Live for Me (25 page)

“I’m really sorry, Devin.” I was. I knew he’d worked damn hard for everything he had. But I didn’t doubt for a minute that he would recover. If he chose to.

“I’m a mess, Tiff. Broke. Busted.” He briefly touched my waist. “You’re wearing a dress,” he said in a completely random comment.

“It’s summer,” I said, equally inane. “So where will you go if you sell the apartment in New York?”

“I think I’ll rent for awhile. Maybe a small cottage on the coast here. Know a good housesitter?”

“Why do you need a housesitter if you’ll be living there?” I asked, my voice low. I wanted to kiss him, desperately. I wanted to start over, on the same page. As partners. I couldn’t walk away from him a second time. Not now that he was divorced. Not now that he had lost money, been injured. He needed me.

And I needed him.

“You tell me,” he murmured. “Unless you have a boyfriend or something.”

“No boyfriend. You?”

He shook his head. “No. No girlfriend either.”

I laughed a little. “Well. I’d like to apply for the position of girlfriend since it’s open. My qualifications are that I love you and I plan to never leave you.”

“You’re hired. Though I have to warn you I’m a hard employer. Demanding.”

“I can handle it. I can handle you.”

Devin started to move forward to kiss me but he winced in pain. So I met him halfway and pressed my lips to his. I was happy to meet him halfway. Happy to be his equal, his friend, his lover. God, I had missed him. His mouth felt perfect on mine, like we’d never been apart. When I moved back an inch, I breathed deeply, filling my nostrils with his scent.

“Can I start immediately?” I asked.

“I think you already have.” Devin slipped his fingers into my hair and kissed me again, softly. “This doesn’t seem like it’s real. I didn’t actually die, did I?”

The thought made me grip the sides of his shirt tightly. “No,” I said tightly. “Of course not.”

“I would die for you,” he murmured to me. “Do you know that?”

“I don’t want a man who will die for me, Devin.” I rested my forehead on his. “I want a man who will live for me.”

“I can do that, chipmunk.” He smiled softly at me. “That’s all I really want to do.”

So we rented that cottage by the shore and I married him there. With my father and his family in attendance, Cat and Heath, and Devin’s parents. We didn’t want anyone else there, but it was perfect. We had lobster, blueberry salad, corn on the cob. There were fairy lights strung over the table on our back deck and lots of smiles and laughter. Tyrell ran around in circles, cramming blueberries into his mouth, and blowing bubbles with a bubble gun.

“So why did you get married?” he asked me in a tone like he thought I was crazy, climbing up on my lap.

“Because I love Devin,” I told him, hugging his wiggling body against me.

“Duh.” He rolled his eyes and moved his head back and forth.

I laughed. “Then why are you asking?”

“I don’t know.” He slid down off my lap again and blew bubbles in Amelia’s face, who bit them. Tyrell laughed as they popped over Amelia’s snout.

Devin was sitting next to me and he reached over and gave me a kiss. He tasted like champagne. His amber eyes were full of mischief.

“What?” I asked him, suspicious, but smiling back. He looked very happy and that made me ecstatic.

“Look what just showed up.” He pointed to the driveway of our cottage.

It was my jeep, fire ash cleaned off. It looked as perfect as it had in December. Only now I didn’t feel strange about accepting it. Because I had a gift for him too.

“Thank you.” I gave him a kiss. “You’re very sweet.”

“You’d better get your driver’s license now or I’m selling it.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “I have a gift for you too.” I jumped up out of my chair and went into the house to get it. I’d been hiding it in the cabinet above the fridge. Using a chair, I reached up there and retrieved the two boxes. My wedding dress brushed against my skin. It was just a simple off-the-rack strapless slip dress, but I felt beautiful and bridal in it.

“Don’t fall,” Cat said, coming into the kitchen.

“I’m fine.”

“God, I can’t believe you’re married. You look beautiful, Tiffany.”

I turned and gave her a wink. “Whatev.”

She laughed. “Smartass. And to tell you the truth, I always knew you’d marry an older guy. You were way too worldly to settle for some twenty-year-old moron.”

The thought made my skin crawl frankly. “Yeah, that was never going to happen. I would have preferred to be single forever.”

Cat smiled. “I’m just glad you’re happy.”

