Chapter 21 #3
I stare into her clear blue eyes to search for what mood she’s going for right now. Her eyes aren’t cold, but they aren’t warm either. They’re…cautious. She’s sending me a warning, and I’m picking it up loud and clear.
“You’re a mother, too, right?” I ask, reaching for a towel and recalling how excited Gareth was when he became an uncle last year. Maybe this small commonality will help Vi understand my point of view.
“Adrienne is one year old,” she replies with a serious nod.
“Then you know how important it is to protect our children from things we’re unsure of,” I reply, straightening my shoulders.
“Oh, I understand that completely,” Vi replies, moving in closer as she points to the bathroom door. “Adrienne has four uncles out there who would literally take a bullet for her if it meant they could protect her from something that might cause her harm.”
Tears prick the backs of my eyes from the conviction in her voice. She’s not overstating a thing. She’s speaking one hundred percent truth. This is the kind of family devotion that I’ve only ever dreamed of for Sophia.
“That’s incredible,” I state simply because it’s the truth.
Vi’s furrowed brow remains in place as she ignores my response. “Gareth may be my older brother, but he’s protected me his whole life, so now it’s my turn to protect him.”
“Vi, this isn’t necessary—”
“Speaking mother-to-mother here, I will kill you with my bare hands if you break his heart.” Her jaw is tight, but her face is so gorgeous, it’s at complete odds with her threat. Her beauty doesn’t stop the nervous goosebumps from erupting on my scalp, though.
“Why do you think I’m going to break his heart?” I croak.
She shakes her head, her eyes softening only slightly. “Because Gareth doesn’t smile.”
“What?” I ask with a frown. What the hell does that mean? I’ve seen him smile loads of times.
“Not the way he’s been smiling at you tonight.” Her eyes are no longer scary. They’re shiny and vulnerable. Afraid.
“Okay…” I reply slowly, my voice trailing off.
“Mother-to-mother, don’t screw this up, Sloan.” Her voice cracks as she moves back and clears her throat, clearly frustrated that her emotions are getting the best of her.
I’m reading through the lines, though. This isn’t a threat. It’s a plea. An intimidating plea, but one I can understand on so many levels.
She flicks her hair playfully. “I may not be as big as my brothers, but I am mighty.”
I smile at that. “I think that’s a Harris thing.”
“Bloody well right.” Her prideful smile is back as she makes her way to the door. Pausing, she looks over her shoulder and softly adds, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
She takes a deep breath. “For showing me this side of Gareth. I thought it was gone forever.”
With that, she strides out of the bathroom, leaving me in a wake of feelings that will take me years to fully process.
If I could sum up what tonight felt like in two words, they would be sexual fucking tension.
Okay, three words.
After I accept my award, say my speech, and offer up departing hugs to my family, Sloan and I are back in the limo and ripping at each other’s clothes before we’re even out of the city lights of Manchester.
“Tonight was incredible,” Sloan moans as she straddles me in the back of the limo. Her dress is rucked up like a sack between us, her fingers trembling on the buttons of my shirt as my hands slide up her bare thighs under her skirt.
I can hardly contain myself. It’s been two weeks since I’ve felt the warmth of her, but there’s so much we have to discuss. So much to figure out. She gave me herself tonight, but she has to know I need more.
“Do you have to go home to your daughter?” I ask. The words are unfamiliar on my tongue, but they’ve been on my mind since the second I saw her tonight.
She shakes her head. “No, Sophia is with Callum.”
Sophia, I think to myself. It’s a beautiful name, completely fitting the little girl whom I met on the football pitch last week.
I squeeze Sloan’s thighs to direct her attention back to me. “I liked your daughter.”
She pauses her action on my shirt and looks up to stare into my eyes. Her voice is shaky when she asks, “You did?”
“She had a spark to her. I noticed her straight away on the pitch,” I add, the corner of my mouth lifting as I recall how seriously she took all the instructions.
“So many of those kids that day were pissing about, not paying attention. But Sophia…She had determination all over her adorable little face. She reminded me of someone I kind of like.”
Sloan inhales a deep breath, her eyes glossing over before me. “She did?”
