Chapter 57

(Rylan)

The gentle rocking of the boat lulled us both to sleep after hours of lovemaking. Aaron was so gentle with me during it all. He took his time and showed me just how much he cherishes me. By the time he finally slipped inside me after all that foreplay, I was a writhing mess.

His foreplay game is strong.

I have no idea what woke me, but I lean up on my elbows to look around the small cabin. It is dark with only a small swath of moonlight coming in through the little round window. My eyes adjust to the dimness in the room, and I look around to see what could have woken me.

Aaron is sleeping peacefully beside me, so I leave him be. He had a rough start to his day and needs the rest. I can already imagine the drama we will encounter when we get back to shore.

For now, I want us to stay in this little bubble with none of the drama that is waiting for him.

Now that I am awake, I decide to get out of bed to grab a drink of water. I walk naked to the mini fridge to grab a bottle of water. After taking a few sips, I put the cap back on and bring the bottle with me back to the bed.

I glance at Aaron’s sleeping form and smile.

This beautiful man will be my husband. My husband! That thought makes me want to scream it to the world. Well, at least all of our family and friends.

That thought makes me sad for a moment when I realize that there are only a few people from my family that I even want to tell. Rosalie, Andrew, and my grandmother. Two of those have been in my corner all my life. Having my sister in my life has been a rollercoaster ride, but I am glad to have her with me.

Now I may have another sister. One that I am not sure I want to get to know after how she reacted to me at her art showing. Part of me wants to give her a chance to explain once we know one way or another if she is even my sister. The defiant part of me just wants Charlie to fuck off.

Does she even know that she was adopted? What was her life like growing up? Would she even want to get to know the sisters she never knew about? Would Rosalie want to get to know Charlie when I tell her about the situation?

There is so much that I need to talk to my sister about. I haven’t told her about my father’s illness, his upcoming divorce, or that one child he raised was never his biological child. Add the fact that we may have a long-lost half sibling out there; I just haven’t wanted to pile that shit onto the horrible situation Rosalie is going through.

After putting the water bottle on the bedside table, I grab Aaron’s T-shirt off the ground and then pull it over my head. I need to do some thinking, but I don’t want to wake him with my fidgeting, so I make my way across the room until I reach the stairs, then walk up to the deck.

I take a deep breath, then let it out. A soft breeze hits me, and I tilt my face up to let it slide over my face. The night air is slightly chilly thanks to the surrounding ocean. Slowly, I make my way to the bench where Aaron was sitting earlier.

After tucking my legs underneath me, I grab the throw blanket that is on the cushion beside me and cover my lower body with it. I am completely naked under this shirt, and the breeze will make me cold before long. Once I am comfortable, I reach for my glass of wine from earlier.

Who should I tell about the engagement first? Rosalie or Andrew. Andrew, without a doubt. My brother has been one of my greatest supporters since our first meeting. All he saw was his sister, not the reason his parents were fighting. He saw me, and that was all that mattered.

From that day on, he always stood between me and his mother whenever he could. He stood up to her when all she did was tear me down. A child that was innocent of her father’s crime. She should have been better.

Knowing that she cheated too and had another man’s child makes the sting of how she treated me a little easier to handle. Such hypocrisy. The fact that she thought I would talk to my father on her behalf was laughable.

Maybe if she had treated me with basic human decency in all those years, I might have. Now it is time for her to face her consequences. It is just sad that those consequences are not for how she treated me, but for her being a cheater, too.

I asked Andrew what he thought of the situation, and he told me that he has been ignoring all of his mother’s calls. He wants nothing to do with her. I know that must hurt him, but I won’t push for more. We never really talk about their relationship.

We both know it is an unpleasant subject for me since not only does my relationship with my mother sucks, but I have never even had one with his mother. I don’t call being given the cold shoulder and verbally abused a relationship.

It was a nightmare.

Adults who take their issues with other adults out on the innocent children are complete assholes.

I will never be that kind of parent regardless of what happens in the future between me and Aaron. Knowing he won’t be like that either makes me feel good about what our life will be like together. Not that I expect anything to happen between us that would cause a divorce.

Because once I marry that man, I am never letting him go. It took us far too long to get where we are now. Mostly because of his need to keep me at arm’s length while he battled his demons.

Now that he is working on those demons, I have a great feeling about our future. We just have to get through what happened with his parents today. I am still shocked that Tori reacted the way she did.

She actually blamed him for what happened. I am mad at her for him, even though I know he is more hurt than angry. What she said hurt him beyond anything else she could have said. I just hope that they can work things out and he can forgive her.

I won’t push or suggest he talk to her.

That is something he needs to work out on his own. All I can do is to be here for him until he faces his mother again. Then I will be there for him in the aftermath of what he says to her.

I have a feeling that it won’t be anything nice, at least not at first.

However, she is his mother, and he loves her deeply. I know they will work things out between them eventually, and with luck, they will have a stronger relationship than before.

Or maybe that is just the little kid in me hoping for a happy outcome between a parent and child after an argument.

That makes me think of my mother. I know now that she never wanted me or even loved me. She raised me, barely, out of obligation and because my grandmother made her step up when my father wouldn’t call her back when she was trying to tell him she was pregnant.

