Our Time (27 page)

I kicked off my shoes and made my
way to the stairs, kissing her ravenously and praying it would never end. She
was clutching the nape of my neck, pulling me closer while digging her fingers
through my hair.

Monty was lying on her bed and
jumped up when we crashed through the doorway. He left the room in a hurry and
I took a mental note to throw him his own barbeque for the gesture.

I set her on her feet at the foot
of the bed and we made quick work of the rest of our clothes, which wasn't
quick enough since they were so wet and we had to practically peel out of them.
We crashed onto the bed hands roaming and gripping, mouths searing every piece
of skin we could find before my hand slipped into heaven and found her more
than ready.

A growl rumbled in my chest when
she lifted her hips, hoping to force my fingers inside, and I struggled to
decide whether to savor this now or later. She grasped me in her hands and
stroked, I saw stars and fought to hold onto the tiny sliver of control I had
left.

I wanted to dive into her, block
out everything around us by burying myself inside of her, losing myself, but I
needed to make sure she knew I wasn't going anywhere.

"Jocelyn."

"Hmmm?" Her eyes were
closed and her hands kept moving on me. I wrapped a hand around one of her
wrists and lifted it to my lips.

"Baby, look at me,
please."

Her beautiful brown eyes met
mine, full of desire and love. For me. My chest ached knowing the love I had
for her and I could only hope she felt half as much for me as I did for her. I
was the luckiest man in the world to have this perfect woman in my arms.

"I love you," I rasped.

"I love you, too." She
tilted her head to the side and grinned.

"I want to marry you,"
I whispered, never taking my eyes from hers.

Her breath caught in her throat
and the pulse at the base of her neck thrummed violently and it was almost
impossible to keep from kissing and licking her there. More tears glistened in
her eyes, but her smile was radiant and gave me the courage to keep going.

"I want to marry you,
Jocelyn. I want to provide for you, protect you, cherish you, love you…
forever. I want to hold you every night and wake up to you every morning, make
you laugh every day, make love to you as much as you'll let me, kiss your tears
away…"

Tears were falling down her
beautiful face and I kissed every one of them, tasting the saltiness as I
licked my lips clean. I lifted her into my arms and sat down with her
straddling me. I kissed her over and over again, her mouth, her chin, her nose,
everywhere I could, and she wrapped her hands at the nape of my neck when I
returned to her full lips.

"I want to adopt Liv and
watch her grow up and see the beautiful woman she will become. Just like her
mother. I want her to call me Daddy and help me pick out gifts for you and when
she gets older, confide in me when she needs to. I want to take care of her and
be the father she needs. I want us to be a family."

She kissed my face and her tears
spilled onto my chest.

"Please tell me you want
that, too. Will you marry me, Jocelyn? Will you be my wife?"

I didn't have to wait long for
her answer. She nodded and her voice broke as she said the one word that would
make me the happiest man alive. "Yes."

I crushed her mouth with mine and
she clung to me tightly. I chuckled in relief, smiling so widely that it was
difficult to continue kissing her.

She was mine. She was mine
forever.

I couldn't wait to put a ring on
her finger and I was tempted to go and grab the one I had picked up on Saturday
that was tucked away in my nightstand. She moved her hips against me, though,
and all thoughts of the diamond I hoped she would love, left me.

I turned us so I was lying on my
back with her straddling my hips. Her long hair surrounded us as she leaned
forward and molded her mouth to mine and the scent of her shampoo made my head
swim.

I wrapped my hands around her
hips and positioned her above me. She was more than ready and sank down, taking
me slowly and completely while her arms trembled at either side of my head. I
almost lost it as her body gripped me, but I held on to what little control I
had still and took deep breaths, wanting to make this last. She must have been
having the same problem because she was taking deep breaths and her eyes were
shut tightly.

I reached up and cupped her
cheek, tracing her plump bottom lip with my thumb. She leaned into my touch and
opened her beautiful chocolate eyes, the one with the dark spot cutting through
it almost black with pleasure.

We stared at each other, unmoving
and content with the incredible connection we were sharing, speaking without
words. I pulled her face down to mine and traced her lips with my tongue, eager
to taste more of her. I lifted my hips barely off the bed and felt her press
against me, electricity shot up my spine, urging me to move harder. Her moan
lit me up and I had to have more. I gripped her hips again and lifted her until
I was barely inside of her, then pulled her down as I thrust up, hard.

 I literally heard the snaps as
the final threads of control broke from both of us. She moved above me as I
moved beneath her, matching rhythms and taking each other, giving each other
wholly.

When her muscles clenched,
preparing her for release, I pulled myself upright to sit beneath her and drove
my hand into the hair at the back of her neck, holding her against me with my
other hand at her hip. The position pressed me deeper inside of her and I
swallowed her gasp, kissing her with everything I had. I pulled her bottom lip
between my teeth and nibbled as I moved my hand from her hip and positioned it
between our bodies, pressing my fingers against that sensitive bundle of nerves
and sending her over the edge.

Beautiful.

The first wave pushed that
electric pulse to the base of my spine. The second wave pulled my name from her
lips and the third sent me over the edge with her as I clung to her writhing
body.

Forever wasn't long enough.

As we both drifted back, she
wrapped her arms around my shoulders and buried her face in my neck. When I
felt the first tears fall on my skin, I was reluctant to pull away, but I did.

