24. Daphne
Chapter Twenty-Four
DAPHNE
The feel of Flynn’s thumb sliding across my lip and the way he cupped my cheek had my breath coming in shallow pants while my pulse skittered madly. I kept thinking that the more I was with Flynn—physically, that was—the intensity would start to lighten.
As if somehow the novelty of this fiercely erotic and intimate connection with him would wear off. If anything, it seemed to keep growing in depth. We had a once-in-a-lifetime kind of chemistry. I expected it to stay just that—physical and purely sexual.
Instead, with every moment I spent with him, my emotions were rising to the surface and breaking free, regardless of what I thought about it. After everything that happened, my grief was the only thing that elicited emotion for so long. Everything else had been buried after my life exploded. Now, I’d made it to the other side of my grief, and the glacier locked around my heart was melting.
Flynn traced his thumb around my lips in a sensual tease before his hand slid down the side of my neck, coming to rest between my breasts. My heart lunged as if it recognized his singular touch. I suppose it did.
His eyes searched mine, the blue darkening so much it faded into the charcoal rim. “I can’t believe you thought I was embarrassed about you.” His words came out soft and raspy, always low when it was just us. His voice alone could set me alight with sparks.
I tried to take a breath, but I didn’t get much air and felt a little frantic. It was always like this when I was physically close to him. Any proximity to his potent force was hard to withstand.
I swallowed, my breath hitching when I began to speak. “I didn’t know. I thought, at first, it was because of Cat. But you kind of keep your distance when anyone’s around.”
Flynn’s lips kicked up, and my insides felt ticklish. I knew he could feel the wild beat of my heart under his palm.
“That’s just because I’m trying not to tackle you every time I see you,” he murmured, tugging me onto his lap.
Flynn’s lap was my favorite place to be. Or definitely one of my top three. His lap, or him on top of me, or curled around me. Really, any arrangement that involved his magic hands holding me close and making me forget everything else.
I truly didn’t have any expectations of Flynn. Maybe my heart was getting involved, but I would be okay. This was so healing. Just losing myself in this intense passion. Even if I thought Flynn had been embarrassed, which apparently was wrong on my part, I knew he had it bad for me when it came to sex. Things just clicked with us.
After my ex’s affair with my friend, I’d been so ashamed and felt so inadequate. This thing with Flynn was so removed from my old life that I could just forget all of my baggage and grief.
Straddling his thighs, I let my hips settle over the hard ridge of his arousal. He shifted slightly, and I let out a soft gasp as pleasure zipped through me. I could feel the slick arousal between my thighs.
His eyes narrowed. “We’re wearing too many clothes.”
I giggled, letting my head fall into his neck and breathing in the scent of him. Flynn smelled like the wind and sometimes the ocean with a subtle woodsy hint underneath it all.
Flynn, with his tendency toward being cranky because he was always doing too much and taking care of too many people, had that unique ability to make me giggle like a girl. That carefree feeling had been in short supply for years and dwindled to nothing after Brandon died.
Lifting my head, I leaned forward and dropped a kiss on the side of his neck as I rubbed my hips over his cock. “Race you,” I teased when I looked in his eyes.
Shimmying off his lap, I dashed across the living room to his bedroom. Flynn, whose stride was definitely longer than mine, caught up to me in a hot second just as I made it through the doorway. I was laughing as I tossed my T-shirt to the floor.
I didn’t remember who won the race and honestly didn’t care. All I knew was in maybe less than a minute, Flynn was lifting me against his naked body, every glorious inch of it, and carrying me to his bed. He stopped at the foot of it to pause and capture one of my puckered nipples with his mouth. He teased it with his tongue and a graze of his teeth. His arousal jutted between us, pressing against my belly.
“Flynn!” I gasped.
He lifted his head, and his fierce gaze met mine. “Yes, princess?”
“Hurry it up. I need you inside me.”
“Well then, I’ll have to take as much time as I can,” he teased as he eased me down on the bed. I shimmied backward quickly, trying to take him with me. He was having none of it and curled his hands around my ankles to hold me still.
“I’m in charge tonight, princess.” His voice was low and deep, causing me to shiver all over.
