This Is Forever (This Is, #4)

by Natasha Madison

“He really is great,” I say, my chest filling with this enormous pride that I didn’t even know was there. I look over at him, and it just clicks into place. Everything was there. I knew that I liked what we had, and I knew that it was special. What I didn’t know was that I would do whatever I needed to protect it. Now I just have to convince his mother.

“You did good, son,” Cooper says with a smile. Justin puts his arm around me, pulling me to him, and kisses my head. “Hit the jackpot,” he says, and I know that this moment will also live with me forever along with the silent words I whispered to myself. I love you.

“I had this whole thing planned,” he says, his hand coming up, and his thumb rubs over my lips. “Wine and dine and then take you to bed.” I want to roll my eyes and groan. “I want to take my time with you.” His voice is low, and just the way he says it fills my body with goose bumps. His hand moves down to my pebbled nipple, rubbing it. He puts his thumb into his mouth and then rubs my nipple again, and I swear my eyes want to roll in the back of my head. “I’m going to take my time with you,” he says, “but not this time.”

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he says, rubbing his cock up and down my slit, “for what seems like forever.” He places his cock at my entrance, trying to control himself. “Everything has led to this one moment with you.” He looks down at his cock, and I look with him as his cock slowly enters me. “I love you,” I say without even realizing the words have left my mouth, and his head snaps up to look at me. “I’ve loved you for what seems my whole life,” he says, and with one firm thrust, he buries himself in me. His arms come to the side of my head. “I love you,” he says again, and a lone tear escapes the side of my eye and rolls to the covers. “Love you forever,” he says, and he makes love to me.

I close my eyes and vow to make it better for him. It’s my turn to protect him, even if it means breaking my heart in the process.

“I’m going upstairs now to the woman I love,” I say, and my mother gasps. “That’s right. I love her. I love Dylan. I love them both, and I know that if push comes to shove, I will pick them.” I look down. “Even if I have to walk away from my family.”

“I love her. With everything that I have. Until my last dying breath, it will always be her. I will walk with her through fire if I have to, and if push comes to shove, I will.”

Dylan jumps off and runs to me, tears running down his face, and I crouch down to grab him in my arms as he hugs me with everything he has. “I’m here,” I say to him as he cries in my neck. “I’m here, buddy.” “I love you,” he whispers, and I hug him to me. “Love you, too, buddy.”

“I love you,” she says. “So much you were going to leave me?” I say, and she looks at me. “You don’t understand,” she says. “No, you don’t understand,” I say. “It wouldn’t have changed anything if you left.” She looks at me. “I would have searched my whole life to find you again.” She walks away from me. “You don’t need this in your life.” “I need you in my life,” I say. “I need you, and I need Dylan.”

“I don’t know what I did,” I start to say, and I kiss him, “to deserve you.” I peel his shirt from him. His hand slides under my shirt, and he cups my breast and kisses me again. He pulls my shirt over my head. “I love you,” I say and then kiss him again.

“It’s about time that someone finally took care of you and not the other way around.” A tear escapes my eye. “You just have to protect and take care of us.” My hand goes to his chest, and my finger plays with the necklace that he hasn’t taken off. “I love you.” There are no other words that I can say right now. “I love you, too,” he says to me. “Forever.”

“Would you be willing to move with me?” “Yes,” she whispers at the same time Dylan nods his head. “Just like that?” I say, my heart finally beating. “Without even knowing where I’m going?” “Doesn’t matter,” Caroline says, coming to me. My hand goes around her shoulders, and she puts her head on my shoulder. “Doesn’t matter where it is, we’ll follow you always.” I turn to look at her and kiss her lips softly. “I love you,” I whisper. “So where are we going?” Dylan asks. “There was only one place I would accept,” I tell them. “Home.” “What?” Caroline says, sitting up. “Next stop,” I tell them. “New York.”

“Night,” I say, my eyes closing now. “Love you.” “Forever,” he says softly, and then the sound of his snores fills the room. “And ever,” I whisper to him and fall asleep in his arms.

