Chapter 35 Beautiful. Strong. Resilient
Beautiful. Strong. Resilient
? It’s Your Love - Tim McGraw, Faith Hill
Callie
Jaxon lifts me into his strong arms and carries me to our room. He sits me on the side of the bed and kneels down at my feet.
I lean forward and cradle his face in both hands. “Why does option three feel an awful lot like forgetting?”
“Do you trust me?”
“You know I do.”
He presses his lips to mine for an achingly sweet kiss as his hands find the waistband of my shorts, tugging them off. He reaches for my tank top next and pulls it over my head. “How is it possible that you get more beautiful every day?”
I can’t help the smile that blooms at his praise. He lays me back against the pillows, and I’m transfixed by his magnificence as he strips off his shirt. My fingers itch to touch him—to feel each defined ridge of his artful body.
He pads over to his dresser and opens the top drawer, pulling out a familiar scrap of fabric and something else along with it. “You are in control here. Remember that.”
My stomach flutters nervously. “Ok.”
Jaxon ties the bandana around my eyes, and the room descends into darkness. He then takes both of my wrists in one hand and lifts them above my head. Something soft wraps around them, like silk. There’s a slight tug when he releases me, and I realize he’s just bound my wrists to the headboard.
My pulse picks up.
“Jax. What are you doing?”
“Do you still trust me?”
“Always.”
I hear what sounds like the nightstand opening and closing, then my headphones are placed over my ears—the ones I use to listen to audiobooks before bed.
My skin prickles with awareness, longing to have his hands on me, inside of me, caressing every inch of my needy flesh. It feels like hours pass before the oppressive silence is filled with a voice I’d recognize anywhere.
“Are you ready to be worshipped, Callie baby?”
The question transports me back in time as his fingertips skate up my bare thighs until he reaches my already soaked panties and tugs them down my legs. “Mmm. I bet you’re already wet for me, aren’t you?”
The bed shifts with his weight. My breathing becomes heavy and uneven as he crawls over my body. He kisses a path across my neck and collarbone. His stiff length brushes against my belly as his lips trail farther, across every inch of my upper body.
“Look at you. Beautiful. Strong. Resilient. Your body tells the story of everything you’ve endured—every moment that led you to me.”
My heart spasms.
He’s kissing all of my scars with ardent affection—mapping each one with a reverence that leaves me breathless. “My beautiful Callie. So goddamn perfect. Every fucking inch.”
His fingertips trail up my thigh, providing a delicious distraction from the overwhelming emotions taking root.
He spreads me open, and a burst of cool air fans over my clit seconds before his tongue swipes across my pussy in one long stroke.
“I’m going to devour this pretty cunt,” he says, each movement working in perfect time with the recording. “I’m going to wring every ounce of pleasure out of your body until you’re begging for mercy.”
He slips two fingers inside of me and sucks my clit into his mouth. “I’m going to fucking ruin you the same way you’ve ruined me. Completely and irrevocably. Then I’m going to put you back together again piece by piece.”
He crooks his fingers upwards, and I arch off the bed. I want to reach for him and thread my fingers through his hair, but I’m helpless to do anything. I pull at the restraints, but the effort proves futile. A ripple of pleasure skates down my spine as I feel my release getting closer and closer.
“Come for me, Callie baby. Scream my name like the whole world can hear you, so they know who you belong to.”
His words unravel me like they always do. Stars burst behind my eyelids as my orgasm crests. I think I cry out his name, but I can’t be sure. I can’t hear anything but his filthy words in my ears. “Such a good fucking girl.”
The bed shifts again as Jaxon crawls over me, lining his cock up at my entrance. “I love you, Callie Cooper. I love you so goddamn much it hurts.”
The words pierce through my aching heart, but it’s not the recording anymore. The headphones have been discarded, my blindfold has lifted, and I’m staring into the emerald eyes of the man I love beyond all reason. There’s a tinge of doubt there, and it stuns me. How could he not know how I feel?
Once he releases my wrists, I bring my hands to his face and cradle his jaw. “I love you, too, Jaxon Hayes.”
“Thank fuck.”
His mouth descends on mine as he slides into me in one long stroke.
Our bodies move in tandem, meeting each other thrust for thrust. I cling to him like I might shatter into a million pieces if I let go.
It’s not frantic or rushed. It’s a slow unraveling of everything we once were as the last walls crumble to dust and we collapse against the sheets, sweaty and sated.
He rolls us onto our sides, brushing the hair away from my forehead. “I’m going to love you with all I have every day for the rest of my life, Callie Cooper.”
“Marsden.”
“Hm?”
“My real name is Calliope Marsden.” I release a shuddering breath.
“Calliope,” he whispers, tracing the contours of my face like he’s truly seeing me for the first time. I suppose he is, in a way.
That was my last secret. Everything I was and everything I am has been laid before him. The weight of my past is no longer suffocating as I set my burdens at his feet, knowing he’d carry them for me if I asked.
I place my hand over his heart, needing something to ground me. “It was always wielded as a weapon, to cut me down or make me feel small. Never out of love or comfort. But you’re different. You see me. Being with you—being loved by you—feels like finally coming home.”
He rests his forehead against mine. “These walls and everything in them meant nothing until you walked through my door for the first time. I knew then I had to keep you. This is your home now and forever.”
My eyes close instinctively as I breathe him in.
We lie like that for a long time, our bodies and hearts entwined.
Jaxon plants a soft kiss on my lips and excuses himself, returning a few minutes later with a wet washcloth and a bottle of water. He cleans his release from between my thighs, then cradles my head and tips the bottle against my lips.
I’m not sure I'll ever get used to the gentle way he cares for me, instinctively, like his affection isn’t an exchange, but rather a selfless impulse.
It’s always been like that, from the very first night we met, but my wary heart couldn’t accept that someone would offer me kindness without an ulterior motive.
That’s just who Jaxon is. His capacity for love is innate.
It’s been ingrained in him from the moment he was born into the Hayes family, and it’ll be passed down to our children someday.
He props himself against the headboard and pulls me into his chest. “What are you thinking about?”
My fingertips trace the lines of his tattoos. “The future.”
He cracks a smile. “What do you see?”
“A big, messy family. Our kids running around with Emmy and Gracie. BBQs in the backyard, trail rides, and swimming in the creek.” The vision is so vivid it warms me from the inside out.
“I like the sound of that. How many kids do you want?”
“Two. Maybe three. You?”
“As many as you’ll let me give you. In fact, I think we should start practicing right now.” His hands grip my waist as he pulls me onto his lap. “Stop taking your birth control.”
My eyes widen in shock. “What?”
“Let me give you the family you’ve always wanted.”
“Jaxon, that’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? I’d marry you tomorrow, Calliope. I’d give you my last name, my family, the ranch, all of it if that’s what you want. You already have my heart. You might as well take everything else, too. It’s all worthless without you.”
I lean forward and press my lips to his, hoping he can feel the depth of my love for him pouring out of me. He’s offering me everything I’ve ever wanted. I’d be a fool not to take it.