Substitute Daddy Page 9
“Where’s the baby?” she asked.
“Out like a light after a warm bottle and a good burp,” he answered.
“You have to teach me your trick because when I do it, she wants to be cuddled and rocked forever before falling asleep.”
He grinned. “I have the magic touch.”
She laughed. “I see that.”
“It also works on her mother. Come here. Let me show you,” he said.
“Is that an invitation?” Grace drawled.
“Take that bathrobe off and find out,” Matthew replied.
She let the soft white terrycloth fall to the ground and walked over to stand between his legs. “Show me.”
Matthew spanned her waist with his big hands and pulled her closer until the skin of her torso met his naked chest. Grace was suddenly breathless with anticipation pressed against his muscled body. She could feel every contour of him as she ran her hands along the sleek lines of his shoulders and arms, lines that she’d already committed to memory. He had a hard, sculpted body that breaking horses and ranch living had created. He always looked dashing and devilish in a business suit, but at home, where he felt comfortable, he was boyish and sexy as a cowboy.
He pulled her head down to his for a long kiss. Grace opened her mouth willingly to accept his tongue and his taste. His hands roamed against her back, massaging her body and cupping the cheeks of her ass. She made a little sound of pleasure in her throat as his hands moved up to cup her breasts, slowly massaging the firm, round globes. Her nipples hardened against his palms, and she moaned as he brought them to tight, aching peeks between his fingers. Their tongues dueled and mated as the kiss grew more heated.
Matthew tore his mouth away from hers and looked into her eyes. “I love you. I don’t want to scare you, but I have to tell you how I feel.”
Even now he was worried about how she might react, and Grace needed him to know he never had to hide his feelings from her. She was so sure about how she felt with him and about him, and more certain than she was about anything else in her life.
“I love you,” Grace echoed his words. “I thought I loved Lance, but I loved the wildness of the move and what he had promised me, but I learned quickly what I was trying to do was get away, escape from my real problems. But with you, I feel like I’ve come home. We’re a family, me, you, and Lilah. You’re her father, and I bet you she loves you just as much as I do and will say so as soon as she learns to talk.”
“Then I can’t wait until she does,” Matthew said huskily. “But hearing you say you love me makes me want to go yell it from the rooftop that I found my Ms. Right. We started out in two different places, but what we have could be nothing more than pure kismet, fate, destiny, luck. Hell, call it whatever. Just as long as the end result is that I have you.”
“And you do. Make love to me, Matthew.” She kissed him once and then twice with more urgency.
She stood before him naked and bare but with not one ounce of shyness. This was the man who loved her without reservation, and she cherished him just as much. With their gazes never wavering from each other, he slowly slipped his hand over one of her breasts. Grace closed her eyes in pleasure from the sensation of his touch and let herself succumb to the sensual haze. In one fluid motion, he stood and stepped out of his pajama bottoms. Grace pressed her face against his chest and listened to how his heartbeat sped up when she touched him.
“I want you, Grace,” he whispered.
“You have me forever,” she responded and lifted her head up so he could claim her lips.
He kissed her as he swept her off her feet and laid her down on the bed. His hard length was there for her pleasure as he stood proud and naked in front of her. She got on her knees and pulled him closer until his legs bumped the mattress of the bed. Grace kissed the tip of his cock and felt a shudder run through him before she took his length in her mouth inch by slow inch.
“Oh, damn.” He said the words before his breath hissed out between his teeth as she teased him with her lips and tongue.
He combed his fingers through and buried them in the thick tresses of her hair. With every movement, she took his cock deeper into her mouth, and with every sound Matthew made in pleasure, it fueled her own need. He pulled away suddenly with a savage sound and lifted her so her breasts were against this chest. He kissed her hungrily, pressing her body back into the bed before covering her with his own. He kissed his way down her neck to her breasts, and he took a hard nipple in his mouth. Grace gasped as his hot mouth enclosed the tight bud and sucked. Matthew moved from one to the other hungrily, tasting her flesh. Grace cried out as ecstasy shot to her core. She bucked against him wanting to feel him deep inside her. But her sensual urging did nothing, and he took his time in pleasing her. His hand traveled down her smooth stomach to the apex of her thighs. When she felt his fingers slip between the moist folds of flesh and another rubbing against her sensitive clit, Grace could only clasp her hand against her mouth to smother her cries of passion.
