10. Easton
EASTON
The heavy iron gates of my primary estate swing shut, locking out the noise, the violence, and the lingering ghosts of a syndicate that will never touch my Stella again.
Miller and the rest of the boys handled the cleanup at the timber yard, coordinating with the federal contacts we still have in our back pocket to sweep up the remaining pieces of the broken network.
For weeks, every breath I’ve taken has been hitched to a silent, hyper-vigilant terror—calculating angles, checking blind spots, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
As I kill the engine of the SUV and look across the center console at Stella, the crushing weight finally evaporates.
She’s exhausted, her shoulders slumped with the delayed crash of pure adrenaline, but she’s unharmed. She’s breathing. She’s mine. My protective instinct shifts from a frantic, snarling defense into a profound, possessive peace. The threat is gone. Completely eradicated.
I cut the lights, step out, and round the hood before she can even reach for the door handle. I pull it open, unbuckling her seatbelt with steady hands, and sweep her up into my arms. She gasps softly, looping her arms around my neck and burying her face against my shoulder.
"Easton," she murmurs, her voice thick with fatigue. "I can walk."
"Just let me carry you,woman," I growl, my voice vibrating against her chest as I carry her up the stone steps and straight into my master bedroom. She lets out a soft but genuine laugh that melts away some of the tension in my muscles.
The room is dark, save for the pale wash of moonlight spilling across the hardwood floors.
I set her down gently on the edge of the mattress, but I don’t step away.
I trap her between my thighs, my hands resting on her hips as I look down at her.
Her green eyes shine in the dim light, heavy-lidded and filled with an emotion that strips away every last jagged piece of my armored soul.
"We won," she whispers, a breathless wonder in her tone.
"We did," I murmur, leaning down to press a slow, reverent kiss to her forehead, trailing down the bridge of her nose until my lips find hers.
The kiss starts soft, a celebration of surviving the fight, but it instantly ignites into something fierce, simmering, and absolute. There's no panic left, no rushing against a ticking clock. Just the deep, intoxicating reality that we have all the time in the world.
My hands move with deliberate reverence, stripping away our clothes and tactical gear, replacing the adrenaline with a slow, searing heat.
When I lift her shirt, letting my palms slide over the soft, lush curves of her waist and hips, she arches into my touch with an urgent moan that rattles straight to my core.
As I gently guide Stella down on the mattress and crawl over her, I take a moment to absorb each and every curve, line, and inch of her skin. They’re a testament to the fact that she survived, that she fought by my side, and that she chose me.
Stella fists my hair, forcing me to meet her gaze. “More,” she gasps, spreading her legs wider and searing me with her need.
I crawl up her body, licking and nipping at her soft flesh along the way.
Stella wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me down, sealing her lips over mine.
Her legs tighten around my back urging me to fill her up.
I drag aching my cock through her folds, coating myself in her juices and rubbing my hardness against her clit.
“Please, please, please…” she whines, wiggling underneath me to position me at her entrance. I push the tip inside of her, groaning when her pussy tries to suck me in deeper.
“Is this what my greedy girl needs?” I rasp, pulling back and barely entering her again.
“Yes!” she exclaims in frustration, digging her heels into my ass and trying to pull me closer to her.
In one swift move, I flip us over so Stella is straddling me. She gasps and braces herself on my chest while I hold her hips to keep her steady.
“Then take it, sweetheart. Take what you need.”
Her eyes flash with heat, but then the nibbles on her bottom lip nervously. “Show me?” she whispers.
I tip my head back and groan. Her innocence even after all the shit we’ve been through is intoxicating. I see the lust in her gaze, as well as the need to please and obey me. Goddamn, I’ll never get enough of her.
Gripping her hips, I lift her up and hover her over my weeping cock. “There’s no wrong way to do this,” I grit out, barely hanging on. “Take it easy, beautiful,” I tell her, pulling her down until I barely breech her dripping entrance.
Stella curls her fingers into my chest, her nails biting into my skin and making me groan. Fuck, she’s going to make me lose control. I loosen my hold on her, wanting her to take over and show me how much she wants this.
My dirty girl drops down on me, taking my huge fucking cock inside of her all at once.
“Shit!” I growl, closing my eyes and flexing my hips as her cunt squeezes me like a vice. “I said take it easy.”
“I don’t want to take it easy,” she moans, lifting herself up on her knees and then bouncing on my cock over and over. “I want to come.”
Her tits sway in front of me begging for my attention. I pinch her nipples, making her hips stutter as she cries out and throws her head back. Her silky hair tickles my thighs, tearing a snarl from the depths of my being.
