Forgive Me (30 page)

I giggled softly and asked, “Why is that?”

“Because it seems to me I always get to kiss you when we do.” He presses his lips a little more firmly to me and I’m pretty sure I discovered Heaven at that point.

When we were done making out like a couple of horny teenagers, he placed his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into him. I rested my head against his shoulder and told him, “But if you expect more with us, you better start bringing me out on more regular dates, and we better try to work through our issues together.”

His hand rubbed up and down my arm before he finally whispered and said, “I’d do anything to never lose you again, Lexi. You’re it for me, forever.”

Something about him repeating the words I once told him had me grinning wider than I imagined I ever had before.

Over the last month, he has not disappointed in making me feel loved and cherished. And although we know we love each other already, we haven’t rushed into telling each other that again. We also haven’t hurried into me sleeping over at his house, wanting to take things a little slower. Not that we haven’t broke in every surface in his home, and even his truck a few times, but I don’t plan on moving in any time soon.

As we make our way over to the grill, where Bray’s husband, Akin, is grilling up some hamburgers and hotdogs. I steal some watermelon from the fruit bowl at the table next to it. “Where do I put this?” I ask after I suck the piece of watermelon down. I lift up a gift bag to indicate my present for Bray.

He rolls his eyes. “That girl is turning twenty six, but with this huge party you’d think it was her sweet sixteen.” I grin at his playfulness, because with the look on his face, you can see this is exactly what he adores about Bray. Its what we all adore about Bray. “I believe she said she wanted all gifts inside the pool house, where her cake is.”

“Sounds good!” I sneak another piece of watermelon and go into the pool house to drop off the gift.

Bray spots me coming out and squeals. “You made it!”

“Well of course,” I tell her, patting her back while she wraps me into a huge bear hug. Someone has obviously gotten into the liquor already. She isn’t sloshed by any means, but she certainly has a nice buzz going.

She looks at Zander once we separate and barks out orders. “Go fetch your lady one of her fruity drinks then go help Akin with the grill or whatever. Your girl is getting her bathing suit on, and we’re going for a quick dip before the food is ready.”

I’m glad we have a choice in this.

Zander smiles at Bray. “Happy birthday,” he tells her, his voice dripping in sarcasm, then he turns and does as she orders.

Bray, of course, laughs at that, pulls my arm until we’re back in the pool house, then orders me to put my bathing suit on. “You’re awful, you know,” I tell her.

“Its my birthday, I’m allowed to be.

“Your birthday isn’t until tomorrow,” I remind her.

“Shhh, just get your bathing suit on.”

I roll my eyes, taking my purse with me into the small bathroom. I strip out of my clothes and pull the bikini outta my purse before sliding it on. I haven’t been swimming in years, so I had to go buy a new one. Zander loved coming with me to get one, only because I had to try on ten of them. We both agreed on this one. The dark blue top is triangular with ruffles and the bottom is the same color blue with small white polka dots all over. The sides tie on the bottoms too, and I know that made Zander very excited.

I come out of the bathroom and Bray does a cat call at me, which in return has me rolling my eyes and shoving at her shoulder as I walk by. She already has on her bikini- a neon pink strapless top and black bottoms that barely cover her ass, but I expect nothing more from her. And she looks hot in it, I’ll give her that. That girl can pull of just about anything.

The two us make it out of the pool house and into the pool. Only about ten other people have made it, and I know Gunner and Magnolia are going to be joining us before too long. She invited Clay and Faith as well, but they had other plans and I was pretty sad to hear that.

Our time in the pool doesn’t last long, especially when Bray tries to splash me, and when we get out lunch is already cooked. I can’t find Zander anywhere, so I plop down in the chair next to Bray and start in with the macaroni salad.

“What do we have here?”

I smack at the hand that reaches onto my plate for some chips.

“Tanner, get outta here. Who invited you anyways?” Bray yells out.

I turn to face Tanner with a small glare. “Don’t touch my food.”

He grins at me, tossing the chip in his mouth. His eyes look down my body and I feel more naked than ever. Ugh. I don’t see what I saw in Tanner. I mean, yes, he has gotten gorgeous, but as I look at him and as I see that he only has one single thought in his mind, its obvious that he was only a way to release built up tension- both sexual and not. “Looking good, Lex,” he tells me.

I roll my eyes at that. “Thanks… T-dawg.” I wink at him and give a grin, knowing I just basically told him that he is nothing more than someone to tease.

Bray even snickers from her chair, and she mumbles out, “Buuuuurn.”

But my smile quickly fades when he leans in and says, “Funny, that isn’t what you were screaming when you were underneath me.”

“Screw you.”

“I got time for another quickie.”

“What the fuck?”

I turn around and look at Zander wide eyed. How much of that had he heard? I stand quickly and go to give him a hug. “That probably sounded way worse than it was.”

He doesn’t look at me but instead over at Tanner still sitting down, probably shitting himself right now. He knows I’m with Zander now, it isn’t the first time I’ve seen him in the last month, its just the first time he said anything so raunchy towards me.

“When did you have a quickie with my girlfriend?”

“Dude, she wasn’t your girlfriend at the time, give it up.” I can hear the chair squeal and I turn my head to see Tanner throwing his hands up in the air, walking off, mumbling something under his breath.

I look back up to Zander and watch his jaw tick as his eyes follow Tanner disappearing off into the house. When he looks back down at me, its with pure disappointment. “Can we talk?” I ask him. “Away from the audience.”