“The door is closed.” Matthew pulled her hand away. “I want to hear you come for me.”
She closed her eyes and focused on his fingers inside of her, and his thumb circled the bud of her bud, rubbing gently. She could feel his intense stare on her as he made her senses take flight by his touch alone. Matthew sent her over the edge, and she came with a low sultry cry as his digits pistoned in and out of her wet pussy. Grace shuddered and felt her body’s release.
“I’ve got to be inside you.” His voice was guttural as he spoke.
He lifted her legs high around his waist and plunged into her almost savagely, wringing another cry from her kiss-swollen lips.
“Matthew, please!”
Grace arched into his thrusts and wished she could explain to him how good it felt to have him buried inside of her, but no words were needed. As she looked at him, she could see that he felt the same way. His blue eyes had gone dark with desire as he moved inside her. She spread her legs wider, and he groaned before pressing her knees close to her chest so he could watch himself plunge inside her in rapid succession. Each thrust sent him deeper, and he arched his neck, and to Grace he looked primal as he took her.
“Matthew,” she panted, “I’m going to come. Please don’t stop.” Her fingers were on his tight biceps using him as her anchor as she strived for completion.
“Not ever, baby, not in this lifetime. Ah, fuck, you feel so good, I can’t hold back,” Matthew moaned.
“Come with me. I want to feel you with me,” she said urgently.
Grace felt his body tense, and he shuddered against her as he pumped inside her. The sound of their bodies meeting filled the room.
Suddenly, he bent low to kiss her hard. “Look at me, Grace. I want to see you come and that it’s me who is making you feel this way.”
Grace opened her eyes as she spiraled into her orgasm. She watched Matthew’s face as pleasure passed over it, and his body tensed. Her cries were his fuel because he threw his head back, and a loud groan escaped his lips as he spilled inside of her. He collapsed against her, and she stroked his damp back as they waited for their bodies to stop shaking in the aftermath of their passion.
In their usual way, they showered together, both wanting to be clean and dressed in case Lilah needed them during the night. After their shower, Matthew opened the bedroom door knowing she preferred it that way with Lilah’s nursery directly across the hall. He then got into bed and pulled her into his arms.
“So about this wedding in Greece…” he said.
Grace laughed incredulously. “Is that a proposal?”
“I’m just throwing it out there,” Matthew teased.
“Well, I’m not catching it unless it’s done right,” Grace responded primly.
“One knee?”
She shook her head. “You’re too warm to let go of right now. Just nice it up a bit.”
He chuckled before saying somberly, “You’re my world, Grace. You’re my family, my home, and you ga
ve me a daughter. Let’s watch our children and then our grandchildren grow up on this farm. Be my wife, Grace Reid, and I promise I will love you every day for the rest of our lives.”
“Best proposal ever.” She reached up and pulled him in for a kiss.
“Is that a yes?” Matthew asked. “It needs to be done right.”
She pinched his waist for his teasing. “It’s a yes, for sure.”
“Good. We’ll work out the plans later, guest list and all that,” he said.
“You’ve got my guest list, just me and Lilah,” Grace said.
“How lucky is that? Both of you were on the top of my list,” he answered. “Tell me again that you love me.”
“I love you, Matthew Ryder, and that’s my promise.”
“Best I love you ever,” he said with a grin.
“Damn right it is, cowboy,” Grace replied.
She leaned in for another kiss, to seal the promise of their love and the beginning of a whole new chapter on the Ryder Ranch. In another fifty years, she hoped their children would find love and bring it back to the Nevada ranch where they’d be raised. Like Matthew had said, for generations to come. This was the beginning of the rest of their lives.
The End
About the Author
Dahlia Rose is the best-selling author of contemporary and paranormal romance with a hint of Caribbean spice. She was born and raised on a Caribbean island and now currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her five kids, who she affectionately nicknamed “The Children of the Corn,” and her biggest supporter and longtime love. She has a love of erotica, dark fantasy, sci-fi, and the things that go bump in the night. Books and writing are her biggest passions, and she hopes to open your imagination to the unknown between the pages of her books.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
About the Author