#Heart (Hashtag #6) (2 page)

The woman at the counter was all smiles and went on about how she watched mine and Rim’s moment on TV and made sure the room was set up perfectly. I made sure to slip her an extra twenty before retreating to Rimmel’s side.

“This place is amazing,” she breathed out as I ushered her into the elevator, craning her neck so she could see every last sight before the doors shut us in.

Our suite was on the top floor, so it took a couple minutes to make it up there.

“Wait.” Rimmel frowned when the doors pinged open, and I took her hand and led her into the hallway where there was a single set of white double doors. “I thought you wanted to go to Vegas?”

The elevator closed behind us, and I picked her up, holding her out in front of me like she was a doll, her feet dangling above the floor. “You’d really go?”

Her eyes softened. “I’d go anywhere with you.”

I gathered her close and folded my body around hers.
Damn.
Sometimes she just got me exactly where I was the softest. The raging lust I’d been feeling dimmed to a dull roar and emotion swelled up within me.

There were just no words to describe what she was to me. Oxygen to a suffocating man. An umbrella in a rainstorm. Light in the darkness. None of those even came close to the way I loved her. To the way she made me feel.

I hugged her tighter for long seconds more and then pulled back. She tipped her chin and looked up.

“As bad as I want to fly to Vegas and claim you right now, I can’t.” I groaned.

Her forehead creased, and I leaned forward to kiss it.

“I can’t be that selfish. You deserve better than a quickie
I do
with some Elvis standing in front of us. You deserve more than a bouquet bought at some cheap chapel that imports flowers by the dozen. I want you to have the wedding of your dreams with all our family around us.”

“I don’t need fancy flowers and a huge fairy tale.” She smiled. “All I need is you.”

“And that’s exactly why you’re getting everything.” I kissed her nose.

“You’re just scared of what your mother will do if she finds out we eloped.”

I grimaced. God, she’d have my balls.

Rimmel laughed.

I growled and backed her against the room door. “Woman, are you saying you think I’m scared of my mother?”

“I am.” She teased.

A little of the laughter left me. “Aww, baby.”

“Shh.” She pressed a finger to my lips, and I sucked it into my mouth.

It didn’t escape my notice the way her hips tilted toward my body as I massaged her flesh with my tongue.

When I released her finger, her eyes were heavy with desire once more.

I swung her up into my arms and slid the keycard in the door. When it clicked, I held it open a crack with my foot. “How about we set a date tonight, then go home and tell everyone tomorrow?”

“I’d like that,” she whispered.

“How fast can you put together a wedding?” I asked.

She laughed. “Fast.”

I kicked open the door and carried her in the room.

She gasped the second her eyes left mine.

I was good.

Like really good.

The suite was the entire top floor, with a huge wall of windows that looked out over the lit-up city. The view was incredible, and all the lights on the buildings looked like stars against the night sky.

If the view wasn’t amazing enough, the room was glowing with the soft radiance of candles the staff had lit before we arrived.

White roses filled the space. Vase after vase sat everywhere, and the entire place smelled of fresh-cut flowers. I took a chance with the roses. I knew they weren’t her favorite because Zach has sent her some to lure her out one night. But those were red. Not the color of love for us, but the color of blood. These were white. Pure. Just like her and the way I’d always feel about her.

“Oh my goodness, Romeo.” Rimmel breathed and all but jumped out of my arms to go over and finger one of the large bouquets nearby. “Did you do all of this?”

“Like I said, I want you to have everything.”

“
You
are everything. All of this is just…” She looked around once more. “It’s extra.”

She looked gorgeous standing there amongst a sea of white roses and candlelight. With her in the room, I didn’t notice the million-dollar view.

God, I wanted her.

As if she could read my mind, Rimmel reached for the hem of her hoodie and T-shirt. Slowly, she stripped them away, letting the clothes fall to the floor.

Next, she reached for the button on her jeans, popping it open and sliding down the zipper. I watched silently, need hammering in my veins as she stripped.

Once the jeans were gone, she stood before me in nothing but white lace panties and a bra. Her dark hair fell behind her shoulders like a dark backdrop for the creaminess of her skin.

Holding my gaze, she reached around behind her and unclasped the bra to let it slide down her arms and fall away.

My mouth went dry.

