I feel his broad head stretching my entrance before he gives a slow thrust, seating himself deep within me.

“Oh my GOD!” I scream and clench down on his dick.

He hisses and holds still and deep. “Baby, got to stop or I’m going to come right fucking now, goddamn your tight pussy loves my dick.” He drops his head to my neck and clamps down before moving his hips. He starts off slow, building the friction until I almost can’t take it anymore and gradually builds up speed. Before I know it I am screaming his name and he is slamming into my waiting body. He brings his hands down and lifts my hips up to meet each one of his powerful thrusts. My hands snake around his body and my nails bite the skin before I throw my head back and scream. I swear the house is falling around us, lights are exploding and the world is shaking. With one more powerful thrust, I feel the warm jets of his orgasm empty into my body.

We lay there for some time while our bodies return to earth.

Rubbing my arms back and forth across his sweaty back, I kiss the side of his face. “Merry fucking Christmas.” I whisper, enjoying the feeling of his semi hard dick moving with his laughter inside of me. Tremors still shooting through my body.

“Merry fucking Christmas is right, Princess.”

He slowly pulls out of me and we both let in a sharp pull of air at the loss of each other. He makes quick work of cleaning me off before we get dressed and make our way down to the living room where we set up Christmas.

I busy myself with making breakfast, while he sets up the living room. He starts bringing in boxes from all over the house, and with a devilish smirk, joins me in the kitchen.

“Where did all of that come from?” I ask in awe.

“Been busy, baby.” He says sitting down and starting in on his pancakes.

“Obviously.” I smile and join him, making quick work of breakfast so we can get down to gifts.

He doesn’t stop smiling the whole time we eat and by the time we finish we are both sporting ridiculously happy grins.

We start with his gifts. They start off small, some new design programs for my computer I had been looking for, earrings, some barely there garments that earn a slap from me, some odds and ends things I had been raving about for the house, and finally a large but flat package is pulled out from behind the tree. Looking at him with a question, he just gestures at the package. I walk over from the recliner I had been lounging in and start to gently pull the paper off. When I finally get it off, I notice I am looking at the back of a very large canvas of some kind. He is looking at me with patience but also a small bit of fear. I wrinkle my brow at him before turning it around.

When I see the picture looking back at me I almost lose it. It is beautiful. The old me would have looked at this picture, like I had so many times over the years and let the painful memories consume me. But now, with Axel by my side I can look at it and smile. I can look at this picture and see the overwhelming love two young kids had for each other.

“It’s stunning, Axel. I love it.” My words are so soft they are barely audible.

“You aren’t mad are you? You left that box of pictures out a few weeks ago and I got the idea.” He seems to be walking around on eggshells worrying that I won’t like it, or worse that it will cause me pain.

“God, no. It’s perfect.” And it is.

The picture is of Axel and me the day he left for boot camp. I still remember the day my mom brought it back from the store. She had a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. They had framed it and given it to me the same day.

In the picture Axel was hanging out the bus window, one hand hanging onto the window frame and the other reaching down and holding mine. You can just see his broad shoulders dressed in his camouflage and his newly shaven head. I still remember taking my father’s clippers to his silky locks the night before he left. I was standing on the tips of my toes, stretching up as tall as I could and meeting his waiting lips in a sweet kiss. I had bought a new soft yellow sundress to wear that day and it was hanging beautifully from my youthful body.

There was so much love, promise and sadness in that picture. It is us. It is our past and our future and it is absolutely perfect.

With tears rolling down my face, I carefully lean it against the wall before throwing my arms around his neck and peppering his face with kisses. “I love it, Axel. It is the best gift I have ever received. I love you, so so much.”

“I love you too, Princess.” He kisses me softly and wraps his arms around my back, holding me tightly to his body.

We stay like that for just a second, soaking in the peaceful contentment that swirls in the air.

“My turn?” I ask into his neck.

“Not yet, Princess. One more.” He loosens his hold on me, placing my feet back onto the floor and takes a step back. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small blue box before dropping to one knee in front of me. The tears that had stopped from before are back with a rush.

Oh. My. God.

“Izzy, from the first moment our eyes met, I knew you would be mine forever. There wasn’t a day that passed you didn’t hold my heart. Everything I have ever done in my life was with you in mind, even when I didn’t think this moment would ever come, it was all I prayed for. We might not have had the easiest road to get here, but know, from this day forward, I will do everything within my power to ensure that there is nothing but perfection. The happiness and love we deserve, baby. Will you do me the greatest honor and become my wife?” When he finishes I can hardly see him through the tears gathering around my eyes, blurring my vision before falling down my face.