"Hey," I murmured,
"don't cry, love." I wiped her tears and kissed her soft lips. She
had cried so much lately and had told me over and over again how pathetic she
felt for doing it. I thought she was beautiful and so much stronger than she
gave herself credit for, but it still tore me up inside.

"I- I don't w-want to leave
you, Andrew," she said against my lips.

My stomach dropped at the
reminder of what could happen sooner rather than later. The love of my life
could be taken from me. Taken away with pain overwhelming her and nothing I
could do to help her.

No. Not going to happen.

"Joss, sweetheart." I
cupped her chin and forced her to look me in the eyes.

When her eyes met mine, her
breath caught and her tears stopped. She looked scared, but hopeful.

"You aren't going anywhere
until I let you." I kissed her hard and held her face between my hands,
refusing to let her turn or pull away from me. "And I will
never
let you go."

She didn't look away, but she
wasn't really looking at me.

"Hey, look at me."

Her eyes flickered and finally
focused on mine. Rich chocolate on ocean blue. "We do this together. No
matter what, okay?"

"Okay." I almost didn't
hear her, she spoke so quietly, almost afraid to relent.

A sudden rush of warmth coursed
through my body and rested deep in my chest. For some reason I could never
explain, I felt peace, and I
knew
that everything was going to be okay.
What we had, could never be taken from us whether she was here or not. My eyes
widened as the thought settled itself in the forefront of my mind.

Our time wasn't up yet.

I smiled, a genuine all-consuming
smile and she gasped as her entire body trembled and her lips curled up into a
smile that took my breath away. "Okay," she said again, this time
loud and sure.

I kissed her cheeks, her eyes,
her nose, and the corners of her mouth and she giggled and sighed. We were
still connected and I had no intention of moving away from her, so when she
tried to climb off of me, I growled and pulled her back down as every drop of
blood inside me moved between us again.

"Did I not just tell you I'm
not letting you go anywhere?" I kissed and nipped along the length of her
collar bone, smiling against her skin when goose bumps spread down her arms.
Our hair was still wet from the rain and the chill of her wet hair on my face
gave me an idea.

She yelped when I jostled us to
the edge of the bed and groped the softness filling my hands as I lifted her
with me. I kissed her hard and made my way to the bathroom, now buried deep
inside of her.

"Where are we going?"

"I hear you in the shower
almost every night, love, and every night I fantasize about what it would be
like to watch you."

She arched an eyebrow, "And
you think you are going to see that tonight?" she asked wryly.

"Nope. Not tonight." I
stretched a hand into the shower stall and turned the knobs.

She looked confused and my lips
twitched in amusement. "Then why--"

"I also fantasize about what
it would be like to watch my hands run over your wet, soapy skin."

I kissed her shoulder and felt
her chest rise and fall when the image was formed in her mind.

"Oh," she breathed as I
kissed up her neck and behind her ear.

"Uh huh."

"Will I get a turn?"

I almost blacked out from the
thought and stumbled into the stream of hot water. "God, yes."          

She chuckled softly against my
ear before I felt her nibble my earlobe, sending a shudder through my body.
"Then pass the soap."

Jocelyn

Dr. Harrison called the next morning
and said that nothing too unusual showed up in my blood work and he would like
to schedule surgery as soon as possible. Two weeks. I had two weeks before I
would know anything for sure.

Two weeks.

Such a short and long amount of
time all at once.

Andrew was with me during the
call. Actually, he pulled me onto his lap as soon as he knew who it was and
held onto me while I scheduled everything. He made me promise not to think
about it until we were on our way to the hospital for the surgery. Almost impossible,
but with his help, probable.

I started to feel the ache in my
head again, the painful numbing feeling that had made it impossible for me to
tamp down the nausea just days ago. I couldn't stand feeling this way. I
couldn't stand knowing that my body wasn't handling it.

But I
had
to. I
had
to handle it. Olivia was counting on me and so was Andrew.

We were sitting at the kitchen
counter eating cereal and waiting for Madison to bring Olivia home when he
asked me about Monty and when I had gotten him. The ache seemed to dull as I
recalled the sweet memory of finding my very best friend and the immediate love
I had for him.

"I was recovering  from my
second surgery and was having a hard time since David was… well, not really
around. I didn't really have anyone to talk to on the hard days. I saw an ad in
the paper for someone that was selling puppies and decided to find a furry
companion. I wanted to get a dog that wouldn't cause too much trouble and it
took me about a month before I found him."

I walked to the sink and rinsed
out my bowl with said dog hot on my heels. He was having a hard time leaving my
side after I had collapsed. I crouched down and scratched him behind the ears.
He grunted and closed his eyes, soaking in the pleasure. Andrew watched both of
us quietly, waiting for me to continue.

"I walked into this run down
house in a neighborhood I had no business being in and saw about 17 dogs gated
off in the living room. Three mothers with fourteen tiny puppies, they were
about five and a half weeks old at the time. The people that had bred them were
kind of sketchy, but nice enough. They were trying to wean the puppies and had
poured a bunch of food into this giant bowl and a couple of the puppies fell
into the bowl and they were all ravenous and fighting each other for a spot.
All of them except my Monty." I gave his side a pat and walked back over
to Andrew who was looking at me affectionately.

He pulled me back onto his lap
and kissed my forehead before I continued. "He just ran right up to me and
tried so hard to get me to pick him up, howling and singing until I finally
did. Then he just cuddled right up to my neck and fell asleep."

Monty made a whimpering sound at
our feet and put his paw up on my leg as if remembering the day as clearly as I
did.