Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

OTTO

Yes.

I'm not sure what I expected exactly, but it wasn't a yes. I cup her cheek before I slide my thumb across her bottom lip. As I look into her eyes, I still cannot believe she is real.

Grace is naked above me. My eyes want to take in all of her, every fucking inch, but those green eyes of hers arrest me. They freeze me. They hold me hostage.

"Then married we'll be. Before I go back to playing."

She frowns, and sadness washes over her. I'm pretty sure this conversation shouldn't be happening when she's sitting astride me completely naked. But it is happening nonetheless.

"This seems fast. It's not just because of my father cutting me off, is it? Because I can find work. I can figure it out. I've always figured out whatever I needed to before. You don't have to marry me for that."

"Grace," I call out, stopping her from rambling. Her mouth closes, her lips pressing together and forming a straight line. "If it were only financial, I'd just pay your bills. This is more than that."

"It is?" she asks, her voice soft and completely full of wonder.

"Yeah," I say. "I want you to be mine, Grace. I've fallen in love with you. I know it's fast, but I've never been someone who sits on anything. I know what I want, and I want you. Why wait on any of it when we can start now?"

Grace leans forward, and her lips touch mine. She doesn't kiss me. Instead, she begins to speak against my mouth. And I welcome every breath from her lips.

"I want you, too," she whispers. "I've never felt this way in my entire life."

Slipping one of my hands between her legs, I slide my fingers through her folds while my tongue moves across the seam of her lips. She whimpers against my mouth, slowly opening her lips before I slip my tongue inside of her, tasting her there.

I want to taste her everywhere right this second. I wish I had more than one mouth. More than two hands. I wish we were more than just two people, and I know it makes zero sense.

Her hips roll against my fingers as I continue to play with her, feeling her wetness, her warmth, her absolute perfection. Nibbling on her bottom lip, I break the kiss just as she shifts, and then I feel her warm center against the head of my cock.

Grace lifts her head, straightening her back as her nails dig into the flesh of my chest as she slowly sinks down along the length of my cock, taking me completely inside of her warmth.

I watch as her head falls back between her shoulders. My fingers glide up the center of her spine and curl around the back of her neck, grasping her there and flexing against her.

When I tug her down gently, she straightens her spine as I bring her face closer to mine, and she begins to roll her hips. She moves. I could come with just her lips on mine, let alone the way her hips roll, her clit rubbing against my pelvis, her tits swaying and her warmth encircling me.

"Then we'll be married as soon as possible," I announce.

She moans, her hips bucking, her pussy fluttering, her entire body begging to come. Her nipples are hard against my chest. Her lips are parted, and her breaths are coming out in pants.

"Immediately," I grind out.

Grace straightens as her hips continue to move. I slip my hand between her legs and press my thumb against her clit, circling it over and over. She's close. But she needs something else to push her over the edge.

"Cup your tits, honey."

Her entire body trembles, but she doesn't stop moving, and almost as if they have a mind of their own, she lifts her hands to her tits and cups them.

"Pinch your nipples," I gently demand.

She does.

But she doesn't just pinch them. I watch as she tugs them. Over and over until I hear her audible gasp fill the room, and her entire body freezes, including her fingers, frozen in a pinching motion against her nipples.

Reaching forward, I grip her hips, holding her body still. Then I lift my hips as I fuck her from beneath. Her lips are parted, her hands still frozen as her body sways from my movements under her. And I've never seen her any more gorgeous than she is at this moment.

When I come, I pull her down along my length and keep her there, filling her with my release. We probably should have had a conversation about contraception at some point, but about the point where my desires took over, my brain completely left me, and I stopped using condoms.

When her body folds, her hands stay between us as she exhales and buries her face against my neck. I feel her heavy breaths, and my own panting ones fill the room as I slide my hands up her spine, my fingertips gliding up her soft skin.

"We haven't talked about birth control, and I've been bare inside of you more than once."

She lifts her head and pushes against my chest to straighten her arms. Her eyes are wild as her gaze searches for mine. I almost laugh, not because this is funny, but because she is so goddamn adorable.

GRACE

I hadn't thought about that. Birth control. Bare bodies. His cum inside of me. I hadn't thought of it at all. Then something slams into me, almost as if it's slapped me across the face or punched me in the gut, I'm not sure.

"Do you think you got me pregnant? Is that what this proposal is about?" I ask.

Otto lifts his hand and wraps his fingers around the front of my throat. His grasp is firm yet gentle as he watches me for a long moment. Then he sucks in a breath and holds it before he chuckles.

"Grace," he says, his lips curved up into a grin. "It's not 1826, honey."

"I know. It's just the timing…" My words trail off because I feel really stupid.

Maybe he's still all hopped up on painkillers and won't remember this embarrassing conversation, but as my luck has it, he will tease me about it until the day I die. And I'll let him because I've fallen in love with him.

"I'm on birth control," I whisper. "And you're the only man I've ever been with this way."

Otto jerks his chin in my direction. "Then this is the way we'll be together," he murmurs.

"Then this is the way we'll be together," I rasp.

Climbing off him, I take myself to the bathroom and clean up. Then I lift my eyes to the mirror and take in my reflection. My face is flushed, my eyes a bit wild, but I've never looked more at peace, more rested than I do right now.

The bathroom door opens, and my gaze flicks to the reflection of the man standing behind me. He leans against the jamb, his gaze never leaving mine in the mirror. "You're stunning, Grace."

It's at this moment that I realize we're standing in the bathroom, looking at ourselves, and we're completely naked. Talk about being bare. My arms itch to cover my breasts, but for some reason, I'm frozen solid.

"You're what I want, who I want. I hope you know that."

His scar is ugly. It's jagged and will become part of him. Therefore becoming part of me. I hate that it happened. I wish I could change what happened to him. I don't want Otto to be forced to take time off, but I can't deny that I'm glad he won't be dealing with my father for a while.

"I know that," I whisper, dipping my chin in a single nod.

"But you hesitate. I can read it in your body language."

I turn around to face him fully, then take a step toward him, then another until I've closed the distance between us. I place my hands on his pecs. His muscles jump beneath my palms.

" Grace ."

"I hesitate because I'm thinking about my father, well, specifically the way my father could have and will be treating you at practices. I don't want to say that this, the pain and surgery, the bionic cheek, is a good thing, but at the same time, I think I'm happy you won't be at his mercy."

Sliding my hands from his chest, I wrap my fingers around either side of his throat as I glide my thumbs along the underside of his jaw. As I search his gaze, I wonder if this is all real. The man, the marriage, my life.

I want it to be real, but I can't deny it's happening so quickly that I'm scared. What happens when it blows up in my face? What happens if he thinks I'm too much trouble? What if I am exactly like my mother? I don't feel like I am. But what if?

"I understand what you're saying," he murmurs. "And if all of this means that I have to find a new team, then I will, and we'll move."

I bite the inside of my cheek. I don't know what exactly to say, but I do know that him switching teams is going to hurt a lot more than the cut on his cheek does. "You can't switch teams. I won't let you."

He smiles, then grunts, his brows snapping together with what I can only guess is pain. "You need pain meds," I whisper.

"I don't give a fuck about that. You won't let me switch?" he asks.

"I won't," I confirm with a nod. "The men you play with, this place, they are your family away from home. This is your world. You can't quit this place. These people. This is your life."

"You are my life, Grace."

His words. Five little ones, they consume me. They fill me with something, with pride, and at the same time, they calm me. I didn't know that five little words could do all of that, but these ones do.

You are my life, Grace.

How is this man even real?