Marry Me for Money (42 page)

I kissed his shoulder again, and realization slowly set in. Although he couldn’t see, a small smile crept up my face.

“So,” I used my pointer finger to run a line from his shoulder blade to the inside of his arm, “aren’t you the cute one?” I moved to his side and pulled at his belt, tugging him toward me. “I know what you’re up to.” My hand slipped under his shirt, feeling the firm muscles of his stomach. “You don’t have to make me dinner to get laid. All you have to do is ask.”

He cast me a look and turned to the stove. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said as a dimple emerged on his cheek.

He averted his eyes, and my insides filled with excitement at him playing cute. As my hands moved to his waistband, he turned to face me.

“Baby, dinner first,” he said, dropping the wooden spoon and reaching for my hand to kiss it.

“I’m not hungry.” I turned off the stove, pushed him against the counter, and got up on my tiptoes to kiss him. “Dessert first.”

He smiled and lowered his head to meet my lips. His hands trailed from my shoulders to my arms before finally resting on my hips. I thought he was going to stop, but instead, he dug his fingers underneath my shirt and into my skin as he pulled me against him.

The kisses started slowly at first until I tilted my chin. He opened me with his tongue and found passage. He lifted me by my bottom, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Excitement hit me as I felt him aroused, and I fisted his hair as he moved us from the kitchen to the living room and into his bedroom without breaking contact.

He placed me on the bed and looked down at me through hooded eyes. He lifted his shirt above his head and tossed it behind him. I bit my lip in anticipation as he took my face in his hands, cradling my chin. He kissed me tenderly as though I would shatter. I inhaled deeply and took in his masculine scent. Never leaving my lips, I felt his fingers loosening the buttons on my shirt, one by one. I quivered at his touch. When my shirt was off, he unclasped my bra and chucked it behind him. Heat rushed my insides as I felt him on top of me. His hands slowly drifted up my legs and onto my thighs. I lifted my bottom to assist him, and as he started to slip off my skirt, I froze.

“Wait,” I said breathlessly, my heart racing in my chest.

He rested his forehead against mine, trying to calm his breathing. “Stop?” Lust filled his eyes. “Baby, I need you. I need in you—now.”

“I know,” I said. “It’s just…I didn’t do laundry and…” I was still breathless. I shouldn’t have felt embarrassed, but I hadn’t been prepared to have our first time be tonight. I wished I’d worn something sexier.

“What?” he asked.

I slipped off my skirt to reveal my flowery grandma panties.

He peered down at the pink-and-green high-waisted underwear and fisted the sides with both of his hands. “Only you can make granny panties look so damn sexy,” he said, slipping them off. “I. Don’t. Care.”

I laughed as his lips connected with mine again. He kissed me until my mouth was raw. His tongue was tasting, flicking, and exploring. I slipped off his pants and gripped his hardness, triggering a switch that seemed to turn up the heat as all his restraint faded. Feeling him at my entrance, I shifted to accommodate him. He cradled my face, and there was a slight tremor in his hands as he rested his forehead against mine.

His eyes filled with such emotion, such intensity. “I love you,” he said.

My eyes forced closed, and I bit my lip at his fullness as he rocked into me.

I would have waited forever for this, for him, to feel him inside me. Our connection was beyond physical. It was deeply emotional. I loved him, and now, he was mine, all of him.

As we made love, he whispered how beautiful I was, how good I felt, and how much he loved me, over and over. I watched a look of pleasure pass on his face. When I felt that familiar buildup intensify, the one that only he could give my body, I closed my eyes to enjoy the sensations coursing through me.

His movements increased to a pace that made the tingling at the pit of my stomach spread to my legs. He gripped my thighs hard as he rammed into me again and again until I felt the contractions rise. My toes curled, and convulsions overtook my body. Just when the contractions began to slow, his thrusts became faster and harder, causing the buildup to rise again. Low groans left his mouth as his steady pace intensified. I screamed his name, and he slowed and stilled in me, both of us coming together in ecstasy. I laid on the bed, utterly spent and fully satiated. I couldn’t move. My body felt like jelly but in a good, satisfied kind of way. I could lay there forever.

When his breathing slowed, he turned to flip me until I was lying on his stomach. When my heartbeat began to descend to a normal pace, he let out a low laugh.

“This night didn’t turn out like I’d planned,” he said, running his fingers through my hair. “It was supposed to be romance, candlelight, and dinner first.”

I lifted my head to look at him and raised my eyebrows.

“I wanted to give you the movie version.”

“Oh,” I said, realization setting in. “Well, this is much better than the movie version. If this were the movies, I’d be watching the love story happen on the screen. In this version, the good stuff happens to me.” I said, resting my chin on his chest.

He peered down at me and brushed a strand of hair away from my face. “Yeah, this is so much better than the movies.”

He kissed me long and hard until I forgot my name, forgot where I was, and even forgot how to breathe.

“Here,” he breathed, “I get the girl.”

I felt his length harden below me against my stomach. I guessed if this were our movie, part two was going to start real soon.

