Music of the Heart (35 page)

              “See something you like baby?  Don’t worry, it will be all yours in just a few minutes.”

              He helps me take off my shoes and then leads me into the shower joining me under the steaming water.  I stand there, lean my head back and close my eyes as I get my hair wet.  I feel him grab my breasts with his hands and squeeze them while sucking on my nipples.

              “No sir.  As much as I love when you do that and trust me, I do.  It’s my turn for dessert.”

              I go down to my knees and take him in my mouth.  I lick and suck on his erection until he begins hissing through his teeth.  I know exactly a weakness of his down here but wait until the last minute to use it.  I run my tongue up and down his shaft, swirling it right at the tip.  I can tell he is getting close so I take him deeper in my mouth and then massage and squeeze his balls and that does him in.  He grabs me up from my knees, sits down on the monster size built in bench he has and brings me straight down on his erection.  He doesn’t just suck my nipples, he sucks them and bites them hard while bouncing me up and down on him.

              “Baby, I’m not going to last long this time but trust me, I will make it up to you later in the bed, in the den, on the balcony, everywhere.”

              I pull up a little and slam back down on him and then start bouncing harder and harder on him.  I lean my head and neck back while he rubs his hand from my neck down to my clit.  He rubs for a few seconds and I can’t take much more.  As he pushes down on it, I lose it. 

              “Cross!  Oh my.  Harder please!”

              My breasts are bouncing in front of his face and he grabs them with both hands and squeezes so hard.  I have to place my hands on his shoulders and my orgasm hits like a truck. 

              “Baby, hold on just a minute.  I’m almost there too.”

              I take his mouth with mine and kiss the hell out of him and at that moment, he comes and he comes hard.  We slow down but continue kissing.  He tears his mouth away from mine and leans his forward against mine.  We are both breathing hard and it takes a minute to catch our breath.  Cross looks at me with a smart ass smirk on his face.

              “Fuck Ashleigh.  I have missed that – a lot.”

              Laughing, I stand up and grab our towels.  Drying off, we head into his bedroom.  I open what was always my drawer without even thinking he may have emptied it in the past six months.  He turns around and just looks at me.

              “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

              “I’m sorry Cross.  I really wasn’t thinking.  This was my drawer.  I guess I thought you may still have some of my things here.  I guess I was wrong.  I was just looking for some of my pajamas to put on.”

              “Are you serious?  Do you honestly think I got rid of your things?  I’ve been waiting for the day you came back to me.  But baby, you sure as hell won’t be wearing any pajamas in bed tonight.  You can take your sweet, perfect ass and get in the bed just the way you are right now.”

              I walk over to the bed with a smile on my face.  Cross slides in right behind me and pulls me towards him so my back his to his front.  He wraps his arms around me and everything feels perfect including his very large erection I feel against my back.

              “Seriously Cross?  You’re still hard as a rock.”

              “Baby, when I’m around you, it’s rare that I’m not hard.  How about I make sweet love to you now. I want to take my time with you and not rush either.”

              Turning in his arms, I place both hands on his face and kiss him softly.  It quickly turns into a more heated kiss and good to his word, he spends the night making sweet love to me.

CROSS

              Ashleigh and I have been back together for a month now and she is leaving for another month on the road after Thanksgiving which is one week away and will be back the week before Christmas.  I know for a fact that I am ready to ask her to marry me.  Hell, I’d marry her tomorrow if she’d let me.  I’ve asked Merritt if she would meet me for lunch at my office and I’m going to show her the ring I picked out for Ashleigh to see if she approves. 

              I tried to find the perfect ring for her.  I spent a while picking out the most flawless diamond and designing it with one of Atlanta’s best jewelers.  Ashleigh likes simple things and doesn’t wear a lot of jewelry as it is so I knew exactly what I wanted for her.

              “Knock, knock.  Lunch has arrived.”

              Merritt offered to swing by the deli and pick up lunch for us.  She starts opening everything up and setting it out on the small table in my office.  I walk over to her and give her a hug.

              “So, what’s up?  You aren’t normally the one who invites me to lunch.   Usually, I pester you to eat with me.  So I’m pretty sure something is going on.”

              Merritt knows me very well.  I look at her with a smile on my face and walk back over to my desk to get the ring box from my drawer.

              “You’re right.  There is something I need to talk to you about.  Well, actually, two things.  Please don’t freak out when I tell you this though.  I designed a ring for Ashleigh.”

              “A ring?  Like an engagement ring?!  Oh my God, are you going to propose?”

              I pull the box from my pocket and hand it to her. 

              “Holy shit!  You already have the ring!  Can I look?”

