Chapter 34

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

C olson

I waited until Tully started twitching. It was her signal that she was waking up, making me feel like I knew her better than I knew myself. I’d been awake for hours already, glowing in the knowledge that we were back and stronger than ever, and making plans for us. Last night, Captain insisted I take the day off, which I took him up on. I wasn’t ready to be away from Tully, even for a simple shift at work.

When Tully let out a yawn, I held my hand in the air, moving it this way and that in the sunlight streaming through the windows of the carriage house. She froze, then shifted her head to stare at me. Her hair had gone curlier last night with all that water from the fire hydrant spraying in the air like a fine mist. I fuckin’ loved it.

“What are you doing?” she croaked, making me grin already.

“I’m admiring my engagement ring. What else?” I said in a falsetto that made her instantly crack up.

Hayes came lumbering over from his posh doggie bed, his snout sniffing along the sheets, trying to get to us. The fact was, the ring was a bit tight. I wasn’t sure I could get it off my sausage finger.

Tully snatched my hand out of the air and looked at my ring up close. “When did you grow man hands?” She tugged on the ring and it didn’t even so much as budge.

“Well, I was a young man when we first got married. I think I’ve filled out a bit since then.” I wagged my eyebrows suggestively. “In all areas.”

Tully burst out laughing again, but distracted me from being offended by rolling on top of me and straddling my hips. Naked. My hands went to her hips as she sat up. Her hair was a riot of messy curls over her shoulders. Her skin held a summer tan, but there was a pink flush to it from being pressed against me all night while we slept. Hayes let out a high-pitched whine. Tully reached over and patted him on the head before pursing her lips and talking to him like one would a baby.

“You’re such a good boy, aren’t you? That’s right. You want to play with Mama, huh, boy.”

“I wanna play with Mama,” I muttered, pulling her back so she was sitting squarely on my hips, my fully erect dick poking her in the backside.

Tully braced her hands on my chest and laughed. “You’re just going to go after it with our son watching?”

I rotated my head on the pillow to find Hayes staring at me like a total creeper. When he opened his snout and panted his doggy breath on me, I grimaced. “You’re right. Hold that thought.”

I rolled Tully off me and leaped out of bed, rushing to let Hayes out the front door. I watched him slowly walk outside and sniff around, oblivious to my rush to get back to bed. Feeling Tully’s gaze on me, I popped a hip out and gave her my best butt angle. Her answering giggle was music to my ears.

“You just take your time, Hayes. Daddy’s not in any hurry whatsoever. Nope. Just sniff every blade of grass,” I called out the door.

Tully slid up behind me, her boobs pressed against my back. “You sure are playful today, Colson Wolfe. I like that in a fiancé.”

I spun quickly and wrapped my arms around her waist, swaying side to side. “Prepare for more playful. Now that we’re back together.”

She tipped her head back and I plucked a kiss from her lips. God, this was amazing. Part of me still had a hard time believing this was real.

“I wanted to talk to you about a house. I was thinking maybe we should start looking for our own place?” She started giggling again. “I’d hate to think Mama could walk out her back door and get an eyeful of you naked as the day you were born.”

“Actually, I was thinking the same thing.” My heart started beating faster. I really wanted her to like this idea, but I was also a new man now. We made decisions together. If she didn’t like my idea, we’d find something else that would make us both happy. “I talked to Mom about us building a house on my part of the Timberwolfe property. Specifically the back couple acres. It’s ours if we want it.”

Tully thought it through while I waited. Anxiously.

“Or not. We can buy something else, or build out of town. Whatever we want.”

Tully tightened her arms around me. Hayes brushed his wet nose across the back of my knees and pushed back through the door. “No. I think living there sounds lovely. I’d be totally up for that. You think we can ask Em to build it?” Tully’s eyes went wide. “Oh! I have so many ideas!”

Relief swept through me. I kicked the door closed with my foot and walked her backwards to the bed. “She already said she would, princess.” The back of her legs hit the bed. “Now get back in bed on all fours while I get our baby boy settled in the kitchen.”

Tully immediately got on the bed, her hand snaking down between her legs to play with herself. The sight of that glorious ass in the air and her fingers already soaked nearly wiped my brain. Pretty sure she had a smug grin on her face, but I wasn’t looking there. Hayes let out a whine and I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. I literally ran into the kitchen dragging his doggie bed behind me—which made Tully giggle—and got him a bowl full of food. We’d still hear him, but at least he didn’t a have direct line of sight to the bed. I knew he’d eat and then take a nap like an old man.

I took my time coming back, taking in the sight of Tully all spread out for me, not a shy bone in her body like when we were younger. She might lament wearing a bigger size than back then, or the wrinkles she slathered creams on, or even the stray gray hair she found on her head, but I liked this version of her better. She knew what she wanted and she valued what we had together.

