Chapter 28
Carrie
“You’re nothing to me, Carrie,” Robert thundered from across the kitchen island.
I clutched my coat to my chest, tears stinging my eyes as I watched my husband’s hatred for me flash in his eyes. I didn’t understand why he was like this some days. He would yell at me for the most random things. This evening, it had been because he was late for dinner. We were supposed to leave an hour ago.
“You don’t mean that,” I whispered, not understanding.
His eyes dropped down to the coat in my hands, he waved his hand. “Let’s fucking see it, then.”
“See what?” I asked.
“How good you think you look in that dress,” he sneered.
His words hurt, like they usually did, but it was okay. The pain would fade and he would prove to me that everything would be okay. Robert loved me. He would cool off in a few hours. I swallowed the lump in my throat and set the coat on the back of one of the stools, revealing the lilac wrap dress I’d ordered two weeks ago. It was lightweight, but the best part was; it was an extra small. I hadn’t been this size since high school. When I put it on earlier, I tried to ignore that you could see my hip bones. It wasn’t my decision to like them.
My husband’s opinion was the only one that mattered.
He came around the front of the island to get a full view, his eyes dropping down the length of me, stopping at my heels. I waited for his final judgment, the feeling of pins and needles scattering across my body.
My husband, the man I was spending the rest of my life with, looked back up at my face, his reaction unreadable. He looked handsome tonight, dressed in a gray suit with a green tie. It matched his eyes. His hair looked like it had been messed up by fingers, and when he came in a few minutes ago, he’d been flustered. I needed to remind myself that his job was stressful, and he might’ve had a bad day at the office.
I braced as his mouth opened.
“Carrie, have you been going to the gym?” he asked.
I jerked back, blinking. That wasn’t what I expected him to say. “Robert, I go every morning for two hours,” I told him in shock. “You know this.”
His eyes dropped back down to my body, clicking his tongue as a look of disgust came across his features. “Doesn’t look like it, Carrie.” He sighed. “I’m going to have to call your trainer and re-evaluate your workout routine.”
“What?” I whispered, putting my hands against my flat stomach, ignoring the never-ending pain rumbling deep inside.
He pulled out his phone, tapping his thumbs across the screen as he shook his head in disgust. “Honestly, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re skipping the gym and stuffing your face in the mornings,” he mumbled.
I blinked, my heart sinking. Then, I looked down at myself, noting how flat my stomach was, the points of my hips sticking out. “I don’t understand,” I whispered. “Last week, you called me beautiful.”
“Apparently, I shouldn’t have,” he snapped, shooting me a glare. He gestured to my body. “Honestly, you expected me to take you out tonight when you look like that? We have an image to protect. For Christ’s sake, Carrie.”
Tears stung my eyes, hearing him repeat my father’s words. “Okay,” I whispered. My stomach growled, but as always, I continued to ignore it. “I’ll do better.”
Robert stared at me for a few moments and then dismissed me with a wave of his hand.
I turned around, heading for the stairs. I was about halfway up the stairs when I felt a curl of pleasure between my legs. I came to a halt, all the air in my lungs escaping. I clutched the railing as I felt another flick from underneath my dress, my underwear suddenly wet.
I looked back downstairs, hearing Robert on the phone now. My nipples hardened as I felt a pinching sensation, followed by another hot curl low in my belly, my clit coming alive for the first time in ages. I whimpered and rushed up the stairs.
What was happening…
My eyes slowly opened to the sound of a deep, hungry growl as something warm and wet flicked against my clit. I lifted my head to find arms covered in snake tattoos, one red and one white, wrapped around my thick thighs, holding them open as the dark head between them feasted.
Grayson’s t-shirt I’d been wearing was pushed up over my breasts, my panties were missing.
It was in the middle of the night, the moonlight shining through the multiple windows around us. His back was bare, and I could finally see the full length of his tattoos.
Grayson’s rough beard scratched my soft skin, adding to the pleasure.
“Grayson,” I moaned, the nightmare forgotten. My hands dropped down, my fingers diving into his thick, dark waves.
“Fuck,” he rumbled against my pussy, his tongue flicking out, teasing my clit. “You taste… Jesus .” He latched onto me again, causing my back to arch as I opened my mouth on a silent scream, the nerves in my clit on overdrive.
He kept at me, giving me something I’d never felt before. He growled, pulling one of his hands from my thighs before I felt his finger at my entrance. “Sweet pussy, sweet woman,” he murmured, kissing my clit. “All fucking mine.” He sunk his finger inside, my back bowing once more as a raw sound left me.
