My heart was racing, but I felt relieved to finally say the words. I’d been holding back a volcano of emotions, and they’d finally erupted. All that love had to go somewhere, and it was now pouring all over the man who was the source of the explosive pressure.
Jett froze as he questioned, “What did you say?”
“I love you. I love you so much that it physically makes my chest hurt.” I wasn’t about to back down and pretend I didn’t say it.
I was over not being completely honest. I was okay with myself, and even though I’d probably always have some issues from my past, I was done letting my uncle control me.
I was all grown up and I was in love with Jett Lawson.
“Fuck!” he cursed as he finally moved and put his forehead against mine. “Don’t say that shit to me if you don’t mean it, because you’ll never get away from me, Ruby.”
“I mean it,” I replied without hesitation. “And I have no desire to go anywhere.”
“Then how can you even question whether or not I feel the same way?” he said in a graveled voice as he tugged me over to the merry-go-round, sat down on the metal surface and pulled me down on top of him.
“Do you?” I asked as I straddled him, the metal cold against my legs.
With his hands gripping my ass to support my body and keep it from tumbling from his lap and onto the dirt, he replied, “I’ve been completely screwed since the first time you looked at me like you wanted to trust me, but you couldn’t. I’ve never really believed in love at first sight, but I knew we belonged together from that very moment, Ruby. And that love just got deeper and more intense with every moment we’ve spent together since. Now I can’t live without you anymore. And I was hoping to hell that you’d stay with me forever or I knew I’d be completely fucked.”
I remembered the first time we’d locked eyes up on the auction stage. For an instant, I’d felt something, too. But I’d been too terrified to trust my initial instincts. “And the marriage proposal?”
“I already knew you belonged with me,” he growled. “And I never wanted anybody touching you again. But the last thing I wanted was to scare the hell out of you. So I figured I’d settle for whatever I could get.”
My heart was still so full that I wanted to cry. I lowered my head and gave him a gentle kiss. “You should never settle, Jett. You deserve everything.”
“I have it,” he grunted. “Everything that means something to me is right here on this playground. I love you, Ruby. Maybe I didn’t understand what love could be before, but I get it now, and I fucking worship you.”
He stroked a hand up and down my back. I sighed and leaned into him. “You don’t always have to worship me,” I advised. I didn’t mind getting down and dirty whenever he wanted. “I just want you to love me.”
“Already do,” he grumbled.
I ground my hips down, staying there for a moment to enjoy the feeling of his hard cock riding against my panties. “Then let’s talk about that urgent need you have to get inside me,” I insisted.
“Ruby.” He groaned as he tried to make me stop humping him. “I’m not taking you outside in the cold on a goddamn playground.”
It had been a beautiful day for a wedding, and it was unseasonably warm for fall. Marcus had been teasing his bride that the weather didn’t dare be anything other than perfect on their wedding day.
After dark, it had cooled down, but it wasn’t exactly freezing.
“I’m an Ohio girl who knows what cold really is,” I said as I reached between our bodies to liberate his cock. “And you’ll warm me up.”
I’d been aching for Jett from the moment I’d heard his voice, and I wasn’t taking no for an answer. “I need you,” I whispered into his ear.
“Then I’m giving us both what we want,” he growled.
“I want you,” I confessed with a sigh.
He stood up and took me with him, letting my feet slowly find the ground.
He placed my hands on the bars of the merry-go-round and bent me over. “Don’t move,” he demanded.
I shivered, his tone so commanding that I wasn’t about to argue.