Finally Finding Faith (The Reed Brothers) (9 page)

He freezes in my arms, his body tensing. “Promise?” he whispers.

“I swear it,” I say. I step onto my tiptoes and press my lips to his. Our first kiss. He tests me, his mouth tentative and soft. It’s sweet and respectful. But that’s not what I want. I nip his lower lip with my teeth.

He groans.
“We’re in a church,” he pulls his head back to say.

“I know, but Granddad just dropped the f-bomb on me, so I think a kiss is okay.” I giggle. It’s a watery sound, but I’m so happy he’s here. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“You couldn’t have thought I would miss this day,” he says, tipping my face up. “I know how much she meant to you.”

“How long can you stay?” I ask.

“As long as you’ll have me,” he says.

My heart leaps.
There’s a knock on the door so I push it open and find Granddad on the other side. “They’re seating the family,” he says.

Daniel takes his hand from mine to go
sit with the visitors and I feel the loss of him immediately. I start to protest, but before I can, Granddad shoos us forward and tells the ushers, “He’s family. Let him through.”

Daniel smiles and comes with us, sliding into the bench seat. He leans across my body to shake hands with my dad, and I am so happy he’s here that I can’t sit even an inch away from him. I don’t just hold his hand. I wrap my arm through his and hold him tightly. Mom smiles at me and winks.

I lay my head on his shoulder through the service and feel him clutch my hand tighter when I start to sob. He is my strength today. I’ll be his another day. That’s how it works, right?

Daniel

We sat through the service and the gathering afterward, and I’m a little surprised when Faith’s grandfather pulls me to the side
, because his apartment is still full of people. Nan was well loved, apparently. He leads me to his office where he pours two snifters of some kind of amber liquid. He hands one to me and clinks glasses with me.

I lift it to my lips because I don’t want to be rude. It burns the whole way down.  “It’ll put hair on your chest,” he says.

I laugh and take another sip. I don’t typically drink. And really don’t want this, but he’s drinking his. I can’t imagine how hard today is for him.

“I have something for you,” he says. He opens his desk drawer and hands me a small jewelry box.

“It was Nan’s,” he says. He swallows so hard that I can hear it. “She would want her to have it.”

I pop the box open and see a matching wedding set. My eyes open wide and I look up at him. “Umm,” I say.

“Grab love when you find it, son,” he says. He raises a brow at me. “You were planning to ask her, weren’t you?” he asks. “Her father said you called him last week.”

“Yes, sir,” I croak out.
I didn’t expect this, though. This kind of support is something I haven’t had in a long time, except from my team and Faith.

He lifts his glass to me. “Don’t waste a minute,” he says over the rim. “Not a single minute.” His eyes fill with tears and he motions toward the door. “Now get out of here and lea
ve me with my grief for a second.”

“Thank you, sir,” I say. “I promise I’ll take care of her.”

He snorts. “I know. Because I’ll have to kill you if you don’t. I hate to get blood on my hands.” He looks so serious. I can’t tell if he’s joking or not. But then he snorts again. He motions toward the door. “Out,” he says.

I step into the hallway and run into Pete Reed, the man who walked me to the clock shop that first night.
His hands are full of boxes of cake. “Pete,” I say.

He shakes his head. “Nope,” he says. “I’m Sam.” But he sticks out his hand anyway
after he transfers the boxes to his other arm. I look over his shoulder and see what must be the rest of the Reeds right behind him. I recognize Paul and Pete (the twins do look just alike), and Paul introduces the rest. There are three girls with them, Emily and Reagan, and Friday smiles at me with a wave. All three of the women are stunning, but not nearly as pretty as my girl. I look around for her and finally find her across the room. She’s talking with some people I don’t know. I excuse myself from the Reeds and walk in her direction.

The people she’s talking
with leave when I walk up, and I put my arm around her waist. “You doing all right?” I ask. I kiss her nose.

“Yep,” she says. She wraps her arms around me and squeezes me tightly. “So,” she says and she looks at me, biting her lower lip between her teeth.

I go hard immediately. I can’t help it. I’m a guy. “So?” I prompt.

“So, you remember asking about my panties?” she whispers playfully.

I bite back a groan. But I nod. “Are you trying to get me killed?” I ask right beside her ear.

“So,” she purrs. She looks up at me again. “I kind of… took them… off.”

That’s it. I take her hand in mine and tow her toward the door. “Do you need to say goodbye to anyone?” I ask her as I pull her.

She shakes her head and laughs. “I don’t think so.” But she does stick her head in her grandfather’s room and she says, “I love you, Granddad!” at the top of her lungs.

“I love you, Faithy,” he calls back, just as loudly.  He waves a hand in the air. “Get out of here, girl. Don’t miss a minute.”

“Yes, sir,” she replies. She
grins at me and, this time, it’s her pulling me toward the door. We hail a cab and I slide in behind her, lifting her legs over my lap. I slip my hand up the back of her thigh, all the way to where her panties should be. And aren’t.

Faith

The hallway goes on forever, or at least that’s what it seems like.  Daniel has my hand tucked inside his, and he doesn’t say a word as we go up the elevator
, and he doesn’t make a sound as he opens the door and steps back so I can walk in front of him. He closes the door behind us and still says nothing at all.

He walks toward me. It’s more of a prowl, really. His eyes are almost feral and his body is tight. “We’re not at a church now,” he says.

“Nope,” I reply, but I can’t keep the stupid grin off my face.

He jerks me to him and I go willingly. His lips aren’t tentative now. Not at all. He licks into me, taking my breath away with his mouth on mine. He holds my face in his hands and captures me, holding me still while he kisses me.  Finally, he pulls back. I can’t even open my eyes. But I finally do and I find him grinning at me.

