Chapter 44 #2
“I’ve been thinking about everything and…” I gape at him, take in his nervous expression, and scramble to put what feels like nonsense into order and past my lips.
“Could I tell you what I’ve been thinking about for the last few weeks?” he asks, biting his bottom lip. I nod because I’m just standing here, staring at him and saying nothing.
“When I learned that someone took you, the thought that kept running in my brain was that I failed.”
My eyebrows come together, and I take a step closer to him, wanting to reassure him.
“You didn’t tell him to do what he did. How could you have known Zane would go off the deep end?” I say, conviction filling my tone.
Storm shakes his head.
“Shae, that’s not even relevant, because the fact is, it’s my job to be prepared. I’m the one who’s supposed to keep their head on a swivel, constantly looking for threats and warding them off before they become an issue. I underestimated my opponent, and as a result, I failed.”
He runs his thumb over the back of my hand.
“Again,” he adds.
“When did you fail the first time?” I ask gently.
“When I let my pride and fear of Lakeland put us through Hell.” He squeezes my hand as if it were a reflex.
“He wanted me to suffer to the highest extent. Instead of giving me a quick, clean death, he wanted me to die every day, bit by bit, until there was nothing left of me. And the fucked thing is…I let him. I let him win because I sent you away.”
He looks down at that confession, and tears flow down my face one after the other. I’m helpless to stop them.
“Shae, you’ll never know the agony of pushing you out, cutting you off. When we?—”
He stops, looking past my shoulder and to the half-finished art.
“When I pulled you into my apartment and fucked you like that, I was so selfish. I knew it was selfish, but the thought of not being able to feel you, hold you one last time, I was sure I’d die on the spot.
I knew that would happen, and I needed to be strong.
The only thing is, I now recognize that was the weakest goddamn decision I could have ever made.
And it’s cost us so much. It cost you the ability to trust me and believe me when I say my whole life is dedicated to you and to our family. ”
With gentle movements, he wipes my cheeks one after the other, catching my tears on his fingertips. His hands don’t linger long on my face, returning to press our palms together.
“You wouldn’t be wrong to have doubts, Shae.
You wouldn’t be wrong to wonder when the next shoe will drop, when the man who so cruelly pushed you out will return.
Your apprehension is completely understandable.
Logic dictates you should get as far away from me as you can for self-preservation.
And yet, here I’ve been asking you to disregard all sense, data, and history and trust the man who broke your trust. It’s a big, probably unfair, ask. ”
I search his face, starting to panic. Is he…has he changed his mind?
“Tempest and Raiden…thank you for them, Shae. Thank you so much for the gift of my children.” His expression changes, gets lighter, almost as if merely mentioning our kids takes him to a brighter place.
“And I understand you wanting to protect them. Tems told me about your plans to move back to your condo.”
I rear back. Wait, what?
“I’d prefer it if you were to stay here, but if that’s unpalatable, I have only two requests: First, we get you set with extensive security, more security than you and the kids will likely want, but it’s necessary right now.”
The anxious confusion I’d wrestled with for the last minute transforms into amusement at Tempest’s machinations. When did I tell her we’re moving back to the condo? Never, that’s when.
“And the second thing?” I ask, still holding his hands.
He takes a deep breath.
“The second thing is…” he seems to weigh whether or not he should ask the question on his mind.
“Go on,” I urge him.
“Give me six months,” he says, his tone determined.
“Six months, which is the same amount of time we were together the first time, but with a completely new relationship. We can choose right now to hit the reset button—to let go of all those past hurts and history and find out who Shae and Storm are as a couple today . And if at the end of the six months you still don’t feel like I’m trustworthy, then we can figure out a way to co-exist and work together for the kids. ”
He waits, seeming like he’s holding his breath while waiting for my response. I don’t need to think about my answer. All I’ve been doing for the last few weeks is thinking. It’s time for me to act, even though it’s scary as fuck.
“Come with me,” I say, tugging on his hands. He follows behind me without resistance, and I lead us down the stairs. We stop in front of the mosaic Storm created.
“I love your art, Storm. The symbolism behind it is stunning, but can I offer my perspective?”
He stares at me hard, as if trying to catch a double meaning in my expression.
“I always want to know what you think, Sweetness.”
