Chapter 11 #2
When I sit down beside her, she clamors back into my lap and watches me tear the top off the carton. I give her one of the spoons and hold the container for her. We eat and talk about how her stepfather is a cruel asshole and how she didn’t deserve the things he said today.
Eventually, she calms down, and our conversation smooths out.
“Do we have to go to mediation with him?” she asks. “In the same room?”
“Serena will set the rules,” I say. “If you want him in the other room, he’ll have to sit in the other room.”
“Do you think it’s terrible that I wish he’d dry up and blow away on the wind?”
I snort a laugh. “No. Do you think I’m terrible for fantasizing about killing him?”
“Yeah, kinda,” she says slowly.
I shrug. “Me too. It’s the reason I’ve created a long list of very restrictive justifications for killing him. It’s my way of eliminating that as an option in my mind as much as possible.”
“I don’t think you’re a killer,” she tells me.
“Everyone is a killer if the situation calls for it.”
She nods. “I’ve gone through these thought experiments before, and you’re right. We would all kill to save ourselves or a loved one.”
“That’s exactly why I would kill to protect you, Beth.”
Her eyes get wide. “You love me or you’re in love with me?”
“Both,” I say, not quite believing that I’m saying out loud what I’ve been thinking for a long time.
Poking the spoon back down to scoop out more ice cream, she reminds me, “But you don’t want me because I’m too young. Remember that?”
“Yeah, but you turned out to be irresistible, so here we are.” Taking a bite of ice cream, I tease her, “Don’t try to pretend like you don’t feel the same. I’ve seen you crushing on me for years.”
She wrinkles her nose in a delightfully pensive pose. “Yeah, but that was before I knew you were a potential killer.”
I choke on my bite of ice cream, not quite able to believe how easily she zinged me back.
By this point, we’ve dug out all the ice cream, getting chocolate on our knuckles in the process. When we toss our spoons into the empty carton, I take her hand and start licking the ice cream off her fingers. That makes her giggle.
When I’m finished, she says sincerely, “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me for cleaning you with my tongue. It’s what primates do.” When she smiles at me, I add, “Plus, you’re delicious, so it was no hardship.”
“Not for that. For making a wall between me and my stepfather outside the courthouse today.”
“That wasn’t a wall,” I say, slapping my chest. “That was all me.”
Her eyes lift to mine. Her gaze is admiring and filled with something that might be longing.
“Come here,” I say, reaching for her.
She straddles my lap, causing her skirt to slide up her thighs. My hands settle at her waist, and I look into her eyes. “You didn’t say it back.” I don’t even have to explain what I’m talking about because she already knows.
“Of course I love you. Before, I was infatuated with you, but after getting to know you, I fell in love with you, head over heels, in fact.”
“That’s all I need to hear,” I say. Cupping her face, I pull her in for a deep kiss.
I go slowly so she can object or pull back.
If she does, I’ll stop. She doesn’t pull back, she kisses me eagerly.
I don’t know exactly how long our tongues tangle, but by the time we pull apart, we’re both breathless and aroused.
When she moves in to take charge of the second kiss, I let her, running my hands up her back and down again.
She makes a needy little sound in the back of her throat that spikes my lust. She shamelessly grinds down once, and it steals my breath.
I grip her hips and hold her there for a beat so we both feel the pleasure of our bodies connecting.
Even through our clothing, it’s amazing.
“We’re saying yes to staying together, right?” she whispers.
“Yes, we are. I want you to be my wife for keeps.”
A warm smile spreads across her face. “That’s my dream come true.”
I stand with her in my arms and carry her to my bedroom upstairs. Her legs lock behind me, and she kisses me to the point of distraction along the way. I’m eager and breathing hard by the time I lay her on the mattress and follow her down.
I take off her shirt and kiss my way down her collarbone.
I can feel her pulse under my tongue when I lick her neck.
I take my time removing her bra, easing it off her shoulders to reveal two creamy mounds with pink nipples.
The shape of her breasts fills both my hands.
Her nipples immediately harden against my palms, and her breath catches when I gently tease them.
I lower my mouth to one and circle my tongue until she moans my name.
I switch to the other and work it until she says my name again, her voice rough and needy.
I pull her pants off, taking her panties with them, leaving her beautiful and naked beneath me.
She spreads her legs for me without me having to ask.
