Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
OLIVER
The taxi drifts through quiet streets, its engine a low purr against the silence of London at one a.m. Frost glitters on the iron railings of Belgrave Square, and somewhere a church bell chimes the hour, clear and somber in the cold air.
Emily doesn’t speak.
Neither do I.
All our jokes evaporated as we tumbled into the cab.
It was as if we both suddenly realized how quickly we’ll be home, alone with feelings neither of us knows quite what to do with.
We need to talk.
Frankly. Seriously.
But preferably after we do wicked things to each other in my bed.
I can’t wait to touch her. Everywhere. I’ve been at least a little—sometimes a lot—hard since we left the solarium. Since I had my hand up her skirt, feeling how wet she was for me.
For me. Mine. Fuck, I want her to be mine. She brings savage, caveman levels of possessiveness rising inside of me every time we leave the apartment.
The old guy at the museum with a soft spot for redheads?
Punch him in the face.
The blokes admiring her skill at the ice rink?
Death by thrashing of my poorly controlled limbs.
The usher who turned to stare at her ass as she walked away at the matinee earlier today?
Could have literally ripped his throat out with my teeth.
She is turning me into a savage, randy beast.
And a sappy one as well.
I nearly teared up in her arms on the dancefloor, and I can’t even blame the rum. I only had two glasses.
No, it wasn’t the rum; it was the way she understood. The way her understanding made my heart ache. The way the aching in my heart assured me that this isn’t simply lust or a crush that will fizzle out when the holidays are through.
This is me, falling in love with a speed that’s likely mad and certainly not wise.
But try telling that to my heart, which is already quite certain Emily Darling is the wisest woman he’s ever met.
And has the most fantastic curves.
And the sweetest nipples.
And…I’m hard again.
Just in time to get out in front of my building.
Thank God for the darkness in the cab as I press a twenty into the man’s hand and open the door, drawing my coat across my hips to conceal the situation in my trousers.
Emily takes my hand as we head inside, whispering, “Just so you know. I meant what I said before. But if you’re out of you-know-whats and want to find a twenty-four-hour pharmacy, I can look for one that delivers.”
My cock twitches, proving he can get even more desperately erect, as I connect the dots. “No,” I murmur, nodding as we hurry past George, the doorman. “I have plenty upstairs.”
“Oh, good.” She steps into the lift, waiting until the doors close behind us to add, “But we don’t have to use them. If you don’t want to.”
“No?” I ask, sweat breaking out on my upper lip at the thought of nothing between us. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” She holds my gaze in the reflection of the mirrored wall. “I’ve never had sex without one, but I suddenly really want to.”
I fight to swallow. “Yeah?”
“Yes,” she whispers. “And I don’t want you to pull out.”
I curse and close my eyes. If I don’t, I’m afraid I’ll have her dress up around her waist before I can stop myself.
“Unless you don’t like that idea?” she asks, clearly having misunderstood the reason for my wince.
“No,” I wheeze, my pulse thudding in my ears as I pray for the strength to keep it together until we reach the fifth floor. “No, that was the hottest thing I’ve ever heard, Darling. Just…hanging on by a thread over here. And trying not to take you against the wall like an animal.”
“Oh.” She’s practically purring as she adds, “I’m not opposed to a wall, but we should get inside first.”
“Inside, yes,” I agree, breath rushing out as the elevator finally dings. “Thank God.” I wrap an arm around her waist, hauling her against me as we spin out into the hall.
I crush my lips to hers, tongue stroking deep as she fists her hands in my shirt. I kiss her with all the pent-up frustration of the past few hours. Hell, the past week. I’ve been dying to be back inside her since the morning she called me a liar and stormed out of that loft.
And now…
Finally…
I get my key in the lock by instinct alone, tossing it to the floor as soon as we’re inside. “Thank Christ for doors,” I rasp against her lips. “I love doors. So much.”
