with her arm. “How was it?”
I smile and shake my head. This girl has no idea what she does to me. I pull her onto my lap and kiss her. “Fucking perfect. You’re fucking perfect. Are you sure you haven’t done that before?”
Her cheeks turn pink, and she shakes her head. “You’re my first.”
“I like being your first.” I curl my hand around the back of her neck. “I want to be your last.”
Lizzie’s answering smile turns to a yawn. She’s exhausted, and so am I, but I’m not ready to let her go. I want to keep her here with me, in my arms, where I know she’s safe. I’ve never felt the need to protect and claim, but with her, I want to do both.
“Stay with me tonight?”
“Will you cook me breakfast in the morning?”
“I’ll do anything for you, Lizzie. There’s no limit.”
15
Lizzie
I want a man with a good sense of humor, a dirty mind, and a beautiful heart. –Liz
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Calvin says. He leans a hip against the bar where I’m standing and looks out at his wife.
Millie does look gorgeous, but in my eyes, she doesn’t hold a candle to Lizzie, who is twirling around the dance floor with my cousin’s little girl. They’re dancing and laughing, and when Lizzie spins her around, the little girl laughs, and my heart constricts.
“She’s breathtaking.”
“I have a feeling you aren’t talking about my wife.”
I smile and look at Calvin. “Millie looks beautiful, too.”
Calvin grins and shakes his head. “It’s about damn time.” He pulls me in for a hug and slaps my back a few times before pulling away. “I’m happy for you, brother. You couldn’t have picked a better woman. How does it feel to finally be taken?”
“Amazing and terrifying.” I rub a hand on my jaw. “What if I lose her?”
“You won’t,” he says with an air of confidence that I wish I had.
“How do you know?”
“Because your feelings for her are real. When it’s real, it’s different—sacred. You’ll hold onto her as tightly as I’ll hold onto my wife.”
“Wife.” I shake my head. “I can’t believe you’re married.”
“Tell me about it.” He laughs and dips his hands into the pockets of his suit. “One day, we were running around the yard, playing basketball and fighting over who would get the red popsicle, and the next, we’re here, staring at the women we love, wondering what we did to get so damn lucky.”
The fast song ends, and when one of my other cousins asks Lizzie to dance, she smiles and takes the offer. Blake is sixteen and has nothing but stars in his eyes as he twirls my girl around the dance floor, and I can’t even blame him. She’s beautiful in her light pink dress, her hair done up, and those glossy lips.
Lips that I can’t wait to kiss.
“What are you two doing over here?” Dad takes a spot on the other side of me and grabs a champagne flute off the tray of a waiter passing by.
“Aiden here is going to spend the evening ogling his new girlfriend.” Calvin cuffs my arm and looks at Dad. “And I’m going to ask my beautiful wife to dance.”
Dad smiles proudly as Calvin steps onto the dance floor and pulls Millie into his arms. When his eyes turn to me, his smile only grows. “Girlfriend, huh? I thought I saw you and Lizzie getting a little cozier than usual.”
“It’s new.”
“How new?”