Chapter 20
Twenty
ELLIS
It’s been a long time since I dated, or thought about dating, or considered potentially someday maybe dating.
Once, I was rather good at it. Most of my girlfriends were serious, intellectual and career minded. My “move” back in the day was to bring them to poetry readings or wine tastings, capitalizing heavily on my accent and knowledge of literature.
Josephine is different.
There’s no impressing her with my culture or taste in wine. She knows me. We live together for heaven’s sake, and she’s already privy to many of the things about myself I’d rather hide. She knows I can’t finish a movie without falling asleep, dirty every pot in the kitchen to make a simple dinner and has seen me grumpy, exhausted, joyful and everything in between. The woman spends her days taking care of my daughter, who thinks her Jojo is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Despite the mess I’ve made of our early relationship, I know she has feelings for me. For the first time in my life, I’m trying to win the trust of a woman, not her heart.
In the week since the near end of our relationship, there’s been some progress. She’s still guarded with me, but I can sense the ice thawing with each passing day. This morning, I brought her coffee in bed and keep catching myself grinning as I remember the pleased little smile and sweet words of thanks this got me.
I am not taking anything for granted. It’s not lost on me how close I came to losing her for good, and have no intention of abandoning my campaign of shameless adoration for a long time. Possibly ever. Just to be safe.
Asking my mother to babysit so I’d have a few uninterrupted days to do this required sacrificing some dignity and suffering through a lot of smugness, but it was worth it. We need time together, just us, and now we’ll have it. I’ve been bursting with excitement to tell her since the matter was resolved this morning, but haven’t seen her all day.
The decision to stop running from this has been liberating. It’s as though the world has been turning on the wrong axis for months, and suddenly righted itself. Giving myself permission to fall in love with Josephine Sutton was the most natural thing in the world.
Even the upcoming visit from Miranda isn’t torturing me quite as much as it was before. It seems important to get our relationship on solid footing before I throw in yet another complication, but we’re moving in the right direction.
There are still weeks to go, and somewhere in that time, I’ll find a way to tell Josephine the truth. Even if I’m dreading it, I’m cautiously optimistic that she will understand, and we’ll be able to get through the whole business with less drama than usually accompanies my ex-wife’s self-serving visits.
Now, I want to focus on her— us —and spend the entirety of Friday struggling to make it through my work. By the end of the day I’m eager to leave the library, going in search of my mother, Jo and Zoe. The house is quiet, however, and so is the garden. I’m deciding whether to check the stream at the edge of the grounds or head toward the village, when my gaze catches on a square indentation in the high grass.
It’s rare that I rely on my intuition, but some prickle of awareness has me moving through the garden and out into the field. It’s a pleasantly warm day, as I stroll through the meadow toward the place I spotted from the garden, brushing past wildflowers and plump, pollen covered bees.
Sure enough, when I reach the place, I find myself standing at the edge of a blue checkered blanket nestled amongst the long grass, with a beautiful young woman spread out over it, a book in her hands. She’s alone.
Josephine blinks up at me in surprise over the top of her paperback. “Hi,” she says cautiously, propping herself up on her forearms as I lower myself onto the blanket across from her, our legs stretched out side by side. We’re in our own world here, surrounded by a fortress of rippling grass and wildflowers, with only endless blue sky stretching above our heads.
My eyes catch on the container of strawberries resting beside her, and I smile. “Where are Maude and Zoe?”
She stretches, setting her book aside. “There’s a children’s event at the local library. I guess they’re giving out free books and there will be a bounce house. I was planning to take Zoe, but your mother wanted to.”
A light breeze carries over the meadow, making the walls of our fortress sway and ripple. “Marvelous places, libraries,” I muse, reaching out to tuck a wayward dark curl back behind her ear. “Speaking of marvelous places, what would you say about a weekend in Paris?”
Josephine wrinkles her nose. “I mean, I would love it, but Zoe wouldn’t. We’d probably spend half the time in the hotel room letting her decompress.”
My chest warms. We . Such a small word, with such an enormous meaning behind it. “I meant the two of us,” I correct her gently, reaching out to take her wrist in my hand, tracing the veins lightly with my thumb. “Maude is going to stay with Zoe. It’ll only be two nights, but I thought you would enjoy it,” I finish rather lamely, suddenly worried I might have overstepped.
The slow smile spreading over my girlfriend’s face soon puts my fears to rest. “When would we go?”
I sag in relief, my heart full to bursting. “Tomorrow.”
Her mouth pops open. “ Tomorrow ?”
Nodding, I lift her hand to my lips, kissing the back. “There’s a train that leaves the village station at noon.”
“Ellis.” She laughs, delighted. “This is amazing. When’s the last time you had a whole night off?”
