Chapter Eleven
Edwina
I did not want to break in front of him. I had already given him more of myself than I meant to tonight, every reaction, every crack in the version of me I had fought so hard to become.
“If you got the answers you wanted,” I said, forcing the words out, “then I’m leaving.”
Hayden’s gaze stayed on mine. “Not yet.”
My fingers curled at my sides. “What else could you possibly want from me?”
His expression changed, the anger in it sharpening into something colder. “Tell me who Helena is.”
Everything inside me stopped. For a second, I could not breathe. I could not move. Even the room seemed to disappear around that name, leaving only Hayden standing in front of me and the truth I had spent years keeping away from him.
“No one,” I said.
The lie came out too quickly.
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t do that.”
“She’s no one,” I repeated, but my voice broke on the last word, and I hated myself for it.
Hayden took one step toward me. “Edwina.”
“Don’t,” I said, shaking my head. “Don’t say my name like that.”
I turned my face away, but it was too late. The tears came before I could stop them, slipping down my cheeks with all the things I had refused to feel for years. I tried to swallow it back, to pull myself together before he saw too much, but Hayden always noticed what I wanted hidden.
For a moment, he said nothing.Then he came closer His fingers brushed my cheek, wiping away a tear with a care that hurt more than cruelty would have. My breath caught, and my whole body tightened at the touch, the familiarity of it cutting through me before I could stop it.
“I don’t need this,” I whispered, though the words came out weaker than I wanted.
His fingers stayed near my face. He brushed away another tear before it could fall, and I hated the way my body softened at the touch, how easily some part of me leaned toward what I had spent years learning to live without.
I did not want this. I did not want him. Most of all, I did not want my heart answering him as if it had never learned how to survive his absence.
I forced myself to stay still, to hold on to every reason I should step back, but he did not give me the distance I needed.
His other hand rose, and then my face was between his palms, held without force, yet with enough certainty that looking away felt impossible.
My breath faltered. Against my better judgment, I lifted my gaze to his.
For a moment, the anger between us fell quiet. The distance I had fought to keep, the years I had used as a shield, all of it thinned under the simple truth that I knew this man. I knew the shape of his face, the depth of his eyes, the silence he carried before it turned into words.
I had missed those eyes.
God, I had.
I had never admitted it, not even to myself, but memory had its own cruel way of returning when I was alone.
And the worst part was that I had seen pieces of him every day in another face, smaller and softer, in a life that had nothing to do with the past and everything to do with the future I had tried to protect.
Helena.
The realization pressed against my chest as I looked at Hayden now, close enough to see everything I had spent years avoiding.
He had no idea that the eyes staring back at me had been waiting for me every morning for four years.
He had no idea that a part of him existed in a life he had never been allowed to touch. And I had carried that truth alone.
My throat tightened. I should have pulled away. I should have remembered every reason he was dangerous to the life I had built. Yet for one brief moment, I stayed exactly where I was, and that frightened me more than anything else.
My lips parted, his name forming before I could stop it.
“Hay… Hayden—”
I didn’t finish. He didn’t let me.
The moment my voice shaped his name, something in him changed. His hold grew firmer, his control snapped, and then his mouth was on mine, sudden and consuming, stealing the distance before I could decide whether to keep it.
The kiss was rough, hungry, filled with everything we had left unfinished.
His lips moved against mine with anger and need, our teeth clashing once before he tilted my head and took the kiss deeper.
My breath caught against his mouth, and my hands lifted before I could stop them, hovering near his chest for one useless second while my mind tried to remember all the reasons I should push him away.
I should have stopped him. I knew that. Every rational part of me remembered the lies, the pain, the life I had built without him, and still my body answered before my pride could save me.
He tasted of mint, smoke, and something darker that belonged only to him.
His hand slid from my cheek into my hair, fingers tightening enough to make my breath falter, and the small pull sent heat through me so fast I hated myself for it.
I curled my fingers against his shirt, meaning to push him back, yet somehow I only held on.
It felt the same in the worst possible way.