              “Yes.  Please do.  I want your opinion.  Let me know if I did a good job on it or not.  I spent a lot of time picking the diamond and then planning the design.  I tried to take her likes and her personality into consideration.”

              She opens the box and her mouth drops open.  Sitting inside is a 4 carat cushion cut, platinum solitaire ring.  I had them put it on a delicate band of all diamonds as well.  Ashleigh is not a person to flash her money or everything she has to others so I didn’t want to go too big.  She also likes more simplistic things so that’s why I didn’t add any additional diamonds other than the band.

              “Cross, this is pure perfection.  You nailed her taste exactly.  She is going to flip out.  When are you going to do it?”

              “Okay, I had this idea.  I actually saw it on some website I was looking at and thought it would be perfect for her but you’re her best friend so I want your input.”

              I spend the next thirty minutes talking to Merritt and she loves the idea for the proposal.  I told her to plan on Saturday which is only five days away to start helping her plan a wedding.  Well, of course, that is only after Merritt’s wedding on January 7
th
. 

              I make phone calls to all the guys to let them in on the plan as well as my parents and her parents.  This engagement involves our whole family and our friends.  Merritt is going to round up the girls and her parents as well to be there.  In just five long days, Ashleigh will be the future Mrs. Harper and shit if it doesn’t surprise how happy and excited that makes me.

            
 
Chapter Thirty-Nine

ASHLEIGH

              I have no idea what is going on with Cross but he made plans for us to have our picture made together today by a professional photographer.  I told him it sounded kind of cheesy but he said he won the package at a charity event and thought it would be nice to have pictures of us together. 

Merritt heard about them and helped me pick out my outfit.  So here I am getting dressed in super skinny dark jeans, a hot pink gingham button up shirt with a fitted black sweater over it and my gray knee high boots.  I add a chunky necklace for a pop of color and add the perfect pink lipstick.  My hair has gotten really long and I leave it down with beachy curls.

I walk downstairs where I see Cross standing at my kitchen counter wearing dark jeans, a gray long sleeve thermal shirt with a black puffy vest over it.  He looks incredibly hot right now and I would really rather take those clothes off of him than go have our pictures made.  He hears me come down the stairs and turns to look my way.

“Baby, you look gorgeous.  You ready to go.”

He leads me to the car and we head out to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens where we are meeting the photographer.  When we arrive, the photographer is there setting up for us. She turns around and I see that it is Ellis.

“Ellis!  What are you doing here?  Are you the one taking our pictures?”

“Hey sweets!  Yes, I am and I am so excited!  Are y’all ready?”

Ellis starts by taking some individual shots of each of us and then some together.  She brings out these old rustic chalkboards and some chalk and walks over to us. 

“Okay, I tried this with another couple a few weeks ago and they turned out so cute.  I want you each to write one thing you love about each other but don’t show it yet.  I want you to stand back to back and I’m going to take pictures.  Just follow my lead, okay?”

Ellis starts taking pictures of us we write and when we both get finished, she takes our chalk and takes our individual pictures of us holding our signs up. 

“Okay, I want both of you to turn around on the count of three and see what the other wrote.  I’m going to snap some shots of your reactions as well.  Here, scoot apart a little bit so you don’t hit each other when you turn around.  You ready?  One, two, three…”

CROSS

Ellis is about to do the countdown for us to turn around.  I am nervous as hell as she starts to turn.  When Ava told us to scoot apart, that gave me a minute to sneak over, prop my sign up, get down on my knee with the ring ready.

“Okay, I want both of you to turn around on the count of three and see what the other wrote.  I’m going to snap some shots of your reactions as well.  Here, scoot apart a little bit so you don’t hit each other when you turn around.  You ready?  One, two, three…”

              Ashleigh turns around and looks over at me.  Ellis had walked behind me after she took my picture down on my knee.  It is perfect timing to catch the expression on Ashleigh’s face.  Her mouth is seriously hanging open and she already has tears in her eyes.  She starts walking towards me with her hands over her mouth and stops right in front of me.  She doesn’t even notice Elis is not only taking pictures of us but also of all of our friends and family off to the side watching.

              “Baby, are you okay?”

              “Cross, is this for real?”

              I stand up for a minute so I can be face to face with her. 

              “Baby, I love you more than you can even imagine.  The moment I met you, everything changed in my life and that is the honest truth.  That whole weekend, all I could think about was changing my ways and wanting to settle down with someone.  Every time I thought of it, your face was the one I saw.  It’s been a little over a year since we met and although we had our ups and downs, there was never a moment that I didn’t love you.”

              I get back down on my knee and grab her hand.

              “Ashleigh, I love you more than anything and I don’t think I could go through life without you by my side.  Would you please do me the honor of being my wife?”