18. Lenora
18
LENORA
I n the end, I’m out of work for a week and a half.
Holden wouldn’t hear of me going back to Sophie and Honor’s apartment. Instead, he took my key from my purse at the end of the hospital bed and asked, “What are you going to do, chase me?” when I objected.
Thankfully, he was still gone getting my stuff when Dad turned up.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, hovering beside the bed with a pinched expression, as if he was forcing himself to hold back his furious, hypocritical lecture about inappropriate relationships until he’d assured himself I wasn’t in agonizing pain.
“Okay,” I told him. “I’m sorry. That you had to find out that way.”
Dad seemed to lose whatever was left of his ability to stand at that point, and slumped into the chair beside the bed, looking miserable. “Len, there’s a lot you don’t know about Holden. This isn’t just his age. Don’t worry, your sister established that I don’t have the right to object to that.”
I smiled slightly. “I know enough. Mom complains we don’t visit, then gets wine-drunk and regales us with tales of her sexcapades when we do.”
This earned me a grimace, but Dad stayed silent, waiting for me to explain.
So, I did. “It probably sounds really stupid, but ballet was my whole life. It’s the only thing I wanted to do for so long, and then I couldn’t anymore, and I kind of forgot that it might be possible for other things to make me happy. Holden… Holden reminded me, Dad. I still don’t know what I’m going to do, for the record, but I’m kind of excited to figure it out.”
Apparently unwilling to concede that my relationship with Holden might have any redeeming qualities at all, he changed the subject to my recovery. He didn’t leave until I got a text from Holden, letting me know he was on his way back to the hospital and asking if I wanted a coffee that didn’t originate in a vending machine.
The days following this surgery have been nothing like the last ones. I’m not holed up alone in Sophie’s bedroom, snarling at anyone who dares enter and lamenting my lost career. It sucks, yes, but I’ve done it before and while I really hope I don’t have to do it again, I know I can handle it.
Holden stayed home with me for the first few days, until I was off the heavier painkillers and could get around on my crutches without the threat of falling. He brought me snacks on the couch and had a timer on his phone for my meds, the model of the supportive, devoted partner.
Then, because word reached him that his team had taken advantage of his absence to rent a margarita machine, he went back to work. And, miraculously, I was okay. The physical pain was there, but I didn’t feel myself slipping into the depression that lingered for months after my initial injury. It was a nuisance more than anything else, but I was cheerful enough, enjoying the warm, brightly lit living room, with bi-hourly texts from Holden during the day and lots of cuddling at night.
After ten days, though, I’ve had enough.
“Tomorrow,” I insist, glaring at Holden, who has spent the past half hour trying to talk me into staying home for another week or two . “I can’t just sit at home until I’m back to where I was before. That could be months.”
His eyebrows lift slightly, and he glances over at me, a smirk curving his handsome face. “Home, huh?”
I feel myself flush. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“You could,” Holden suggests mildly. “Having you here has been great. Why not make it official?”
I let out an incredulous laugh. “Because we’ve been officially together for like a few weeks. You don’t move in with someone you’ve been with for a few weeks.”
His smirk widens into a full smile, making my heart perform its usual flip-flop. “Since when do you give a damn what other people do? Fuck other people. What do you want?”
I turn sideways to look at him, and my heart swells as I meet his warm, hopeful gaze. He really wants this. “I’m kind of a pain in the ass.”
“So am I.”
The next objection is a little harder to broach. “Dad hasn’t spoken a word to you since he found out. Are you sure you want to make the situation worse?”
Holden sighs, rubbing a hand over his stubble, which he’s grown in to be more of a beard since I expressed my attraction to them. “I’m not interested in letting anyone other than us dictate the terms of this relationship, Len. If it makes you happy, and it makes me happy, I don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks about it.” Then, as if all this statement wasn’t swoon-worthy enough on its own, he continues, “If you’re not ready, or if you want to date a while longer before we discuss it, I understand. But, just so there are no misunderstandings, I want you here. I’ve been alone for a long fucking time, and now that I’ve found you, I don’t want to waste one goddamn minute not loving you.”
Jeez. Holden-freaking-Ellinger. Who knew?
I reach out, lacing my fingers through his as warmth fills my chest. “Okay,” I hear myself agree, my bottom lip trembling. “Let’s move in together.”
He’s on me in an instant. I barely have time to gasp before Holden has crowded me back onto the couch, kissing me deeply. It’s hot and sweet and passionate, and probably the best kiss I’ve ever had.
“I love you,” I gasp as we break apart, Holden ducking down to seal his mouth over my breast, sucking my nipple through the cotton of my tank top.
He makes a low noise of approval. “I love you too, Len. Jesus, so fucking much, you have no idea.”
Yeah, I kind of think I might.
