Awaken Me (The Jaded Series Book 4) (52 page)

Fucking chuckles.

“I want to hear you say it. Tell me what you want, Sugar.”

For some reason he likes for me to tell him when I want him inside me. I love hearing him talk dirty, but I don’t do it often. It’s not that I don’t want to, I just feel weird doing it.

“Please fuck me, Nick. I want to feel your cock sliding inside me. I
need
it.”

“Yeah, baby, I know you need it,” he groans. “I do too.”

Finally, he pulls his hips back, notches the tip at my opening, and slowly slides inside me. He doesn’t stop until he’s in as far as he can go.

“Ahhh!” I cry out.

“Shit,” he grunts. “You feel
so fucking good
.”

He holds still and doesn’t move. Frustrated, I tighten my walls around him. He has to move before I explode into a ball of burning need.

“Oh, fuck, baby,” he hisses. “You can’t do that.”

“Then move, damn you!” I growl at him over my shoulder and buck my hips upward.

“If I move, then it’s all over.” He grabs my hair again and tilts my head back, exposing my throat. Leaning forward, he plants his lips there and licks against the skin.

“Nick, please,” I beg him and clench around him again.

With a snarl, he gets up, grabs my hips, lifts me so we’re both on our knees, and slams his hips forward. He groans, while I shout.

“Yes!”

This is what I need, what I crave. Him losing control until he has no choice but to take me the way I want.

He pulls back until just the tip is inside and pounds forward again. And again, bringing my hips back to meet his forceful thrusts. He hits something inside me that has me screaming his name in pleasure.

“This good enough for you, Sugar?” he growls.

“Ah, God, yes,” I sob. This is just what I wanted.

All of a sudden he stops, and I want to cry. He pulls out, and before I know it, I’m flipped over to my back. Grabbing my hips, he lifts them until my legs are over his. Next, he reaches down and picks me up under my arms and I’m lifted so I’m straddling him with my arms around his neck. He sits back on his legs.

“Your turn. Work my cock, baby.”

I take the tip of him and place it at my pussy and slide all the way down until my pelvis meets his. I throw back my head and moan deeply. He slides his arms around my back, pulling me forward until my chest meets his. His face lands in the crook of my neck, where he starts sucking and nipping. I ride him up and down. With each downward motion, I grind my clit down on him, sending shock waves all over my body. His hands grab my butt, and he helps lift me so I’m moving faster.

Bursts of electricity burn all over my body. When I get close, I open my eyes and lock on to his. He’s looking at me with such love and wonderment. I lean forward and kiss him. I love it when he looks at me like that. I have no doubt that I’m the happiest woman alive. There’s no way anyone could ever be happier than me. Nick gives me that. He makes my world perfect.

Our movements become frantic. I rock up and down as he continues to lift me. The sensations running through my body are almost too much. I feel the first wave of my orgasm in my limbs. They go limp and tingly. Next is my lower stomach, as it clenches. Then my head goes fuzzy. It completely takes over my body.

I keep my eyes on him as my body ignites, sending me over the edge of bliss.

“Chris,” he whispers. His body tenses and he brings his arms tighter around me as he finds his own release.

I rest my head on his shoulder and breathe in deeply, trying to pull in much-needed air. His chest rises and falls as he tries to catch his own breath.

Keeping us connected, he leans forward until we’re lying side by side with one of my legs still wrapped around his hip. He cups my cheek and gets closer for a kiss.

“I love you,” he says softly when he pulls back.

And again, that’s another thing I’ll never tire of. He says it all the time, and I know each time he means it because it reflects in his eyes.

“I love you, too.”

A cold draft overcomes me when he pulls away, dislodging us. He doesn’t go far though, just reaches over and grabs something from the drawer in the nightstand. My breath catches when I see what he’s holding. It’s something I’ve secretly wanted, but was too scared to hope for.

He watches me closely as he holds the small black box in his hand. I roll to my back when he hovers over me. He opens the box and places it on my chest right below my boobs. I look down at it. It’s stunning. It’s a silver band with a sapphire surrounded by smaller trilliant-cut diamonds. I look back at him with tears in my eyes.

“I wanted to plan this big gesture, but nothing I thought of was good enough. There’s no way I could ever do or say anything that will show you how much I love you. If I lived a thousand lifetimes, it wouldn’t be long enough. I’m here, living and breathing, because you bring me those things. You give me life, and the air I breathe. You make my heart beat and hold my soul in place.”

He grabs my hand, kisses the palm, and brings it to his heart.

“Will you marry me, Chris, and continue to be my reason for living?”

With tears streaming down my face and my heart filled with so much love, I launch myself at him and wrap my arms around his neck. I force him to fall back with me and seal our lips in a crushing kiss.

“Yes! Yes! Yes,” I cry against his lips. “A thousand times yes, Nick! There’s nothing that could keep me from marrying you.”

His lips steal my breath as he crashes them down on mine. He frames my face when he pulls back.

“Thank you for not giving up on saving me,” he says quietly. “Thank you for bringing me back.”

I reach up and put my hands over his.

“Thank you for letting me.”

