Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Abby

Amber: I think I found another woman Travis took advantage of.

Me: What? Who?

Amber: It took some digging. And using an archival website that stores previously deleted content. But there was another intern teacher he villainized after she left the school.

Me: Now I’m just getting madder and madder about him getting away with it for so long. The bastard!

Amber: Well, at least he won’t get away with it again, if we can help it. I’ll send you what I have so you can look over it before the interview.

Me: Thanks, Amber. And sorry I dismissed your investigative skills. You are amazing. heart emoji

Amber: No worries, I kind of surprised myself. I don’t think I’d want to do it as a job, but it’s nice to know I can help my friends when they need it.

Me: I may not be an amateur sleuth, but I’m always here if you need anything. Even if it’s venting about any of my brothers.

Amber: I’ll keep that in mind. For now, I need to go. I’m training a new employee for my new catering venture, and the sooner I finish with her, the sooner I won’t be shorthanded.

Me: Don’t work too hard. Love you. heart emoji

I ’d just finished looking over Amber’s latest information when Emmy said her goodbyes, leaving me alone with Rafe.

It’d been so hard not plastering myself to his side ever since he’d come home. But I’d avoided any serious talks about the future. Not because I wanted to divorce Rafe. No, because it wouldn’t be fair to discuss staying married, let alone share my feelings, with everything looming over us.

But then he went and told me he loved me. That my past and all my baggage didn’t matter.

And all the reasons I’d come up with to keep him at a distance vanished.

Rafe loved me.

And after I confessed my feelings, he kissed me. Or, rather, devoured me. But it wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. So I pulled him closer, needing to feel his hard body against me, and he grunted in pain. Horrified, I released him and stepped away. “I’m so sorry!”

He took my hand and gently tugged me closer. “Don’t apologize. We’ll just have to be creative until I heal a little more.” He kissed my cheek. “You’re so beautiful.” His lips brushed against my jaw. “And sexy.” As he nuzzled the side of my neck, I nearly moaned. “And mine.”

“Yes, yours.”

He raised his head. “Good.” He brushed some hair from my face. “Now, wife, let’s go to bed. Normally, I’d chase you. But that will have to wait a little longer.”

I ran my hand down his chest, to his crotch, and stroked his already hard cock through his pants. “If you weren’t injured, I think you’d just take me right here, without any chasing.”

He tweaked my nipple through my shirt, and I sucked in a breath.

His husky voice rolled over me as he said, “Considering it’s been over two weeks since the last time I made you scream, probably.” I gently squeezed him, and he growled. “Upstairs, wife. I have plans for you, and they require a bed.”

Maybe if Rafe hadn’t just told me he loved me, I might’ve teased him and drawn it out. However, my clit throbbed, and I wanted my husband naked and doing dirty things to me.

So I released his cock and turned around, looking over my shoulder as I said, “Hurry up, husband. Or I may have to dust off the toys in my drawer.”

He groaned. “Now I want to see your toys.”

“Another time. Tonight, I want to make love to you. Just you.”

At his intense, heated gaze, I pressed my thighs together. Damn, my husband was sexy.

Husband. Knowing he was mine, I loved being able to call him that.

Rafe took my hand. “Come. I’m impatient to taste you again, love.”

As I tried to think of how he could do that, given his injuries, we hurried as much as Rafe could up the stairs to his bedroom.

Without a word, we both stripped quickly. I finished first and offered to help Rafe, but he shook his head.

Not wanting to poke his pride, I merely watched as he revealed his chest and legs and then his long, hard cock. Then my eyes focused on the healing tissue where they’d had to operate on him. “Are you sure you can do this tonight?”

He strode toward me, barely limping, until he could kiss me. His hands roamed my back, my ass, and then one stroked between my legs. I cried out as he lightly thumbed my clit.

“You’re so wet, wife. There’s no way I’m not tasting you tonight.”

Despite Rafe’s wicked fingers, I somehow made my brain work. “How? I’m not about to let you crouch down and risk hurting yourself.”

He removed his hand, and a playful glint entered his eyes. “I’m going to lie on the bed and you’re going to sit on my face.”

I blinked. “What?”

After kissing me gently, he said, “You heard me.”

Rafe went to the bed and slowly laid down. Then he motioned me closer, and my feet moved toward him. Once I reached the bed, I stared down at him. “Are you sure? I don’t want to squish you.”

He caressed my thigh, my hip, and then my waist. “I want to feel these beautiful legs in my hands as I drive you wild, love. Now, come here and make sure to hold on to the headboard.”

