Chapter 56
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Iris
He’s here. He’s here. He’s really, really here.
Wrapped in his big arms, I cling to Dark. His lips graze my bald head as he whispers sweet nothings.
I can’t believe this is real.
That… he’s alive.
He brought me a ring.
It bites into my palm as I crush my fist around it, and let the anguish, the relief, take me. For months, I’ve tried not to think about this day. The what-if. But he’s here now. His hot breath washes over my scalp. His chest moves. There is air in his lungs. Actual air.
“You’re alive,” I blubber.
“Yes, sweetheart. Of course, I am. I might not look the same, but I’m here.”
Never wanting to let him go, I grip the cotton of his shirt. “I don’t care what you look like. You’re alive. That’s all that matters.”
“Fuck, Iris. I…” Dark tosses his cane to the floor, and it lands with a thud. He scoops his arms under me and stands. He’s wobbly, and I cling to his neck as he slowly, with a mountain of curses, carries me to our bedroom, where he lays me gently on the bed.
Shrugging off his cut, he sets it on the nightstand and takes his time getting naked for me.
I swipe the tears away so I can see all of him.
Resting on my elbows, my breath stutters as Dark reveals himself fully.
His half-hard cock hangs between thick tattooed thighs, but all I see is him.
Just him. Not the scars. Even though there are a lot.
Not the puckered burn marks. It’s just him. Dark. My Dark.
He runs a shaky hand down his defined chest to his cock where he wraps his fist around himself and gives a pull, root to tip, getting nice and hard.
My heart flutters at the sight, and those butterflies that I thought were long dead start anew.
“You’re beautiful,” I whisper in awe.
Staring at the ceiling, Dark sighs in obvious relief, and his bottom lip trembles as he attempts and fails to suck back his emotions. “You don’t…” His throat bobs as he looks anywhere but at me, and I get it. This is a lot. It’s a lot for me too.
“Fuck. I… I just…” Dark releases his erection and opens and closes his fists at his sides, letting me see him. All parts. Bare.
But I don’t need that. I just need him with me. On me.
I set the ring on the mattress, closest to Dark, and offer him my left hand so he can make this official.
I know many people would be pissed if this happened to them.
They’d wanna claw his eyes out for returning out of the blue without so much as a call.
But I’m not mad. He’s been through some sort of hell, and who am I to judge him for it?
All I can hope for is that he trusts me with his stories.
That he opens up to me, as I plan to do to him.
When you lose someone important, it puts life into perspective.
How many people can say they get a second chance like this?
Not many.
The questions can come later.
As will the answers.
But now… right now…
I just need us.
Forcing myself to be brave, I hook my fingers into my pajama shorts and slide them down my legs. I wrap them into a ball and chuck them at Dark’s chest to break him out of whatever hell he’s fighting inside his head.
Startled, he blinks at me, eyes rimmed in red.
His big chest expands in a full breath as he looks at me, actually looks.
His glorious cock jumps as if he’s excited by what he sees.
I spread my legs.
Dark licks his lips and plucks the green-and-gold ring from the mattress. Once more, I offer him my ring finger, and he kneels on the edge of the bed, takes my hand, and slides it right where it belongs. It fits perfectly.
Leaning over, his scarred abs contract as he brings his lips to the gem, and he kisses me there, eyes on mine, soft around the edges, sweet. “I love you,” he vows. “Thank you for being mine.”
Unable to form words, I nod.
He loves me, and I love him.
I do.
All of me.
There is no other man I’d ever want.
Dark slowly lowers himself and settles his cock at my wet core. My pussy clenches as he brushes himself across her and pushes just the tip inside, where he stays. Connecting.
“Dark.” I shudder, knowing this is the moment.
Arms bracketing my head, he leans down and brushes his lips across mine. “I’ve got you.”
“I know.” I wrap my hands around his nape as our souls meet, up close and personal.
“I need you naked and to prep you first. I want to make this good.”
“You… you don’t have to.”
He nudges his nose to mine. “I need to, sweetheart. I’ve been dreamin’ about this moment for far too fuckin’ long. But I’m gonna need some help.”
“Anything.”
Sitting back on his knees, Dark’s cock slips from my center. He groans as if movement hurts him. His wince confirms as much.
At the bottom of my pajama shirt, he slowly unbuttons it. One at a time, they pop free, until my breasts are bare. His sharp intake of breath is everything as he stares at my chest and bites his bottom lip like he doesn’t know which to sample first.
“Fuck. You’re gorgeous,” he rasps, fisting his cock and giving it a long, slow stroke that has him shivering.
