Her chin quivered as she fought hard to hold back her emotions. Tears filled her eyes, even though she took in quick, short breaths through her nose to try to keep them away. I reached a hand up and wiped them, only for more to follow. I knew I could be content wiping away her tears for the rest of my life, just as I knew I wanted to be with her. I just hoped she saw how genuine my feelings were. I felt raw from the emotions I was trying to convey.
"And when you come home from work, what would we talk about? Would you tell me about the woman you had sex with or would we just pretend like I don't know what it is that you do for a living? How exactly would that work?" Her question was condescending and I could only smile.
"Nope. I may tell you about the couple that came in, or the marriage I saved, but there would be no reason to tell you about the woman I fucked because you would already know about it, considering you'll be the only woman I'll be sleeping with from now on."
Her head shook side to side as if she didn't comprehend what I was saying.
"Before I came over earlier, I called every single one of my clients and told them I was no longer in practice. I plan on setting up a new practice where I focus on saving marriages and keeping families together."
"Why?" she gasped, sounding blindsided by my confession.
"Because there's no one else I'd rather see naked than you. In fact, you're the only one I want to watch come apart, the only one I want to touch. For the rest of my life. Ever since I first met you, I knew you'd end up ruining me. And you have. The truth is, Ivy, you have ruined me for any other woman out there because I don't want anyone but you."
"What about marriage? I want to get married one day, Cade. Not just play house for the rest of my life. I want to wear a dress and walk down an aisle and say ‘I do.' That is important to me, and after hearing why you don't agree with it, I can't ask you to do that."
"I'm not going to ask you right now, and I might not ask you in the next year. But if I'm going to marry anyone, it's going to be you. And if I want you in my life until my dying breath, I will marry you."
She shook her head in disagreement. "I don't want you to marry me because it's what I want."
"When I ask you … it will be because it's what I want."
More tears fell, but this time, they were accompanied by a smile. "You really mean that?"
"I've never meant anything more."
Her lips crashed to mine, tasting of salt from her tears. I swallowed them all, making a silent promise to swallow all of her pain from here on out, never letting her feel unloved or unsupported again. I knew there would be times in our relationship where we would both slip up, but we'd work things through together.
"Say it," she pleaded against my lips.
"You fucking own me, Ivy Jaymes."
She smiled and kissed me again. "You own me, too, Caden Morgan."
I pulled her off the counter and held her in my arms for a moment. "Okay, as much as I love holding onto you, we have a lifetime to do that. Right now, we need to get your shit packed up so I can take you home."
"Cade, please stop calling my belongings shit, and I am home."
I shook my head with a smile. "No, your home is with me."
"I can't just move in with you. It's too soon."
"Too soon? Ivy, I've been waiting thirty-four years for you. I'm not waiting another day. I wasn't kidding when I said I want you there. I didn't mean eventually; I meant now. And yes, it is shit. You have a TV that looks like it's from the nineties, a computer that looks like a first generation IBM, and a recliner that has definitely seen better days."
She looked around the small space with a slight frown, taking in her "shit." Her eyes met mine with a twinkle. "I do all of my work on that computer. What will I do without it?"
"Do you have everything saved on a disk?"
"I have an external hard drive."
"Then that's all you need. I'll get you an updated one, one that will probably work a hell of a lot better than that one. We'll just grab your clothes and your hard drive and be on our way."
"I don't recall you ever asking if I wanted to live with you," she said with a smirk.
I laughed, already knowing my reply to that. "And you won't hear me ask, either. Asking gives you the option to say no, and I'm not going to take that chance."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "People are going to think I'm a gold-digger."
"No, not a chance in hell. They might think your pussy is made of gold for getting me to settle down, but no one would think you're a gold-digger. Considering we don't have any friends, we don't have anyone to judge us."
"Speak for yourself; I have friends."
"Fictional characters in a book don't count as friends, Ivy," I teased and she slapped my arm with a laugh. "But I am serious. We're taking your things home. Tonight. I'm not waiting another second."
Her hand stilled on my arm and she fisted my sleeve. Concern flashed in her eyes once more and I waited for her to sort through it. "What are we going to do if I am pregnant? I know you said not to worry about it now, but I need to know. I can't leave here if I'll be homeless and pregnant in a month."
I held her face in my hands as I looked deep in her grey eyes, the red nearly muted for the first time ever. "If you are pregnant … we'll have to buy a crib and clothes. I'm sure there are more things to buy, but I don't know what they are. You'll have to find out for me. We'll have to pick a name and then have as much sex as we can before you get too big to fuck in all of the fun ways we haven't tried yet."
"So it doesn't scare you?" she asked and I could tell it scared her.
"Not for one second. Don't get me wrong, I'm not praying that you are, nor will I try to knock you up if you aren't, but it doesn't scare me. The only thing that scares me is not being with you." I glanced in her eyes and smiled. "Now, if you'll please help me gather your belongings, I'd like to get you back to my house so I can strip you naked and practice pulling out."
Ivy glanced around her room once more with a sudden frown on her face. "This is me, Cade. All of my things are mine and I can't just throw some things in a bag and leave the rest behind. All of these things are mine, and have been the only possessions I've had for years."
"Then we'll come back for them. What things do you want to keep?"
"I have kitchen things … pots, pans, plates-"
"I have those things at my house."
"But they're not mine," she argued desperately.
I paused, trying to understand where she was coming from. I didn't place any value into the objects in my home; they were nothing more than things I had bought when I needed them. If they were damaged or lost, I wouldn't care. But she cares. "Okay. We'll take them with us. If we have two then I'll get rid of mine. It's not a big deal. What else do you want?"
"I kind of like my bed."
I took one look at it in the corner and felt my dick start to stiffen in my jeans. "I kind of like it, too. Reminds me of heaven. That was the first place I felt it. You're right … we can't get rid of it. We'll put it in the empty room. It's been sitting empty for too long. What else?"
Her eyes landed on me and her lips quirked into a smirk. "The recliner."
I felt my eyebrows rise high on my forehead without any control over them. "Seriously? You can't possibly have any kind of personal connection to that." I paused to let out an overly exaggerated sigh. "But fine, if that's what you want then we'll find a space for it. But please don't be offended if it's in a room that no one will see-ever."
She laughed-loudly. It caught me by surprise since I don't think I had ever heard those cackles come from her before. Her eyes started to water as she gasped for air and I couldn't help but join in. I wasn't sure what we were laughing about, but it felt fucking amazing to be overcome with gut-clinching laughs.
"I don't need the recliner, Cade," she said as she tried to catch her breath. "I just wanted to see what you'd say. It's good to know where I stand with you, though. I like knowing you'd let me have my way."
I picked her up by her waist and carried her to her bed, tossing her on her mattress none too gently. "And it's good to know you let me have my way with you," I said with my lips against the soft skin of her neck.
Somehow, I convinced Ivy to let us say a proper farewell to her apartment and the things in it. And by proper farewell, I mean, we fucked everywhere. After deciding it would take too long to pack all of her things up that afternoon, we spent the evening-and night-enjoying her last night there. She hadn't been kidding when she told me she wanted to experience some of the scenes she'd read about. Once we finished something from one book, she'd go through another and have me read it, and then we'd enact that as well. Some of them I had to take it a little bit easier on her, since I knew she wasn't that experienced, but she seemed to enjoy everything I gave her. And I certainly enjoyed everything she gave me as well. One of those things was her very first blowjob. She was so hot with my dick in her mouth, I almost came instantaneously. I couldn't even imagine what she'd do to me once she gained more practice, and I couldn't wait to teach her everything she didn't know.