His palms slid up my calves, pushing my knees apart. His lips followed, like honey dripping, the kisses making glancing contact and making me desperate for more. I felt his weight press down in the mattress, and his shoulders settled between my thighs.
Flynn blew lightly on my sex, just before licking into the most intimate part of me. He was a thorough man. With slow teases of his tongue and his fingers sinking into me, I was gripping his hair as pleasure rolled through me.
I was shameless, begging and pleading, until he finally, finally gave me what I needed. He dragged his tongue roughly with just enough pressure over my clit and drove two fingers into me. My entire body spasmed, the climax hitting me in crashing waves.
My pleasure was still echoing in little pings through my body as he rose and settled his weight over me. His elbows framed my face, and I opened my eyes when he brushed my tangled hair away from my cheeks.
“Look at me, princess.”
He brought his hips against me, and I felt the thick head of his cock nudge at my entrance.
“Flynn,” I gasped when he notched a little farther in but didn’t go all the way.
With his intense blue eyes on me, I felt as if all the doors to my heart were blown wide open when he slowly entered me. He held still when he was seated fully inside. My walls rippled around him from the aftershocks of my climax moments earlier. I was so sensitive. My clit was swollen, and I could feel the friction from where we were joined.
He watched me when he withdrew in increments. The slow pull and glide of his strokes in and out was intoxicating. I heard my ragged gasps and pleas. His breathing was rough, and his voice gruff. My fingers dug into his back, and I arched roughly into him.
OhDaphnebabyplease. He took in a gulp of air. Baby, just let me…
My next orgasm snuck up on me, striking in slow, liquid waves of pleasure as my pussy rippled and clamped around his cock, drawing his release out. He muttered something roughly, and I felt the lustrous heat of his release filling me.
Flynn fell against me, and I savored his strong weight. I only got it for a minute because he rolled us over swiftly so I was lying on top of him. I fell asleep like that with his fingers lazily sifting through my hair.
* * *
I hadn’t realized I’d lulled myself into a sense of safety. I felt like I was finally getting my feet under me and inching past the paralyzing grief of Brandon’s death. I was also, for the first time, truly accepting that the life I had before Brandon died was nothing but a shaky world that had collapsed in on itself when something real happened.
Raised in money and groomed to work in my family’s business, the only thing I could say I really loved was my little restaurant. The only reason I got to keep that pet project, as my father had dubbed it, was because, by a stroke of luck, it made money, and it was successful. It worked for all of his investment collaborations.
Here in Alaska, with people who didn’t care how much money I had, and where the moose snorting and pawing behind a tree made me feel more alive than I’d ever felt, I almost didn’t recognize the person I’d been before. I couldn’t believe I’d married a man who took pride in ruthlessly making money, no matter who was hurt by it.
Life returned to slap me in the face a few days after the incident with Cat. Cat and Flynn had achieved an uneasy footing after that. She told him what happened. Although I knew Flynn wanted to raise a stink with the kid, he didn’t. He did, however, ground her for a week for skipping classes. That was fun because they were sniping at each other every day. To Flynn’s credit, Cat usually started it.
I was in the pantry when I heard Cat’s voice. “Excuse me, where are you going?” Cat called, sounding indignant.
“Young lady, I’m here to find my daughter.”
Dread curled in my belly. I knew that voice. It was my mother. Although I hadn’t really wanted to, I’d called her almost weekly since I’d been here, hoping it would keep her at bay.
I didn’t even care to wonder how she found me. I was sure she’d hired a private investigator to dig into my credit cards, or Lord knows what else. I’d only told her I was going to Alaska. That was it.
My heart was hammering hard, and I felt sick. I was suddenly cold all over and almost dropped the jar of olives in my hand. I set them carefully on the pantry shelf and turned to walk out into the kitchen.
My mother was shaking Cat’s hand off her elbow. “Don’t you dare touch me,” she huffed.
My mother was a snob and kind of a bitch. In my own broken way, I still loved her. “Mom.”
She turned, and we stared at each other for a moment. I took her in. She wore an expensive knee-length lightweight coat belted at the waist over a skirt and a pair of black leather boots with stockings. Her hair was in a tidy twist, and gold earrings dangled from her ears. The giant diamond on her wedding band flashed as she smoothed her palms on her coat.