I blink to make sure this is real.
With a low, pained groan, Dark stretches out beside me.
Tracing the contours of my face and down my neck, he leaves goosebumps in his wake.
Between the valley of my breasts, all the way down to my belly button, he travels until he’s there, sliding a finger between my lips to my clit where they reunite like long-lost friends.
Back arching off the bed, I cry out as Dark leans in to capture one of my nipples in his mouth, as he cups my pussy.
Aching for more, I moan his name. “Please,” I beg.
Giving me just what I need, Dark enters me there, one finger, then two.
My walls stretch around the intruders as my heels dig into the mattress.
Sharp bursts of air sputter from my lips, and my eyes slam shut as he coaxes me from the inside, unlike anything I’ve experienced before.
His mouth is hot on my breast. A growl rumbles in his throat as I moan, broken and needy just for him.
The pleasure draws tighter, and the ache in my middle spreads.
“Dark!” I cry.
“Hold on. I’ve got you,” he grates, his voice wrecked. “Just take another finger.”
A third digit claims me, and a scream rips from my throat.
“That’s it,” he whispers, his bottom lip caressing my sensitive nipple. “Just a little more.”
In and out, he fucks my pussy.
I pant.
Claw at the sheets.
The world coalesces into a single moment.
I’m so lost, I don’t notice when he slots himself between my thighs. But once he’s there, he replaces his touch with his cock. It circles my center, sliding through the wetness.
I run my foot up his side, urging him to do it.
“Are you ready?” He slaps the head of his dick against my clit before breaching me with just the tip.
I nod, more than ready.
“Words. I need them.”
“Please.”
On a low, hungry groan, Dark thrusts and, with his eyes on mine, he penetrates me, taking what’s always been his. Deeper and deeper, I cry out, stretching around his girth.
“Just breathe, I’ve got you,” he promises through gritted teeth.
And I listen.
I feel.
I take him until nothing separates us and his heartbeat throbs through my walls.
On his knees, Dark grips my hips. Fingers sink into flesh. His nostrils flare as he stills, and his cock bucks inside me.
“I love you so fuckin’ much.” His words reach my soul and melt all the broken bits back together.
“I love you too.”
A lone tear slips from the corner of his eye, and Dark swipes it away with the back of his hand as he smiles with only part of his mouth working as it should. “Fuck. I’ve been dyin’ to hear you say that,” he chokes.
It’s true. I love him. I wish I had said it before. But he’s here now.
Needing him with me, I wave him closer, and Dark lowers himself, chest to bare chest, heart to heart, lips to lips.
He brushes his mouth over mine. “Are you ready to come on my cock, sweetheart?”
I lick his top lip and hiss a wanton, “Yes.”
Gliding a hand down my side, Dark slips it beneath me and grips my ass. I wrap my legs around his waist, and he fits perfectly in the cradle there.
A hiss of pleasure vibrates against my lips as Dark withdraws his cock to the tip and, in one glorious thrust, buries himself. We moan. My walls clench. But he doesn’t stop. On and on, my man claims what’s his. My nails dig into his shoulders and my heels into his ass.
“Fuck,” he grunts, burying his face in my throat.
Pleasure coils tighter, and I sink my teeth into his arm and lose my breath.
“That’s it. You’re close.”
I am…
My walls clamp around Dark’s member as I come.
My screams are muffled by his arm as I writhe, and his broken moans reverberate against my throat.
Wetness floods my center as his cock bucks, filling me.
Loving this, my pussy clamps around his girth, and he triggers another orgasm.
Tinier. Warmer. It flows outward, tingling from my toes to my fingertips. It’s beautiful. He’s beautiful.
Lost in the moment, tears leak from the corners of my eyes, down the side of my face.
They soak into the comforter. A knot of emotion swells in my throat as Dark looms above me.
His eyes meet mine, and I expect to see concern there, to ruin the moment with these silly tears, but his smile is gentle and loving.
He leans in to kiss the wetness away, and my stomach shudders as a soft sob is set free.
“Shhhh,” Dark whispers, brushing his lips across mine.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you. I’m not going anywhere.
” Slowly, he sits back and slips his half-erect cock from my center.
Wetness rushes out, and I don’t know why, but it …
it makes me cry even more. I can’t help it.
The quiet tears carry on, as the man I thought I lost rubs his hands up and down my thighs before lowering himself between my legs.
His hot breath heats my middle, and when his tongue swipes my clit, my back arches off the bed and a startled cry of pleasure echoes through our bedroom.
“Dark,” I gasp.