Page 53 of The Butterfly Effect
She crossed the room, the intentional sway of her hips making my blood rush to my groin. I shrugged off my suit jacket and tossed it on the back of the sofa before unfastening my belt and sliding it off. She narrowed her eyes on my hands when I unbuttoned my pants, sliding them down my hips with my underwear. When my erection was free from the fabric, she opened her eyes wide and she licked her bottom lip.
I didn’t get all the buttons on my shirt undone before Julianna slid off her panties and climbed into my lap. She rocked her body against me, straddling my legs and facing me. Julianna rushed to undo the last two buttons, pushing my shirt off of my shoulders. She lingered with her hands on my biceps, digging her fingers into the skin.
Her chest heaved, and I could feel how wet she already was when she rocked her hips and rubbed against me. I moved my hand down her stomach, and when my thumb met her swollen clit, she dropped forward into me. I moved my mouth to her neck, biting the sensitive skin just above her shoulder, and she cried out, causing my stomach to stir. I wanted to feel this woman fall apart on top of me over and over again.
For a moment, she writhed above me until I gripped her hips and held her still. I lifted her slightly, sitting her back down so that my erection slid between her wet folds, and the satisfied moan she let out made me twitch inside of her. She lifted herself back up and dropped back down, riding me at her pace and holding my shoulders for support. Her breasts bounced against my chest, and she panted, making small noises with each breath. Her body squeezed my cock, telling me she was close to the edge.
I moved my thumb back to her clit, moving it to match her pace. When she whimpered and her thighs started to shake, I moved my hands back to hold her hips. I pulled her against my chest, holding her there and thrusting up into her while she closed her eyes and gnawed on her lip.
“Open your eyes, baby. I want you to look at me when you come apart.”
Her eyes shot open, and her mouth fell open in a cry. “William.”
I picked up my pace as she fell apart in my arms, riding out her orgasm before coming inside of her a moment later. She collapsed against me and sighed. “I love you. I love you so fucking much,” she said against my chest, kissing the spot above my heart.
“I love you too, baby.”
When she settled on top of me and her breathing evened out, signaling that she had fallen asleep, I held her against me and stood up from the couch. I walked us back to the bedroom, laying her on the mattress and crawling beside her, covering both of us with the blanket. I folded my body around hers, wrapping my arm in front of her waist and pulling her flush against me. I nestled my head into her neck, breathing in the sweet scent of honey before dozing off.
The private planewe’d taken to Chicago seemed less exciting on the flight back to Grand Rapids. It was only a weekend, but so much had happened in a couple of days that I hardly recognized the life I was living before William had found me in St. Lucia.
I’d known the gala was going to be breathtaking, but I hadn’t expected to feel so possessive of William. All the nerves I’d had about meeting his family before were gone, and I wasn’t nervous when we’d seen them last night. Beth cried and spent most of the evening grabbing my left hand and complimenting my ring, and Carter looked at us with a knowing smirk. The only one who seemed indifferent was Demetri, but William mentioned he’d had a rough relationship history and left it at that.
My ring sparkled in the light from the plane window, and I stared at the large emerald-cut diamond, wiggling my finger and admiring the way it shimmered. William had insisted on meeting with his family’s jeweler and hand-picking my dream ring. We left with a three-carat ring with perfect clarity, mounted on a white gold band covered in small diamonds.
I stared at the ring, still not believing it was mine. I couldn’t believe the man who’d put it on my finger was mine. When he’d told me to marry him at Navy Pier, my stomach flipped and I forgot how to breathe. For a minute, I thought he was being sarcastic, but then he said it again. He looked into my eyes and told me to marry him. At that moment, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted more than that, and I haven’t thought of anything that would be better without him. I looked up and met William’s gaze, realizing he had just been staring at me.
“Later I’m going to make you scream wearing nothing but that ring.”
My mouth dropped open slightly as warmth rushed to my center. The way he growled yet remained so serious made me shiver. “I am going to hold you to that promise.” I ran my tongue along my bottom lip and looked out the window just as we started to land in Grand Rapids.
Butterflies filled my stomach again. I had texted Katie and Andy before we took off to meet me at my apartment, and I was nervous about how they were going to react to the news. They had been the only two to really see how hard our initial relationship had been on me. They were the ones who had provided the wine, and a lot of it.
William insisted he come with me to tell them, just like I had gone with him to tell his family. Granted, the situations were a bit different, and he would go with me to tell my family too, even if that would be slightly more tense. My family wasn’t going to love that I was engaged to a man most of them hadn’t met, but I thought they’d be quick to forgive it and offer their support. I could only hope my two best friends would do the same.
He grabbed my bag when we got to my apartment and carried it for me, planting kisses on the sides of my neck while I struggled to unlock the door. “This would be a lot easier to do if you weren’t so damn distracting,” I purred, turning around and resting my back against the locked door.
I locked my arms around his neck and pulled his mouth to mine, nipping at his lips and trying my best to get closer to him, as if we hadn’t spent the last almost week and a half wrapped in each other.
“Woah, lovebirds. Haven’t you had enough of each other yet?!” Katie’s voice was filled with its usual sarcasm when she walked up. Andy was standing next to her, her eyebrows raised.
I laughed uncomfortably, fidgeting with my key and finally getting the front door unlocked. My hands shook when I pushed the door open, and William grabbed my bag, motioning for the girls to enter and following behind us. I closed the door dramatically, hoping my ring would catch a glint of the light and one of my friends would notice it, but they didn’t.
We made our way into the living room, and Andy and Katie made themselves comfortable in their normal seats. Seeing them in this living room made the familiar lump grow in my throat, knowing in a few months these moments would become rare. I stood in the doorway and stared as Andy ran her fingers through her red hair and Katie tucked her feet under her and hugged one of the couch pillows.
William stepped up behind me, comforting me with the cinnamon scent that surrounded me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and held his lips over my ear. “You can do this. They’ll be happy for you.” He planted a kiss on my cheek.
I wanted to melt against him and let him hold me all afternoon, but I grabbed the bottle of wine Beth had given us and walked into the kitchen. It was left over from the party—the good stuff from the kitchen—and my mouth watered.
I popped the cork and grabbed glasses from the cabinet while William settled himself in an open armchair in the living room. Katie and Andy eyed him, surely taking note of his casual jeans, black T-shirt, and slightly rustled hair, but also his perfectly trimmed beard and designer watch. I couldn’t stop myself from staring at him as I poured four glasses.
I started to walk into the living room with two glasses when William jumped up and grabbed the other two off the counter. He followed me back into the living room, and I passed a glass of wine to each of my friends. My left hand hovered in front of Katie’s eyes with her glass for just a second before she grabbed the glass and gripped my hand in hers.
“What the hell is that? Is thatreal?!” Her outburst grabbed Andy’s attention, and in a second, both of them had their hands on mine.
William sat in the armchair off to the side sipping his wine and watching with a proud smirk on his face, and I nodded. “It’s real. Isn’t it amazing? Please be happy for me.”
Andy jumped towards me and threw her arms around me, squeezing me tight against her. “I knew he was your one when he was in my office begging to know where you were, so I shouldn’t pretend to be very shocked. Thisring,though, my god.” She grabbed my hand and looked at the ring again before turning to William. “My statements about what would happen if you hurt her still stand.”