“Yes,” I gasped as he moved his digit in and out of me, his mouth going back to my clit, flicking, licking, sucking, eating me like a man starved. My body was wound up tight, craving a release. One of my hands left his hair so I could cup my breast, my fingers pinching my nipple, sending a zap of pleasure down to my core.
I watched as he looked up at me, his dark eyes focused on my hand, flashing with primal hunger. He moaned against me, adding a second finger, finger-fucking me harder. I was close, so fucking close. He sucked on my clit, and my hips began to grind against him in response.
His opposite fingers squeezed my thigh, encouraging me to grind against his face. Soon, I wasn’t able to stop, riding his face, pinching my nipple, feeling his fingers move inside me. He released my clit and kissed the inside of my thigh.
“That’s it, Sunshine,” he praised, going back to my pussy, licking it roughly. “You going to come on my face?”
I nodded, moaning as I brought my hand back into his hair, pushing him down as my hips lifted.
He growled and resumed driving me insane, his hand working me faster, his tongue matching the pace, and when I reached my climax, I was sure this was what heaven felt like.
“Oh, God! Grayson! Yes, yes, yes!”
He moaned against me as he removed his fingers and wrapped that arm back around my thighs, holding me down as he drank his fill. He dove his tongue lower, impaling me with it. More sounds came from him as he tasted my release, holding me down as I thrashed against him, the pleasure becoming too much. My clit was too sensitive. It was all too much.
I began panting, begging for mercy as I tried to push him away from me. In a flash, one of his hands shot up from my thigh, snatching both my wrists, pinning them against my stomach as his other arm shifted, banding across my lower abdomen. I was completely at his mercy.
“I want more,” he growled against me.
“I-I can’t,” I blubbered, tears sliding down my cheeks.
He chuckled, nipping my pussy lip with his teeth. “Oh, you can.” His eyes flicked up to meet mine. “I’m hungry, baby.” He swiped his tongue. “Please, Carrie. I fucking need this,” he begged softly before he dove back in, kissing, licking, and sucking.
There was no beginning or end to the pleasure that erupted inside me. Words didn’t exist. Thoughts didn’t exist. There was only my body and the bounty hunter who feasted on it.
My eyes rolled back as my body arched, my head pressing back into the pillow as I cried out his name, praying for mercy.
He kept going as the orgasms rolled into one another; he didn’t stop until my body was shaking and spent. He pressed a gentle kiss against my swollen, wet core. “Good fucking girl,” he praised softly and let go of my hands.
“Grayson,” I breathed. “W-what? What?”
He pulled away and looked up to me, his eyes like ink in the moonlight, his beard glistening with me. “This is my apology,” he said softly, his voice rougher than normal.
I shook my head, not understanding as my body tried to recover.
“I raised my voice at you,” he clarified. “I shouldn’t have done that. I lost my temper, baby.”
I sat up on my elbows. “You were just frustrated. I understand.”
“Don’t care if you understand, Carrie. You shouldn’t have let me do that,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t let me yell at you.”
“You told me you loved me,” I pointed out, my heart skipping a beat.
After he marched off to get his phone, I went into the kitchen and silently made us a meal. We ate, not talking to each other because he was working. Then, I went upstairs to edit some photos for the bookstore and came up with a price list for the photoshoot that a few of the boutiques in town wanted me to do for their websites. Eventually, the sun set, and the moon rose, and I went to bed.
Now, we were here.
His dark gaze held me captive for some time before he said, “I’m not your dead husband. I’m not a piece of shit.”
“I know that,” I whispered.
His hands squeezed my thighs. “When it comes to you—the thought of you being in danger…I can’t take it.”
“It’s my fault you’re feeling this way,” I admitted. “I was so stupid—”
“I can’t lose you, Carrie,” he cut me off, surging up to cover me. I saw a glimpse of his beautiful naked body, but nothing more. He covered me, bracing his weight on his forearms. My hands went to his sides, the warmth of his skin like nothing I’d ever touched before. I watched him, lips parted as he reached in between us, lining himself up with my entrance. He brushed his lips against mine, his facial hair still damp.
Slowly, he entered me, inch by thick inch.
“Don’t let me yell at you,” he whispered as I whimpered, my walls stretching around him. “If I yell at you, I don’t deserve you.”