I love her so much that I want to make her mine,” I tell him. “Forever.” I open the box and show him the ring, and he gasps. “That’s huge,” he says, looking at it. “She’s going to hate it.” I laugh, knowing she will freak out, but hoping she’ll get over it and cherish it.

“I want her to have my name and for the world to know that she belongs to me.” He looks at me. “I want you both to belong to me.” He looks at me. “I know you have a dad.” “Yeah,” he says, and then whispers, “you.” It’s my time now to blink away the tears. He’s always said he loves me, always hugs me, but never once did I push the idea of me being his dad on him. He had a dad, a shitty fucking excuse for a dad, but a dad nonetheless. “You are my dad.”

“I know that you want Mom to have your name”—he looks down and then up and he has to blink away tears—“but can I have the name, too? I know that I have Mom’s name now …” He doesn’t finish his sentence. I just lean over to him and grab him, yanking him to me. “I don’t care what the fuck your last name is,” I say to him, my arms around him and his arms around me. My hand goes to his head, and I take off his cap and kiss his head. Like I do every single day that we’ve been together. Like I’ll be doing for the rest of his life. “You’re mine.” “Thanks,” he says, and then he says softly. “I won’t tell Mom you said the F word if you let me call you Dad,” he says, and my eyes close, the tears now coming out. “And if it’s okay, do you think Cooper will be okay if I called him Grandpa? And Parker, can I call her Grandma?” “I’m going to say that he’ll say yes, but you can ask him if you want,”

“Why the tears?” he says to Dylan, and he turns to look at my father. “Mom and me are going to be Stones,” he says. Matthew looks up to the sky, and if I didn’t know better, I would think he is crying. “Is that so?” my father says, beaming. “Yeah, and Justin is going to be my dad,” he says, and I swear it just makes my heart feel fuller, bigger, complete. “Well, son,” my father says to me, “you’ve got a great family there.” “So since he’s my dad, that kind of makes you my grandpa,” Dylan says and then looks down. “Is it okay? If you don’t want me to call you that, I won’t.” My father gets down in front of him and holds his hands in his. “It would be my honor for you to call me your grandpa,” he says, smiling. “We are so proud of you in so many ways. And family doesn’t mean having the same blood,” he says.

“The rule is that you have to ask the father's permission to marry their daughter.” I swallow back the lump in my throat. “But I had someone more important to ask permission of, and that was Dylan.” “Justin,” she says with a tear streaming down her face. “I told him I wanted to marry you. That I wanted to make you mine forever.” I smile. “That I want everyone in the whole world to know that you’re mine. I mean, officially mine.” She steps forward to come to me, but I hold up my hand. “I told him I wanted you to have my name, and he asked me if he can have my name also, and just like that, it made this so much more than just us getting married or you becoming my wife. It means becoming not just your husband but becoming his father. He wants to call me dad.” “I know,” she says. “He’s been dying to ask you for the past four months.” “I said yes,” I say. “I said yes to being his father, and I really hope,” I say now, getting down on one knee in front of her, “that you’ll say yes and marry me. Become my wife.”

I open the box with the ring, and she sobs. “Caroline, will you be my wife?” She nods her head, her hands on her mouth, and tears streaming down her face. I take the ring out of the box, and she reaches her left hand out, and it’s shaking like a leaf. I slide it on her finger and see the five-carat square diamond sitting on it. “This is forever.” “Forever,” she whispers, leaning down and holding my face in her hands. “And ever.” She kisses me.

Dylan skates to the reporter with his helmet off as he tries to catch his breath. “Well, it seems like you did it.” “Apparently,” he says, smiling, and he looks up at me. His hands are on his waist. “It must be surreal,” the reporter says. “It is,” he says, and the crowd starts to chant his name. “But I wouldn’t be here without my family and their support,” he says and looks at me again and points. “But most importantly, my dad.”