A Thousand Glittering Lights

Chapter 33

Josh lookedup from where he leaned on the rails of her decking as Ellie stepped outside.

The vicious cold that had gripped him earlier had eased. The tingling in his hands and at the back of his neck had slowly faded. And the feeling of warmth grew as Ellie came closer.

Her hair was up in a ponytail, her T-shirt slipping off one shoulder, and he wanted to scoop her up and carry her back to their soft, safe bubble. And then strip the offending T-shirt away completely and convince her to stay there with him.

“Hey, honey.” She smiled tiredly. “The kids are asleep.”

He snorted. “Are they really?”

She stepped into his arms, looking up at him with shining eyes and a widening grin. “I honestly don’t know,” she admitted. “I said goodnight and ran.”

A laugh rose through his chest. It was one of his favorite things about her: the way she had of always finding humor. No matter how dark, no matter how difficult, the situation.

“What have you been doing out here?” she asked.

Josh shrugged, rocking gently just to feel her body moving with his. He’d been thinking of how to find Warren and end the threat hovering over Ellie. He also needed to work out how to help his brother… and whether Liam deserved help in the first place. And he needed to visit his mother. He wanted to introduce Ellie to her—which was unsettling enough—but it also reminded him to worry about what kind of future they could possibly have together.

But he didn’t want to talk about any of that with the moon rising over the trees, the fresh night air smelling of the forest, and Ellie in his arms.

“I was thinking about the best way to start haunting my brother,” he said instead. “I used to make slime for him to play with when he was little. I reckon it would make an amazing ectoplasm.”

Ellie chuckled and he smiled down at her. What was the point in thinking about Liam when he had Ellie pressed against his body? “Or… we could take a walk together.” He kissed her cheek and then the side of her mouth, right on top of her smile. “Let’s go see if we can hear the owls.”

She let out a low laugh. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“What do you mean?” He widened his eyes innocently.

“I remember what happened the last time we took a walk in the forest. And the last time we heard the owls. Also, it’s a bit too dark.”

He kissed her again, just below her jaw, along the soft smoothness of her neck. “What would you suggest then?”

She turned her face to catch his earlobe gently in her teeth, tugging it slowly before pressing a scorching kiss to the tingling flesh. “I thought we could have a dip in the hot tub.”

He groaned. “Fuck, yes.”

“I’ll just go and get my swim—” She broke off with a low gasp as he slid his fingers under her shirt and started dragging it up.

“Do you really need to?” He tugged a little higher. And then, when she lifted her arms, he pulled her shirt over her head and off, revealing a black lace bra that sent even more blood to his rapidly lengthening cock.

“Or we could just swim like this,” Ellie agreed, kicking off her jeans to stand in front of him almost naked, her skin glowing in the dim light. He hauled her closer once more, needing to kiss her and touch her and hold her. Needing everything about her.

He broke the kiss to look down between them, watching himself as he skimmed his fingers over the smooth fabric of her black silk panties, feeling her heat, the dips and valleys of her pussy. God, he loved the way she widened her legs, giving him better access, even as her hands wound around his neck and pulled him back to her mouth for another kiss.

Fuck, he wanted her. He wanted his aching cock inside her. He wanted to cover her, and take her, and know that she would always be his.

Ellie whimpered as he pulled his hand away and pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. It physically hurt to let her go, but he had to step away for a moment to strip off his own clothes. She watched him unashamedly and then led him across the deck to lift away the lid of the hot tub. A billow of steam filled the air, clouding the twinkle of the fairy lights that decorated the privacy wall.

He climbed into the hot water and turned on the bubbles, then held out his hand to help her in. She took it with a smile, her fingers linking with his as she stepped elegantly into the tub.

It was his fantasy come to life. The dark night surrounding them, the light breeze raising goose bumps, and Ellie, beautiful and magical in the soft light.

Josh turned and sank onto the submerged seat, still holding her hand. And she lifted their clasped hands to press a kiss to his fingers before releasing him. She reached behind her back to unclasp her bra and then lowered it slowly, removing one strap at a time before dropping it outside the tub.

God, she was beautiful. Lit from behind by the glittering lights, her hair like a soft halo falling loose to her shoulders. He reached for her hips and guided her forward to stand in the V of his legs as he lowered his head and took a long, slow taste of her flushed breasts. He ran his tongue over the soft flesh, around the darkness of her nipples again and again before sucking one puckered tip into his mouth and laving it with his tongue as she squirmed and panted.