“Doors are the best.” She sucks in a breath as I jerk her coat down her arms, then drag her back against me, unable to bear being away from her for more than a second. She braces trembling hands on my chest. “God, Olly. I want you so much, I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“I’ve barely slept,” I confess against her lips, stripping off my coat as we stumble deeper into the apartment. “All I could think about was your beautiful body, all soft and warm under the covers just a room away. I’ve been wanking one off every bloody night, but it didn’t help.”
“I did, too,” she breathes, making me groan. “I touched myself. Thinking of you. I’ve never come that hard from my own—”
“Fuck, Emily. Just…fuck.” I pin her wrists over her head on the living room wall, grinding against her because I can’t help it. That’s how little self-control I’ve got left. “You should have told me. I would have been there in seconds to make you come again on my mouth.”
She hooks her leg around my waist. “I wish I had. Shit, Olly, please. Now. Inside me now. I seriously can’t wait. I can’t.”
I can’t either.
I lift her, and she wraps her legs around me with a needy whimper that makes me absolutely feral. I stagger blindly into the coffee table, bruising my shin, but barely feeling it. I’m too focused on getting my ass on the sofa, with Emma straddled on top of me.
“Fucking clothes,” I curse, shoving her dress up to give her more room to maneuver, shuddering in relief as her thighs spread on either side of mine.
“Hate them.” She tugs my jumper over my head, then my undershirt, humming in satisfaction as she tosses the last terrible piece of fabric away. “There. God, there you are.” She exhales a shaky sigh as her hands find my bare skin. “I’ve never wanted to be naked with someone this much.”
“Likewise, Darling.” I peel her dress over her head, losing the ability to breathe as it floats to the carpet, leaving her in nothing but those tiny lace panties.
“You are so beautiful,” I rasp, skimming reverent hands down her sides to the curves of her hips. “I seriously can hardly bear it, Em.”
“You, too.” She presses down against me, her heat searing me through my pants.
“You’re beautiful, too.” She bites her lip.
“And so hard…” She braces her hands on my shoulders, rolling her hips against my cock in a way that realigns the universe as she whispers, “So why aren’t you inside me, Oliver? ”
Christ, my name on her lips is enough to make me savage.
I lean in, capturing her nipple in my mouth.
I lick and suck and bite until she’s crying out, her nails scoring into my shoulders as we rock together.
I squeeze her ass, she tugs at my hair, and then we’re kissing again, even wilder than before.
This kiss is frantic, unhinged in the best way, and soon, she’s squirming on my thigh with breathy moans, and I’m seconds from coming in my pants if we don’t—
“Bed,” I choke out, fingers digging into her hips to slow her down. “Let me—”
“No. Here.” She fumbles at the close of my pants, her breath coming as fast as mine. “Now. Please.”
Between us, we manage to free what’s necessary and then, “Christ, Emily,” I cry out as she sinks onto my cock, bathing me in pleasure so intense I can barely stand it.
It’s too good.
Too right.
“Fuck,” I gasp against her throat, holding her tight. “Don’t move. Not yet. Just a minute, love. I need a minute.”
She shudders, but stills, wrapping her arms around me. “I’m going to need all night,” she rasps against my temple. “I’m never going to get enough of you, Olly. Never.”
“Never, Red,” I agree, voice raw, ravaged by the things she does to me. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try.” Willing my cock to strap in and hold on, I whisper, “Now, ride me, darling. Ride me like you mean it.”
Then she starts to move, and I’m lost.
Lost and so glad to be lost because I’m out in the wilderness with her.
She rides me like she’s never needed anything as much as my cock, shameless and needy, and I have never been happier. Never. Because I need her just as fucking much. I grip her hips, thrusting up to meet her, driving deep into her sweet pussy, knowing no other will ever compare.
I am ruined for all other pussies.
All other women.
As her breasts bounce and her hair writhes around us like a living thing, I do my best to hold on, but she’s a force of nature, and I’ve been on edge for hours.
