Mrs. MacDonough
. Tattooed in fancy, scrolly font – spanning from beneath her left breast around to just under her arm, across her ribcage.
Danny fought hard to remain calm, when all he wanted to do was beat his fists against his chest like King Kong and shout to the world that his woman – his
wife
– was proud enough of him, and of their relationship, to have her new name permanently etched into her body.
He felt Kat’s eyes on him, but was way too overwhelmed and unsure of himself to meet them.
“Do you like it, Danny?” she asked softly.
He didn’t trust himself to speak. Or move. Or do anything except sit there staring at the most beautiful declaration of love he could have ever received from the woman who was his whole world.
Kat shifted and exhaled a nervous laugh. “Say something, because I don’t like it when you’re quiet. It really freaks me out.”
Danny opened his mouth, already knowing he couldn’t possibly express his gratitude no matter how long he took and no matter how hard he tried, but needing to somehow formulate some words…so Kat would know…so she could somehow understand a fraction of his feelings…
But nothing came to him.
“Please say something, Danny,” she whispered. “Before I start thinking it was a terrible mistake that you hate.” Kat paused. “And, even if you do hate it, please just say so. I can always get it removed…I just thought, since you got my name across your back, maybe you’d-”
“Besides your face, it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life,” he interrupted, his voice strained and low.
Kat leaned over, slipped her fingers beneath his chin, and tried tilting his head up. “Then look at me.”
Danny shook his head. “I can’t, Kat. Not right now.”
“Why not?”
“If I look at you, I’m gonna lose my shit. And you don’t deserve to deal with that – not ever, but especially not tonight.” Danny inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, trying with everything he had to get a hold of his wild emotions. “So, please just give me a minute to get a grip on myself, okay? Before I ruin everything with my fucked up bullshit.”
“Your feelings are
not
fucked up bullshit,” Kat shot back fiercely. “And I
want
you to lose your shit! I wanted the tattoo to make you feel something – that’s why I got it! I wanted it to mean as much to you as it does to me!”
“It means
everything
to me,” Danny choked out, losing the battle against the raging waves of emotion washing over him. “
You
mean everything to me. You fucking know that, Kat.”
“Then look at me. Please.”
Kat tried tilting his head up again and this time Danny let her.
The moment she looked into his welled-up eyes, hers filled. “
Danny…
”
His spilled over, hers spilled over, and a few seconds later, they both had tears streaming down their cheeks.
“
Come here
,” he whispered, reaching for Kat who was already climbing into his lap.
They wrapped their arms around each other and buried their faces in each other’s necks – their bodies so close that Danny wasn’t sure where his ended and Kat’s began. And he felt more whole in that moment – more complete – than he had ever before.
Because he could feel every beat of Kat’s heart through his chest…
The warmth of her skin flush against his…
Her even breathing against the crook of neck…
Her fingers curled into his back, holding him tighter…pulling him closer…
Always closer.
And all of those strong, steady sensations soothed Danny…somehow calmed, comforted, and quieted the terrified, lonely little boy still inside of him.
The little boy who’d never understood why no wanted him.
The little boy who’d quickly learned that nothing about him was worth knowing or loving.
The little boy, whose desperate need for love, acceptance, and security had driven the grown man to make so many bad decisions.
The little boy who had long ago given up on things ever being different…who was actually certain things couldn’t possibly be different.
Until
her
.
“
Thank you
,” he breathed out against her neck. “Thank you for finding me…” Danny’s arms tightened a little more around her. “And for loving me.” His voice caught on a hard gasp. “Jesus, I can’t thank you enough for loving me, Kat. I will never be able to thank you enough. Please don’t ever stop.”
Kat lifted her head and reared back slightly to meet his eyes. “I will
never
stop. I couldn’t stop if I tried.” The corner of her mouth lifted. “I know this because I
did
try – as hard as I could, more than once – and, as we both know, I failed miserably.” Kat glanced down at his nudity, her disheveled wedding dress, and their entwined bodies before looking back up at him, smile deepening. “Obviously.”