Warm kisses woke me up from my sleep. I smiled, feeling kisses on my eyes, on my cheeks, on my nose, and eventually my lips.

“Wake up, baby,” Kent whispered. “Wake up, beautiful girl.”

“No,” I said, playing coy and turning over to my other side.

I didn’t dare open my eyes as I placed the pillow over my head. My silk nightgown ruffled against the down comforter. Puppy pajamas had been long gone, and had been replaced with silk and lace nightgowns. Kent, being the shopper that he was, had brought home presents almost every day. They had usually consisted of designer clothing or nightwear. Plus, I’d been added as a client on his personal shopper’s list. I’d told him that the way to this woman’s heart was food, so sometimes, he would bring home dinner instead.

“Baby, don’t make me get you up,” he said.

I knew he was smiling.

“I want to see you try,” I said teasingly as I turned over onto my stomach.

He straddled my back and started poking my sides, left and then right and then left again, tickling me. I bucked him off my back and faced upward.

“Stop, Kent. Don’t you start,” I said, giving him a playful look.

He continued to tickle my sides.

“Please. Please. Okay. I’m up, I’m up.” I cried.

His hands slowly came to a stop, and I gazed up at him, taking in his every feature that I’d memorized over time. His chestnut eyes were full of emotion, and his residual smile faded as he gazed at me intently.

He lowered down on top of me and placed his hands on each side of my face. “God, you’re beautiful,” he said before kissing me passionately. He slowed his lips to a painful halt and closed his eyes while resting his forehead against mine. “Although I’d love to wake you up in a much more pleasurable way, I have plans for us today. Therefore, we must get up, or I swear, we’ll be in bed for the rest of the day.
,
” He opened his eyes with a more serious look now, and the passion was gone.

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” I smiled and wrapped my legs around him to bring him closer.

When I slowly kissed his neck, he stilled.

“Kent, are you saying no to your wife?” I trailed kisses from his neck back to his lips.

“Baby, when do I ever say no to you?”

He shook his head, disentangled himself from my hold, and pushed himself off the bed. “You are forever going to be my weakness, but I have plans for today. I’m going to take a very cold shower, so I can get ready. Breakfast is right here by the bed.” He gave me one last peck on the lips and sauntered toward the bathroom.

The muscles on his back moved with each step he took, and his biceps flexed as he took off his shirt and threw it on the floor before stepping into the bathroom. I was momentarily tempted to jump in the shower with him, but then I smelled the eggs, bacon, and toast beside me. My stomach growled, and food won out. I scarfed down the food and waited for my turn to hop in the shower.

“Okay, here’s the first surprise for the day. Close your eyes,” he said, both dimples appearing.

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, smiling the cheesiest smile ever. Butterflies were in my stomach as I felt a cold chain being placed around my neck. This wasn’t the first time he’d slipped jewelry around my neck, but I got excited every time he did it.

“Open your eyes.”

I touched my neck to feel a heart-shaped locket. I looked down, and my hand automatically flew to my mouth in shock.

“Kent, where did you get this?” I whispered. “Pete told me he’d sold it all.”

“He did—to me. I picked up all the stuff in Bowlesville when you left me. I needed all the ammunition to win you back. I wasn’t going to let you leave me without a fight.” He tucked an escaping strand of hair behind my ear. “Picking up Nana’s stuff was the first step. Getting my shit together was the second.”

He cupped my chin with his palm, brushing his thumb against my lips. “I remembered how you used to look at Brian, how your eyes would fill with admiration. I remembered you telling me once that you wanted your happily ever after, that you wanted it to be with him.

“When I was alone, I would wish that maybe someday, I could live up to those expectations, be that man who deserved you, be the man you’d be proud to have. I would think that maybe you could have that same look in those pretty green eyes just for me. I thought maybe I’d get lucky one day, and at the end of it all, I would be the one to give you that happily ever after ending. I wanted to be your other half, your better half. I wanted to be the man who made you happy.

“Because you believed in me, I took a chance. I took a leap of faith in myself, believing that I could be that guy you deserved. I wanted to be the one you could look at every day, wake up to every morning, and be proud of. That’s why I got it together, and I took the job.”

A small smile touched his lips. “Who knew that my whole world could be changed by one unbelievably beautiful girl? You’re the one girl who occupies my dreams, who lives in my heart, and who owns my very soul. You’re that one girl who has changed my everything, everything that I thought was all right to everything that is better. You’re the one girl who I’m so in love with that I can’t see straight.”

He bent down to brush his lips against mine. It was a soft kiss, but nevertheless, it was a kiss that stirred butterflies in the pit of my belly.

He pulled back and brushed his hand against the gold on my neck. “I told Pete not to let you know that it was me. I have the rest of the stuff in our storage.”

I opened the locket of Nana and Papa. He had given her the locket on their twenty-fifth anniversary just before he’d passed away. They looked so in love. My chest ached at the memory of them.

“This is the best gift I’ve ever received,” I said, wrapping my arms around him. “Thank you.” I kissed him lightly on the lips.

“You’re the best gift I’ve ever received.” He placed his arms around my waist. “And there are better things to come.”