Treading Water: Coming Home Part 22

"Is that a yes?" he whispered, his voice husky with emotion.

"Yes. That's absolutely a yes."

"I don't have a ring, but I'll get you one. As soon as I can. I'll get you the best ring you've ever seen."

"I don't need that. I've had glitter and glam. All I want now is simple and real."

"I can do that."

She smiled, happier than she'd been since it all went wrong between them. "Does this mean we're engaged?"

"It certainly does."

"However shall we celebrate?" she asked with a flirtatious smile.

"Any way you want, my love."

She ran her fingers through his hair and brought him down for another pa.s.sionate kiss. "Since we're keeping it simple and real..." She unb.u.t.toned his s.h.i.+rt as she ran her hands over his chest. When she released the last b.u.t.ton, she bent her head to press kisses to his throat and chest, loving the tremble that rippled through him, loving that she did that to him.

"Not here." He grabbed her hand and tugged her behind him as he headed inside.

Kate reclined on the bed, amused by his thoroughness as he locked the door and closed the blinds before removing his clothes. "Afraid someone is watching?"

Nodding, he helped her out of her dress. "I hope you're fond of beds, because we're never, ever doing it outside again," he said, leaning over her.

She looped her arms around his neck and drew him down on top of her. "Yes, we will. When people no longer give a fig about me, we won't have to worry about being watched."

"From now on, I'll always worry about being watched. It makes me sick to think I put you in such a vulnerable situation."

"You were carried away. We both were. I wish you wouldn't blame yourself."

"I can't help it. I love you so much, and when I think about people watching us-"

"Don't," she said, tugging him toward her for a kiss. "Don't think about it."

"Right." He barked out a laugh that made her laugh, too. "Don't think about it. Who's being silly now?"

"They can only hurt us if we let them. Let's not let them. Let's not let anyone else in so no one can hurt us ever again."

He pulled back from the kisses he was placing in strategic areas of her neck to look her in the eye. "We can't be real or authentic without the other people we love being part of us, honey. And for the record, your daddy may hate my guts, but I will ask for your hand in marriage."

"He'll never give it to you."

"I'm still going to ask. I'm old-fas.h.i.+oned that way."

She smiled up at him. "Don't use the word 'old' around me. You're timeless."

"And you, my love, are deluded."

Kate laughed, filled with love and joy and hope for the future. "I'm so excited. Are you excited, too?"

He pressed his erection into the V of her legs. "It's not obvious?"

"Not about that, although that's always exciting. So exciting you ruined me for all other men at the tender age of eighteen."

"I wish I could say I was sorry about that, but hey, I'm not really."

Smiling, she combed her fingers through his hair and over his cheek, where the first hint of whiskers had begun to appear. "I meant are you excited about all our other plans?"

"Of course I am. How could I not be?"

Kate thought about the one thing she hadn't told him.

"What? And don't say it's nothing, because your smile faded right off your face, and I saw that."

He was so tuned in to her that it was hard to hide anything from him. That was both a blessing and a curse.

"There's something else I want, and I'm not sure you want it, too. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't-"

Reid kissed her thoroughly and then pulled back to meet her gaze. "Tell me."

Kate swallowed the lump of fear and emotion that had settled in her throat as she looked up at the face that had haunted her dreams for so long. "I want a baby. Maybe more than one."

"Oh, well... I'm kind of old for that, darlin'."

"I knew you'd say that, and it's okay if we don't have kids-"

"No, it's not okay." He s.h.i.+fted off her and stretched out next to her, looking up at the ceiling fan that moved in a slow, lazy circle above them. "You should have everything you want."

"If I had a choice of having six kids or having you with no kids, I'd choose you. I've seen what it's like without you, and I'm not interested in that life."

"It wouldn't be fair to the kids to lose their father so early in their lives. I'd be lucky to get thirty years with them."

"And how blessed would they be to have that time with you?"

"I also can't help but wonder how Ashton would feel about it."

"He's going to hate the whole thing, so a baby couldn't make it any worse."

"I don't know if that's true. I talked to him earlier."

"And?"

"He didn't seem all that surprised or annoyed to hear we were back together. He wasn't thrilled about the video, of course, but who is?"

"We've all grown up. Him, too, I suppose. And while I know it wouldn't be the same, he'd certainly be there for his brother or sisters... After." Kate shook her head. "Forget I said that. I refuse to think about a time when you're not here with me anymore."