“Y-you do deserve me,” I stammered, bending my legs and lifting my thighs to give him better access.
We both let out a sound when he was fully seated inside me. He brushed a curl from my face. “Been searching for you Carrie, hunting you. My entire fucking life,” he murmured, pulling out. I braced for the hard thrust, wanting it. He didn’t give it. Instead, he gently pushed back into me again. “You’re so fucking beautiful. So kind. So gentle. Such a fucking treasure, Sunshine.”
My bottom lip trembled as his body continued to move over me, his cock going in and out of me gently. It hit me then.
He wasn’t fucking me.
No, Joseph Grayson was making love to me .
My hands slid up, one wrapping under his arm and the other around his neck, my fingers going into his hair.
“I’ve been waiting,” I whispered back, my eyes scanning his face, tracing the line of his scar. “All my life, I’ve been waiting for you to catch me.”
He closed his eyes and leaned down, his lips pressing against my forehead before putting his against it. “You jumping for me, Carrie?” he asked, grunting into my mouth. “You gotta jump, baby.” His hips began to move faster, but no less harder as his cock began to hit the spot inside me that made me see stars.
My back arched, my breasts touching his chest, his rough hair rubbing against my sensitive buds. Electricity shot through me, straight down to my clit. Whimpering, I brought my hand to his scarred cheek, holding his eyes as we breathed and gasped into each other, ready to give him the truth I’d been holding onto for months.
My feelings for him weren’t just some wild fascination—or a fluke—no, this was fate.
Joseph Grayson was my fate.
“I love you,” I said, my breath hitching as emotion swelled in my throat.
His face transformed then, and suddenly, my hands were pinned above my head, his pace picking up. “Again,” he demanded harshly, baring his teeth as our skin slapped together.
A tear escaped my eye. “I love you,” I promised on a moan. “I think—I think I’ve always loved you, Grayson.”
He groaned, bending his head to watch our bodies meet, his cock stretching me. I was moaning now, feeling my climax starting to build, my legs starting to shake. “It’s coming,” I breathed.
“Again,” he clipped, looking back at me. His face looked pained, his eyes wide.
I froze, seeing the darkness that lived inside him, the pain he’d been through swirling around in his dark pools, the fear glimmering around it all. He’d been through hell, time and time again.
“Grayson.” I tried to pull my hands free. I needed to touch him.
“Again, Carrie,” he begged, his voice raw. “Fucking say it again. Please. ”
I opened my mouth but he cut me off. “You and I—this—it was never in the cards for me. You were never supposed to be a part of my life—happiness was merely a myth, baby. Until you.”
I held his eyes, finally understanding. “I love you.”
“Keep saying it until I come inside you, Sunshine. Please,” he whimpered, his hips moving faster now.
I gave him what he needed. “I love you, Grayson. So much.”
He groaned, closing his eyes again and dipping his head, his lips finding mine, moving down my jaw and neck until his face was hidden. Then, my hands were released and I moved, wrapping my arms around him, my legs around his hips. I clung to him, taking all of him as he grunted and groaned in my ear, his muscles tense.
My lips found his ear, my breath coming out in pants. “I love you.”
He growled against my neck, the sound scorching through my body, and I knew he was close, his thrusts erratic now. “I love you,” I vowed again, my voice trembling. “Fill me up, Grayson. Pump me full.”
I was close now, knowing he was going to spill inside of me, give me something that no other man had. He was the only one. Robert always wore a condom and barely touched me during the act, like I was some sort of disease to him—a chore.
“Fuck,” he bit off, his hands dropping to my hips, squeezing. He slammed into me again, shoving my body higher on the mattress. “ Fuck , Sunshine,” he repeated, his voice and body trembling as I dragged my hand across the corded muscles of his shoulder
I pressed a kiss to his scar. “Come inside me and tell me you love me,” I whispered, gasping as my body let go. Pleasure exploded through my bloodstream as the gates of heaven opened for me. My thighs tightened around him, clinging to him, silently begging him to come with me.
“Grayson,” I whispered as my fingers gripped his hair. It was plea.
Grayson snapped his hips two more times, growling as he finally let go with me. He barked out my name as his head snapped up, his jaw tight. His eyes shot open, meeting mine as he gave me what we both needed. “I love you more than anything else in this world,” he rasped as our bodies fell into pleasure.
The gates of heaven stayed open for me then, shining down upon us and letting me finally have my happiness I’d been searching for.