“Me, too. Look at us. Who would have thought?”

“Not me, that’s for sure. We were dusty kids with hand-me-down clothes and scabs on our knees about a minute ago.”

Cat’s dark hair was pulled sleekly back in a high ponytail. It was a far cry from her teen years when it was always a snarled mess, half the time with twigs in it. “Ha. I was never dusty. That was you.”

I hopped down on the chair, packages in hand. “It’s your turn next.”

“Tell Heath. He’s the one who hasn’t actually proposed to me. I’d say yes.”

When we went outside, the men were gathered around the jeep in the driveway. Cat and I wandered over to join them.

“This is one awesome car,” Randy said. “I think you should take your old man for a spin.”

I laughed. “My temps are in my other dress.” Actually, I wanted to drive Devin in it my first time on the road. I wanted to say thank you in a particularly private way. “But it’s definitely awesome.”

Devin stopped pointing out features to Heath and his own father long enough to hold his hand out for the present in my hand. “For me?”

“Yes.” I gave him the small box.

He opened it and his eyes lit up. “A cupcake. Heck yeah.”

“It’s red velvet. Your favorite.” And okay, so I had been cheesy enough to draw a heart on it by shaking sprinkles over a cookie cutter on top of the frosting. What could I say? I was in love.

“Thank you.”

“The other one you can save for later.” I held the bigger box up.

“Uh oh. Is that a dirty book? It’s
Fifty Shades of Grey
and a pair of handcuffs, isn’t it?” he teased.

“No!” Oh, my God, both our fathers were standing right there. “Don’t be creepy at our wedding.”

He laughed. “Sorry.”

His mind was on sex, though. I knew it was. Just like mine. We hadn’t been together since that one night in December and we were both really looking forward to our wedding night. His gunshot wound was healed now, and while that had been part of our reason for waiting, mostly it had been because we wanted to be husband and wife first. After everything, it just seemed more… special that way.

“I think I need a beer,” Randy said.

“Me too,” Mr. Gold agreed.

Devin laughed, but as soon as they walked back to the house with Heath, he took the box from me. “I’m dying of curiosity.”

I suddenly felt nervous about it. “Maybe it’s a dumb gift. I didn’t really have any money, so…”

“Hey. I’m sure I’ll love it.” He opened the box and his nostrils flared. “It’s your book. The one you were working on at Richfield.”

“Yeah. I printed it out. I wanted you to be the first one to read it.” I tried to express my feelings. “It wouldn’t exist without you and your encouragement. So I thought you might like it.”

“I’m sure I’ll love it.” He ran his fingers over the stack of paper. “This means a lot to me.” His voice was tight.

“You mean a lot to me.”

Devin was wearing a suit and he looked sexy as sin. He gave me a sly smile. “Show me later?”

“Deal.”

So after everyone left, Devin and I decided to drive down to the beach. We could have walked, but I wanted to test out my jeep finally. He threw a blanket, the remains of the champagne, and some firewood into the back. “Should we change?” I asked.

“Nah. Let’s make our wedding day last. I don’t care if we get sandy.”

The beach was private to only a half dozen houses and two of them weren’t currently rented, so it was a safe bet we’d be alone down there.

When I hiked up my dress and jumped in my jeep I had to move the seat way up.

“Do you want a booster seat to sit on?” Devin asked.

“Be quiet.” I turned the key and gave a little yell of triumph when it started. “OMG, this is so cool.”

“Smile.”

I turned and Devin had his camera up. He took a picture of me. “Let me see it. Do I look like butt?”

“No. You mostly definitely do not look like butt.” He rolled his eyes. “Now show me your stuff, Mario Andretti.”

I did officially have my temps but not my license, so it was legal for me to drive to the beach. Not that Devin would have cared, but I was something of a rule follower as I had discovered. I carefully drove us down the driveway, then down the road about a quarter of a mile to the small parking pad at the beach. The jeep bounced, but overall it was a smooth ride. I felt powerful driving it. Not the short girl any more but a woman with horsepower.

“I love this car.”

“I love you.”

Parking, I turned to him. “I love you, too.”

“Let’s walk on the beach, Tiffany Gold.”