He turned his head and reached for her hand. "You have to, Kate. You've agreed to marry a man almost thirty years your senior. Please don't pretend that you won't spend a large portion of your life without me."

The thought was so far beyond depressing, she refused to allow it in when she was otherwise overjoyed. "I get it. I really do. But I don't want to talk about it, especially not today."

Smiling, he brought her hand to his lips for a tender kiss to her palm. "Fair enough."

"Will you think about the remote possibility of having kids?"

"I'll think about it, but no promises."

She flashed him a saucy grin. "Might be too late for thinking anyway," she reminded him.

"Might be." He turned on his side and put his arm around her. "Come here. You're too far away over there, and I thought we were going to celebrate."

"We are," she said with a sigh of utter contentment. "We're going to celebrate every day we get as the blessing it is, and we're not going to spend one second worrying about the future. That'll take care of itself."

"If you say so, darlin'."

"I do. I say so. Now, about that celebration..."

His face lifted into a s.e.xy smile that made her melt. All he'd ever had to do was look at her just like that, and she was his. Now she got to have forever with him. How lucky was she?

Determined to show him how lucky she felt, she pushed him onto his back and bent over him, kissing his chest and focusing on his nipples, which made him gasp and made her smile. Filled with her own power, she worked her way down, kissing, licking, nibbling.

"Christ, Kate," he said between gritted teeth.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't act all innocent, like you don't know what you're doing to me."

"What am I doing to you?" she asked, letting her hair tickle his straining erection.

"You know exactly what you're doing." He sounded positively tortured, which she loved.

"I'll stop if you don't like it."

He fisted her hair, keeping her right where she was, hovering over him.

"Is this what you want?" She dabbed at the head of his p.e.n.i.s with delicate strokes of her tongue.

"Yeah."

"How about this?" She dragged her tongue over the length of him.

"That's good, too."

"What about this?" Moving lower, she cupped his b.a.l.l.s and took him fully into her mouth.

His hips surged off the bed, and his fists tightened in her hair, almost to the point of pain, but Kate didn't care. She remembered the first time she'd done this to him, how he'd told her what he liked and showed her what to do. She'd been unable to bring herself to do it for anyone else. This, like so many other things, belonged to him and him alone.

"Kate...stop. Stop."

Surprised by his harsh tone, she looked up at him. "Did I do it wrong?"

"G.o.d, no. You did it just right. Come here."

She crawled into his outstretched arms. "What's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing." He ma.s.saged her neck and shoulders, which felt heavenly. His erection surged against her belly, demanding she take notice. "I need to get a condom."

Kate moved off him so he could get up.

When he returned from the bathroom, her mouth went dry as she took a good long look at him in all his aroused glory. "See something you like, darlin'?" he asked, amused.

"I've never seen anything I like better."

"While I find that hard to believe, I'm very, very grateful."

"Can I go back to where I was?" she asked. "On top?"

"You can go anywhere you want."

He stretched out on his back, and Kate straddled him, leaning over to kiss him as he cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and teased her nipples with his fingers. "Lift up a little," he said, sounding tense and strained, which made her realize how hard he was fighting to hold on to his control.

Pleased by his reaction to her, Kate did as he asked. When she felt the nudge of his erection between her legs she eased herself down on him, letting her head fall back in surrender as she took him in.

"Yes," he whispered. "That's so good."

"So good. Better than anything." With him growing inside her, Kate was filled with an overwhelming sense of contentment and antic.i.p.ation of all they had to look forward to.

Reid sat up and arranged her legs so they were wrapped around him. His chest hair rubbed against her nipples, making them tingle and tighten. Their eyes met and held. In a moment of perfect harmony, he tipped his head and held her gaze as he kissed her gently, reverently.

Kate's heart beat so hard and so fast it made her lightheaded, or maybe he made her lightheaded. It was him. Definitely him.

His hands slid slowly down her back to grip her b.u.t.tocks as he compelled her to move. And then one of his hands was between her legs, coaxing her. When his lips closed around her nipple, the o.r.g.a.s.m crashed over her, stealing what was left of her sanity. She gasped when he dug his fingers into her bottom as he surged into her and came with a cry.

He hugged her tightly afterward.

"How did I live without you-without that-for so long?" he asked.

"I don't know how I did it either."

"I should've come after you."

"I never should've left."

"We won't make those mistakes again."

"No, we won't." Kate closed her eyes and drifted in a sea of serenity. The future stretched out before them, bright with promise. "Will you take me home, Reid?"

"What about your pilot?"