Reverence

nose right in between us. Maggie laughed as I pushed Bella away playfully. "Alright, you. Go lay down."
    She trotted off somewhere, but I kept my eyes on Maggie. Or her lips I should say. I gripped the back of her neck gently and brought her mouth to mine, because I was done waiting. She let me lead her and her being pliant and willing for me always was fan-frigging-tastic.
    I pulled back to give her a second to breath. "Good morning."
    "Morning," she breathed and licked her bottom lip…as if in a daze. I almost groaned.
    “So, did you like sleeping on the beach?”

    “Yeah.” She pulled down her hood and I smoothed her hair for her. “I love the beach." She snuggled back into my chest. "Can we move here? Buy a little yellow beach house with a wraparound porch and just never leave?"
    I sighed and tried to breathe passed the punch in my gut. Wasn't that exactly what I wanted? She always seemed so reluctant to talk about marrying me, moving in with me, anything about our future really. I didn't understand it, and as much as I didn't want to push her, I didn't understand why she didn't want those things with me. So to hear her say that…
    “I will do whatever it takes,” I said softly into her hair, “to get you to move in with me. Anything you’ll let me do if you’ll allow me to take care of you the way I was meant to. I want to buy you a house, and if I have to move to California to do it, I will.”
    She looked up at me and I listened to her internal rant. She had her reasons for feeling the way she did. Her mom, if you could call her that, had abandoned her. Her parents hadn't exactly set a good example. Maggie was so young. I got all her reasons, but I wanted her. I wanted her to let me take care of her the way my body was demanding me to.
    And then I heard her inner thought that had my heart racing, my mouth suddenly dry and empty of words, and my head floating, my body humming with possibilities.
    Wow, I was being so stupid. The answer was right there in front of me. Marry the man. Live with him and be happy and prosper. Why was I being such a silly idiot about it all?

    She looked up at me, all full of innocence and love…for me. I sighed harshly and took that gorgeous, soft face in my hands, saying the one thing that I'd wanted to ask her since I first felt her skin on mine. "Maggie, marry-"
    Bella's bark cut me off and I growled inside. Could a guy get a frigging break? I smiled at Maggie as much as I could, not wanting her to think I was upset. Though if she dug far enough, she'd know. And now Kyle and the bimbo, as Maggie referred to her in her mind, were making a lazy path to us.
    Maggie tucked herself into my chest - burrowed in was more like it - and thought about all kinds of things as I bantered with Kyle back and forth. She didn't know I was listening to her and Kyle both, and she let her mind wander. She was serene, but determined.
    Then Amber started throwing a hissy because Bella licked her hand. And Maggie came to her rescue.
    “She’s not disgusting,” she sang to Bella. “You’re a sweet, big girl.” She looked up at Amber as I couldn't take my eyes off of her. “She’s really sweet and soft and lovey. She can’t help it she’s so fluffy.”

    I watched her as she defended and soothed Bella as if she was her own. If there had been some kind of proverbial last straw or final inch that I was waiting for, this was it. I didn't care what happened to us; somehow, someway, I was going to marry this girl.
    Kyle and Amber sauntered off after Kyle's half refusal to take her home. Wow, what a jerkface.
    “He’s just a normal, human teenage boy. That’s how they act,” she said, ever ready to defend her lifelong friend, Kyle.

    “I never did,” I countered.

    “Yes,” she put my arms around my neck, “but you were waiting for me, remember?” she said sweetly and smiled up at me.

    “Mmhmm,” I heard myself murmur as I pressed her lips to mine, sucking on the top then the bottom before taking them completely, like it was my right. “And now I’ve got you."
    It took no amount of persuasion as she melted against me and let me take her tongue. My body was growling and howling like some animal on the inside. She never plundered my mind, never went in deep and tried to find all my nooks and crannies. She played along the surface. I think she was scared of what she'd find, and she was probably right about that. Because my body was a demanding beast that needed her, wanted her,