The bubbles churned around them, surrounding them with heated mist. Creating a tiny world, enveloped in fairy lights and enclosed by darkness, just for them.

He pulled her even closer, and she settled onto his lap, legs straddling his, nothing between them but a slip of soaked silk as he savored her. He kissed her breasts, her chest, her neck, her shoulders, her cheeks, her mouth, everywhere he could find her skin and taste it, luxuriating in the soft glide of Ellie moving against him.

His body ached with need for her, but he ignored it. He took his time. Adoring her. Reaching every part of her. As if they had forever to kiss and touch each other.

She pulled away, and he drew her nipple between his teeth, making her shudder, but she was determined. “I want you,” she panted. “Come up.”

He couldn’t deny her. Or resist her. He left her skin with a last lingering kiss and then lifted himself to sit on the edge of the tub, while Ellie sank to her knees among the bubbles on the seat he’d just left. Looking up at him from between his legs.

He tucked a damp strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re a siren. Enchanting. Utterly irresistible.”

A smile spread over her face and he traced it, rubbing his thumb slowly across her lips. She nipped the flesh and grinned. “I promise not to sing,” she said against his hand, “but pleasure… that I can give.” And then she lowered her head and took his cock in her mouth.

Josh closed his eyes, shuddering. Her tongue tortured him, feathering over him so gently at first, it was almost painful. His balls were tight and heavy, drawn up against his body, and his cock pulsed with every pass she made.

Slowly she built pressure, drawing the head into her mouth and sucking gently, one hand coming to wrap around the stalk, just tight enough to drive him wild, while her other hand found his balls and tugged. And God. Fuck. He wasn’t going to last.

He hauled her up and dragged her out of the water into his arms and carried her to the furthest lounger, hidden in the darkest part of the deck.

He lowered her gently and climbed over her. Her body was flushed and pink, her eyes sparkling. “I need you, Ellie,” he whispered roughly. “I’ve never… I don’t….”

She pressed her soft hands against his cheeks, and the emotion in her eyes nearly felled him. “I need you too. I know we said we can’t let emotions get involved. But I have.” She lifted her head to kiss him softly. “I’m falling for you, Josh.”

“I’m falling for you, too,” he admitted. He’d been terrified to acknowledge it. But it was the truth. And it felt like freedom.

He kissed her again, slowly and thoroughly, letting her sink into his skin. Letting himself sink into her. He kissed down her throat, over her clavicles, into the notch at their center. He kissed down her breasts, over her puckered nipples, and across her softly rounded stomach. Then he dragged her wet panties away and kissed her everywhere—reveling in her taste, her scent, everything about her—while she trembled and arched and eventually begged.

It still wasn’t enough. He could never have enough of her. But he wanted her to have everything.

He lifted his head, ready to carry her up to her bed, but she dragged him back up her body to kiss once more. “Let’s stay here,” she whispered.

He blinked slowly, brain fogged and thundering with desire. “I don’t have a condom.”

Ellie smiled. “That’s okay. I’m on the pill.”

“Are you certain?”

“Completely.”

“And your ribs?” he asked roughly.

Ellie let out an amused breath. “I had completely forgotten about them,” she whispered.

And then she wrapped her legs around his waist and dragged him closer, until he could feel her body surrounding his, until he was fully joined with her and they began to move together. Powerful and primal and utterly connected.

Perhaps the stars wheeled across the sky. Perhaps the earth spun. He didn’t know. All he knew was Ellie.

And when she found her ecstasy, he was right there with her. Their fingers wove together and gripped tightly. Their bodies clenched and spasmed around each other. And he knew the truth. He wasn’t falling for her: he’d already fallen.

Afterward, he found some fluffy towels in the nearby closet and dried her carefully before wrapping one around his waist. Then he lay down behind her on the lounger, pulling her to sit with her back against his chest, her head resting on his shoulder, looking up at the stars as they drifted together.

His skin slowly cooled, and his worries rose once more. Ellie was strong and brave and smart, but she was also human. Vulnerable.

Warren had escalated from coercion to actively trying to hurt—maybe kill—Ellie. What would he do when he discovered she’d taken her accusations to the police? What would he do when Vic didn’t go home?

In the distance, the tawny owls called to each other. The male’s hoo-hoo and the female’s kee-wit resonated eerily over the nighttime woodland.

The hair rose over the back of his neck, and he held Ellie tighter, reminding himself that the owls were beautiful. Magnificent. And mated for life.

They were not the harbingers of death—the guides to the underworld—his great-granddad had believed.