Page 104 of Defend Her Heart

“Fuck, baby. Did I hurt you?” The panic is clear in my voice and I scan her body looking for any marks or bruises.

Her hand finds my cheek and I look up to see her smiling. “I’m okay. Just sore. And maybe a little bit embarrassed.”

I shake my head confused. “What the fuck could you possibly be embarrassed about?”

Avery scoots to the side and splays her hand out over the bed.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because I just squirted for the first time in my life and ruined your sheets.”

Ignoring the mess on the bed, I slide my body right over it, not giving a fuck that it’s getting all over me. I take her face in my hands and press my forehead to hers.

“Are you fucking kidding me? That was the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced. I told you your body is fucking amazing, Aves. And you just solidified it for me. Fuck the sheets, baby. I’ll buy more. Squirt all you want.”

She brings her hands up to her mouth, causing me to lean back a bit. She’s giggling now, so I let her cover her laugh but only for a moment. After a few seconds, I pull her hands away from her face and capture her mouth with mine.

“I like that I stole another one of your firsts. It was a first for me too, baby.” I kiss her softly and Avery pulls back, lifting her hand to my cheek.

“Maybe this time you’ll be my firstandlast.”

Her words hit me square in the chest. I crash my mouth to hers again, but this time there’s nothing soft about it. Pulling back, I kiss the birthmark above her lip. “I better be your last.” My voice is cocky now and she swats my chest.

“Okay, Superstar. Now, I need a shower.”

Our shower lasted much longer than it normally does when I’m alone. The bench in here came in handy much more than it ever has before. Instead of eating my normal breakfast this morning, I had Avery. I was washing my hair when I felt her mouth wrap around my cock and let’s just say I could get used to waking up like this.

Avery stepped out of the shower a few minutes before me, and I’m wrapping my towel around my waist when she walks back into the bathroom.

She’s in her robe again, but my eyes aren’t staring at that. They’re staring at what she’s holding.

“Did you bring flowers home for me last night?” In her hand is the bouquet of peonies I picked up before the game last night and stored in the kitchen at the arena. I called around to probably a dozen florists looking for the exact shade of pink that we saw at the courthouse when this whole charade started.

“I did.” I walk past here like it’s not a big deal.

She rushes around in front of me, stopping me before I can open my dresser. “These are the same flowers we saw at the courthouse.”

I lean down and kiss her on the nose. “Yes, they are.”

Avery looks from the flowers and then back up to me. “Thank you.” She pushes up onto her toes and kisses me quickly on the lips. Once she moves from in front of me, I open the drawer to grab a pair of boxers.

I’ve just slid them on when I look up to see her staring at me. Her eyebrows are furrowed like she’s trying to figure something out.

“What is it, Aves?”

I use my towel to hand dry my hair a bit and then toss it into the hamper near the bathroom.

Avery sets the flowers down on the nightstand and crosses her arms.

“You said something that day that totally threw me off. I forgot about it until just now.”

I wrack my brain for any hint of what I might’ve said but come up empty. The only thing I remember from that day is the way it felt to finally have my lips pressed against hers again after nearly ten years without them.

Moving beside her, I sit down on my bed and pull on a pair of sweatpants.

“Sorry, all I remember is kissing you and making you my wife.”

Avery shoves me playfully in the arm and then sits next to me, pulling her leg up in front of her. She pushes her hair behind her ear and I could never have anticipated the words she says next.

“The daisies, Connor.”