Chapter 25 Veronica #2
“Make?” Wendy said, wrinkling her nose. “You mean buy?”
“No. I mean from scratch. I’ll make the pasta too,” Declan said, looking slightly affronted.
Wendy turned to me. “Did you know your boyfriend was a chef?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I said. Declan and I had been tiptoeing around that subject for months, and had yet to make things official.
Now, hours later, after eating and getting Wendy back to the academy, Declan and I sat at the table in the small kitchen of the new house I was renting.
Even though I was still a student at the academy and a member of the coven, I’d decided to separate myself from the place in my downtime to finally become my own person.
I’d gone directly from living in a pack to living at the academy, and I wanted to experience living as an adult.
“So,” I said. “I think we need to talk about something.”
“Uh oh,” Declan muttered with a grin. “That’s never good.”
“Stop,” I said, laughing and playfully smacking his arm.
“All right, all right. What’s on your mind?” he said as he poured more wine into our glasses.
I took a sip, then said, “This is going to sound like something a middle schooler says, but…do you want to be my boyfriend?”
Declan paused, his glass halfway to his mouth. “Huh?”
“You heard me. I’m asking you to be my boyfriend. Like, for real.”
He carefully set the glass down, an odd grin on his face.
“Uh, sorry,” he said. “I guess we didn’t talk about this because I assumed the answer.”
“What did you think it would be?”
“I just assumed we were having fun and enjoying each other’s company. I thought you’d want someone else eventually.”
That statement made my heart ache. What did he mean? Why would I ever want that?
“I’m quite a bit older than you,” he said. “Don’t you want to be with someone younger?”
I let out a sigh. “That’s the problem?” I reached over and took his hand. “Age doesn’t matter to me. The person inside does. Besides…” I raised an eyebrow and grinned. “I’ve always had a thing for handsome older guys and girls with pretty smiles. You mark off one of those at least.”
“You’re serious,” he said—a statement, not a question.
“I am, Declan. I want you. I’m pretty sure I wanted you a few hours after I met you last year.”
A smile crept to his lips. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I felt the same way. In fact”—a more serious expression settled on his face—“I think I fell in love with you last year. Never thought it could happen that fast, but it did.”
In all the time we’d been together, those words had never been spoken.
I’d been too afraid to say them because I feared he didn’t feel the same way.
Hearing that come from his lips made me lightheaded and dizzy in the best way.
My heart slammed, and a flush of heat spread across my chest, neck, and cheeks as I grinned goofily.
“You love me?” I whispered.
Nodding, he reached out and cupped my cheek, stroking the skin below my eye with his thumb. I’d finally discarded my fake glasses a few months before, no longer needing the crutch of the perceived safety of them to feel comfortable. “I do. Do you really want to be with me?”
“I do,” I blurted and jumped into his lap, kissing him.
Declan kissed me back, wrapping me in his arms, running his hands up and down my back. There was always something intoxicating about feeling his tongue move over my lips and teeth, probing deeply into me. It was almost more intimate than sex itself. Almost.
We embraced for a long time, the whole world melted away as we became one. After a long time, Declan finally pulled away, panting for breath.
He gave me that cocky grin that always melted my insides. “So, does that mean you love me too?”
“I love you,” I whispered, running my thumb across his lips. “I love you so much.”
“Then let me take care of you.” He stood, lifting me like I weighed nothing.
He walked me to my bedroom, moving with infinite care, and lay me down on the bed like I was made of glass. I reached out to undo his belt, but he gently moved my hands away.
“No. I said I was going to take care of you. We’ll get to me later,” he said.
He took off my shoes first, then my socks, massaging each foot. With his thumbs, he kneaded the tension out of my arches before unzipping my pants and dragging them down my legs.
I grabbed the hem of my shirt to take it off, but Declan shook his head. “Nope. I’m going to undress you. Every single inch of you.”
The way he said that and looked at me, like I was some delectable morsel to be devoured, sent a throbbing heat between my legs. I was already wet, but that sent me over the edge.
He slipped his fingers under my shirt, his palms gliding across my stomach, and with practiced ease, he lifted the shirt over my head. He leaned down and kissed my neck, sucking gently at the soft flesh.
Moving lower, he left kisses along my sternum and let his lips and chin drift across my bra-covered nipples, drawing a shuddering gasp.
“Does that feel good?” he asked, then did it again, this time biting the fabric, taking the nipple between his teeth with enough care to make me shiver.
“I need you to suck them for real,” I hissed. Before he could say anything, I grabbed the front of my bra and tore the front in as if it were made of tissue paper.
Declan made a throaty growling sound that would have made any bear shifter envious as he took my left nipple into his mouth. Moaning, I arched into his mouth.
He slipped his hand under my panties and slid two fingers into me. I cried out in shock as he fucked me with his fingers, his palm slapping against my clit with every thrust. I was already wound up and ready to burst that it didn’t take much to send me cascading over the cliff.
When the orgasm struck, it was sharp and sweet, sending tiny pulsing ripples deep into my pelvis and making my clit throb. I clawed at his arm, writhing as I rode the pleasure until it began to ebb.
Declan pulled my soaked panties off my body and spread my legs wide, hooking them over his shoulders. He pressed his mouth to me, and I threw my head back as his tongue slipped into me.
My world became a blur, unable to focus on anything other than enjoying what he did to me with his mouth. The swirling, sliding, sucking motions of his tongue and lips made everything else irrelevant.
Sucking in a pulsating rhythm on my clit, Declan moaned and groaned as though the simple act of pleasuring me was sending him to the edge of bliss. The vibrations of it against my clit made me cry out.
“Oh, fuck, I love it,” I hissed through gritted teeth. “Fuck me with your mouth, baby.”
My words spurred him on, and he growled deeper. His tongue moved over me, circling my clit as he curled his fingers inside me just right.
Soon, everything he was doing turned into a swirling dance, and I couldn’t pinpoint any specific movement or touch.
It was nothing but a wall of pleasure, and before I knew it, I was being pushed to the brink yet again.
This climax built steadily, swelling with each second, like a cresting wave.
I dug my nails into the sheets, clutching them tight and shaking.
Sucking in breaths so rapidly, I had the distant worry I might be hyperventilating, but I didn’t want it to stop.
The orgasm struck with such intensity, I couldn’t even cry out. I sat forward, my body jerking with pleasure. Rushing heat and tingling electric spasms coursed up through my stomach and chest and across my breasts, leaving me a panting, exhausted mess.
Declan stood and slowly removed his clothing while I attempted to get myself back under control. Naked, he climbed back onto the bed, his cock throbbing, the tip glistening as he grabbed my hips.
“You better not think we were done,” he said with a smile, and rolled me onto my stomach.
I moaned as he spread my ass cheeks apart and placed the head of his cock against the opening of my pussy.
He slid up and down, then finally, achingly slowly, he pressed the tip into me.
I was left disappointed when he pulled out, only to press himself against the tight opening of my ass, moving it in small circles there before slipping down to glide against my clit.
The tiny bit of flesh was sensitive and aching, and I nearly yelped as he touched it with the slick head of his cock.
“I hope you’re ready,” Declan said.
I reached back with both hands and spread myself apart. “Please, Declan.”