“Wow,” I breathe.

He starts to shrug out of his coat, and he hangs it up in the closet to keep it neat.

“You feel like taking a nap?” he asks. But he’s still smiling. It’s a big and boyish and he’s so damn handsome.

I close the curtains so the hotel room is now shrouded in darkness. 
Then I pull my dress over my head. My bra goes next. Then I’m naked and then, immediately after, I’m in his arms.

He still has his shirt on, so I pull it over his head and he helps me, laughing. His pants go next.  He sits down on the edge of the
bed and he takes his prosthesis off. “It’s kind of clunky,” he says.

“I don’t care,” I say. I climb naked into his lap and straddle him. His hands devour me, sliding up my sides until he cups my breasts in his palms. He gently tests the weight of them, humming as he bends his head and draws my nipple into his mouth. “So fucking perfect,” he breathes.

He palms the back of my head, his hand sliding into my hair as he drags my head back and he nibbles up the side of my throat. With one arm around my back, he flips us over and he looks down at me.

“Are you real?” he asks. His eyes skitter over my face.

I pull his hair until he looks dead into my eyes. “Are you?” I ask.

I hear a foil wrapper and he quickly sheaths himself.
He settles between my thighs, making room for himself. Then he sinks into me, sliding slowly into my heat.  It’s a slow push until I feel stretched and full. Of him. A tear slides from the corner of my eye and he kisses it away. “You okay?” he asks. He doesn’t move. 

I nod and turn my head so I can kiss his wrist. I tilt my hips so he goes even deeper, and I sigh as he starts to move. He kisses me, his mouth taking me the same way he is down below, and he wraps me in his arms and holds me close as he pushes and retreats, pushes and retreats. He raises my leg to wrap around his waist and he’s suddenly hitting a spot I didn’t know existed. I cry out and he grins.

“I want to learn everything that makes you happy,” he murmurs against my mouth. His hand reaches down to my curls and he stills. He looks down between us. “Damn,” he says.

“What?” I ask. I tense beneath him.

“Your snatch really is naked,” he says, but he laughs, and the rumble of it hits the center of me. His fingers find my heat, and he rolls my clit until I am breathless and panting under him. I finally break apart, and he stills so I can ride the wave of pleasure. I pulse around him and he waits until my quaking stops. Then he kisses my nose and pushes hard inside me. “God, you feel so good,” he says. He looks into my eyes all the way to the last second. Then he buries his face in my neck and comes. He tenses and grunts and comes inside me.

He relaxes on top of me and I hook my legs around him, squeezing him tightly.

“God, Faith,” he breathes.

He rolls to his back and pulls me with him. “Are you really here to stay?” I ask. “Forever?”

He looks down his nose at me. “I finally found you, Faith. I’m not going anywhere.”

I drop kisses to his chest. “I love you, Daniel.” I lay my face on him.

He squeezes me and says, “I love you, too.”

I can’t imagine anything better than this moment.

“I can feel you grinning,” he says, his belly rumbling with a chuckle.

I dig my face in deeper and breathe out. “Get used to it.”

“So, do I get a medal for making you come?” he asks, jostling me in his arms.

I snort. “It was pretty impressive.”

“Oh, shit,” he suddenly says. He stiffens beneath me.

“What?” I ask, lifting my head.

He groans. “I totally forgot to do the whole drop to one knee, ring, and ask you to marry me thing.”

“What?” I ask, as I sit up a little.  My heart stutters in my chest.

“Well, you were naked and didn’t have on any panties and all I could think about was fucking you.”

“Daniel,” I say, pressing a finger to his lips. “Don’t say fucking you. It’s crude.”

He laughs against my finger. Then his eyes narrow and he flips me beneath him. “You like crude.” He drops kisses all over my face.

“It kind of turns me on,” I say with a laugh. I whisper to him. “Where’s my ring?”

“In my coat pocket,” he whispers back.

I scurry from under
him and to the closet, where I rummage in his pockets until I find it. I carry it back to him. Naked.

“This is like the worst proposal ever,” he says.
He motions toward his lap. He hasn’t even disposed of the condom yet.

“Yep.
Worst proposal ever.” I got get him a wet rag and he takes care of business. Then I nudge him. “Get on with it.” A laugh bubbles from me.

“You have to marry me, since I have the perfect ring.”
He flips the lid of the jewelry box and I see it. It’s the same ring I have seen on Nan’s finger my whole life. Tears fill my eyes and I don’t even try to blink them back. “Oh, Daniel,” I breathe. “Best proposal ever,” I say. “Ever.”

“Are you going to tell our chil
dren that we were naked when I asked you to marry me?” he asks. He takes the ring out of the box and I hold out my hand. It’s shaking, so he steadies me. He slides the ring on and I look down at it. Then I fall against his chest and wrap my arms around him.

Did he just say children?
“You want kids, I ask?” I look up at him.

“Hell, yeah,” he says.

“Me, too,” I say. Then I kiss him. And I don’t stop. Ever.

Dear Readers,

Please keep in mind that Daniel and his situation was born in my head. It’s not real.  However, many, many people in real life suffer much like he did, and more.   

I’ll leave you with three thoughts, if you don’t mind:

1. If you wake up and can’t find one single thing to look forward to, ask for help. It does get better.
   
2. If you are considering suicide, or you think someone you love may be considering it, there are national resources that can help. 
   http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
   Click to chat with a trained professional or you can call 24/7. 
   
3. Take a moment to thank a vet, or to offer help to someone who is transitioning back to home.  They’ll thank YOU when they’re able.
   

Best wishes,

Tammy

Also from Tammy Falkner

The Reed Brothers Series