Chapter 26 NOVA
NOVA
“They won’t give me my deposit back.” I set my phone on the counter in the bathroom. “But they’re letting me out of the lease.”
Emmett ran a comb through his hair, then dropped a kiss to my temple. “Fair enough.”
While he’d been in the shower, I’d scrolled through the emails I’d avoided yesterday while we’d been unpacking.
One had been from the property management company in Oregon who’d leased me a cottage on the beach near Manzanita.
Considering how I’d backed out at the last moment, I was glad they hadn’t pushed for me to pay rent.
When the dust had settled after the drama with Dad, a new town and a fresh start had seemed like the right next step. A little beach town where I could walk in the sand every morning had appealed, so I’d found the house to rent.
“It wasn’t a small deposit.” Three thousand dollars gone, and I hadn’t even set foot through the cottage’s front door. “That’s enough for a new pair of heels.”
He smirked, knowing exactly how much I’d paid.
I rolled my eyes.
Emmett had confessed to spying on my credit card and bank accounts, so he’d known that I’d planned to move to Oregon. I suspected now that we were living together, the spying would stop. Though he had asked me to leave the location tracker on my phone in case of an emergency.
If it gave Emmett peace of mind, then I didn’t mind. Besides, I had a tracker on his phone now too, so we were equal. He hadn’t argued at all when I’d brought it up, probably because I’d been on my knees and my tongue on his cock when I’d asked.
I leaned against the counter and caught a droplet of water as it skated down his bare chest. The towel wrapped around his flat waist, highlighting the perfect globes of his ass and doing little to hide the bulge beneath the V at his hips.
“It’s just money,” he said. “And I’ll buy you all the shoes you want.”
“I know.” I sighed. I could make more money. Though first I’d need to find a job.
But I wasn’t in a hurry to find a new career path. My condo in Missoula had gone under contract on Wednesday and since Emmett had refused to let me move anywhere but into his home, I’d have the equity from the condo’s sale to keep me afloat.
My life looked much different than it had a week ago. And not at all like I’d planned.
“Do you think I’m crazy?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I swatted at his chest and he chuckled, tossing his comb aside and shifting to pick me up and set me on the counter.
“No, you’re not crazy.”
“Do you think we’re rushing this?”
“No, we’re not rushing this.”
I took a deep breath and asked the question I’d been avoiding all week. “Do you think we can move past it all?”
He framed my face with his hands, towering over me. “The future isn’t behind us, baby.”
No, it wasn’t.
It might take us a while to get over all that had happened. It would take time to show Emmett that he could trust me, but I wasn’t going anywhere.
I looped my arms around his shoulders, dropping my gaze to the hair that dusted his chest. “I hope your mom likes me.”
He hooked a finger under my chin, forcing my gaze to his. “She will.”
We were going to Cherie’s tomorrow for Sunday dinner. I hadn’t had a chance to be nervous about it yet. Between my last day of work on Monday, finishing packing on Tuesday and Wednesday, then Emmett and I hauling everything to Clifton Forge on Thursday, the week had passed in a whirlwind.
My furniture would stay with the condo and yesterday, the two of us had unpacked my things. I’d planned to do it over the weekend, to stretch it out since it wasn’t like I had a job to dive into come Monday morning, but he’d insisted we unpack immediately. He wanted to make this our home.
“What should I tell her?” I asked.
“Whatever you’re comfortable with. My mom was married to a Tin King for a long time. She knows what the club life is like. But if you don’t want to tell her anything, she won’t ask.”
“Okay.” I ran my fingertips through the hair beside his temple. My father’s sins were my father’s sins. I kept telling myself that, though I had plenty of my own to deal with. But Emmett and I had made an agreement last Sunday when he’d shown up at my door.
A clean slate. What had happened this summer was in the past. We were moving forward.
Together.
“I love you.”
He bent down, brushing his lips over mine. “I love you.”
My fingers went to the towel, loosening the fold that kept it around his hips. It dropped to the tiled floor with a muted thump.
Before I could take him in my grip, Emmett swept me off the counter and in a few long strides, we were in the bedroom and I was flying toward the mattress.
I bounced, laughing as he stripped off the sweatpants I’d pulled on this morning. They flew over his shoulder along with the T-shirt I’d worn to bed, one of his. It was gone with a whoosh before he came down on top of me.
