Finding Our Reality (The Reality Duet #2)

Chapter 44

ELLA

“Ry?” I lean up on my elbows and watch him as he sleeps. The tortured, cute, sexy boy I once knew has evolved into the masculine, sexy man before me.

Still tortured, but not devastatingly so.

It’s the middle of September and hard to believe that he’s only been back in my life for a little over eight months. I’ve gone from hating him to loving him. Although, I think we all know that I never actually hated him. I loved him, wildly and passionately and whole-heartedly, even when I was supposed to hate him.

Our past doesn’t haunt me anymore. It doesn’t toss me overboard and drown me. It’s there, don’t get me wrong. And the pain of him leaving me, leaving us , will never fully go away, but I can see the big picture. I can see it brought us to this place.

And this place? Well, it’s pretty damn good.

The strong lines of his chiseled jaw are highlighted in the moonlight. My fingers reach out, rubbing against the growth of his five-day beard. I lean forward, breathing my hot breath against the curve of his neck. “Ry, wake up.”

He sighs, fighting against sleep.

I suckle the soft skin underneath his earlobe and then whisper against the shell of his ear. “Ryland Joseph Crutchfield, it’s time to wake up.”

He moans. I watch as his eyelids slant open. He automatically pulls my body against his, kissing the top of my head. “What’s wrong? Bad dream?”

“Happy Birthday.”

“Hmm?”

“Happy Birthday, Ry.”

Grunting, he reaches over and his hand blindly fumbles across the top of the nightstand. Grabbing his phone, he checks the time. “Lulu, it’s been my birthday for exactly one minute. This couldn’t wait until six in the morning?”

“Absolutely not. I’ve never been with you on your birthday before. Thirty-four. Getting a little old. Maybe I should trade you in for a newer model.” I playfully bite his muscled chest, right above his nipple.

He chuckles. “I’m a good vintage, classic, even. I’d think twice before doing that.”

I look at his face, wishing I could see the pale green of his eyes, but it’s too dark. “What do you want for your birthday?”

He grabs a strand of my hair and wraps the golden-brown wave around his finger. “What are you willing to give?”

“Anything. Everything.”

After a second, his lips curl into a slow, seductive smile. The kind of smile that still has women everywhere fawning all over him. And the smug little bastard knows it too. “Good. I was hoping you would say that.” He abruptly sits up against the headboard and flicks on the lamp on the nightstand.

My eyes barely have time to adjust before he’s wrapping his hands around my waist and ass and hauling me onto his lap so I’m straddling him. I squirm, getting comfortable, and immediately smirk when I feel his hard erection bob against me. Reaching over into the drawer of his nightstand, he grabs something, hiding it in his hand. I’m about to ask what’s he’s hiding, when his palm opens wide, and he flips the lid on a black ring box.

“Marry me. Marry me, Lulu. Let’s fill our house with love. And babies. Lots and lots of babies.”

I study the beautiful piece of jewelry before me. “It’s a wedding band.”

He licks his lips and shrugs. “I know most women expect a big engagement ring. And that’s totally fine, I’ll buy you whatever you want. We’ll go shopping together and you can pick one out. I just couldn’t bring myself to buy an engagement ring the other day. I don’t want to be engaged to you; I want to be married to you. Right now, right this second. I feel like we had a twelve-year long engagement. That’s damn long enough.”

I try not to smile, but I can’t help it. I’m grinning ear to ear. My finger hovers over the ring, but he beats me to the punch, grabbing it and tossing the box to the floor. It’s wider than most. Not as wide as a man’s band, but definitely wider than a normal woman’s wedding band. One half of the white gold is adorned with three large circular diamonds, set almost flat. The other half of the ring is engraved. In a beautiful script is our daughter’s name.

Reality

I gently touch her name.

“They thought I was crazy. They said that inscriptions are supposed to be on the inside of the ring. They’re the ones who are crazy. Why would you want something inscribed on the inside? You can’t see it there. It should be where you can see it, every time you look down.”

I still hate crying in front of people. But that doesn’t stop the silent tears from spilling down my cheeks. I hold out my hand, watching in awe as he slides the wedding band onto my ring finger.

I don’t even have a chance to admire how perfect it looks. His mouth is on me. His tongue slides against mine, stirring passion and love into an intoxicating concoction, making me drunk. Emotion explodes in my chest and butterflies swarm in my stomach.

I can’t believe this is happening. It might’ve taken us longer than my eighteen-year-old-self thought it would, but we finally made it here. I’m going to marry the man I love. I get to grow old with him, build my life with him, have a family with him. It’s so unusual to think—this will actually be my second marriage.

I look at my finger. The ring is gorgeous. This is all I want. I don’t want or need an engagement ring. Hell, I married Ry the second he slid this ring on my finger. “What about you? You need a ring.”

He cocks an eyebrow. “I do?”

Much to my surprise, he rumbles around in the nightstand drawer again and comes out with another jewelry box. I nudge my face closer, watching in awe as he pulls a man’s black wedding band from the velvet and slides it on his own calloused finger.

I nearly lose it.

That is, without a doubt, the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.

He knows it too. He can sense my arousal in the air.

Laughing, he says, “You never answered my question.”

I cock my head to the side, staring at him. “You never actually asked me a question.”

He opens his mouth and then closes. “Huh. Guess I didn’t, did I?” He brings my hand to his mouth and kisses my knuckles. “Luella Margaret Hill, will you marry me?”

“Damn straight, I will.”

Growling, he leans forward, whispering his hot breath against the sensitive skin of my ear, just the way I like. “I don’t know if I will ever get used to hearing you cuss.”

“And I don’t know if I will ever get used to sleeping in a bed with you instead of a tent.”

His eyes flash with good humor. “We should do that tonight. Sit by the fire, sleep in the tent.”

“Tonight? It’ll be late when we get home. Did you forget about the Annual Appreciation Gala?”

He snorts. “Are you sure we have to go?”

I squeeze my thighs, making his erection bounce against me again. “Yes. And after tonight, everything will be settled with my father’s practice.”

“Well, then, what better way to celebrate? It’ll be a double celebration.” Grabbing the sides of my face, he softly kisses me, slowly sucking my bottom lip into his mouth. “There’s nothing better than watching your naked body, as I pound into you, underneath the stars and moon.”

And there’s really nothing like watching him watch me as we make love outside.

I take a deep breath. My chest heaves, grating my swollen breasts against his rock-hard body. “What about the other part?”

“What other part?”

“The making babies part?”

“Oh, I fully plan on tossing your birth control pills into the trash can as soon as the sun rises.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Oh, really?”

“Yep. Any objections from you?”

I grab the hem of my shirt and pull it over my head. Before he can fully appreciate the sight before him, I tug his face down to my cleavage. Knowing what I want, he immediately takes my puckered nipple in his mouth. I buck against him, tangling my fingers into his light brown hair.

I whisper. Two sweet words.

“Game on.”