Chapter 34

Thirty-Four

I wokeup to Jake cuddled against my chest, his breaths still slow and even in sleep. He was so warm tucked against me like this, keeping the morning chill at bay, and the idea of moving felt like sacrilege. This morning could not have been more perfect. The only thing that could possibly have made this moment better was if we were already married.

For decades, I’d run this place on my own, and I’d yearned for a partner who could shoulder some of the load. Fate—or a coin with an agenda—had seen fit to give me Jake, who not only shouldered the load, but forged a brighter future for us all. I wished I could open my soul to Jake, show him just how grateful I was to have him here.

There was so much to talk about, too. Children, wedding dates, all of that. I couldn’t wait to explore every conversation, to learn what Jake wanted most. I wanted to give him everything. I knew he needed a little more time, and after what he’d told me of his first marriage, I completely understood. Still, he’d forthrightly told me that he did want to marry me. That was all I needed. The rest, time would settle. When he was ready to make those vows, I’d be right here.

Jake stirred a little in my arms, eyes barely open, but the moment he was aware, he smiled at me and snuggled in deeper.

Gods above, if he got any cuter, I’d suffer heart failure on the spot.

“We don’t have to get up right now, do we?” Jake mumbled against my skin.

“No, it’s still early.” I had no clue what time it was and I didn’t care. It was too early. I refused to let go of him anytime soon.

He yawned and tried to pull me in a little closer. “You smell nice.”

Despite having him three times last night, if he kept squirming like that, he was going to start something this morning.

“I know we’ll be engaged for a while, but there’s things we need to talk about. I want to be on the same page as you moving forward.” I smoothed some of that platinum hair back, just to enjoy the sensation of silky strands against my fingers. “Children, for one?—”

Jake’s head tilted back and he looked at me in confusion. “I figured as lords of a territory, children were a given. Inheritance and all that.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. Still… “Do you want children?”

“I’d love to have a few, sure. Uh, well, I guess we could adopt some kids.”

I blinked at him, not following. “Adoption is an option, of course, but we can have biological children of our own.”

Jake looked at me like I’d taken leave of all my senses. “Uh…last I checked, we’re both men?”

Eh? Ahhh, right. He’d not know about this. The Fae weren’t on his world, after all. “The Fae do not carry our children within our own bodies.”

“No way. Really?”

“Indeed. When we want a child, we plant a tree. When it comes to maturity, then we enfold our seed and magic within the trunk of the tree. It nourishes the child with its own sap and grows it throughout a year before releasing the sap and turning the child over to us.” I shrugged, as this was common practice among the Fae.

Jake rubbed his eyes, muttering something like, he sounds serious. “A tree. Is your incubator?”

“Precisely.”

He kept staring at me like a man waiting for the punch line.

“Do you need to sit with this?” I might have broken him, hitting him with this before he’d had breakfast. Jake thought better with food in his stomach.

“I might, yeah. Wait, is that why Fae only have one or two kids per family?”

“It takes a long while to grow the tree,” I explained. “And it’s very carefully raised, which takes time and effort, so most people aren’t willing to do that kind of work more than twice.”

“Fair. Perfectly fair. Uh, wow, okay I definitely need to wrap my head around this.”

“It’s not something we need to settle on right now. We need to marry first.”

“Ha, true.” Jake snuggled back in. “I love being officially engaged.”

“Me too.”

“I am surprised that your family accepted me so easily, though. I really thought it would take more effort than this to win them over.”

I knew why he thought that and aimed a mental kick in his birth family’s direction.

“I’ll never, ever admit this to the asshole, but it really did do me a favor by bringing me here.”

From Jake’s pants still somewhere on the floor came a muffled, “I heard that!”

We both ignored it. Coin hated being ignored above all else, so really, it was cheap entertainment.

I wanted to focus on this and make sure Jake understood. He didn’t deserve to dwell in doubt; he’d done nothing to warrant that.

“Jake, you’re a very loveable and charismatic man. You don’t need to do anything to win people over.”

He snorted in disbelief.

Hmm, that didn’t work. Try again. “My darling, your heart is what draws people to you. Every word you speak, every action you take, we see your heart. It’s as noticeable and alluring as a hearth fire on a cold winter’s night. We’re all drawn to the warmth you offer. Me especially.”

I wanted him to hear me, to make sure I was getting through. Cradling his face with one hand, I drew his eyes up to mine. I saw in them some uncertainty, as if Jake didn’t know how to accept what I said. But also in those clear green eyes was a hunger for the unconditional love and acceptance he’d always craved but never had.

I’d called him plenty of endearments while we courted, but never once said these words. I said them now and put every bit of my heart into them.

“I love you.”

His eyes turned bright with unshed tears, and for a moment, he seemed lost for words.

I repeated it, knowing I’d touched his heart, wanting to do it again so those words could take root and never let go.

“I love you. I feel like I’ve waited a lifetime for you. You and I shall grow old together, spend centuries together, and at the end of our days, our only regret will be not having just one more day.”

“You love me that much? That the idea of having centuries together seems too short a time?”

“Yes, obviously.”

A tear spilled over. I wiped it away with my thumb, knowing these were happy tears.

Jake abruptly flipped us—me onto my back with him straddling my waist. I didn’t even get a chance to settle into the mattress before he leaned in, kissing me fervently. I kissed back, drawing him in closer, loving the feeling of his bare skin brushing against mine.

He drew back an inch to whisper above my mouth, “I love you more than you’ll ever know because there’s no words to convey everything I feel. But know this, Theon Nox, Duke of Rehobath. If given the choice, knowing that I’d be yours, I’d have traded my life on Earth without a second of hesitation. You are worth it.”

Could joy fill a heart to bursting? It felt like it could, as mine filled to overflowing. This incredible man thought the sacrifice of his entire life worth it so long as I loved him? I couldn’t fathom how those two things could possibly equate. I was determined to love him, though, love him to the point that he never changed his mind. Never regretted the decision he’d made.

“Part of my wedding vows to you will be to make you so happy, you never take back those words.”

He grinned at me and dove back into the kiss, but this time there was a confidence to it. A familiarity, as if he knew he had my heart and was no longer in doubt of it.

Hot lips searched for the sensitive spot on my neck he’d found last night, and while I enjoyed the attention very, very much… “Jake? Aren’t you sore?”

“Sore schmore.”

These Earthian expressions sometimes got the better of me. “What does that mean?”

“It means I don’t give a rat’s ass if I’m sore.” He lifted his head, a glimmer in his eye that I recognized. Jake wouldn’t be taking no for an answer. “I want you.”

A clever hand wrapped around my half-hard dick and stroked, its grip firm and sure. Protests? Who was protesting? Certainly not I.

A naughty grin playing around his mouth, Jake asked with wide, innocent eyes, “I think if I’m on all fours, you can fuck me from behind, all while pulling my hair. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“Clearly,” I managed somehow, despite my mouth going dry, “we’re not leaving this bed anytime soon.”

Jake cackled, scooting down. Without ceremony, he took me into his mouth and gave a hard suck. I went from pleasantly aroused to fully so in a second flat, pleasure ricocheting through my system.

This man did not fight fair.

Even as his mouth worked my shaft, I lay back for a selfish moment to enjoy it, hand stealing into his locks. No, it didn’t look like we’d leave the bed anytime soon.

The world could give us this morning, at the very least. Or it could deal with the consequences because I was not about to take interruptions well.