Chapter 7 #2
“Just needed some exercise,” I countered, loading my plate. He’d made some kind of hash with ham, eggs, potatoes, and peppers. I wanted to bury my face in it. “I don’t think I’ve gone this long without working out since I was like thirteen.”
I missed the gym I’d set up in my spare bedroom.
“I think I’ve got some equipment out in the loft somewhere,” Pop offered. “If you want to go looking.”
“It’s fine, Pop,” I replied. “The tire works just fine.”
We fell into silence as we ate, but it wasn’t comfortable. Daniel and my pop seemed totally fine, but I wasn’t. I was having a very difficult time wavering between wanting to drag Daniel into the woods to have my way with him or, alternately, dive across the table to pummel him.
He was so calm. Happy, even. To Daniel, the world outside might be on fire, but in our little house in the woods, all was well.
For me? The fire was coming from inside the house.
“I was thinking I could fix that lattice on the front porch today,” Daniel told Pop between bites of food. “I saw you had some replacement pieces leaning up against the little shop next to the coop.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Pop replied gruffly.
“I don’t mind,” Daniel said easily. “I’m not used to sitting around. You’ve opened your home to me. It’s the least I can do to take care of the projects you haven’t had time for.”
“About that,” I said, interrupting them. “Did you ever really say that Daniel could stay here?” I propped my chin on my palm. “Because, as I recall, the rule was no boys in my room, and you’ve already let him stay two nights. Getting soft in your old age?”
Pop looked at me in amusement. “Nice try.”
“I’m just saying—”
“If this is the safest place for you, then you’re staying here.”
“Of course,” I gasped dramatically. “But Daniel, on the other hand, seems to have free rein to go wherever he wants, so—”
“Are you trying to kick me out?” Daniel asked dubiously. He looked at Pop. “Is that what she’s doing?”
“Seems so,” Pop confirmed.
“What the fuck, Rosemary?”
Leaning back in my chair, I shrugged my shoulders. “Just saying, the hypocrisy is thick around here.”
“He’s your mate,” Pop said dryly. “Not some little boy you decided you were in love with because he got his hands on your boobs one time.”
“Gary Maurice Whitlock,” I hissed, my eyes widening. “First of all, how dare you? Second of all, he got his hand down my pants, for your information.”
“Rosemary!” Pop barked, throwing the salt shaker at me. “The hell is the matter with you?”
I caught the salt as I laughed. “You started it!”
“And you took it and ran so far across the damn line I can’t even see the line anymore.”
“Don’t dish it if you can’t take it,” I replied primly, setting the salt carefully back in its place.
“I’ve lost my appetite,” he grumbled, shoving his plate away.
“Not me.” I shoved a huge pile of food into my mouth. When I looked up at Daniel, his expression was a mix of puzzlement and laughter. Like he couldn’t quite understand what had just happened, but he was here for it.
I looked away.
I’d known before I said anything that it wasn’t as if my pop would suddenly decide that Daniel couldn’t stay at our house anymore, therefore backing my mate into a corner so he was forced to let me leave the property.
With the way things had been going, he probably would’ve just agreed and left me behind for my own good. The idiot.
It wasn’t as if I couldn’t just leave on my own. I wasn’t being held captive, for god’s sake. My pop left his keys in his truck most of the time, and even if that wasn’t available, I could’ve dragged my dirt bike out of the garage if I was desperate.
I could leave. Hell, I could fucking disappear if I wanted to. I had the skill and enough cash to get by for a very long time without anyone knowing where I was. If I thought that would help the situation I was in, I would’ve used it in a heartbeat. But it wouldn’t.
Leaving the property when Daniel was so adamant that I stay there for my safety was more trouble than I was willing to deal with, especially since I didn’t need to be somewhere else.
Even if I wanted to slap him, and curse him, and beg him not to leave me behind again, I wouldn’t, because we were linked forever now.
Daniel and I would spend the rest of our very long lives together. There was no way around it and no way out of it—not that I’d ever try to get out of it. Even if he seemed to be confused about how a mating bond should look, I wasn’t.
I was his, and he was mine. The end.
“I’m going to take a shower,” I said with a sigh as the now familiar tightening in my chest made another appearance. I’d known relief wouldn’t last long, but I could’ve been happy with a few more hours of minimal symptoms. “Don’t do the dishes, Pop. I’ll clean up when I get back up.”