I like how she wordlessly offers herself to me.
I push her knees wider and kiss the inside curve until she shakes.
My mouth finds her clit and I taste her in one long, unhurried pass of my tongue.
I hold her hips and keep her there while I relearn all the things I forgot in my drunken stupor the first time we were together.
Not my proudest hour but this is my chance to make it up to her.
I can tell she’s enjoying it by the way she rides my tongue slowly at first and then faster. Her hand comes down into my hair and tightens. She comes with a broken cry, and I stay on her through it, softer now, letting her pleasure ebb.
When she opens her eyes again, she pulls me up. I strip my own clothing so we can be skin to skin. She watches with hungry eyes. I reach for the drawer and palm a condom. She nods before I can ask. I roll it on, the latex dragging heat up and down my cock.
“Tell me where you want me,” I say.
“Here.” She guides my cock with her hand, until it lines up with her wet core. I drag the head through her slick heat until her body starts to shake again. “Now. Let’s do it now.”
I press in slowly, feeling the gentle give of her wrapping around me.
She’s hot and tight and I want nothing more than to plunge into her.
I don’t though because this is her first time, and I want to make it nice for her.
I hold still when I am buried deep and let her body adjust to me.
Her thighs bracket my hips, and her heels dig into my back.
I keep my forehead to hers and breathe until we fall into the same rhythm.
I set a pace that builds without rushing.
My hands frame her face and then slide down to her throat where I can feel her swallow.
Her eyes go heavier. She arches up to meet me and the bed creaks a little under us.
She reaches down and sweeps her fingers over her clit.
I catch her wrist and take over, rubbing slow circles that match the drive of my hips.
She shudders around me and the rhythm stutters.
I keep her there and pull her into it again.
“Patch,” she whispers. It sounds like a plea and a promise all at once.
“I have you.”
“Don’t stop.”
“I won’t.”
She comes again, harder this time. She’s clutching the sheets on either side of her body as she tries not to come all over my cock for a third time. It’s adorable but I’m not finished with her yet. I want her to crave my touch as much as I crave hers.
I whisper sweet things in her ear, telling her all the things I like best about her.
She responds to my voice as well as my cock and that makes pride surge in my chest like never before.
She comes for a third time and then starts to laugh.
It’s a hoarse, breathless, shaky sound that hits me right in the feels.
I hold until she comes down, then let myself go.
The force of my ejaculation drains me, but I force myself deeper and grind in as the heat rolls through me.
I ride the aftershocks until the trembling eases.
When I’m totally spent, I roll to my side and bring her with me until we’re face-to-face. We breathe against each other, as sweat cools on our skin. I take off the condom, tie it, drop it in the trash by the bed, then pull the sheet up over us.
She draws lazy shapes on my chest with a fingertip. The house is quiet, and so are we.
“We kept saying temporary,” she says. “Now look at us being eager to make it forever.”
“When it comes to you,” I say, “I’ll never want anything more.”
She rests her hand over my heart. “No club girls?”
Her softly spoken question is so bizarre that I worry, for a brief moment that I’ve broken her brain with too many orgasms.
“Fuck no,” I tell her vehemently. “No brother in his right mind would fuck a club girl if he has a beautiful wife at home.”
She nods and lets out a breath that shakes at the end. “I ran into one who told me you always come back to her.”
“They like messing with everyone. I’ve never had any real attachment to any of them.”
She tilts her face up. “I appreciate you clearing that up for me.”
“I am greedy for you,” I say, “and that’s the real truth. Since you showed up at my parents’ house and I agreed to marry and protect you, I’ve never even thought of another woman.”
Her smile is slow and more reassured. She kisses me again, softer now, and tucks her leg over mine. I stroke her hair until her breathing evens. When she starts to drift to sleep, my phone buzzes once on the nightstand. I reach for it without moving her. There’s a couple of new messages.
Serena: Mediator confirmed. Two days. 9 a.m. My office at eight for prep.
Zen: Found a new number on stepfather’s phone records. Verified Grave Diggers contact.
I set the phone face aside and look down at Beth. She’s watching me through her lashes, still half awake.
“Two days,” I say. “We prep tomorrow. Zen’s verified contact with the Diggers. It’s all coming together like we planned.”
She nods and slides closer until her forehead rests against my neck. I hold her there, enjoying her scent.