When Danny just continued to stare into her eyes – spellbound by their beauty, his luck, and her love – Kat’s smiled faded.
She searched his eyes. “Why did the tattoo make you emotional, Danny? Just because you were surprised?”
Danny lifted a shoulder. “I’m not really sure. I think just because it was such a beautiful fucking gesture.” He paused, trying to make some sense of the tangled emotions bouncing around his skull. “Maybe because it’s so permanent, too, I guess. Yeah, you could have it removed and there are a shit-ton of people walking around with their exes names on their bodies, but seeing that inked into your skin…” Danny tilted his head to eye it again and more feelings of pride, gratitude, and awe flooded his brain. He straightened up to lock eyes with Kat again, head shaking. “I don’t think I could ever say how much that fucking means to me, sweetheart.”
Eyes never leaving his, Kat unwound her arms from his neck and slowly pulled them out of her dress sleeves. She pushed down the top of her dress, baring those beautiful breasts to his now openly leering gaze, before dropping onto her back. She slid the dress down over her hips, then her thighs, until it was finally pooled around her ankles. She kicked it aside, toed off her Converse, and got onto her hands and knees.
Danny’s breath hitched, his dick twitched, and a fine sheen of sweat broke out across his face as he watched Kat very slowly crawl over and into his lap again. With a little help from Danny, she situated one leg on either side of him – straddling him – as her arms snaked back around his neck.
Kat’s hands clutching the back of his head and neck and her eyes locked with his, she whispered, “Then show me. Show me what it meant to you, Danny…show me what
I
mean to you.”
Kat gasped loudly when he grabbed her hips and lifted her, positioning her body so the space between her thighs was hovering just above the tip of his erection.
Danny paused, allowing a charged silence to stretch out…
Because he couldn’t get enough of listening to Kat’s soft panting, of feeling her breath against his skin as he held her close. Danny couldn’t get enough of staring into her hooded, hazel eyes as they stared deeply back into his and he could never – would never be able to – get enough of the love, trust, and pure happiness radiating off of her and sinking deep into his heart and soul.
“
I love you, Kat MacDonough,”
Danny whispered. “
I always fucking have and I always fucking will
.”
With one swift, hard, and deliberate movement, he simultaneously yanked Kat down and thrust himself into her as deeply as he could go. Kat cried out and her head fell back as Danny continued to pull their bodies apart and then slam them back together, over and over and over again.
He lowered his lips to one of her breasts bouncing up and down right in his face and sucked it into his mouth.
“
Oh, God
,” Kat groaned, tightening her hold on his head and pulling him harder against her. “
Oh, yes, Danny…yes…
”
Danny flicked the tight bud of her nipple, sucked at it again, hard, and then smoothed it out with his tongue before moving his mouth over to the other breast.
The moment he started sucking that one, Kat hands gripped his shoulders – fingers curling and digging into his skin and muscles.
“
I’m…gonna…come
,” she panted out between moans as Danny continued to lick, suck, flick, and gently graze his teeth across her nipple – all the while still pounding into her. “
If you keep…doing that…I’m gonna come, Danny…
”
Knowing he wasn’t going to be able to hold out much longer himself, Danny released her breast and lifted his head to find hers hanging forward.
Then he realized she was staring down between their bodies, watching them slide apart and then come back together again – completely focused on the sight of their manic fucking – and Danny almost lost it.
“
Look at me, Kat
,” he gritted out. When she lifted her head and met his eyes, Danny said, “Keep your eyes on mine…I want to see the look in your eyes when you come for me.” Kat moaned his name and he half-grunted, half-groaned, in response, his orgasm now
right there
. “And I want you looking into my eyes when I come so hard for you, Kat…so you can see how much I love you and how fucking beautiful I think you are.”
“
Oh, God, yes…
” Kat moaned, her glazed-over eyes now latched onto his. “
And I’m about to, Danny…so close…
”
Danny moved one hand to her ass and lifted the other to slide into the hair at the base of her head. He gripped her ass, tightened his fingers around her hair, and stared as deeply into her eyes as he could as he slammed himself into her relentlessly.