My mind flashed to the day I met Flynn. I’d been wearing a skirt and boots on the drive here. I recalled the incredulous look on his face and realized I felt exactly the same way looking at my mother just now.
“Daphne, I’m here to get you,” my mother said.
I was wearing leggings with a T-shirt and my apron loosely tied around my waist. Cat looked back and forth between us. She didn’t say anything, but I sensed she was ready to have my back if necessary, and it made me want to laugh.
“I’m not going anywhere. Nice to see you, though. How was your trip, Mom?” I asked, sarcasm dripping from every word.
I felt more than saw Flynn when he came into the kitchen. After looking from my mother to me, he crossed over to stand beside me. “Can I help you?” he asked.
My mother narrowed her icy gaze at Flynn. “You can’t help me with anything. I’m here to pick up my daughter.”
“Oh, my God, Mom, I’m standing right here. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
When my mother closed her eyes and released a breath in an annoyed huff, I realized how much I resembled her. I shared her auburn hair and green eyes and petite build. She looked strung tight and as if she was made of sharp edges.
As a mother, she was all sharp edges. My entire childhood had been about making sure everything looked just so, including me.
My heart was thumping erratically, and dread was an icy knot in my belly now. It wasn’t that I couldn’t deal with my mother. But her presence here, in a place that was mine and entirely separate from her, felt as if she were defiling it.
My mother opened her eyes again. “Daphne, please come with me,” she said sternly as if I were nothing more than a little girl.
My mother counted on many things from me, and all of my life until Brandon died, I’d never hesitated to try to placate her. I did love her, no matter how well I’d come to understand her. But before brutal grief and disillusionment shredded me to pieces, I didn’t do things because they felt right. I did them because the expectation had been drilled so thoroughly into me.
My son’s death and my ex’s affair during that terrible time had ripped the veil away from appearances. My mother was so terribly out of place here. I was too. Yet in the time I’d been here, the changes were flying fast and furious inside me.
“Mom, I’m not coming with you. I’m not sure why you took it upon yourself to fly out here, but I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Flynn’s palm landed in the curve at my waist, and it almost felt as if he were imparting some of his strength to me. I needed every ounce I could get. Despite our audience, I actually had to fight the urge to turn into him to seek the shelter I knew he would give. Maybe it was just sex, but that didn’t matter now.
I watched my mother’s eyes flick down to the small distance between Flynn and me. I knew she noticed he’d touched me and was probably already calculating what that might mean.
Her sharp eyes swept up to mine, anger and disappointment glittering in them. “I will be in Anchorage for three days. I’d like you to think about coming home.”
Without another word, she spun around, the heels of her boots loud on the tile floor as she walked away. Unable to stop myself, I followed, but I kept my distance. I didn’t miss the fact that Flynn was right behind me.
I watched as my mother picked her way across the gravel parking lot to climb into an all-black SUV with a driver. I couldn’t fault her for that. It hadn’t been the smartest plan for me to drive myself out here when I was unfamiliar with the area.
With the sound of the gravel crunching under the tires as the vehicle disappeared, I sagged against the wall in the entryway.
Flynn had been waiting a few feet away and turned to stop in front of me. “Are you okay?”
Lifting my eyes, I took a breath and nodded. “Yeah. That was my mother.”
His eyes searched my face before he nodded. “I gathered. I told you I didn’t like her before, and I stand behind that statement.”
I gave him a rueful smile, internally surprised I wasn’t all that upset. With my mother gone, my heart rate slowed, and the sick feeling in my stomach faded. Although I would never wish it on anyone, an upside to going through a horrible loss was everything had a different perspective.
Before my son died and the accompanying mess around it, I would’ve thought it would’ve been horrible to be on bad terms with my mother and have her disappointed in me. Now, it wasn’t nearly that big of a deal. Because nothing would likely measure up to the pain I felt after Brandon died. I’d walked through the barren darkness inside. I was still alive and was actually, maybe okay.
“I’m due for a flight. Wanna come with me?” Flynn asked.
As I looked up to his eyes, my heart jumped. I knew he was asking because he thought I could use a distraction. I could, and I didn’t even know what to think of just how well he could read me.
“Yes, please. Where’re we going?”