He still knew how to kiss me until my thoughts broke apart. He still knew how to make my body forget what my heart had spent years surviving. For a moment, the anger slipped out of reach, the pain blurred, and the careful distance I had built between us fell apart beneath his mouth.
There was only him.
His lips. His hands. The heat of his body against mine. The sound of his breath mixing with mine as he kissed me harder, deeper, until the only things I could give him were broken little whimpers and the soft, helpless moans I hated myself for letting him hear.
“I've missed those beautiful tits,” he murmured, his voice dripping with lust as his hands explored every inch of my body. Eyes fluttered closed, I could feel my heart racing as he continued, “They're more round and full now, irresistible.”
My breath hitched as his intense gaze met mine, burning with unbridled hunger. “Damn I've missed kissing those luscious lips of yours too, I want to suck on them and taste them.”
With a swift and forceful motion, he lifted me onto the table, my legs instinctively wrapping around his waist, pulling him closer.
As our bodies melded together, he reached up and took off his glasses, setting them aside carelessly before his hands dove into my hair, gripping it tightly.
Without those glasses, he was even hotter, his smoldering eyes making me weak in the knees.
Our lips collided once more, kissing with brute force and desperation.
His tongue plunged into my mouth, claiming every inch as his own.
The kiss was filled with years of pent-up emotions, the hunger and passion threatening to consume us both.
My fingers dug into his shoulders as his hands roamed my body, touching and caressing, reawakening every nerve ending.
Oh god, I was dripping wet, my slick folds aching for his touch, I clenched my thighs, eager to have him fill me.
He hastily undressed me, his fingers trembling with anticipation as he removed each piece of clothing. His hands traveled down my curves before finding my wet pussy. He teased my entrance, circling it with his finger, before plunging two fingers inside me without warning, finger fucking me hard.
I gasped, throwing my head back as he worked his fingers in and out, the sensations building deep within my core.
“You're so tight... and so wet for me,” he groaned, his gaze locked between my legs as he watched his fingers disappear inside me. “Good girl, you're such a slut for my fingers.”
As Hayden continued to finger me relentlessly, he leaned down and captured one of my hardened nipples between his lips, sucking and swirling his tongue around it. The sensation sent jolts of electricity straight to my core, making me even wetter.
“Oh Hayden, yes! Your mouth feels incredible,” I moaned, arching my back to push my breast further into his mouth.
He releasing my nipple with a soft pop. “You like that, do you, Edwina? You want me to tease your tits while I fuck you with my fingers?” Hayden growled seductively.
“Yes, please Hayden! I need you so much,” I begged breathlessly, my fingers tangled in his hair, urging him closer.
“Say my name when you come,” Hayden demanded gruffly as he continued his exquisite torture on my sensitive bud.
He removed his fingers, leaving me aching and empty. Before I could protest, he had unzipped his pants and freed his rock-hard cock. The veiny shaft pulsed with desire, the bulging head glistening with pre-cum, a testament to how much he wanted me.
He rubbed the tip against my slick folds, coating it in my wetness before thrusting deep inside me.
I moaned in pleasure as his substantial length filled me completely, stretching my walls to accommodate his girth.
His cock was perfect in every way, the right thickness to hit all the right spots, smooth soft skin covering the steel-like hardness.
My moans filled the room as he moved inside me, each thrust hitting deeper than the last. “You're mine, Edwina,” he growled, his voice filled with possession and hunger.
With a hard thrust, he drove his point home.
“You were mine...” Another powerful thrust followed as he continued claiming me.
“...and you are mine,” he grunted, emphasizing each word with a forceful thrust.
“You like that don't you?” Hayden asked, his hips snapping forward to drive deep inside me. “Like it when I claim this pussy as mine?”
“Fuck yes, give it to me harder,” I demanded, throwing my hips back to meet his every thrust.
He captured my lips in a searing kiss, swallowing my moans as he pounded into me relentlessly. With each powerful thrust, he reminded me who I belonged to, pushing me closer and closer to the edge.