Stella rolls her hips and grinds her cunt down on me, whimpering every time her clit rubs against the base of my shaft.
I slide my hands down her sides, then take her hips in a punishing hold.
I dig my fingers into her soft flesh and she does the same, clawing at my chest while I hold her still and fuck up into her tight little pussy.
“Yes, god yes,” she says, gasping for air.
She moves her hands from my chest to either side of my head, giving my mouth access to her juicy tits. I suck on one, then the other, swirling my tongue around her nipple and biting down lightly, pulling it through my teeth.
Stella bows her back, shoving my dick deeper inside of her and offering more of herself to me. I greedily nibble her sensitive skin while moving my hands from her hips to her ass, cupping her cheeks and grinding her against me until she trembles and screams out her orgasm.
I flip her onto her back and pin her arms above her head while I fuck her into the mattress, snapping my hips and pounding her pretty little pussy as she continues to come around my cock.
“So fucking good,” I growl into the side of her neck, biting her there then kissing away the sting.
“S-so...g-good,” she stutters out before slamming her eyes shut and bucking her hips, meeting me savage thrust for savage thrust.
I grunt like an animal each time I hit the end of her, unable to stop. Stella tilts her head up and pulls my bottom lip through her teeth, lighting a fire deep in my core. I’m already tearing her barely broken-in pussy apart, but that one little move makes me lose my goddamn mind.
I crash my mouth down on hers, kissing her as furiously as I’m fucking her. Stella’s thighs tremble and her fingers curl into my hand that’s holding both of hers above her head. She stretches out, tensing every muscle, squeezing me so damn tight as I pound into her once, twice, three times…
And then she shatters, her climax breaking her apart into a million pieces.
I swallow down her cries and hold myself deep inside of her, feeling her orgasm ripple around my cock right before I join her in complete ecstasy. My cum shoots out of me in forceful, almost painful bursts, but I keep fucking her, drawing out our pleasure as long as possible.
Finally, I collapse, completely spent and gulping down air into my burning lungs. I roll over, dragging a sweaty, limp Stella across my chest. She curls up into my side and kisses my cheek before resting her head on my shoulder
I cup the back of her neck and massage her gently, relaxing as she melts into my embrace.
“I love you,” she murmurs.
My heart stops at her whispered words. Stella tenses in my arms, but I tilt her head up and make her look at me. I see it all in her deep green eyes. Love, lust, adoration. I don’t deserve it, but fuck if I’m ever going to let her go. She’s mine now. She already agreed.
“I thought I was too broken to love,” I admit, rubbing my nose against hers. “But when I found you hunting for files in my office, I knew I was going to keep you no matter what.”
A soft smile touches her lips, making her face glow. “You knew even back then?”
“The instant my eyes landed on yours, I was completely done for,” I confirm. “I didn’t know what love felt like or how to express it, but with you… with you, it just felt right. Natural. Like I can finally breathe with you by my side.”
“Easton…” Her eyes water, but no tears fall. She looks at me with an adoration I don’t deserve. “I thought I was too broken to be loved,” my girl whispers. “But you stayed by my side, you kept every promise, and you never left, even when I gave you every reason to.”
“That’s not happening,” I growl.
Stella opens her mouth to say something else, but I cut her off with a kiss. It starts off slow, and exploratory, but then I angle her head and deepen the kiss. I give her all of my unspoken words, hoping to convey what she means to me with every breath, every stroke of my tongue.
When we finally break apart for air, Stella rests her forehead on mine.
I nudge her head up, drinking in her green eyes shining in awe.
“I love you, Stella. With every part of me. Forever. This is my promise to you, beautiful. I will be the one you can trust, the one you can depend on no matter what.”
She smiles softly at me and kisses the corner of my mouth. “Thank you for loving me,” Stella murmurs. “I promise to fill your life with more sass and sarcasm, and hopefully some laughter and sweetness, too.”
"Stay," I say, the command bubbling up from deep in my chest. Stella’s lips curl into a slight smile and my brutish demand, much like they always do. Still, I continue. "Don't go back to your apartment. Don't go back to chasing shadows alone. Stay here. With me. Permanently."
Her smile widens, radiant and entirely unreserved. She shifts upward, pressing a warm, lingering kiss right over the jagged scar cutting through my eyebrow, then down to my lips.
"I was hoping you'd ask," she whispers against my mouth. "I'm not going anywhere."
She sighs contentedly as I draw her back into my chest and bury my face into the side of her neck, breathing in her calming, sweet vanilla scent. We are bound, skin to skin, soul to soul, in a way that time can never undo.