Chapter 24
Korie
I carried Riah’s exhausted, scratched and bruised body all the way back to the cabin. I was running off of virtually no sleep, but the adrenaline still pumping through my veins made me feel like I could run a marathon.
She wanted me, even after all of this.
I never intended to tell her. The plan was to disappear to the safehouse for a few weeks so we could have time alone to come together ‘naturally’ and then tell Riah that my team found her stalker, put him in jail and everything was safe. Even though there was no team on her case.
Yeah, I lied. I orchestrated a whole stalker situation to get the girl I wanted, but it worked. She already knew most of it and wanted to be mine anyway, so after we got back to the cabin, I would tell her everything.
After dusting the debris from Riah’s body and cleaning her shallow cuts, I ran us a hot bath.
I leaned against the edge while Riah settled between my legs and leaned against me.
As she melted into me, she laced our fingers together with a satisfied sigh while I planted soft kisses to her now wild and tangled hair.
“Let me wash this for you,” I said, running my fingers through the knots. “It’s only fair since I messed it up.”
She sat forward and leaned her head back, letting me wash and care for her. It was the most natural thing in the world. As I rubbed the suds through her tightly coiled curls, I decided that I could, and would, do this for the rest of my life.
A low groan escaped her lips as I poured warm water over her hair, rinsing out the product.
“Do you really mean it?” She asked as I lathered conditioner in my hands next.
“Mean what, baby?”
“That you did this all because you want to be with me?” I could hear the slight tinge of uncertainty in her words.
“Yes,” I replied firmly, hoping she heard the sincerity.
“And…” she hesitated. “You still want me after we…”
I paused, my fingers freezing in her hair before wrapping them around her locs and tugging her gently back so she could see my face.
“I didn’t do this just to fuck you. I never just wanted to fuck you, Riah. I meant every word. I wanted you then, I want you now. I’m always going to want you.”
“And you meant it when you said you’d be mine, too?”
“I’ve always been yours.”
She softened again and turned around to straddle my lap. I adjusted my hands and continued my washing from our new position.
“Is this your way of asking me to be your…” she said, resting her hands on my shoulders.
“Girlfriend? Yes.”
“Then yes.”
I pulled her to me, taking her lips, kissing her deeply. She sighed into my mouth, tightening her arms around my neck. It was perfect. She was perfect. Everything about this was perfect and I wanted to live in it forever. But Riah pulled away, a worried look scrunching her forehead.
“What do we tell my family?”
I rinsed her hair as I thought. I had never considered that the plan would change, but that didn’t have to change what we told them.
“We can say the threat has been eliminated. It wouldn’t exactly be lying…just leaving some parts out.”
“Right,” she nodded, working out the details in her mind.
“Hey.” I rubbed the wrinkles on her forehead with my thumb. “Don’t worry about the details, Jesse is…he knew. Not everything, but he’s loyal and will vouch if any more questions come up. I can work out any extra details with him and I can handle all the talking.”
“It's just…this whole time part of me was afraid to act on what I felt for you because of Eddie. I know he wants nothing but my happiness, but I don’t want to steal his best friend.”
“Baby, we are all adults. Yeah, maybe it would have bothered him while we were teenagers, but he has his own wife and family now, I doubt us being together would disrupt his life too much. Plus, he and your dad already implied that they’d like us together.”
Her head shot up, eyes wide. “Really?”
“Really. So telling them won’t be as bad as you think. We don’t have to rush, we can still stay here for a few more weeks. I can make you come a couple thousand more times…”
My fingers traveled between her legs, brushing across her clit. Riah squirmed, backing away from me and swatting me playfully on the shoulder.
“Stop it! Be serious,” she giggled.
“Okay, okay,” I obliged, resting my hands on her thighs. “But really, we can stay here a little bit longer. We’ll tell them we grew closer while we were away. Also not a lie.”
“What about my job?”
“I might have lied about some things, but not about protecting your job. They did get the files they needed about your case. You’re safe.”
“Alright,” she breathed. “Okay. We’ll do that.”
I pulled her closer on my lap, pressing tiny kisses over her shoulders.
“Good. Now that that’s settled, let me fuck all those worries out of your pretty little head.”