I smile at that, then turn back to the piece.
“You say if the fire and water go too far, they’ll destroy each other, but I think it’s more about balance.”
“Balance?” he asks, closer to me now.
“Yes,” I say, tilting my head when sunlight comes through the window and hits the glass, casting blue and orange fractals across the concrete floor.
“Look at it again, Storm. There’s something beautiful about how they are both at full power; the river rages, and the fire roars, but they’re working alongside each other.
Neither one dims the other, and they’re not trying to. ”
We both fall silent as the light moves, making blue and orange reflections dance together at our feet.
“There’s space for two powerful forces to exist alongside each other,” he says, softly, then hums.
“Yes,” I reply, facing him fully. “There’s space for me to be myself, and there’s room for you to be the real you, too.”
I place my palm on his cheek.
“I love you, Storm Sandoval. I’ve loved you for so damn long that I don’t know how not to love you.”
He shifts his face, pressing a tender kiss to the inside of my wrist.
“And when I say I love you, I mean I love all of you. Even the parts you don’t want me to see. Even the parts you think will destroy me. Because here’s the thing—” I grab his face in both of my palms, making him look directly in my eyes.
“I love you…and I love me. I’m strong, Storm. I’m just as mentally and emotionally strong as you. We’re equals, so you don’t have to make unilateral decisions to protect me. In fact, you don’t get that privilege.”
He makes a hard sound in his throat, but his face doesn’t change, and I know he’s taking in everything I’m saying.
“I’m not a damsel you need to save. I’m not a weak woman who can’t handle adversity. What happened eight years ago should have destroyed me, even though I know you thought you were freeing me. But guess what? It didn’t break me. Not even your fire could burn me to ash.”
I take in a deep breath, expanding my lungs.
“I don’t need six months, Storm. I don’t need to figure anything else out. I just need to know one thing: Will you let me walk beside you, truly stand beside you as your partner? Or can you only see me as someone to protect?”
The words linger between us, energy swirls around us, because this is what it all comes down to—if Storm is able to see me in my power, just as I see him in his vulnerability….
…and we accept and cherish each other anyway.
I spot the moment when it all clicks for him, when the thread snaps.
“You’ve always been the one I’d go to war for…and stand beside on the battlefield. I don’t just want to be your shield, Sweetness. I want to be your fire, your storm—your match.”
A second later, his lips are on mine.
Things happen so quickly, it amplifies the spinning in my head.
One moment, we stand in front of the art, and the next, we’re tangled in each other, our clothes flying around the space as we rush to free each other and come together.
“Storm,” I say, gasping as he wrenches my jeans and underwear down my legs. I kick off my shoes with violent movements, and he steps on the crotch of my pants to remove them from my ankles.
My bra straps cut into my arms as he pulls the cups down, sucking a nipple into his hot mouth. I hiss, my fingernails scoring down his bare back and then fumbling with the belt buckle at the front of his jeans.
But then, I’m in the air, moving backward, and my ass hits the cool, scratchy tarp covering the worktable.
“Spread those legs for me, baby,” he grates out, an absolutely feral look on his face. My feet go to the edge of the table, spreading my lower lips obscenely, and he growls from deep in his chest.
“Get inside me, baby,” I whimper, absolutely desperate for him, to right the world again by bringing Storm Sandoval deep inside my body.
“Gotta get you wet,” he says, eyes latched onto my pussy. He drops to his knees, damn near attacking me with licks and sucks, and holy shit , his tongue spearing inside my sheath.
He growls again, as if feasting on me offers life-giving sustenance.
My head rocks back as I try to maintain my balance despite the onslaught happening below.
“Storm, I’m already wet. Please,” I pant out, feeling myself lurch closer and closer to climax.
“Not enough,” he replies with his face planted in my flesh. “More.”
Storm’s fingers slowly push into me, and I grasp onto them as if my body were afraid he’d stop his mind-numbing activities. He was so right the night he showed up at my condo. He does know exactly how to get me off, and quickly.
Even after all these years.
“ God !” I shout toward the rafters, the sound echoing off the bare floor and walls as I explode. Thighs trembling, back arching, I shove my pussy closer to his mouth, spinning, spiraling, and he keeps going.