She looked over her shoulder at me and lifted her eyebrows at how slow I was walking. I gladly leaped back onto the bed, my hands sliding slowly up her thighs to grab both cheeks. Goddamn, I loved to see my hands on her flesh.

“Think we can get married at the courthouse this weekend?”

I stilled, then pulled back to look at her. “Absolutely not.”

She opened her mouth and then closed it again, looking a bit shocked.

“I want a big celebration this time around. I want to declare you my wife in front of everyone in this town. I want to dance the night away and completely forget about the fact that our marriage fell apart before. I want to be so damn wrapped up in you that no one remembers our divorce, least of all, us.” I shut my mouth, remembering her original reason for wanting a courthouse wedding all those years ago. “Shit, I’m sorry.” I dropped my head to her low back.

Tully scrambled around, spearing her fingers through my hair, over and over, before cupping my face. “No. You’re right. We should do a big wedding. And I’ll ask Mama to walk me down the aisle. It’ll hurt not to have Dad there, but I need to keep moving on. Keep focusing on the good.”

I dropped a kiss on her lips, more proud of this woman than I could express with words. “And I’ll have Mom walk me down the aisle.”

Her eyes filled with tears, and dammit, so did mine. We shared a moment of grief, both of us missing our fathers fiercely. Then Tully kissed me, our tongues soon taking over, the moment turning into what all our moments turned into. An all-consuming passion for each other.

Tully lay back, her fingers gripping my hair and bringing me with her. Her mouth was fused to mine still. She shifted her leg and I rolled, settling between her thighs like I belonged there. Her teeth nipped at my bottom lip and she bent her knees, bringing her legs up to wrap around my waist. My tongue plunged back inside her mouth the same time my cock sank into her wet heat. She sighed into my mouth, her hips rolling lazily. I barely pulled back, too far gone for this woman to think about pulling out of her body when I’d waited nineteen years to be back in it.

We took our sweet time, a slow coupling of two people who had all the time in the world. Eventually, the slow grind of our bodies became desperate and Tully’s hands left my hair to grip my ass, pulling me into her harder. I gave her what she wanted, slamming into her harder and grinding my pubic bone exactly where she needed me. Her kiss got sloppy and uncoordinated right before I felt her tighten around me and shatter. Her body arched and her head tipped back into the pillow. I slid my lips down the column of her throat and held on by a thread to coax every last drop of orgasm out of her before I let myself go. The all-consuming pleasure was slow and long and bone melting.

We lay in a heap of arms and legs and expanding lungs while we came down. No wonder no other woman since Tully had done it for me. That had just been sex. A way to release tension. This …this lovemaking with Tully felt like merging my soul with hers. It was addictive. It was life giving. It was everything I needed for the rest of my life.

“I love you always,” I murmured against her neck.

“I love you forever,” she murmured back.

It was a long time later that we woke up Hayes and made brunch in the small kitchen. Tully told me all about her ideas for a chef’s kitchen for our new house. I explained that I wanted a porch so we could sit out there in rockers and grow old. She reminded me we were already old. I swatted her gorgeous ass and we headed back to bed for round two.

My phone pinged a little later and I pulled it out to see Joey texting me about Captain. Apparently he had a date tonight with Joselyn. Joey was worried our boss might get eaten alive by the Hollywood Hustler, as he called her. Tully tossed her head back and laughed, saying she’d forever call her by that name now. I told Joey we should make reservations wherever they were going so we could watch and make sure he didn’t sell his soul to the devil. We agreed to a double date that night.

Tully pulled up the number for the therapist Joey had given me and we made our first appointment for next week. We were doing things differently this time. We knew many marriages ended in divorce—knew that all too well—but we were also determined to do everything in our power to keep us together.

Tully got off the love seat just enough to plop down on my lap. I set my phone aside and rubbed my palms along her back. If she was wanting a round three, I’d need more food and a little more rest. I wasn’t twenty any longer.

“You know, I wish I could heal every hurt from your past. I probably caused most of them.”

Startled, I gazed into her troubled brown eyes. “What hurts do you think I need to heal from?”

“The one that says you’re not good enough. Me leaving had everything to do with me and not with you not being good enough.”

I dropped my forehead to her chest and inhaled her familiar scent. I searched my heart, looking for that constant bruise. The one that had festered even after I’d left Blueball and tried to establish a life somewhere else. I was surprised to realize I couldn’t find it. The bruise just wasn’t there anymore. I lifted my head and made sure she was looking deep into my eyes.

“What if I told you that you’ve already healed me?”

Her eyes misted over. “I’d tell you how much I love you, even now. Especially now. How much I want to heal every last part of you and build you up so strong you know in your heart and soul I’ll never leave you again.”

I slid my hand behind the nape of her neck and brought my lips to her forehead before pulling back. “I already know, baby. It’s you and me, always.”

She ran her fingers over my mustache before kissing me. “Forever.”