“Can you see how much I love you, Kat?” Danny whispered, their faces only inches apart and their eyes still solidly locked.
“
Yes…”
“Then come apart for me, sweetheart. I want to hear you scream my name as you come all over me…” He pulled them apart, paused – stilling their bodies mid-fuck, and then thrust himself all the way inside of her, hard. “
Now
.”
Kat did scream his name, then, more than once, as she came – keeping her eyes on his, as he’d requested – and Danny saw it all there, reflected back at him: the love, the lust, the friendship, the uninhibited emotion, and, most importantly, the unwavering trust he’d somehow managed to earn from her.
Her body still pulsing around his and their gazes still connected, Kat cradled his face in her hands and whispered, “Can you see how much I love you, Danny?”
He managed to think
God, yes
, but never got a chance to verbalize it – his orgasm suddenly slamming into him and removing the ability to think, speak, or do anything other than gasp out Kat’s name and some incoherent declarations of love over and over again as he pumped himself into her.
The second Danny’s
body stilled inside of her, Kat, with a contented sigh and a shit-eating grin on her face, threw her arms around his chest and melted into him. “How fun was that?” Kat exhaled a soft laugh. “I’ve gotta tell you, I know it’s only been a few hours, but I’m really enjoying married life so far, Danny.”
He laughed, the sound a deep rumble against her ear. “Yeah? You pretty satisfied with the state of our marital relations so far, Mrs. MacDonough?”
“Hell yeah,” Kat shot back and he laughed again.
“I know I say this after most of our sexual encounters…” Danny leaned back, taking her with him, and turned them so they were lying face-to-face, his arms still around her and her body still up against his chest. Danny leaned in and pressed a few kisses to her shoulder as his fingertips began skating up and down her spine. “But I really do think you might put me in an early grave, sweetheart.”
Kat reared back. “
Me
?”
Danny laughed. “Yeah,
you
. As cute as that innocent angel, ‘who, me?’ line is every time you use it, we both know you are completely fucking aware of how insane you drive me.” He dragged the backs of his fingers down the side of her face, then tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Part of it is the insane sexual chemistry and your overall crazy sexiness that leaves me feeling like I just got completely wrung out – twice – when it’s over…but mostly I think it’s all the emotional shit we’ve got tied up in it that makes me wonder if a lifetime of sex with you might just do me in.”
“All in all, not a bad way to go though, huh?” Kat asked, grinning.
Danny laughed again. “Yeah, not a bad way to go at all, sweetheart. Not if it means I get to spend the time I have left buried deep inside of that beautiful body of yours.”
Kat’s smile faded a bit as she searched his face. “So you loved the tattoo, right, Danny?”
His expression softened. “Yes, sweetheart, of course I love it. Fuck,
love
doesn’t come close to describing how I feel about it…” Danny grabbed one of her hands, threaded their fingers and bent their arms so their folded hands were between them. “Sort of like how
love
doesn’t come close to describing how I feel about you. There aren’t words for the way I feel about you…and there aren’t any for the way you make me feel, either.”
“That’s okay,” Kat replied hoarsely, the open adoration on Danny’s face hitting her right in the most tender part of her heart, as usual. “We don’t need words.” She squeezed her hand tighter around his and scooted in just a little bit closer. “We don’t need anything but each other, Danny.” Her lips curled. “And how fortunate and convenient that we just made promises in front of God, our families, and our friends to spend the rest of our lives together.”
“That’s not long enough with you, Kat,” Danny shot back – so emphatically, so seriously – that Kat’s chest suddenly ached and felt too full at the same time. He lifted a shoulder. “Hell, maybe that’s how you know you truly love somebody…” Danny paused, his appreciative, loving, beautiful gaze taking in every inch of her face. “When forever feels like too short of a time to have them. When even ten forevers wouldn’t be long enough.”