I, better than anyone, can appreciate the gratitude and adoration that comes when you manage to find someone who fills all the dark corners of your life with light.
I, better than anyone, can feel this thing that exists between us, and even if I haven’t fucked my way around the world like he has, I don’t need to be with anyone else to know that this is special—that this is it .
We haven’t had sex since I got home from the hospital, and the last few days especially, I’ve missed it. I need him. “Baby”—I choke out a laugh—“I really need you to fuck me.”
Holden’s chest shakes with laughter. “What do you think I’m trying to do, Lenora?”
I sigh happily as he maneuvers me back into the cushions, his hands dragging my sweatpants and panties over my thighs and tossing them off the end of the couch. My leg is still wrapped in an elaborate brace, but, exactly like the first time we were together, Holden pauses to kiss the skin just beside it before carefully helping me drape it over the back of the couch.
“Shirt off,” I demand, because this is the hottest man in the entire world, and I want the full experience.
Holden smirks but does as I ask without hesitation, tossing his T-shirt over the side of the couch. When he does, my eyes catch on a tattoo that certainly wasn’t there before, a curving line of black ink directly over his heart, still red around the edges.
Lenora.
“Oh my god.” My voice breaks as I reach out to touch it, stopping myself just in time. “ Holden . Holy—When did you do that?”
He lowers himself over me, and both of us hiss as my tightened nipples brush his chest. “I left work early yesterday,” he tells me quietly, his lips skimming over my collarbone.
My eyes burn, even as a hysterical little giggle escapes my lips. “Tattoos are permanent, you know?”
“Yeah,” he grunts, busy attacking my breasts with hot, open-mouthed kisses. “So are you.”
My heart feels like it’s going to explode as I tangle my fingers in his hair, pulling until he gets the hint and leans forward to kiss me deeply, his tongue brushing mine. Between us, his cock is weeping, leaving trails of precum over my lower belly.
“I’ve been dreaming of this pussy, princess.”
There’s something about him calling me that when we’re naked that is so good. Just the sound of the word in his raspy, rough voice has the muscles low in my abdomen coiling with heat. “You’d better fuck it, then.”
Obviously out of patience with not being inside me, Holden reaches between us to grip himself, and we both groan as he slides home, until the piercing at his base is pressed right against my clit.
God, I missed this so much.
He’s being gentle with me, and while I want to be annoyed at the lack of manhandling, the truth is, slow, passionate sex with this man is probably even hotter than the feral, rough fucking we typically favor.
“I love you so goddamn much, Len,” he grunts, pulsing in and out of me, the pierced head of his cock brushing my G-spot with each thrust.
I sob, arching off the couch as my orgasm begins to build, hot and urgent, deep inside me. “Baby, oh fuck .”
“I’m too big for this tight little cunt, but you take me anyway, don’t you? Such a good girl, letting me stuff it full.”
Oh, the dirty talk is definitely helping speed this along, but when Holden shoves a hand between us, working my clit in firm circles with two of his fingers as his piercing grinds against it from below, I know it’s all over. Sure enough, I come with a hoarse cry, my entire body shaking as he continues to fuck me in slow, deliberate thrusts.
“Jesus, you get so tight when you come,” he grits out, his warm breath ghosting over my neck in ragged pants, getting closer to finishing himself. “I’m so obsessed with your pussy, Len. You have no fucking idea.”
My answering laugh is choked. “I do have a fucking idea.” Threading my fingers through his hair, I guide his face down to brush my lips along the sharp line of his jaw. “I love your cock, baby. You make me feel so good with it.”
Holden is clearly struggling to make this last, but as I reach down to grip his ass, trying to pull him deeper, I know this is almost over. “I love the way you make me ache, and the way your cum drips out of me?—”
My words are cut off as the man above me comes with a roar, wedging his swelling length as deep as he can, filling me with his hot release. I kiss his jaw, his neck, his shoulder, moaning in pleasure at the feeling of it. “Jesus, princess.”
I giggle, drawing my nails up his spine, and feel him shudder at the added stimulation as his orgasm dies away. “I seriously can’t believe you got a tattoo of my name.”
He kisses my shoulder before lifting his head to look at me. “You’re my whole fucking life, Len. It might seem extreme to you, but to me? Fuck, to me it’s right . I like that whenever you look at me, you’ll know I’m yours.”
“Maybe I should get one too. So you know when you look at me,” I suggest as he pulls out and gets to his feet, reaching for his discarded T-shirt to wipe my cum from his softening cock.
Holden glances up at me, blanching at the suggestion. “You’re not putting ink in your skin.”
“No?” I hum, his gaze follows as my hand skims down my naked body, coming to drift lightly over my inner thigh, inches from the lips of my pussy. “You wouldn’t want your name here ?”
Holden blows out a long breath and glances up at me, his eyes much darker than usual. “You just love making me eat my words, don’t you, princess?”