Almost as soon as she asks, something shifts in the air between us. We both know, but I say it anyway. “It was the night we met.”
We haven’t slept together since our fight. I’ve been letting her take the lead, eager to make it clear that I want her for so much more than her body. Now, I can sense we’ve both had enough.
She hums, letting her thighs part a few inches. She’s wearing her white summer dress today, the one she made. Holding her gaze, I reach out to run my hand up the inside of her leg, stopping when I encounter her damp panties.
“Have you missed my cock, sweetheart?” I ask, my voice strained.
Josephine’s teeth find her plump bottom lip but release it almost instantly, her gasp lost in the sound of rustling grass as I cup her sex with my entire hand. Pale thighs inch further apart.
“Maybe,” she admits coyly, letting out a soft, needy sigh as she shifts and squirms to get more of the friction she needs. The shy young woman who was once too embarrassed to tell me what she needs is gone. Now, my dirty little nanny spreads her legs and shows me.
God, she gets my cock so hard.
I swallow. “When will they be back?”
“Not for a few hours.” Josephine falls back onto the blanket, her hair a dark, tangled halo around her. My heart stalls. Has there ever been a more perfect moment than the one we’re living in right now? Releasing my hold on her pussy, I rise onto my knees, covering her body with my own.
Josephine’s legs part in welcome, making room for me to settle my erection against her cunt. I trail my nose up her throat, greedily inhaling the fresh air on her skin, and when I kiss her, I can taste strawberries.
“Can I have you right here?” I murmur in between slow, deep kisses.
Josephine is nodding before I’ve finished speaking, and we work together to rid her of her dress, so she’s laid out beneath me in only a tiny white thong. I leave it for now, reaching instead for the bowl of strawberries.
They’re warmed by the sun and overly ripe, perfect for what I intended. She sucks in a startled breath as I bring the fruit to her nipples, circling them and leaving trails of jewel red juice over her delicate skin.
I suck it away, and my cock throbs at the way she arches her back, letting out a loud, shameless moan of pleasure. Pausing long enough to meet her heavily lidded eyes, I smirk. “Stay still for me, mon amour . Let me eat.”
My greedy girl does nothing of the sort.
“Ellis,” she whines, pulling my hair with both hands. “I need you.”
“I know you do,” I murmur, barely lifting my lips from the trail of strawberry juice that I’ve left on her other breast. “Be patient, Josephine. I’ll fuck you in just a moment. ”
She whimpers, grinding her greedy little pussy on my abdomen. “Daddy?—”
I sigh in feigned disappointment, lifting my head to look at her directly. “Who is in charge when we’re together like this?”
She trembles. “You are.”
“That’s right.” I curl my hand over her covered sex again, chuckling when I find she’s soaked right through her panties. “You are worked up, aren’t you?” I coo, and, with a quick glance up to make sure she’s watching, I hook her panties to the side to drag the strawberry through her slit. Gathering as much of the creamy arousal as I can, I bring it to my mouth and bite down, groaning as the taste of fresh strawberries and Josephine’s pussy explodes on my tongue.
“God, Ellis,” she half laughs, have cries, gazing at me with undisguised desire as I shift down between her legs and lift them over my shoulders.
Without pause, I bury my face in her wet cunt, groaning at the familiar taste of her mixed with the sweetness of the strawberries. My cock is an iron rod in my pants, and I press my hips into the ground in an attempt to relieve some of the ache.
The possessive, primal need to make this woman mine is crackling to life inside me. Knowing I have this effect on her, that she needs this as badly as I do, is intoxicating.
“ Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god ,” Josephine chants, panting and mindless of anything but the need to come. Her hands are tangled in my hair, pulling me closer, wanton and needy.
I press two fingers into her slick center, groaning at how wet she already is, anticipating the relief her tight, slick hole will give my aching cock. This wasn’t my intention when I came out here, but the moment she spread her thighs, I knew how this would end.
“There you go,” I groan as the pads of my fingers brush the spot I know will make her crazy and Josephine’s back bows off the blanket, the fingers in my hair tightening. Her body is a bow, ready to snap, and I pull her swollen clit between my lips, sucking it harder than I normally would in my desperation.
She comes with a feeble cry, her warm thighs pressed to my ears as I lick her through it, drawing out her pleasure. I could do this all day, could happily eat her pussy all over again and make her come until the sky above us turns black.
That’s not what either of us need, though.
“You’re so beautiful,” I tell her as I sit back, ripping my t-shirt over my head and falling back over her body, meeting her lips in a kiss that makes me think of forever. It’s always been like this between us. Every time we’re together, I lose myself in this woman, and yet this …
Her hands are between us, working to free my cock, and we both make noises of relief when my length bobs into the warm summer air between us. Without even looking up, I reach down to grip my base and guide my tip to her slick opening.