He sighs and gives me a curt nod. I walk towards the pool house and pray he is following behind me. When we get in there, he closes the door behind us but doesn’t give me the chance to talk. “How many damn times have you told me its been no one but me all along? How many times have you said that shit? Because if you’ve slept with Tanner, then it obviously hasn’t
just
been me? And it makes me question if there has been others as well!”

“Stop,” I yell out. “I’m not getting into a screaming match with you.”

“I just don’t get it. Why’d you lie to me?” He shakes his head at me, obviously hurt.

I take a deep breath and grab at his hands. It surprises me that he doesn’t pull away from me, but he promised we’d work through everything together, and I guess he is giving me a chance for that to happen.

“I never said I didn’t have sex with anyone else, I said I had never been with anyone else. I haven’t so much as gone on a date with anyone but you. However, when I came back into town and went out with Bray one night, she got me really drunk and I ended up going home with Tanner. In the three weeks I was here, we fooled around a total of three times, but he never made me feel the way you do. I never had feelings for him, I guess I was just using him Zander. And I’m not sorry for it at all, and I won’t apologize. I’ll only say sorry that you misunderstood what I meant. But I’ll also reassure you right now, that he is the one and only other person I’ve done any kind of intimate act with besides you, and it meant nothing to me.”

“I don’t think that even makes me feel any better.”

“Why should I not have experienced more than just you in my life?”

“It’s not that, its-” He looks away from me. “It’s going to sound dumb, but I’d rather know you slept with five other guys then just one. One that is going to be around.”

I have to bite on my lip to stop from laughing. He is right, it kind of does sound dumb, but I guess I get it. “I only love you, I’ve only ever loved you, and I only ever will love you.”

He looks down at me and I see the sides of his lips lift. “And I only love you, and will for the rest of my life.”

I bring myself up on my toes to give him a kiss. Just before he presses his lips to me, I say, “If you’re really jealous, you can claim me.” His kiss is fiercer than ever and his hands travel down to untie my bottoms. When they fall down, he reaches between my legs, running a fingers between my slit.

He whispers against my lip, “I have no problem doing that.”

I reach down to strip him from shorts and boxers, wrapping my hand around his already hard length. His hands pull on my hips, causing me to jump up and wrap myself around him. I grind against him, getting ready for him to be inside of me.

Pushing me against the wall, Zander adjusts us just right and pushes into me with an intense force. “I’m going to claim you every day for the rest of my life if I have to.”

“You don’t have to,” I pant out, “but I want you to.”

He thrusts into me harder than he ever has, and instead of being intimate, he simply rests his head against my forehead, keeping his eyes on mine. He wants me to see him jealous, and he wants to see me being pleased by him- and only him. The moment is so intense, that in just minutes I’m coming apart around Zander and he follows right after, filling me up with his release.

Once we’re both dressed and about to walk out of the pool house, he stops and looks down at me. “Have you ever had any feelings for Tanner?”

I place my hand on my hip and give him a look that says,
please!
“No. I’ve never even gotten butterflies from any other guy but you.”

He grins and pulls me close to him as we continue walking outdoors.

Can you come over?
              I look down at the text and smile, everything inside me warming at the thought of some alone time with Zander. I have three hours before Justin will be home from school, and although Zander is supposed to be at work, apparently he is at his house, and I have no issue going over there. Today I took my first day off from work because Faith wanted me to go to her doctor’s appointment with her, as she found out the sex of the baby, and I’ve been lonely ever since I got home.

Yup, I have a niece that’ll be here in just over four months. I am so excited for the two of them.

I text out a quick reply to Zander,
Be there in ten.
I head out the door right after.

I walk into Zander’s house and smile at the bouquet of roses on the table and the wrapped present next to it. I’m startled when he wraps his arms around me from behind, laying kisses on my shoulder. “Happy four months, beautiful.”

“You’re such a dork,” I tell him, even though I’m melting into him.

“I know.” He kisses my temple and I get an urge to go open my present.

“You know, that is Christmas wrapping paper, right?”

He laughs, “Yeah, that is all I could find.”

“So I don’t have to wait until Christmas to open it?”

“Go on.” He unwraps his arms from around me and gives me a little shove in the direction of the table.

Grabbing the present, I tear open the paper to see a shirt box. I rip the tape at the edges and lift the cover off. Grinning, I pull out the three things inside, one by one. The first is a skittles box which makes me laugh softly, the next is a picture frame that says
Family
on it, and that makes me happier than I thought it would, the next is a rectangle jewelry box.

Thinking it’s a necklace, I’m surprised to open it and see a key. I look up to Zander with a half-smile, a little nervous to just jump off the ledge and assume what he is saying by this.

“What do you think?” is all I get from him.

“I love it all,” I tell him.

He chuckles. “What do you think… about you and Justin moving in with me finally?”

I jump out of the chair so fast and wrap my arms around his neck, pressing my lips to his. He deepens the kiss immediately and we don’t even make it out of the kitchen before we’re both completely stripped from our clothes and making a passionately fierce love on the kitchen floor.

With Zander still inside me, I rest my head against his chest. “I think that says it all.”

“Welcome home,” he states. He presses his lips to my forehead and I can’t help but grin. Everything over the last five months has been near perfection, but nothing beats this moment right here.

We head to my dad’s house and pack up some random things of Justin and mine, then we bring it back to Zander’s. When we arrive back to my dad’s again, we reload his truck with just about the last of everything Justin and I have here. He already has a bed and dresser at Zander’s, and obviously I don’t need those things, and since we don’t have much furniture, we really didn’t have to move much of anything.

When Justin gets off at the bus stop, both Zander and I are standing there waiting for him. I tell him, “We’ve got a surprise for you when we get back home.”