His words made me shiver. “Wow,” I whispered. “That sounds amazing.” I meant hearing my name. I knew that Cat intended to hyphenate her name some day, in honor of her father, but for me, Ennis was the name that belonged to two women who hadn’t loved me well enough. So I didn’t mind losing it. In fact, I loved having gained Devin’s name. He was my family, what made me whole.

We held hands as we walked down to the water, Devin carrying the blanket. He spread it out. “Here, sit down, and I’ll go back for the firewood.”

I kicked off my sandals and sat down, staring out at the ocean, closing my eyes to breathe in the briny air and listen to the soft pounding of the waves on the beach. Devin came back and dug a hole and set up the wood. Within a few minutes we had a fire going. He sat down next to me and kicked off his shoes. He took a pull from the open champagne and handed it to me.

One sip was enough for me. I licked the bubbly sweetness off my lips. But Devin put his hand into my hair and drew me to him.

“Let me get that.” He sucked my bottom lip. “Mmm. Tasty.”

“That’s what I was thinking. My husband is tasty,” I murmured. I got a thrill from calling him that.

“My wife is tastier.” He eased me back down onto the blanket.

The fire snapped next to us, light dancing over him as he stared down into my eyes. “What else should I taste?”

Desire made me languid, my breasts heavy, nipples hard. “I’m sure you can think of something.”

His hand was on my waist, but it slipped lower, over my hip, my thigh. He tugged my dress up a little as he dropped his mouth onto my neck and kissed me. “Your skin is so smooth, so soft. I’ve dreamed about you, you know.”

“What am I doing in your dreams?” I breathed, running my hands over his back, sneaking under his jacket to rake my nails across his dress shirt.

“Just what you are right now. You’re looking up at me while I make love to you.” His eyes were glassy and he sat back long enough to peel off his jacket and yank his shirt out of his pants.

“This is real.” I wrapped my leg around the back of his calf and slipped my hand between us so I could stroke his erection through his pants.

“Right to business, huh? I’m not going to argue with that. It’s been way too fucking long.” Devin took his shirt off, tugged down his pants, and kicked them off into the sand. “Can I take your dress off?”

I glanced around. There was no one around near us. The lights from the nearest house seemed far enough away that they couldn’t possibly see anything. And tonight, I wanted to be skin to skin with my husband. I nodded. “Yes.” I sat up a little so he could unzip it and pull it over my head.

“Holy shit,” he murmured, his hands running over my breasts, which were pushing out of the strapless bra.

It was the closet to cleavage I’d ever come. He sucked the swell of my flesh. “I approve this bra and these panties.”

He caressed between my legs. The seamless panties were a low-cut thong. They outlined every inch of my body. But they were easy to slip to the side and when Devin’s hand cupped me, I raised my hips and gave a moan of approval. I let him lead, kissing me everywhere, caressing every inch of me, mouth over my nipples first, then down to stroke across my moist heat.

When he slid into me, we both groaned. It was different than the first time. Still full, still invasive, but easy, instantly satisfying. There was no sting, just pure pleasure. He thrust while I gripped his tight ass and marveled at how good it felt.

“Hold onto me,” he urged, and rolled us over, so that I wound up on top of him without him leaving my body.

For a second, I just lay there, swallowing hard, amazed at how wide open I was to him, how I could feel him pulsing deep inside me. “Oh, Devin,” I breathed. “Oh, God.”

“Move your hips, baby.”

I wasn’t lying flat on him but I wasn’t sitting up either. I was halfway, my palms on the blanket on either side of his chest. I just looked down at him, not sure how to do that. Devin gripped my hips and started pumping up into me.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

It was basically the best thing that had ever happened to me. I was so shocked that I could only respond with a deep moan. The sensation built, spiraling out of my center, and I moved my hands onto his chest, digging my nails in, wanting to feel his muscles. Hold onto me.

When I came, it caught me by surprise. I arched my back as shivers of pleasure rushed through me. Devin wasn’t far behind. He thrust harder and then he was joining me. The shudders went on and on before I collapsed on his chest, arms shaky.

Devin kissed my temple. “I missed you so much. That felt amazing. You’re amazing.”

We lay there on the blanket, the fire beside us, the ocean waves in the background, both body and heart satisfied.

Home at last.

Thanks so much for reading
Live For Me!

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