“This is mine,” I grunt, relishing the way her body arches off the ground as I bottom out, her lips falling open in a cry. I do it again, the force of my thrust sending her a few inches up the blanket. It’s not enough. I’m as deep as I can go, and it’s not enough. “The thought of you with anyone else makes me insane. If I ask you the name of your other lovers, don’t tell me, Josephine. I’ve decided to kill them.”
Maybe not kill, but I wouldn’t walk away without an assault charge.
Her expression flickers. “There’s no one else,” she breathes, pulling me closer to kiss my jaw. “Only you.” My pulse stutters and I still, staring down at her. Is she just saying that, or—“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you then.” She gazes up at me, vulnerable and unsure. “I thought you’d stop and I… I’d never felt that way before. I wanted you. ”
God. My heart twists as I start to move again, my hands framing her face so she can’t look away. Devotion and adoration are exploding inside me, and I want her eyes on me. “It will only be me, do you understand?” A choked sob escapes her lips as she nods. “I’ll be so good to you, mon amour , but it will only ever be me. You’ll only know my touch, my cock, my body. You’re mine. ”
My thrusts become rough again as urge to claim this woman burrows under my skin. Growling in impatience, I grip the back of her knee, dragging one leg over my shoulder.
This isn’t lovemaking.
This is primal .
Not one word passes between us as I fuck her harder, filling the warm afternoon air with the crude sound of my hips slapping against hers and the wet noises of her cunt taking me. I want her to speak, want to hear her break, beg, plead.
Leaning down, I nip at her bottom lip and immediately soothe it with my tongue. By now, I can’t count the number of times I’ve felt like a changed man between this woman’s thighs, but this is different.
I drive forward faster as my free hand finds her throat, pressing hard enough for her eyes to go wide with shock. We’ve never done this before, but the flood of wetness over my cock leaves me no doubt of how she feels about it.
“That’s it, take it,” I grit out between kisses, and the hand on her throat tightens. “You’re doing so well— merde . You’re always such a good girl for me.”
At my words, the volume of her cries increases.
I, quite literally, can’t stop fucking her. Jesus Christ, she turns me on. My kind-hearted, patient girl who sews princess dresses and makes sure everyone in the house has a home cooked meal, also likes to be choked, taken rough and call me daddy.
That I’m the only one to see this side of her, the only one who has ever seen her this way, is beyond satisfying to the dark, possessive side of me she’s awoken. I’m overcome by the brand new knowledge that, if I play my cards right, I could be the only one ever .
Growling, I redouble my pace, half out of my mind with the need to make her come. We’ve only been at it a few minutes, and already my balls have drawn up tight, throbbing and full. Never, not once, have I failed to get her off before myself, and I won’t be starting tonight.
Nails dig painfully into my back, hard enough to leave marks, as her mouth falls open in a choked scream. Beneath me, her entire body convulses, shaking as I fuck her through her orgasm, drawing it out as long as I can as I bite my tongue to keep myself from coming.
When Josephine sags back onto the blanket, her cheeks flushed and her eyes dazed. One look at her is enough to finish me off.
I come like a freight train, grinding helplessly into the swollen hole I’ve fucked harder than even my fist. My cock swells and throbs inside her, cum flooding out of me. It’s all I can do not to collapse, and Josephine kisses my neck and jaw, her whimpers muffled in my skin as her hips lift up my body, letting me spill deeper.
“Was that too much?” I rasp when the last of my orgasm dies away.
Josephine’s head shakes against my cheek, still panting. “It was perfect.”
It’s not until I pull out that I realize what I’ve done. Cursing, I look down at my half-hard cock shining with our combined releases.
She sits up, eyes widening in shock. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking,” I croak, numb with disbelief. How could I not have thought about it? I was so lost in the moment—in her —that it didn’t even cross my mind .
My heart hammers against my ribcage as the consequences of what I just did sink in, and I stare between us at her bare cunt. Her bare cunt that’s not on contraceptives and is currently full of my cum.
“It’s okay.” Josephine whispers. “It’s a bad time of the month. I couldn’t… We should be fine.”
My relief is minimal, and it takes me a moment to place the emotion settling inside me; disappointment.
What is wrong with me?
Getting her pregnant would be a disaster of epic proportions. Yet as I move two fingers down, spreading her sex to allow myself to see the first drop of my release escape, I’m not worried in the slightest.
God help me.
I swallow. “Well, the damage is done. We might as well enjoy this, yes?”
“Enjoy it?” comes Josephine’s ragged response, and I drag my eyes up from my release leaking out of her.
My fingers dip down to collect what’s escaped, and we both inhale sharply as they press it back inside her. “Can I do it again?”