“Baby, please,” I whimper, still riding the edge, my eyes sliding shut as I try to keep myself balanced on the table. His broad hand goes to the small of my back, propping me up while his other still strokes my inner walls.
“ No ,” he grinds out quickly, returning to lick my clit in fast flicks. Burning, searing comes from the area, and I’m unsure if I’m gonna come or split into two or….
His fingers press up and shit ! I’m coming and coming and coming, the burning transforming into something pointed and sharp, and then there’s a splash as I squirt all over his face.
“Oh, my God!” I scream, completely lost in my body, completely lost in him. “Storm, what are you doing to me?”
Tears stream down my face as I finally feel him stand, his fingers still pumping inside me and keeping all my nerve endings on fire. He brings his face close—his face that smells completely like me.
“I’m loving you, Shae Olivya Rivers. I’m loving you forever.”
His fingers leave my body, and he surges into me, hitting the bottom of my channel so hard I yelp and my eyes roll toward the back of my head.
“I’m loving you, Shae. I fucking love you,” he says, each word punctuated by a thrust. His lips are everywhere, behind my ear, at my neck, licking at the hollow of my throat.
His belt buckle, which hangs around the waistband of his jeans near his knees, clink, clink, clinks with every move.
It’s delicious, it’s glorious.
“I love you, too, Storm,” I rasp, lost and high and soaring with him inside me.
“I want you beside me in this life and the next, Sweetness,” he grinds out, his hand sliding up my spine to the back of my head. I open my eyes, and his burn into mine. “Never leave me.”
“You never leave me, then,” I shoot back, but he grabs my flank, causing my southern parts to clench around his dick.
“Forgive me,” he whispers, pressing his forehead to mine as he switches his strokes from pounding to grinding. “I know I said I wouldn’t ask, but there’s no me without you. Please forgive me, Shae.”
I gasp, my lips inches from his, because I realize while I’ve been asking if I should forgive Storm, I stopped asking myself if I can forgive him…because I already have.
“I forgive you, Storm,” I say. “Don’t break my heart again.”
Our foreheads rub together as he shakes his head.
“ Never again,” he vows, and I hear the truth in the depth of his voice. His hand goes to my clit, squeezing between the press of our bodies.
“Marry me, Sweetness,” he commands, and I freeze, clenching tight.
“Are you really asking me?—”
“I already have your ring, baby,” he says, picking up speed with his dick and his fingers, as if trying to work me up so that I’ll say anything—including yes. “I want the world to know what we know: that we belong to each other.”
He kisses me hard at that statement, but instead of clouding my brain, it clears it.
“Marry me,” he repeats, his words still hard, commanding.
“Yes,” I say, and he groans as if I’d injected him with heroin and shot him off into the stars.
“ Fuck, yes ,” he says, his voice rough like coal. “You’re gonna marry me, and you’re gonna give me more babies.”
I whimper. He’s not asking, he’s telling.
“Yes,” I whimper again.
“Mmm, you’re gonna let me fill this pretty pussy up so you’re dripping with me all the time.”
I release an unintelligible sound because he’s driving me to madness again. No, not madness, just high.
“God, yes, baby,” I say, going to the spot where I’m right there , right about to come on his dick.
“I’ll give you until the new year to get that stupid IUD out,” he says, his eyes shooting like flames into my soul. “Or I’ll pull it out myself.”
“W-what?”
“I can’t wait to see you all swollen with my babies, your tits dripping with milk. I’m still gonna keep you filled up with my cum, Sweetness.”
Well, fuck. I didn’t know I had such a breeding kink, but the way I absolutely drench his dick, coming so hard that I black out, well….
“Shae, Shae, Shae ,” he chants, chasing after his release after I go practically boneless in his arms.
And then, he stills, pushing all the way into me, and I squeeze around him, loving— loving —the sensation of his dick twitching inside me as he unloads.
We catch our breaths, neither of us willing to pull away from the other. Storm’s hold tightens around my body, pulling me flush while still inside me, and I stretch out my legs, then wrap them around the small of his back.
And we stay like that for Lord knows how long.
“I wasn’t fucking around about anything I said. You know that, right?” His words are low, delivered right next to my ear. I lean into him even more.
“I know,” I say. “Neither was I.”
I can practically feel the smile in his tone when he says, “Good.”