“Gonna run the dishwasher while you’re in there,” he said, staring into his coffee.
“Joke’s on you,” I replied as I walked away. “I’m taking a cold shower.”
Ten minutes later, Daniel had the audacity to slide back the curtain and climb into the shower behind me. I couldn’t even pretend I was annoyed.
“I thought you were taking a cold shower,” he said teasingly, sliding his hands from my ribs to my hips.
“Does my father know you just snuck in the shower with me?” I asked as his hands traveled slowly back up my belly to my breasts.
“He went to the grocery store,” Daniel replied, pressing his lips against my shoulder. “We have the house to ourselves.”
“Well, that was kind of him.” My breath hitched as he pinched my nipples between his fingers.
“That’s what I thought. Put your hands on the wall.”
Reaching out blindly, I bent slightly and pressed the palms of my hands against the cool tile as Daniel nudged my feet apart with his own.
His lips disappeared from my shoulder, and his hands left my breasts, but before I could turn, I felt those same hands gripping my ass, pulling my cheeks apart.
I nearly lost my balance as he nudged my feet even wider and licked from my clit to my ass in one slow, luxurious motion.
“Fuck,” I whimpered, arching my back to give him better access.
He ate like he was starving. Like he’d never had anything better.
Like he didn’t care about my pleasure at all because he was too caught up in his own.
His beard rubbed at my thighs and brushed against my over-sensitized clit as he shoved his tongue inside me.
His fingers dug into my ass cheeks, using them to position me exactly how he wanted.
I came, but he didn’t let up. Groaning with pleasure, he continued, shoving his shoulder under me until I was practically sitting on his face so he could suck my clit into his mouth and worry it with his teeth.
My second orgasm wasn’t even over before he rose to his feet behind me and thrust inside, one of his hands on my hip and the other wrapped around the front of my throat to hold me steady. My hands slipped on the tile, and I dug my fingertips into any crevice I could find.
I had never had anything like it before.
Completing the mating bond had been life-changing. It was overwhelming and exhilarating and wonderful.
This wasn’t that.
As he fucked me in the shower, I felt transformed. Stronger than I’d ever been in my life. More powerful. Like I could do anything.
“Trying to get me kicked out of the house,” Daniel whispered in my ear with a light laugh, his voice dark and raspy. “Good fucking luck with that, mate.”
I let out a gasp as his hand tightened briefly on my throat and then fell away as he pulled back and then slammed inside me again.
His hand shoved between my thighs, pinching my clit between his fingers as he continued thrusting.
The wail that left my throat hurt like it had torn something loose inside me.
I barely noticed as he let go. I was trying so hard to keep my balance as my hands lost purchase on the tile and then found it again.
Seconds later, he was shuffling me out of the tub, carefully helping me step over the ledge while still locked inside me. At that point, I was beyond caring. As long as he was still inside me, we could go wherever he wanted.
Turned out, we weren’t going far.
Gently, he lowered me to my knees so my hips were braced on the edge of the tub.
“Better, baby?” he asked softly, brushing my wet hair over one shoulder.
I nodded, letting my head fall forward. The shower was still on, and tiny droplets of water sprinkled against my face and neck as I braced my hands on the floor of the tub.
He kissed my jaw in acknowledgment, then leaned back. Cool air rushed over my skin as he slowly pulled out and then thrust back inside, his balls slapping against my clit. I widened my knees so it would happen again.
“That’s it,” he praised, running a hand down my spine.
I was gasping for air, desperate to pull it into my lungs.
Then his hand was between us, sliding along my lips that were stretched wide around him.
I shivered as his thrusts slowed, my focus narrowed on that light touch that was so at odds with what he’d been doing.
He dragged his fingers back and forth, back and forth, and then he was rimming my ass with them.
“Keep them wide,” he ordered softly as my thighs tightened.
One finger pushed inside my ass, and every muscle in my body locked tight.
I thought it would hurt.
It didn’t.
Moving slowly, he pulled his finger back out as he thrust his cock inside.
I was past the point of embarrassment or shame. The nerves in my body screamed with pleasure as he pulled his cock back and thrust his finger back in.
His cock slid back in, and his finger back out.
Then there were two fingers. Pushing, pushing, pushing. So slow and yet so overwhelming. The pressure was so intense that I could feel my jaw aching from clenching it so hard.
My arms trembled.