Like with the button-up, his movements were slow and controlled as he pulled this shirt higher, but now he gave little teases of fingertips being brushed against my skin. By the time it was over my head and he was letting it fall to the ground, my entire body was on fire and I was practically panting with need.

“Rachel.” His voice traveled over my bare shoulder like a caress, and I let my bodyweight fall against him.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly he was gone and I stumbled back a step before catching myself. I turned to see where he’d gone, and my button-up shirt hit me in the face.

“What the—”

“Get dressed, we gotta go.”

“The hell, Kash? You can’t do stuff like that to me and then stop!”

“Have you forgotten what frustration feels like?” he asked huskily. I wanted to punch him in the face.

“I hate you.”

His lips curved up into my favorite smirk and he winked. “I love you too, Sour Patch.”

Douche.

Kash

“RACH, I’M TIRED. Can we go to sleep?”

“Hmm?”

I looked over at the TV she seemed so transfixed on and smiled. She was such a fucking nerd. “Babe.”

“Yeah?”

“Bed. Now.”

Her laugh filled the living room, and her blue eyes flashed over to mine. “It’ll be over in a little bit, hold on.”

Uh, no. I had plans, and she was messing with them. I walked over to where she was lying on the couch and snatched the remote out of her hand to shut the TV off. When she sat up to grab it back, I pulled her close and over my shoulder before standing back up.

“Put me down! I wanted to finish watching that.”

“You’re recording it, it can wait until tomorrow.”

“But it’s Duck Dynasty,” she whined, and I could picture her frowning as I carried her through the hall.

“And it can wait.”

She slapped my ass as hard as she could, and I paid it right back. “Jerk! I don’t make you stop watching your shows.”

“But my shows are good.”

“Duck Dynasty is amazing!”

“Rach, you’ll live.” I put my hands on her waist and bent over as I pushed her off my shoulder and onto the bed. She jackknifed up and I crawled on top of her and pushed her right back down.

“You’re such an—” She cut off quickly and moaned when I gently bit down on her neck and brought her shoving hands above her head and pinned them to the bed.

Making a trail up her neck, I kissed her thoroughly and smiled when she leaned toward me as I backed up. “Such a what?”

“I don’t remember,” she said against my mouth and pressed our lips together again.

“That’s what I thought, Sour Patch.”

She growled but was still smiling when I moved both her wrists into one of my hands and let my right hand reach underneath the pillow until I hit what I was looking for. Her lips moved to my jaw and she wrapped her long legs around my back.

Tonight was already going completely differently from how I’d imagined it would, and when she did that, I was ready to put off what I’d planned to do. But I didn’t want to wait any longer—Rachel had been here a month, and though that wasn’t a long time, I knew she was more than ready for this again.

“Rachel.”

“Yeah?” she asked huskily and rolled her hips.

Shit, she’s not helping right now. Keeping her hands pinned to the bed, I sat back far enough that she had to unlock her legs, but stayed hovering over her.

“What—”

“I know I messed up before,” I began, cutting her off. “I’ll never regret asking you to be mine when I did, but I know I should have told you everything first.”

Her blue eyes went from narrowed to wide in a second when she realized what I was saying.

“I can’t begin to explain to you the physical pain I went through every day knowing that I’d ruined everything and lost you for good. I will never take you or your forgiveness for granted, and I swear I will never tell you another unforgivable lie.”

“Kash,” she whispered, and I watched as her eyes took me in.

“I want to take care of you, I want to protect you, I want to love you, and I want to fight with you for the rest of my life.”

She laughed softly and her mouth parted when her left hand clenched around the ring I’d just placed in her palm.

“Rachel, will you please marry me?”

“Yes!” She crushed her mouth to mine and I sat her body up and brought her closed left fist in between our bodies. She stopped kissing me when I coaxed her hand open and inhaled audibly when she saw the new ring.

“You’re not allowed to take this one off.”

“I won’t,” she promised as I slid it onto her ring finger, and before I could tell her that I loved her, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me until we were both falling back onto the bed.

Her hands made quick work of pulling my shirt over my head then sliding down my torso ’til they hit the top of my workout shorts. She was wearing one of my shirts, and I used it to pull her body off the bed. I helped her out of it before tossing it behind me and helping her rid me of my shorts. My eyes took in her mostly naked body as I climbed back on top of her and bent to pull her nipple into my mouth. She groaned and her back arched off the bed as her hands fisted in my hair.

Leaning onto my forearm, I let my other hand trail down her stomach and slowly pulled her underwear off. The tips of my fingers traced the path back up her long legs, and when I hit her knees, I used the one hand to part her legs and continued my path up her thighs. She inhaled sharply and I smiled against her breast when my fingers teased her opening, and I fucking loved that she was ready for me and pulled my head even closer to her chest. I moved toward her other breast, and just before I reached it, she flipped us so I was on my back and brought her mouth down to mine as she straddled me. She guided me to her and I growled against her lips when she sank down on top of me and began rocking her hips.

Her lips moved to my ear, softly brushing against it as she said, “No teasing, and no frustration. Tonight, I just want you.”

She had me. Always.

Rachel

THE BACK OF MY THROAT BEGAN BURNING, and I blinked rapidly to stop the tears that were quickly forming as I looked at myself in the mirror. This was the one. I somehow knew that without a doubt, but something about all of this still felt incredibly wrong. Turning to smile at Kash’s mom, Marcy, and at Mason’s sister and mother, Maddie and Mrs. Gates, I noted their expressions and knew they agreed with my assessment. I was so thankful they were here for me today, but as I let the tips of my fingers trail down the soft white, ruched tulle, I couldn’t help but wish for someone completely different to be sitting in that chair.

My mom should have been here for this. She was supposed to be here for all of this.

In the three weeks since Kash had proposed for the third—and last—time, Marcy and I had been on a wedding planning kick that didn’t show signs of slowing down until we had every last detail in place. As part of that, we’d been dress shopping all morning. I’d put off looking for a dress for myself as we picked out the bridesmaids and mother dresses, but that only worked for so long before the three of them were shoving me into a room with a sales assistant who was getting all up close and personal with my body as she helped me into dress after dress.

After five misses, I found myself in this one. The one dress I didn’t want to even look at, but the assistant begged me to “just try.” I should have known the evil genius would try and succeed at making me cry.

The strapless dress flowed down to the ground in a sweep train, making me look ethereal, or like I belonged in ancient Greece. But my favorite part was the crisscross bodice that led to an empire waist, and I stared, transfixed, as my fingers trailed across the ruching. It was perfect, Kash would love it—and I knew if my mom were here, she would have loved it too. A few traitorous tears slipped down my cheeks and I made quick work of sweeping them away when the women all made sounds of admiration and sympathy as they saw them.