Thrown Down (Made in Jersey #2)(52)

Being in the same room with her worst memory wasn’t easy. But she would pull out every stop to keep Vaughn from trying to be noble again. If they had to live in this very room to stay together, they would get through it. They would get better together. All three of them. Father, mother, and daughter. Because apart? They were loose ends that were meant to be tied.

When River heard a door slam out in the parking lot, she shot to her feet, her blood already flowing at warp speed. Squaring her shoulders, she went for the door and flung it open, halting Vaughn in his footsteps where he crossed the parking lot.

“Riv? What…” She watched as he registered the doorway she stood in, watched as he tried to decide why. Whatever conclusion he landed on, it propelled him toward the room, his big hand banding around River’s elbow. “What are you doing in there, doll? I don’t want you in there.”

“I’m waiting for you.” She pulled out of his hold and clasped the sides of his face. “Part of me has been here, waiting for you the whole time.”

He fell onto River, giving her no choice but to walk them backward into the room, while Vaughn released heaving breaths into her neck. “I won’t do it. I won’t do it this time.”

Every molecule in her body screamed to a halt. “Do what?”

“Leave. I refuse to leave again.” His voice was rich and deep, just like the relief that clamored through River’s blood, getting it running again. “I must be a selfish bastard, because I didn’t even try.” He lifted his head and searched her eyes. “Tell me why you’re in this room. If you’re trying to bring this full circle by ending things where I ended them, I’ve got news for you—it’s not happening. Get it right out of your head. They’ll have to take me away from this town—from my wife and child—in a coffin this time.”

River’s heart rejoiced, lifting and dancing inside her rib cage “Wife?”

“Yeah. Wife. Husband. Forever. No questions.” She felt Vaughn’s hand moving at their hips…and then he raised a ring between them. A gorgeous, old-fashioned, antique-looking ring that instantly became the most beautiful piece of jewelry she’d ever beheld, despite its slight tarnish. “I’m not going to lie, Riv. It’s from a pawn shop. I’m a pawnshop guy, okay? But I won’t be forever. I’m making good, doll. I’m going to make you proud of me. Proud to call me your man…and Marcy proud to call me dad.”

Tears slipped down her cheeks, but the warmth felt good and healthy, so she didn’t bother swiping them away. How could she focus on anything but the man in front of her? The startlingly gorgeous man she’d loved beyond reason since they’d first locked eyes. “I want to be your wife,” she managed. “Of course I do. I’m in this room because I wanted to propose to you.”

His mouth formed a lopsided smile. “What’s that now?”

“I wanted to paint over the bad memory with something good. Something that should have always been.” She held out her hand, laughing tearfully as he slipped the twisted silver onto her finger. “Vaughn, we can be a family anywhere. We don’t need my parents’ house. Or a house at all. We have love. That’s more important than some pile of bricks. I want to do it on our own.”

He pressed their foreheads together on a broken sound. “You trust me that much, Riv?”

“Yes.” She pushed up on her toes and kissed him, once, twice. “I didn’t think you’d left town. Not for a single second. I knew I just had to wait and you’d come to me. I knew.”

His breath released in a long rush. “Thank you. I don’t know what I did to earn that kind of belief, but I’m going to fight like hell to keep it. I’m fighting already. No more secrets…just River and Vaughn. All in.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than he started backing River toward the bed, groaning when she fell across the mattress, and teasing the hem of her dress with coarse fingertips. “Tell me you love me.”

Lightness invaded her chest. “I love you.”

“Tell me you know we can do this.”

“I know we can do this. We can do anything.”

Vaughn closed his eyes a moment, as if savoring the words where they hung in the air. Then he fell forward, planting his fists on either side of River’s thighs, bending down to snap his teeth at her belly button. “Now, tell me to f*ck you.”

River’s nipples went so stiff, such wetness rushing to the juncture of her thighs, she released a loud whimper. “Fuck me, please.”

Using one fist to keep himself propped above her, Vaughn reached down and undid his belt and fly, loosing his erection from his pants, where it hung between them like a promise. River parted her thighs, running greedy hands over her breasts while repeating the words he’d asked her to say. Chanting them.

Finally, Vaughn sunk down between her legs, rocking into the valley between them, stretching River’s arms above her head and anchoring them there. “Took your innocence in this bed. Got you pregnant in this bed.” His mouth skated down the side of her neck. “Took you rough both times, didn’t I? So rough.”

“You always do,” River panted, sliding her feet up and down his backside.

“I always will, doll.” His mouth worked the buttons of her dress, popping them free as he thrust against the cradle of her body, guarded only by her panties. “But the first time I take you wearing my ring, it’s going to be slow. If you can’t feel how much I f*cking love you in every drive of my cock, you tell me, so I can slow down even more. You with me?”