My eyes fastened on the perfect roundness of her breasts. I ached to touch them, to fill my mouth with her flesh and feel her body arch against mine, offering up even more of herself.

I stepped forward, and she made a sound of protest.

With a wicked little smile, she reached for her panties, stripping them away with painful precision and blatant lust, standing completely naked before me.

I watched with rapt attention as her little hand slipped over the flat front of her abdomen, across her hipbone, and down past her belly button. I licked my lips when her fingers delved into the dark patch of short curls right above her entrance.

“Rim,” I growled. I was going to explode in my damn pants like a fifteen-year-old. Not only was she going to be my wife, but she was giving me a strip show, and now she was feeling herself up?

Damn.

She smiled a little as her hand moved farther down, disappearing between her thighs. She let out a soft sigh, and her nipples tightened.

I practically tripped over my own feet rushing across the room. I saw her about to tell me to stay back, but fuck that. I was done listening.

My hands spanned her narrow waist and I lifted her and tossed her over my shoulder. She giggled as I carried her back to the bedroom, but the second my hand slid between her legs from behind, her breath caught and she lifted her little ass to give me better access.

That was better.

Much better.

If this was any indication of how married life with Rim was gonna be, then I was one lucky bastard.

Rimmel

Best night ever.

And…

As if the memory of Romeo proposing in the middle of a televised football game, literally sweeping me off my feet, and then making love to me on a literal bed of white rose petals over and over again wasn’t unforgettable on its own, there was this huge sparkling diamond on my finger that would remind me every single day for the rest of my life.

I’d been staring at the diamond for hours, never growing tired of the way it sparkled. The center diamond was round and, frankly, too big and was surrounded by smaller diamonds. The band was thin and simple, with more sparkling diamonds. Sometimes when I stared at it, I wondered how such a delicate band could support such a large stone.

With a happy sigh, I sat back and turned my head toward him. My hair smelled like roses because of all the time we’d spent rolling around in the petals.

Romeo’s large, warm hand covered mine, and I smiled.

We’d taken an early morning flight back to Maryland. Most of the Knights were flying back to the state today as well, but we weren’t going where the team was based. We were going
home
.

Romeo only had one “off” day a week, and today was that day. Coming home for one day wasn’t something he did very often, but he’d been doing more of it since everything happened with Zach. I knew the travel and the sleep he wasn’t getting was going to catch up to him, and I worried about it, but telling him not to come home would be like telling him to hold his breath for twenty minutes.

It wasn’t going to happen.

Going to his away games was something I didn’t do very often either, but lately, it just seemed more important to be with him as much as possible. Lately, it had been even harder to be apart.

We’d all changed a lot in the past year and a half. More than I ever really thought possible. We’d grown up, become a family… We had learned what was most important in life.

This would actually be Romeo’s last short trip home, because his first NFL season was almost over. Soon, it would be the offseason, and he’d be able to come home and stay there longer than a couple days. I looked forward to that day fiercely, but I was still so incredibly proud of the way he played this season and the success he’d achieved. I couldn’t wait to see what the next season, and the ones after, would hold for him.

A few minutes later, the cab pulled onto our street, and I smiled. I knew Braeden and Ivy were going to be surprised to see us. They wouldn’t expect us to show up so soon after he proposed. That was partly why we dragged ourselves out of the opulent hotel room after getting no sleep at all and boarded a plane.

The other part was because even though neither of us said it out loud, we were still really worried about how they both were doing. It hadn’t been very long at all since Ivy’s car accident and Zach’s death. Being home was just the place we needed to be most right now.

The second the car dropped us off in the driveway, I hurried to the front door, fumbling in my bag for the keys. Of course, I dropped my bag, and half the contents spilled out all over the porch.

“Whatcha doing over there?” Romeo asked, clear amusement in his voice as he stepped up onto the porch behind me.

“You know me,” I replied as I tried to scoop up my stuff that was scattered about. “Graceful as ever.”

His large feet and jean-clad legs appeared before me. I paused in reaching for my ChapStick and smiled a little because of the déjà vu I was experiencing.

I craned my neck and looked up his long, muscular body standing over me. He was smiling, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was remembering the moment we met as well.

He bent down to help me pick up my things, and our hands brushed together as we both reached for the lip balm. I paused and looked up.