He dove for my pussy, shoving my knees apart and without any teasing or delay, he dragged his tongue through my folds.
“Oh, God.” My back arched off the bed as one of his hands snaked up my stomach to a breast.
He had my nipple pinched when his tongue stroked again. “You taste so fucking good.”
I hummed and closed my eyes, the pleasure ripping through me as he feasted. My legs began to tremble by his ears and when he sucked on my clit, I cried out, twisting and writhing.
But he held me in place with that one strong arm, giving me one more suck until he was up and his mouth replaced his fingers on my nipple. Then the thick head of his cock was at my entrance.
“Ace, I need you.” I tilted up my hips.
He released my nipple with a pop and shifted higher, locking his eyes with mine as his elbows bracketed my head. He was right. The future wasn’t behind us. It was right here.
With one thrust he slid deep, my body stretching around him. “God, Nova. You feel . . .”
“Good. So good,” I breathed, my inner walls already fluttering around him.
Then he pulled out only to slam inside again, hitting the spot that always made me shake.
Emmett planted a kiss on the underside of my jaw, trailing his lips up to my ear, then across my cheek as he started his rhythm, moving in and out until I writhed beneath him.
“Say it again.”
“I love you,” I panted.
“Again.”
“I love you, Ace.”
“Again.”
“I love you, Emmett.”
He let loose a groan and buried his face in my hair, dragging in a long breath before leaning up and reaching for my hand.
With our fingers laced together, he brought our hands between us to where we were connected. He held my fingertips over his slick shaft as he pulled out, then rocked inside, torturous inch by torturous inch. He kept me there, stroke after stroke, so I could feel us together.
“I love you, Nova.”
I brought my free hand to his face, my thumb going to his bottom lip.
If there was a doubt that we’d be able to overcome everything, it vanished whenever we were together. Maybe that was why we’d been insatiable this week. In between the packing and moving, we were here, in bed or on the couch, our bodies linked.
Emmett lifted our hands, raising my arm above my head. Then he pinned it there in the pillows as he quickened his thrusts, increasing his pace until he was slamming into me and my orgasm came on a gasp, stars breaking behind my eyes.
I clenched around him, pulsing and squeezing as he lost himself to his own release and the two of us came together.
As the white spots cleared, I wrapped my legs around his hips, holding him to me. My hand clamped to his so he couldn’t let me go. Then I took a moment to savor his weight on me, his heat enveloping me.
It was strange to think I’d been lost my entire life. That facing the man who should have been my enemy was what had brought me here.
I hadn’t even known I was lost, yet here I was, found in Emmett’s arms.
Emmett relaxed, twisting us so he wouldn’t crush me, but he kept us connected. As soon as we were comfortable, I sighed, totally content to take a nap. He’d kept me up late last night and a lazy day in bed sounded like the perfect way to pass a Saturday.
But just as he was sinking into his pillow, his body tensed and he shoved up on an arm, his face whipping to the door.
“What?” I sat up, listening.
A grin stretched across his face and he kissed my lips, pulling out. “Better get dressed. We’ve got company.”
My heart did a somersault. “What? Who?”
He winked and rolled out of bed, going for the closet. “Take your shower. I’ll stall them.”
“Them?”
He didn’t answer. He disappeared into the closet as the sound of multiple doors closing echoed outside.
I rolled off the bed and hurried to the bathroom, jumping in the shower. I didn’t bother washing my hair but did my best to put on some makeup with my hands shaking. The voices coming from the living room sounded like there were a hundred people in the house.
I dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater. I stepped into my favorite four-inch Louboutins because I needed them to help me make it through today.
There was no need to ask who was here.
Whatever nerves I had for meeting Emmett’s mother were tenfold when it came to meeting the greater Tin King family.
So much for easing into life here.
“I can do this.” I closed my eyes in the closet and willed myself to be strong. Maybe they’d hate me. They had to think I was crazy. They were probably here to talk Emmett into rethinking this cohabitation idea because we were rushing this.
Going to the garage months ago had been one thing. I’d faced Dash and Leo. But this . . . there were many female voices drifting down the hallway, and meeting the women was going to be an entirely different experience.
Whatever the men might overlook, their wives would not.