Nick

One year later…

I watch as the stunning vision appears at the end of the aisle. She takes my breath away every time, but seeing her now in her pure white silk gown that hangs over her milky white shoulders, and knowing she’s about to become Mrs. Daniels, makes me dizzy. Her hair is up off her shoulders with a few curled tendrils floating down. Small white flowers here and there stand out against her red hair. Even from across the distance separating us, I can see the bright green in her eyes as she looks at me. Her smile stretches across her face, making her already beautiful face gorgeous.

We’re at Jaxon’s lake because Chris said she always wanted to get married outside with the sun shining down on her. It’s a small gathering of just our family and close friends. Her parents are here as well. They started coming around when they heard what happened to her. I could tell Chris was upset when they showed up, but she lost her ire when she saw the devastation on her mom’s face. Their relationship is still strained, especially between Chris and Jase and their dad, but it’s getting better. Jase hasn’t forgiven him yet, but he’s not as hostile toward him as when they first arrived in town. I’ve seen the way their dad looks at them both. I still don’t like the man because of how he treated Chris and Jase, but I can see the remorse and regret in his eyes. I’m still reserving judgement. He just better watch himself.

I keep my eyes focused on Chris as the “Wedding March” starts. Instead of her dad beside her, she opted to have Jase walk her down the aisle. I saw the pain on Ben’s face when she announced this, but I think he understood.

Chris has her arm through Jase’s as they slowly walk down the aisle.

Too fucking slowly.

I’ve been waiting for this moment since Chris opened her eyes over a year and a half ago. I knew in that second I was going to marry and spend the rest of my life with her.

I smile as I lose patience and start walking down the aisle to meet them. There’re murmurs as I walk by people, but I pay them no attention. Her eyes widen when I’m standing in front of her.

“What are you doing?” she whispers and flicks eyes to the left, right, and then back to me.

Jase’s lips quirk up as he gives me her hand. I bend down and scoop her up into my arms. She squeals and laughs as I turn back to the minister. People laugh and clap as I walk down the aisle.

“You were taking too long,” I tell her as I eat up the space between us and the man who’s going to make Chris mine forever.

She kisses my cheek and laughs, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

I look down at her and smile. “Only about you, Sugar. You make me crazy.”

We reach the minister and I reluctantly put her down. If it were up to me, we’d get married with her still in my arms, but I don’t think Chris would go for that.

Not caring that I’m not supposed to yet, I lean down and kiss her sweet lips. She tastes just like she always does, vanilla and sugar. It’s my favorite flavor.

I pull back and lean forward again to kiss the tip of her nose. She scrunches it up at me, making me chuckle.

“Dude, you’re supposed to wait until
after
you get married to kiss her,” Andrew says at my side.

Without taking my eyes off Chris, who’s quietly snickering, I remind him, “Like you waited with Jase?”

“Touché,” he responds dryly, then chuckles.

“It’s get married time. You ready?” I ask Chris.

I know she is, but I want to hear her say it.

“I’ve never been more ready.”

Her answer and smile have my own lips tipping up into a big-ass grin as we both turn toward to the minister to start the rest of our life.

Six years later…

Chris and I sit on the porch swing I installed several years ago, enjoying the warm spring weather. She’s curled up to my side with her feet drawn up beside her on the swing, her cup of coffee clutched between her hands. My arm is slung over her shoulders as I push us back and forth. I bring my cup of coffee to my lips for a swallow and set it back down on the table.

“Momma and Daddy, look how high I can go!” comes a sweet high-pitched voice.

We both look over at our daughter, Grace, and watch as she pumps her little legs as hard as she can. Her long brown hair flies around her face. Her yellow dress billows back and forth. She’s not able to go very high with her short five-year-old legs, but she seems to think she’s almost reaching the sky. Whatever brings a smile to her beautiful face is fine with me. She tips her head back and laughs loudly. Chris and I laugh with her.

She turns back to us with Chris’s green eyes.

“Did you see?” she yells, eagerly awaiting our approval.

Chris moves away from me and we both get up and walk hand in hand off the porch toward our daughter.

“We did see,” Chris says, grinning. “You’re getting higher and higher every day. Pretty soon you’ll be able to reach heaven.”

I move behind Chris, wrap my arms around her middle, and rest my chin on her head.

“Maybe one day I’ll be able to reach Anna,” Grace says innocently as she kicks her legs back and forth.

At the mention of Anna’s name, it’s not pain I feel, but immense gratitude. It’s because of her I have Chris and our precious Grace. I would never wish what happened to her, and I still regret I wasn’t there to save her from that pain, but I realized a long time ago that things are the way they are because they are meant to be that way. Anna will always be my first love, but Chris is the person I’m meant to love for the rest of my life.

“You’ll get to meet Anna one day, sweetie. I promise,” I tell her.

She smiles her gorgeous smile at me. “I know I will, Daddy.”

Grace knows all about Anna. It’s not just Chris and I who have told her about Anna. Everyone talks about her. The room in the basement is cleared of all of Anna’s things. I kept some pictures, but gave a lot of them to Lily, Jaxon, and Mia. We have a couple on the shelf in our living room and the painting Anna painted that hung in the living room is now in Grace’s room. Grace loves it. Chris and I have both caught her just lying there staring at it. When we asked her about it, she just shrugged her little shoulders and said she likes looking at it. I think it’s more than that. I think she feels a connection to the painting, like she’s somehow connected to Anna in some spiritual way, as crazy as that sounds.