I nod and move my hands off her legs to cup her face, my thumb grazing her lush lips that I’ve been longing for. I pull her to my mouth for a tender kiss. It’s not sexy. It’s not assertive.
It’s a sign of respect.
Sloan’s eyes open when she pulls back. She looks at me with such warmth that every nerve in my body roars to life. “You are being so incredibly sweet right now, but I have to admit that my mind is getting dirty really freaking fast.”
I laugh heartily as she resumes her earlier work on my shirt, the heat of her warming my groin and turning every part of my body to stone. My hands slip up her skirt again, and I nearly cry out in pain as I reach her arse and realise she’s not wearing any knickers. “Sloan, where are your knickers?”
She smiles and pulls her lip into her mouth. “I Gareth Harris’d tonight.”
“You what?” I ask as she grinds down onto my now rock-hard cock. Her head lolls back like I’ve just entered her, but we haven’t even gotten my trousers off yet.
“Do you have underwear on?” she asks, splaying her hands on the roof and riding me.
“No,” I reply, my hands roaming up her sides and cupping her breasts beneath the thin black fabric. She’s not wearing a bra either. I can feel her hardened nipples perfectly, and it’s making me lose my fucking mind.
She drops her head and squeezes my hands on her breasts, massaging herself with my embrace. Her chestnut hair falls down around her face in a sexy halo. “No underwear…I Gareth Harris’d.”
“Fuck me,” I growl and flip us in one quick shot so she’s flat on her back on the bench of the limo. Her legs wrap around me and my hand reaches between them, shoving past the layers of fabric to cup her smooth mound. “You’re fucking soaked, aren’t you?”
“Yes!” she cries when I glide my palm over her slickened clit. “I can’t help it. You were fucking amazing tonight. I wanted you so badly.”
“I don’t even know what I said,” I husk, ravishing her neck and sucking so hard, I hope I leave a mark. “All I could think about was getting you back to my house and fucking you until we both die.”
I plunge a finger into her hot, wet centre. She cries out, her hand fisting my hair so tightly, I roar in pain.
“I mean it. I’m so fucking proud of you,” she moans loudly, riding my finger and greedily pumping her hips against my hand. “There’s so much I still don’t know about you, Gareth. You’re…Oh my God! You’re so much more.”
I pause my assault and pull back from her neck to look in her eyes. “Sloan, I’m going to fuck you tonight.”
“Yes,” she cries, annoyed that I’ve stopped working her into a frenzy.
“And I’m going to kiss you tonight.”
She nods, her eyes hungry for me to continue, but I want to be sure she fully understands what I mean.
“What I’m saying is that there’s no more of what we were. You’re not in control right now, Treacle. Tonight I’m fucking you. I’m claiming you. I’m going to come in you so hard that no man will ever have what I take from you tonight. Do you understand?”
Her breath leaves her body, her pupils dilating into saucers. She pulls herself up close to me, her body quaking with need against mine as she cradles my face in her hands. “Yes, Gareth. Yes to all of it.”
It takes everything I have not to rip off all of our clothes and sink into her.
To not fuck her into oblivion during the hour long drive out to Astbury.
But I don’t want to claim her in a limo.
I want her in my home. In my bed. In the one place I’ve claimed her before. But this time, I’ll hold nothing back.
When we arrive at my home, I can barely take my lips off of Sloan’s as we slowly clamour up the steps to the front door. The limo is long gone, but I can’t seem to get enough of the taste of Sloan to stop and open the door.
Finally, she pushes me away. “If I leave you in charge, we’ll never get inside and it’s freezing.”
I pull her into my arms. “I can warm you up.”
She giggles and gestures for me to unlock the door.
When I fish my keys out of my pocket and begin fumbling with the lock, I realise we waited for nothing because the door is already unlocked.
Did I forget to lock it earlier? It’s entirely possible because my head has been fucked since the second I left Sloan’s house last week.
I step back to let Sloan walk in first. Before I even have a chance to catch her, she crumples to the floor in front of me. I hear a familiar voice from inside, but my instinct is to crouch down and check on Sloan first.
Suddenly, a sharp force assaults my left temple, and I crash to a heap beside her motionless body. The last thing I see before my vision goes black is a pool of blood growing between us.
THE END