Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
The waves crashed into the beach. The stars glittered overhead. The man who loved her was at her side, with his fingers twined with hers. And there were zero bad guys waiting to abduct her on this stunningly perfect night.
What more could a woman want?
She’d kicked off her heels. Carried them in her left hand. Jake still wore his fancy shoes and didn’t seem to mind the fact that sand was everywhere. He was big and strong and silent and it took all of her self-control not to jump the man right then and there.
Oh, why the hell not?
She dropped her shoes. Didn’t even hear them when they hit the sand. Wren threw her body against his and pulled Jake’s head down toward her. When their lips met, her mouth was open and eager, and she could taste the champagne on his tongue. Just kissing Jake was enough to make her feel drunk, but that had zero to do with the champagne and everything to do with the man who loved her.
And Wren believed that he did love her. With total and utter certainty. He’d been with her through the dark times. He’d stared straight forward and never flinched.
There is no world where I leave Wren to die. There is no world where I ever leave Wren.
He’d said those words when Makayla held her. Wren had known that he meant them with every bit of his being. She’d seen the truth on his face. In his eyes.
There was no world where she’d ever leave him, either. Jake was it for her. But then again, she’d known that truth for a very long time, too. She’d just been afraid to admit it.
There was no reason for fear, not any longer.
It was time for hope. And happiness. And for finally letting go of the careful control that they’d both used to bind their lives for so long.
“Baby…” Jake breathed the endearment against her mouth. “I love you.”
She would never get tired of hearing those words from him.
“I want you, Wren.” Another kiss. Deep. Tempting. Claiming. The kind of kiss that made her knees weak even as her toes curled in the sand. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Wren pushed lightly against those broad, broad shoulders of his. “Why?”
“So that I can fuck you until you scream for me.”
Oh, yes, please. But Wren shook her head. “No need to leave. We’re the only ones on the beach.” She’d checked, to be sure. The waves pounded. They’d walked far away from the bar. The stars gave them enough light to see that no one else was close by. Just them. “I’ve long had this fantasy,” Wren began. “Where you and I are on the beach. And you are fucking me as if your very life depends?—”
She didn’t get to finish. He had her in his arms again. Lifted her up against him. Such sexy strength. The skirt of her dress had hiked up more. Considering how short the dress had been to begin with, that additional hiking exposed her completely to him. As much as she enjoyed tasting him, Wren had to pull her mouth from his long enough to confess, “I’m not wearing panties.” Because she’d had plans for the night, too. Seducing Jake had been at the top of her list.
He’d been treating her too carefully since she’d gotten out of the hospital. So gently. As if worried that she’d break with too much pressure. That wasn’t her Jake. That wasn’t her. She wanted the full onslaught of passion from him. She wanted him to go wild. Wren wanted that wildness for herself, too.
So Operation Seduce Jake had commenced. And, so far, it seemed to be off to a rousing success.
A tremor of need shook his hard body. His mouth slammed back onto hers. His tongue thrust deep. She pressed her core against him, rubbing lightly. She was already wet. Did he know that? She’d gotten wet from his kisses. Wet from wanting him. And he was?—
Putting her down. Lowering her to her feet again.
Wren glowered. “Doesn’t work this way, Jake—” Wren broke off when he shrugged out of his tux coat and spread it out on the sand. Then, in the next breath, he’d spread her out on that coat, too. “Okay, it works this way.”
He laughed, then groaned, then had two fingers sliding into her.
She moaned. Wren grabbed him and her nails bit into his powerful shoulders through the expensive white shirt he still wore. The waves pounded. When she tipped back her head, she could see the stars that filled the sky.
“Missed this,” Jake growled.
His head lowered. His mouth went straight to her clit. Working her. Licking and stroking, then dipping to dive inside of her. Her hips flew up to greet him. It wasn’t just his tongue and lips taking her. His fingers stroked into her with a rough pressure that made her wild.
And she wasn’t just looking up at the stars. She was flying with them as she came on a fast, brutal release. One that snapped her breath away and had her arching for him.
“Condom, dammit, baby, I don’t have a condom!” He pulled away.
Nope.
She rolled with him. They rolled off that tux coat. She climbed on top of him. Straddled him. Yanked open his pants and realized she wasn’t the only one who’d ditched underwear for the night. Great minds do scheme and seduce alike. The heavy length of his cock thrust toward her. She grabbed him with both hands. Stroked and pumped and then pushed the broad head of his dick right at the slick entrance of her body. “I want to have a family with you.”
He went statue still.
“You’re it for me, Jake. The man I want. The man I love. But maybe…” Uncertainty had her hands moving to splay over his chest. Goosebumps rolled over her skin. “Maybe you’re afraid something bad is in my blood?” Like father, like daughter.
“You’re the best thing in my life.” He drove into her. A long, hard thrust that buried him balls deep inside of her.
Wren moaned. Gasped. Squeezed her eyes shut at the delicious fullness.
“Our kids… I will protect them with my life. I will love them, just as I love their mother.” His hands clamped around her hips, and he began to lift her. Up. Down. Up, down.
Her knees pressed into the sand.
“There is nothing bad about you.” His grip tightened even more on her.
Her back arched as she ground her hips against him.
“You’re mine, Wren, always mine. ”
One powerful hand left her hip. Snaked between them. His fingers strummed her clit even as his heaving thrusts had her hips bucking high. Had her coming again for him on an even harder explosion of pleasure.
He shot upward. Jake curled his arms around her and pulled her against his chest because she was pretty much collapsing against him. His mouth went to her neck. His lips feathered over the faint red lines that still marked her. He kissed her. He loved her.
He came inside of her with a roar. One that maybe the thunder of the ocean hid?
Or even if it didn’t…
They were alone on the beach.
Alone, as her thundering heartbeat finally slowed. As her inner muscles still held him so tightly and powerful aftershocks of pleasure reverberated through her.
His head rose. He stared at her. Smiled at her. A real, warm smile.
And Wren knew that she would love this man for the rest of her days. Love him, laugh with him, protect him and the family they would have together.
Their kids would never know the terror she’d felt before. There would be no fear. No denying that love existed. That it was so very real. There would be no monsters who waited in the dark.
Wren knew that her life had now forever changed. There would be a family that surrounded her with joy. There would be Jake and Eb. Uncle Milo and Honey. Marley and Declan. There would be memories. And there would be, above all…
Protection. Safety.
A happy ending that she’d been too afraid to ever dream of before.
She had it in her grasp now.
Nothing would be off-limits. No dream unattainable. Anything could happen.
Anything, even the best, brightest love in the world.
“We’re getting off this beach,” Jake rumbled. “And I am going to fuck you all night long.”
Oh, she did like the sound of that. “Promises, promises…”
His laughter rang out, and it was the best sound she’d ever heard in her life.
THE END