The room was filled with candles and the bed was covered in pink and red rose petals. Della gasped, then looked back at me and gave me a naughty grin. "I thought I was going to have to come in here and beat someone up because they were in your room. That's what I thought when I saw the candlelight in your bedroom window."

I chuckled and reached for her. "Mmm, as sexy as it sounds to see you go badass over me, I would never touch another woman. Much less bring one in here. This is our room."

Della leaned into me and sighed. "I think Braden and Tripp wanted me to think that you had another woman."

I smiled into her hair. "Yeah. I think they did too."

"I'm going to kick their asses. I was all ready to kick someone's ass because of them. It's only fitting I kick theirs."

I laughed, then picked her up and carried her over to the bed and laid her down on the bed of roses.

She was beautiful. "Take off your dress," I told her. She sat up and pulled it off. We hadn't bothered to put her panties and bra back on in the hallway. She was naked and back where she belonged.

"Good girl. Now lie back and open your legs," I told her, and watched as she did exactly as I said.

My release from earlier was on her inner thighs. Her pu**y was wet and swollen from the rough loving we'd just had. I pulled my shirt off and took off my shorts before kneeling on the bed between her legs. I ran a finger down her silky heat and watched her body tremble.

"My come is still leaking out of you," I said as I rubbed it over her clit.

Her breath stuttered and she bucked beneath my touch.

"It's so f**king hot to see my release on you like this."

I dipped my finger inside her, then ran it down her thighs. The possessive monster inside of me roared to life. "I want to mark you," I said as I slipped my finger back inside her to coat it with more of our mixed come, then rubbed it on the top of her mound.

"Oh God, Woods. Please," she begged, and moved against my hand.

"My come looks so good on you." I was fascinated with it. Seeing it soak into her soft skin. Knowing it was a part of me.

"Then please put some more in me," she pleaded this time.

I rose up over her and teased her entrance with the head of my cock. She cried out and tried to get closer. I slowly sank into her until I was completely inside.

"You're my all-in, Della. I'll throw it all away for you. I just want you. I'm all in, baby. This life with you, I'm planning on us."

She ran her legs up mine and smiled up at me. "This is it. This is our start. Take me home, Woods."

I dropped my head to her shoulder and began moving inside of her while our breathing hitched and we gradually climbed to the pleasure we knew awaited us. The place we could only reach with each other.

"Now, Della. Come with me," I ordered when I felt myself ready to explode.

Her immediate strangled cry as she began clawing at my back sent me flying off into nirvana.

Della

I opened my eyes and stared into Woods's eyes. He was already awake. The way he looked at me made me feel treasured. Like I was some precious jewel he wanted to protect. "Good morning," he said as his fingers continued to trace the length of my arm with a featherlike touch.

"Good morning," I said, smiling at him. "How long have you been awake?"

"You mean how long have I been staring at you?" he asked teasingly.

"Yes, that too," I replied.

"About an hour. I woke up and you were so damn gorgeous curled up against me I couldn't go back to sleep. I didn't want to sleep and waste time that I could spend looking at you."

My heart squeezed. "You have a way with words, Mr. Kerrington," I told him.

"You think?"

I nodded. "I know."

"Good, because I want to ask you about the past two weeks and I want you to tell me everything," he said.

"I thought you knew everything already," I replied, realizing it had to be Tripp he'd been talking to. Braden hadn't been with me for most of those weeks.

"I know what Tripp and Braden told me. I want to know everything that Della knows."

So they'd both been in on this. I couldn't be mad at them. Not now. I was in Woods's arms. They had brought me back here. They had made me face my fears.

"I almost didn't come back. I was scared to face you. I was afraid you didn't want me. Braden and Tripp talked me into coming back."

Woods smiled at me and reached over to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Sweetheart, I was coming after you. Your time was almost up. I had told Braden you had forty-eight hours. I had started packing my bag when I got the call from Tripp saying you'd be back in four hours. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad you came home to me. But I wasn't going to stand back any longer. I'd given you three weeks. I wanted you back."

He had been coming to get me. That was why Braden was so insistent that I come back to him. She wanted me to be the one to come back. "I'm not sure what I did to score a best friend like Braden, but I'm so thankful I have her."

Woods kissed the tip of my nose. "There were a few times I considered locking her up long enough to get you and run."

Giggling, I moved closer to him. "But I came home."

"Yes, you did. And it was so damn sweet."

He wanted to know about all that had happened. I wanted to tell him about everything. "Do you know I was adopted?" He nodded. "Well, I met both of them. I even met Glenda's---that's my birth mother---family. She has a daughter and a son. Her husband was quiet but he seemed nice. I mostly watched her daughter. I wondered if I would have been so free and outspoken if I had lived her life. And I have my birth father's eyes. His name is Nile. He was the high school heartthrob. I can look at him twenty years later and tell that. He's handsome and I think he may still be a little in love with Glenda, which is weird. But I try not to think about it."