However, he does add, “I knew it was wrong to take something that wasn’t mine … but as selfish as it seemed, I just knew I had to have you. I was spellbound by you, and the way you so desperately clung to me, to stop me from making a fucking stupid decision—one in which I made nevertheless, one I’d make a million times over if it meant protecting you, I knew in that moment, that I wouldn’t be able to live without you.”
My heart thrashes against my chest at the impact of his words, and when he presses his lips to mine I lose all coherent thoughts, lost in the midst of the kiss. The next thing I know, I’m underwater and gasping for my next breath as the cold water hits my senses.
“Ashton!” I yell as my head emerges from the water, my chest burning with the shock of being pulled into the freezing cold pool. Chuckling, he wordlessly brings my now soaked body into his arms and presses me up against the wall. My legs automatically wrap around his waist and I can’t keep the gasp from escaping my lips when I feel his erection pressed up against my denim-clad pussy. My eyes grow in size when I feel his fingers fumbling with the top button of my shorts.
“What are you doing?”
His eyes crinkle with amusement, his lips tilting up with a sexy smile. “I’m showing you what I would do once I finished eating your pussy.” He thrusts his hips against me, causing another gasp to breathe through my lips.
“We can’t. Not here.”
His eyes glimmer with mischief as his fingers successfully release the top button of my shorts, and then quickly makes work of my zipper. “There’s no such word as can’t.”
“No, seriously, we can’t. What if Junior comes back outside?”
He halts in his movements and a look of frustration flits across his eyes before he growls, “Fine.”
He swims us over to the shallow end and when we approach the steps that lead into the pool, he lifts me over his shoulder, causing me to shriek with laughter as he makes his way up the steps, slapping my wet ass at the same time.
“Where are we going?” I ask as he begins to walk into the opposite direction of the house.
“The pool house.”
“The pool house?” I question, confused. I didn’t even realize there was a pool house.
“Yeah. It’s where Tyler is sleeping tonight, and somewhere else other than the house or the pool where I can fuck you senseless right now. I can’t exactly walk into the house with the raging hard on I’m sporting right now,” he murmurs as I giggle out loud, earning me another slap across the ass. He carries me inside the pool house, and heads straight towards the bathroom where he turns the shower on, strips me from my sodden clothes and takes me up against the wall of the shower cubicle until I’m screaming out with pleasure.
ONCE THE GUYS HEAD on out for Tyler’s bachelor party, myself, Alana, Jo, Mia, Mia’s mom and Riley find ourselves sat out on the veranda taking in the warmth of the evening heat, dressed in our cute pajamas with our takeout pizzas along with several bottles of wine—water for Mia since she’s still recovering from last night—while the sun begins to set along the horizon. It’s a breathtaking view.
“So tell me,” Jo begins with an excited glint in her eyes, intrigued, “how did Ashton propose? He never did tell me.” I smile fondly as I look at Jo. With the wedding a day away¸ it’s only natural that we’ve been discussing all things romantic for the past hour. The current topic is proposals.
I think back to the day when Ashton proposed to me and I find myself being transported to that day as I re-live my memory to everyone …
Looking away from the manuscript for the first time in what felt like hours, I looked down at the alerted text message on my phone. I smiled when I saw it was from Ashton.
Ashton – Hi baby. Sorry, it looks like another all-nighter here at the hospital. I miss you and Lily. Do you want to come here and have an early dinner together?
I immediately texted back.
Ava – Yeah that sounds good. Let me finish off this last chapter of the manuscript I’ve been working on and I’m all yours. I’ll grab some food from that Italian place you like.
Ashton – I love you!
I burst out laughing. He really did hate the hospital food. A couple of nights a week Lily and me joined him for dinner on the days he had to do long hours at the hospital. We only got maybe half an hour—forty-five minutes with him at the most before he was usually called away for an emergency, but it was half an hour I willingly took.
Once I finished up with the manuscript, I finally got Lily and me ready to go out. Within forty-five minutes I was making my way through the hospital with Lily in my arms and a takeout bag from the little Italian bistro that Ashton loves.
I texted him once I was parked to let him know we’d arrived, but when we finally approached the nurses station where he said he’d meet us, he was nowhere to be seen. I smiled at the nurse at the desk.
“Hey, have you seen Dr. Bailey?”
She barely looked up from her chart, but when she noticed it was me, her eyes widened with familiarity while her mouth lifted up into a smile.
“Oh hey, Ava!”
I looked at Lily in my arms with amusement when she began to chant ‘Dr. Bailey’, which caused both me and the nurse to laugh.
“Wow, Lily sure has grown since the last time I saw her. You’re just gorgeous aren’t you?” she addressed Lily before blowing her a raspberry, which had Lily in a fit of giggles. She turned her attention back to me. “I think he was called for a consult but he shouldn’t be long. He said you could wait in his office.”
“Thank you.”
I turned and headed in the direction of his office. When I opened the door, I came to a halt as I took in the breathtaking sight in front of me.
On the floor sat a blanket with scattered candles flickering in the semi-darkness of his office, but on further inspection I noticed that they were just battery operated candles. Through the flickering of the LED flame, something in the center of the blanket caught my eye and when I turned my focus on it, my eyes filled with overwhelmed tears.
“Okay, so I know battery operated candles aren’t traditionally romantic but work with me here,” he said with a nervous chuckle, and I was surprised to hear the hesitation in his laughter. He wasn’t the type of guy who got nervous, and to hear the vulnerability within his voice zoned straight for my heart.
I set the takeout bag of food on the floor. My eyes never once strayed from Ashton’s piercing gaze as I watched him step in front of me. He swiped a piece of hair away from Lily’s face and pressed a delicate kiss on the top of her head before he returned his gaze to me.
“The moment I set eyes on you within the walls of this hospital, I knew you were the one. I fell when I thought I was incapable of falling and even though we began our relationship by breaking the heart of someone else—something I’m not terribly proud of, but ultimately do not regret—just know that I would never break your heart, or yours,” he said to Lily, his eyes glistening and bursting with love before they returned to mine. “You and Lily are my life, and I can’t imagine it without you both. Baby, you’re my world, and everything else ceases to exist when I’m in your presence, and my future feels empty when I imagine you not in it. As I’ve said before, a world without you is a world not worth living in and I simply don’t want to live in a world where I can’t grow old and gray with you. That’s not an option. It never has been. The only option is to spend the rest of my life with you, as your husband.”