“Yes. Yes, a million times over!” I yell and drop to the ground in front of him throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him with so much love and exuberance. “Yes!” I scream, throwing my head back and smiling widely.

He laughs and opens the box. Inside is a stunning ring. A large center round diamond is set high on the thick platinum band. On each side of the center stone is three rows of more diamonds, the center row being slightly larger than the two on the outside.

It is the most beautiful ring I have ever seen in my life.

He slips it onto my finger and brings the hand up to his lips for a soft kiss.

“You’re finally going to be my wife.” He says against my hand, his warm breath tickling the skin.

“You’re finally going to be my husband.” I smile back.

I give him another kiss before pulling away and looking down at my hand.

I can’t help but just think finally, finally, FINALLY.

“Okay, this will be hard to top.” He offers an arrogant smile before walking over to plop down on the recliner I had just left.

“Oh yeah, Princess. There is no way you are topping that.” He replies pointing down at my hand.

I smile to myself and start handing him the boxes. He laughs when he gets to the Victoria's Secret lingerie. “Great minds think alike.” We laugh together and he places the box off to the side.

I hand him the box with the dog tag and watch his face when he opens it. He sits there for the longest time just looking into the box.

His face void of emotions.

“Jesus,” He chokes out. “Izzy, Princess this is fucking amazing.” He looks at it for a few more minutes and asks me what the line at the end means.

“Love conquers all.” I reply with a smile.

He fingers the necklace lightly and notices the diamond for the first time. “Is that…” he trails off.

“Yeah, I kept it. Locked away but I never let that ring go, I thought it was perfect.”

“It is…it is perfect.” He whispers.

He looks up and the emotion in his depths causes me to stagger a bit. “Wear it always…never coming off.” He says, pulling it from the box and pulling the chain over his head, dropping it to setting against his chest.

“One more.” I say, the butterflies picking up speed in my stomach. “You kind of helped me pick this one out actually.” I add walking over to the tree and pulling out a small box.

The smile on his face is one of pure bliss. This day has been perfect and I pray this will be the icing on the cake.

He starts tearing off the paper and opens the lid on the box before pulling out the mug. He has it backwards at first and looks at me with a perplexed expression that turns to a questioning one when he notices my nerves. “Spin it.” I say twirling my finger in a circle.

He takes the coffee mug and spins it around. I watch when the clouds clear and his jaw drops in shock. He looks up at me, down at the coffee mug, to my belly, then back to my face before returning his eyes to the mug he holds reverently in his hands. He sits there, with his head bowed and just looks at the mug. I picture it in my mind, knowing what he is seeing and a small smile tugs at my lips.

The gray mug has a copy of the first ultrasound picture on it and underneath the picture it says, ‘#1 Dad – Coming this Summer’.

He is silent for so long I start to worry. Oh God, I didn’t think what I would do if he wasn’t happy about it. I can’t stand the thought of being without him but if he didn’t want our baby, I would have to learn.

“Axel?” I question.

He sets the mug down on the coffee table before climbing to his feet. I don’t catch his expression before he wraps his arms around me softly and holds me close. I still can’t judge his mood or feelings about becoming a father. The worry inside me is starting to take root and I feel like I might be sick.

“Princess…” He whimpers. His giant body starts to shake slightly under my arms and I realize he is too overcome with emotions to talk right now. I hold him and he holds me, I can feel his tears wetting the skin through my shirt. My own are coming freely. He leans back and looks into my eyes, bringing his arms around and wiping his eyes clear.

“A baby? You’re having my baby?” He says in astonishment. “We’re having a baby?” He repeats, a huge smile coming over his face. “We’re going to have a baby!” He booms through the living room and picks me up in a tight hug before spinning me around.

I laugh at his liveliness.

He drops me to my feet again and slams down to his knees pulling up my shirt and pressing a soft kiss to my flat stomach. Splaying his hands wide across my belly and whispering to the skin, “We’re going to love you so much little one.”

I hiccup on a sob and run my hands through his hair. He looks up at me with his bright emerald eyes full of peacefulness and blinding love. “We’re having a baby.” He wraps his arms tightly around my middle and holding me close with his head against my stomach.

I hold his head to my skin and echo him back, “We’re having a baby.”

Chapter 20

I still can’t believe it. Not only am I engaged to be married but our baby is growing inside my body. Once Axel was over his shock, we spent the rest of the day in bed, celebrating as he said. I can’t say no to him, he is over the moon and I want that closeness only he can give me. We fell asleep well after midnight, his arm drapes over my stomach, holding my belly with his large hand.

My phone starts buzzing the next morning, reminding me that I had set my alarm so I could get up and over to Dee’s before it got too late. Axel and I have plans to go to dinner tonight and celebrate, with clothes on this time.