But hell, I really don’t want to go without her…
Reaching between us, I press my thumb to her clit. Rubbing, circling, silently begging her to come with me, and finally—Oh God. Fuck! God, this woman—she cries out, convulsing around me.
“Emily. God, Emily.” I bury my face in her neck as I cry her name, shuddering hard, filling her while she makes desperately happy sounds that are music to my ears.
Afterward, we stay tangled together for a long time. Her, catching her breath in my lap with my cock still buried inside her. Me, wondering if it’s too soon to ask her to marry me.
Or at least move in. Forever.
“Should we…talk?” she finally whispers against my shoulder.
“We should,” I say, stroking her bare back. “But maybe later? In the morning?”
I can’t talk now. I’m too close to the edge.
I might actually ask her to move in with me, and that’s not a conversation to be approached on impulse at two in the morning.
I need to plan, prepare, and make an Emily-grade list explaining why this is worth the risk and all the things I’ll do to keep her emotionally, physically, and financially safe as she transitions.
“I think so. We should probably conserve our energy,” she says, the husky note in her voice enough to have me getting thicker all over again. “I still have things I want to do to you with my mouth.”
Cursing, I mutter, “Your mouth on me may have to wait, love. You need to be fucked in a bed first. Most urgently. And I know just the man for the job.”
I stand with her wrapped around me, making her giggle as I dash toward my bedroom, playing up the urgency to keep her laughing. And then, I lay my Viking goddess on my sheets and set about worshipping her the way she deserves.
Soon, neither of us is laughing…
I take my time, lingering on every kiss, every touch, memorizing the curve of her throat as her head falls back, the way her eyes burn into mine as I finally sink inside her again, inch by torturous inch.
“Oliver?” she breathes, cupping my cheek.
I’m still inside her, buried deep, and certain her body is the best place on earth. “Yes, love?”
“Is this the best Christmas ever?”
“Maybe just the best so far,” I say, holding her gaze as I pull back and glide into her again, a silent promise that it’s only getting better from here on out.
If she’ll let me make it better.
If she’ll stay…
“Yes,” she whispers, rocking into my next stroke with a whimper. “Yes, right there. Just like that.”
I roll my hips, grinding into the spot that makes her lashes flutter, slow and deep, drawing it out for both of us as long as I can.
But eventually, need gets the better of me, and I can’t help moving faster, faster, until I’m snapping my hips into her and she’s urging me on with “almost there” sounds that are nearly as sexy as the way her flesh ripples as I give her everything.
Everything, everything…
Until she lets out a proper American scream as her pussy clutches around me.
The waves squeeze harder, tighter, drenching my cock as she comes, and that’s all she wrote for me.
Features twisting with the terrible beauty of it all, I cry out and shove deep, balls pulsing in the seam of her ass, I fill her again.
And it’s just as fucking hot as it was the first time.
Note to Self: Add ruined for condoms to the list…
After the final shivers have faded away, I roll to the side, and she rolls with me, draping herself across my chest with a happy sigh. I smooth a hand down her spine, kiss the crown of her head, absolutely certain now that this is it.
This is the Great Love my father swore found a man when he was ready. This is the reason none of my other relationships ever felt quite right.
There was always something missing because none of those women was her.
None was my Emily, my darling girl…
Long after her breath has grown slow and even, I lie awake, staring at the ceiling in the moonlight. I should sleep. We have big plans for tomorrow. But I can’t.
I’m too busy turning the problem of thousands of kilometers and an ocean over and over in my mind, too busy pondering visas and permits and all the legalities of building a life in another country with your favorite person, all of which suddenly seems bizarre.
How dare the government—any government—think they have the right to stand in the way of two people in love? It’s ridiculous. Offensive. And I mean to write a strongly worded op ed about it for the Times…
As soon as I know for certain that Emily feels the same way.