He was trying to save his marriage, and the mistress wasn’t making it easy by calling him all the time.

Knowing that my mother wanted to abort me or give me away when my father wouldn’t call her back makes me sad. Then knowing that she had me only so she could use me against him makes it all worse. Now I know she had another child before me that she gave up for adoption.

At this rate, I am honestly surprised she even had Rosalie if she never wanted the first two.

“Rylan?” Aaron’s voice calling my name breaks me out of my depressing thoughts.

I glance towards the stairs and see him standing there, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He’s wearing only his jeans. I hold out my free hand to him, beckoning him to come to me.

The smile he gives me chases away the gloomy aftereffects my midnight musings.

“What are you doing out here?” He asks me once he reaches the bench I am sitting on.

I hold up my hand with the glass of wine in it, then shrug my shoulders. “I have no idea what woke me, but then I couldn’t go back to sleep. You looked so peaceful, so I just came up here to think.”

I watch in horror as his smile vanishes.

“Are you wanting to back out of this engagement?” He whispers. His body goes rigid, and he takes a single step back from me.

“No!” I cry out.

I put my wineglass back on the shelf behind the bench, then throw the blanket off my legs so I can stand up. Cupping his face in my hands, I look up at him with a smile on my face. “The thought of backing out of this engagement never once crossed my mind.”

I can see the doubt in his eyes, so I lean up and press my lips to his in a gentle kiss. His entire body relaxes after a moment, then his arms come around me. He pulls me tight against him when I break the kiss, so I press my cheek against his chest.

His heart is beating wildly in panic. Panic that a simple, thoughtless phrase caused. He thought I was second-guessing us and was going to leave him. My broken man needs to know that is the furthest thing from my mind.

“I was thinking about who to tell first, then I got sad when I realized that there are only three people from my family that I would even tell right away.” I admit quietly. “But in all of that sadness were the happy thoughts that I will marry the man I love.”

“What are your thoughts on eloping and then telling everyone later after we take an extended honeymoon?”

That is a brilliant idea, but I have always wanted an actual wedding. Nothing big or fancy. Just us and our closest friends and family. What little family either of us has.

Aaron pulls back enough so he can lift my face with a finger under my chin. “It was just a thought. We can get married any way you want, my love. Big wedding or small, it doesn’t matter to me at all. I just want to make you my wife.”

I smile up at him.

“I want something small with just those who are important to us. Nothing fancy or flashy.”

“That sounds perfect. Where do you want to get married?” He asks, then takes my hand and leads me back to the bedroom.

I think about it as we shed what little clothing we are wearing and then get comfortable. My head is on his chest over his heart while my free hand is idly stroking his abs. One of his arms is wrapped around my waist while the other is up behind his head.

“What if we get married where we are going to live together? Right in your beautiful backyard. Simple yet personal for us.” I lift my head after I say this so I can see his reaction.

He is silent for a moment, then his entire face lights up, and he smiles beautifully. It is the happiest I have ever seen him, and something in my chest loosens. My love for this man makes me happy, and I can see that he feels the same way about me.

“That is the best idea ever. Let’s wait on a date until all the bullshit in our lives calms down a bit. Mainly that fucker Paulson getting arrested.”

That man doesn’t belong here in this space.

So, to change the subject, I sit up and then quickly straddle Aaron. His hands automatically go to my hips, and I smile down at him. I wiggle over him just enough to have his eyes darken with lust rather than the anger from moments ago.

“No more talk of anything or anyone else until we get back to the car tomorrow. Until then, it is just you and me. Right here and now. Everything will work out, and we will get married when the time is right.”

I reach between our bodies to stroke his already hard cock. He hisses out a breath as I slide him through my already wet folds. Everything else in the world ceases to exist for us as I sink onto his shaft.

Aaron moans as I rock my hips.

“Right now, all I want is you. I love how you feel inside me. So hard yet so silky soft.”

I rock my hips back and forth a few more times while I watch his face. His eyes are on mine, love and desire swirling in those beautiful eyes of his. He licks his lips as I move slowly over him. One of his hands leaves my hips to grab one of my breasts.

“Fuck,” he hisses as I pick up the pace a little.

“I love watching you come undone while I ride your cock.”

“You undo me just by being you, baby.”

I moan when he thrusts up into me, causing me to lose my rhythm. It feels so good when he does that. If I were a shallow person, I would say that his cock alone was worth it. The orgasms he gives me are amazing.

I love the man.

His massive cock is just a bonus.

A major bonus.

I laugh when he suddenly flips us over and then pins me to the bed. All the teasing is gone. There is that predatory gleam in his eyes as he spreads me wide and slams his cock back into me in one swift thrust.

“Oh, fuck yes!”

He pounds into me, hard and fast, until I come all over his shaft while screaming his name. Once the ripples of my orgasm fade, he flips me onto my stomach, lifts just my ass off the bed, and then slides back inside me. This time, he takes his time.

When we both finally lie breathless beside each other sometime later, I tell him I love him before I let sleep wash over me.

“I love you too, my soon-to-be wife.”