At the desire and love shining in Rafe’s eyes, my doubts vanished. No matter what anyone had said before about my thighs or hips or whatever, it didn’t matter. Because to Rafe, I was beautiful. I was perfect.

My eyes heated with tears, but I willed them away and climbed onto the bed. Rafe helped guide me into place, and as soon as he thrust his tongue inside me, I grabbed onto the headboard and moaned.

It became a blur as Rafe caressed my thighs and hips, guiding me into a rhythm, his tongue and lips and teeth torturing me. Slowly.

And meeting his gaze as he did it only made me hotter.

As he focused on my clit, I moaned. “Rafe. Please. I’m so close.”

He increased the pace of his tongue, adding his lips and teeth, and soon he suckled me hard. Lights danced before my eyes as my orgasm hit, wave after wave of pleasure coursing through me.

Rafe drew it out, lightly stroking and suckling, until I went limp and slowly rolled to the side.

After kissing my shoulder, Rafe said, “I want more, Abigail. I want to be inside you.”

I cupped his cheek. “Me, too. Especially since I’ve been on the pill long enough to not need a condom.”

He growled. “Fuck, love. Yes. I need you. Tonight. You’ll help me heal faster.”

I snorted. “I somehow don’t think that’s how it works.”

Nuzzling my neck, he said, “You’re partly my medicine, love. You’ve already helped me heal so much in such a short time.”

“Rafe.”

“It’s true, Abby. Repairing relations with my sister, with West, and even embracing myself and allowing myself to be happy—it’s all because of you.”

I smiled. “I think we both would’ve gotten there, but we helped each other along faster. Because you helped me too, Rafael. Even without completely settling my past, I’m doing better. So much better.”

“Hmm, then just think of where we’ll be on our first anniversary.”

“I’d like to think that we’ll be waking up in some foreign country, enjoying our honeymoon for real.”

He kissed me. “I promise to make that happen. But first…”

Slowly, he sat up and stood next to the bed. I raised my brows. “What do you have planned?”

“If you bend over the mattress, I can take you without hurting myself.”

I rose to my knees and moved to the edge of the mattress. Running my hand down his chest, I replied, “You do feel bigger that way.” I stroked his cock and reveled in his groan. “Almost like one of my toys.”

“Okay, now I’m definitely going to have to see these toys of yours. But for the moment…”

He flipped me over, and I squealed. “Rafe, don’t hurt yourself!”

Grabbing my hips, he pulled me down until my legs draped over the side. “Short of passing out, nothing is going to stop me from claiming the woman I love. From claiming my wife.”

Wanting to feel him as deep as possible, I moved my knees to the mattress, raised my ass and lowered my chest before wiggling my behind. “Then what are you waiting for?”

He ran a finger through my center, teasing my clit a second, before murmuring, “I love you.”

Before I could reply, he thrust his cock into me, and I moaned. He was big and hard and hot. So hot.

“Tell me, Abigail. I want to hear the words again.”

“I love you.”

He lightly slapped my ass cheek. “Good girl.”

And then he began to move. I matched his ever-increasing rhythm, lost to the feel of him, his touch, the fact he loved me and I him.

Then his fingers found my clit again, and soon I came, moaning his name as Rafe stilled and came inside me.

Eventually, his hands caressed my back, up and down, as he said, “I love you, Abby.”

Turning my head to the side, I replied, “And I love you, Rafe.”

He pulled out. “Stay there. I’ll get a washcloth.”

I knew I should’ve said I could do it. But there was something about this moment, between sharing our feelings and him coming inside me, that I held my tongue. And when he returned, Rafe washed me carefully with the warm cloth. Once he tossed it aside, he murmured, “Come here, love.”

I rose and turned around, wrapping my arms around him. Rafe kissed the top of my head. “Now about those toys of yours…”

Laughing, I raised my head. “What? You want to see them now?”

“Considering I feel as if I’m going to keel over, yes. I need to keep my wife satisfied until I’m at full strength again.”

I smiled and hooked my arms around his neck. “Oh, I think between me riding your face and my toy drawer, I’ll be just fine.”

“You liked that earlier, then, huh?”

“Yes. As long as you did too.”

His hands moved to my ass and gripped me possessively. “I love everything about you, Abigail Mendoza. And I will never tire of you. Ever.”

As Rafe kissed me, a sense of rightness and peace settled over me. At one time, I might’ve doubted his words. But Rafe was mine, as much as I was his, and I trusted him.

Now all I had to do was find a way to banish my past, once and for all, so we could finally live the happy ending we both deserved.