Chapter 16 #2
"Now you consolidate power and take your place on the board. Edmund will try to fight it legally, but he's weak right now. His usual muscle, The Hollow Club, won't protect him. I’d be surprised if he has any alliances right now.”
“Okay.” She's quiet for a moment. "And what about you? What happens with your family now that Silas is gone?"
“I don’t know, baby. That’s not my business.”
“Well, I think it is.”
She pats the spot beside her on the bed, motioning for me to sit.
“How so?” I indulge her, running the fingers of my good arm along the inside of her thigh.
“I can’t even begin to assume that I know your family’s business, but I know what happens when a politician steps down or dies…
somebody fills that vacuum. I’m pretty sure that the same thing is going to happen in your world.
Now that there’s no more Silas, someone is going to step in and take that spot.
Shouldn’t it be someone worthy of the position? ”
“Peyton.”
“I’m staying in Wintervale for obvious reasons, and if we’re going to be together, which is what I think we both just decided, then you need to stay here too.”
“I can stay in Wintervale without leading my family.”
“I don’t think you need to do it by yourself.
What about you and Talia leading it together?
Look at everything she’s done to help me these past few days.
Think about how many times you’ve called her over the past 48 hours without even realizing it.
You two are already working as a team, and you don’t even know it. ”
Talia and I running the family business? It’s not something I ever considered, but I have to admit, it makes a lot of sense, and if anyone can turn the Delano business completely legitimate, it’s my tough-as-nails sister.
“You think she’d be interested?” I wonder.
“I think she would love it, Blake.”
“I don’t know. I was thinking about doing something different. Use what I know about Wintervale's corruption to actually help people instead of exploiting them."
"Like what?"
"I don't know yet. Maybe work with anti-trafficking organizations. Maybe help the Frost Society reform the power structures. Maybe help you with the Kingsley stuff, you know, if you want me to.”
Peyton sets down her own coffee and places a hand on mine. "Blake Delano, what exactly are you asking?”
"I just want to be with you in whatever capacity you'll have me. Bodyguard, advisor, guy who carries your bags. I don't fucking care. I just want to be part of what you're building."
"What I'm building is going to piss off a lot of influential people, and as my man, I expect you to be part of what I’m creating, but I also know that you can multitask. You can be there for Talia and for me.
“You’re serious?”
“I am.” She grins, studying my face like she's searching for doubt or hesitation. She won't find any.
“When you smile at me like that, I’d do damn near anything for you.” I start rubbing her ass through the material of her robe.
“That’s a really good thing for me, isn’t it?” She starts untying the belt of mine, and my dick immediately rises to attention. “Will you at least consider my idea?”
Her hand gently strokes my hard on, and I sink back into the feather pillows. “I could consider it.”
“I mean, really consider it.”
“Maybe if you can be really convincing on why I should consider it.”
“Oh, I can be.” Peyton disrobes, and now she’s completely nude. So fucking beautiful. “Now remember you’re injured, sexy.” She says seductively. “So, I’m going to need you to sit back and let me do all the work.”
Holy shit.
Peyton wraps her bow-shaped mouth around my dick, sucking me slowly, inch by inch, from tip to root.
“Damn, that feels good, baby.”
“Mmm, hmm,” she moans with my dick in her mouth.
Her suction deepens and becomes something more urgent.
I’m learning that Peyton likes giving me head.
It turns her on, but not half as much as it’s turning me on.
Her hands slide under my robe, careful of bandages but definitely exploring.
I slide my fingers in the crown of her hair as it bobs up and down, biting down on my lip to keep myself from bucking my hips up and fucking her mouth like the starving animal I feel like whenever I’m with her.
“I need to be inside you, Peyton, now,” I say thickly.
She releases my dick out of her mouth with a delicious pop, and I pull her onto my lap with my good arm, gently because of my ribs but determined because I need inside her.
"Blake," she breathes against my mouth as she slowly lowers herself down on me. “I want you so much.”
I map her body with my free hand, relearning curves I've memorized, finding the places that make her gasp. She's careful with my injuries, mindful of the bandages, but her touch is still demanding, still claiming.
"I love you," I say against her skin.
"I love you more.” Her hands are rough in my hair as I take one of her tits in my mouth. When I’m finally balls deep inside her, it's like coming home. Like finding the one place in Wintervale, in the whole damn world, where I actually belong.
Her luscious hips rock back and forth, as her wet pussy takes what she needs from me and gives me everything I’ve ever wanted. "Blake, please.”
"I know. It feels good as shit, baby. I’ve got you."
And I do.
I give her everything I can. My good hand, my mouth, my complete attention. She arches into my touch and says my name like a prayer as her sweet cunt strangles my cock in the best way possible.
"Look at me," I say, and she does. Her eyes are dark, dilated, full of trust I'm still learning to deserve. “You belong to me, Peyton. You’re mine. Do you understand?”
“I’m yours.” Her hips move harder and grind deeper, fucking me as if my dick is her prized possession. “Always.”
We move together, careful because of injuries but desperate because we almost lost this, almost lost each other. It's not the frantic coupling from before. This is slower, deeper, weighted with everything we've survived and everything we're promising to each other.
This is what it must feel like to make love to a woman.
"Blake!” She cries out my name on a gasp as she gets close. "I'm—"
“Come for me, baby,” I growl
She does, clenching around me with my name on her lips. The sight of her coming like the fierce goddess she is sends me over the edge right after her. Afterwards, we lie tangled together, breathing hard, our hearts synchronizing.
It’s pure perfection.
"Merry Christmas," Peyton says, and laughs. "We're spending Christmas morning in bed after almost dying. That's very on-brand for us."
"We could make it a tradition. Almost die, have amazing sex, repeat annually."
"Or we could try not almost dying. That would be my preference.”
"Where's the fun in that?"
She swats my chest, gently because of my injuries, and settles against me. "What do you want for Christmas, Blake Delano?"
“Just this.” I press a kiss to her curls. "A future where we don't have to run or hide or pretend. Where we can just be together and build something solid.”
"That's what I want too.” We kiss again. This time it’s slower, more possessive. “You coming into my life is the ultimate gift.”
We decide that we’ll stay in bed for another day and allow Christmas to unfold around us quietly. I nap while she watches Christmas movies, then we eat, we fuck, and do it all over again for the remainder of the day.
Tomorrow we'll face the aftermath: the investigations, the board meetings, the legal battles with Edmund.
But today we hold onto stolen moments in a hotel suite, just holding each other and remembering what we're fighting for.
Something worth every risk, every sacrifice, every moment of fear we've survived.
Us.
We fall asleep like that, tangled together, choosing each other with every breath. And when we wake, we'll keep choosing. Every day. Hopefully, for the rest of our lives, if I have anything to say about it.
Together in Wintervale.
Always together.
THE END