Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Mary didn’t care. She just rode me harder, tilting her hips so her clit rubbed against me as I flexed inside her. And then she was quivering, moaning, almost crying as she found her release. I didn’t think I’d be able to join her, but watching her surrender completely, feeling her tighten around me without a barrier between us, hearing her sweet moans… it was too much.
I captured her mouth with mine just as the first of my orgasm caught, and at this point I didn’t even know if I had anything to release into her, but my body clenched, and a delicious fire consumed me as I flexed and pumped whatever I did have left. Mary was still coming, too, and we moaned and held tight to each other, riding out the last of our climaxes before we both slumped into the floor.
It might have been a minute later. It might have been an hour. Somehow, at some point in time, Mary had crawled to stand and reached down for my hand, both of us moving slowly on our way to the shower. She’d run the water hot over both of us, and we’d taken turns washing each other between slow, promising kisses I knew I’d never tire of.
When we crawled back into bed, sore and sated and bone-tired, I curled myself around her, kissing her wet hair and inhaling everything that she was. My chest didn’t ache for the first time in weeks. My breaths came easy. My heart was at peace.
“Mi amor, mi cariño, mi cielo,” I whispered against her neck between soft kisses. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she whispered back.
And in the quiet dark of that hotel room, I silently promised to never hurt her again, to never put her second to anything, to never let her push me away even when her defensive instinct told her to. I promised to do everything in my power to always make her stay, even when things got rough.
Mary Silver was finally mine.
It was the sweetest win of my life.
Five Months Later
Mary
Not a single one of us could hold our shit together when Julep walked down the aisle to Holden on April sixteenth.
It didn’t matter that Giana, Riley, and I had helped her get dressed, that we’d already seen the way that elaborate cream lace hugged her body in a perfect hourglass shape. We still lost it when the doors opened at the back of the garden and she walked through them holding Coach Lee’s arm.
The fact that he was crying might have been what made me lose it more than anything.
Julep’s father beamed with pride just as much as he broke with heartache as he took the slow steps toward giving his daughter away. Julep’s deep brown eyes were glossy, too — her hair swept up into a classic updo with curls and a thick braid, a small flower crown thread through the strands, and a simple, yet gorgeous, pearl-drop necklace adorning her neck. She’d found the wedding dress at a thrift store, along with every accessory from her pearl-stud earrings to the designer high heels on her feet. Every piece was old and borrowed, and yet they looked as if they’d been made just for her.
And while everyone in that garden was transfixed by Julep, she couldn’t take her eyes off Holden.
Sniffing back my tears, I glanced at where he was waiting for her, and immediately wished I hadn’t. Because one look at him completely falling apart at the sight of his almost-wife made me cry again, too.
He was like a GQ model in his garnet tuxedo, the gold pocket square and trim making him look like an NBU legend. And I supposed he really was. The deep red against the lush green of the botanical garden was dreamy, like a fairytale. But he couldn’t fight back his tears, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, shoulders shaking before he wiped his face and stood straighter with a smile like he couldn’t believe he was so lucky.
That smile was aimed right at Julep.
When I looked back at her, she rolled her eyes on a playful laugh like she was making fun of him for crying, but she was a mess, too.
My eyes drifted to Leo then, who was standing behind Holden as his best man. He had the rings in his pocket and his eyes on me.
It was entirely unfair how he and the rest of the guys looked so good in their suits. We all knew they were hot in football pants and jerseys, but seeing them dressed to the nines was enough to make every girl in their vicinity feral. I wished I could say I was excluded, that I was immune, but watching Leo with that devilish smirk on his face and knowing I would get to strip him out of that suit later made my skin tingle with heat.