Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
TRACE
I t felt almost too impossible to be true, and as I stared down at Delaney laying against my chest, my heart skipped a beat. But with it came a pang of remorse. This is how life was supposed to be for us. It was always supposed to be this way. I’d lost so much time with her, and I only had myself to blame.
Delaney stirred in her sleep, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before she awoke. If I wanted this. If I wanted a second chance at having her in my life, then I needed to show her that I wasn’t the same person. That I’d grown since the days we’d used to spend at each other’s side.
But how was I supposed to do that? Everything felt like such a mess at the moment. Chelsea was going to be a massive problem. Until I had the restraining order in place, and she’d actually realized that she had to follow it, she was going to make my life a living hell. I couldn’t put that on Delaney’s plate as well. Especially not with everything she was going through with losing her dad right now.
Time with her was limited, though, and if I didn’t take my shot now, it was going to be too late.
Delaney’s face wrinkled in her sleep as she moved, and I gently slipped out from beneath her. I knew this house even better than my parents’ home. I’d spent as much time here as I could as a teenager and more than I was probably supposed to. Delaney became a pro at sneaking me in when I couldn’t take being around my mother any longer. Looking back, I was fairly certain Barrett knew all about it but pretended he didn’t. He was a good man. She’d lost him far too early, and Delaney wouldn’t be the only person to feel his loss. The entire town would.
I carefully opened the bathroom door, knowing that if you pulled on it too hard, the hinges would squeak, and turned on the taps for the bath, dropping the plug into place.
As I sat on the edge, watching the water slowly fill the tub, I tried to think of how to tell Delaney that I wanted another chance.
She didn’t live in Willowbrook anymore. She had a whole life waiting for her somewhere else. How was I going to persuade her that staying here with me was even remotely a good idea? I hadn’t exactly given her anything to want to come back to. Hell, I was the entire reason she ran in the first place. I was a fool even thinking she’d want to have me in her life, but that didn’t mean I was willing to let her go. Not without a fight, at least.
“You can’t have missed this tub that much,” I heard Delaney joke from behind me.
When I turned and saw her framed in the doorway, I knew without a doubt that she wasn’t getting away from me again. There she stood, her brown hair looking thoroughly fucked, wearing just my ripped shirt and a pair of panties. Damn, she was perfect. And that glimpse of skin between the ruined sides of my shirt made me want to drop to my knees as I traced it with my tongue.
I was going to remember this moment for the rest of my life. This was where we started again, the exact second I decided that I’d give it all up for her if she asked it of me. If this beautiful woman standing in front of me gave me even the slightest indication that she’d tolerate me in her life again, then I’d follow her anywhere. Willowbrook be damned. It was about time I got to choose my own path in life, and I chose her.
Delaney had always been my addiction, and it was an addiction I had no intention of ever fighting. Why would I when she was nothing short of perfection?
“This isn’t for me,” I told her, testing the temperature of the water and then standing and moving over to her.
My fingers came to the edges of the shirt as I gently pushed it off her shoulders. She stood motionless as it gently dropped to the ground.
“You ran me a bath?” she asked, her head tipping to the side in question.
“It’s just a bath, Delaney. I want to look after you. It doesn’t have to mean anything.” It nearly killed me to say it, but when I saw the vulnerability in her eyes as I spoke, I knew it had been the right call.
She wasn’t ready. I could wait.
She nodded softly, her eyes not quite fixed on anything as she stared off into space.
Gently taking her hand, I led her across the room to the tub and stopped to slowly pull the underwear down her legs. She blindly stepped into the tub, and my heart lurched. Did she regret what had happened between us? Was it all over before it even had a chance to start?
I was about to step out of the bathroom to leave her in peace when her hand snapped out and grabbed my wrist.
“I can stay if you want me to,” I offered.
She nodded, pulling me closer. “Get in. Please?”
She didn’t need to ask me twice. I could already see that something I’d said had affected her in a way I hadn’t meant it to. I’d do anything to take the sadness from her eyes.
As I carefully stepped into the tub behind her, I lowered down, sliding my legs on either side of her and gently taking her into my arms. Delaney came without complaint, letting me pull her closer as I guided her head back to rest against my chest.
We sat like that for a moment. Cocooned in the warmth of the water.
“Talk to me, Lanes,” I whispered. “I’m here for you if you’ll let me be.”
She was silent for a moment, but then she finally spoke. “He’s gone. He’s really gone. I don’t have anyone left to look after me. I’m alone now.”
My heart broke for her, and I held her tighter. I had no idea what she was going through. I’d never lost a parent, and truth be told, I didn’t know if I’d feel even a fraction of what she did if I even did. We just didn’t have that kind of relationship in our family. It sounded harsh, but it was the truth.
“You’re not alone,” I reassured her. “You’ll never be alone, Lanes. And I’m not just talking about myself. There are so many people here who would want to be here for you if you let them.”
My fingers gripped her chin as I tipped her head to see her face. I wasn’t surprised to see the tears falling down her cheeks, even if it did kill me to see them there.
“You don’t have to leave Willowbrook if you don’t want to,” I told her.
She winced at that, and I decided not to press it. In all honesty, I hadn’t meant to say it in the first place. I was supposed to be giving her time, showing her with my actions that she had options if that was what she wanted. Pushing her now was the last thing I wanted to do.
“I’d forgotten what it was like here,” she said quietly, her eyes searching mine as she did. “The peace, the people. There’s a kind of magic to places like this that you can’t find in the city.”
I knew she was getting ready to make an excuse for why she had to leave, so I gently laid my fingers over her lips before she could. She quirked a sad smile at me as I did, and I shrugged unrepentantly.
“Just think about it, Lanes. You don’t have to make any decisions now. Just know that I and everyone here would love it if you stayed.”
She nodded, and I felt my chest warm with hope. This was all I’d ask of her for now. To consider the possibility.
“Now, lay back, close your eyes, and get ready to experience my patented washing technique.”
She barked out a laugh, taking herself by surprise nearly as much as me. “And just how does this patented technique work?”
“Well, it involves soap and the use of one’s hands.”
“Hmmm, very modern. I can see why you’d need to patent it.”
“It’s been a legal nightmare,” I added seriously. “You won’t believe the amount of people who keep trying to steal it.”
“The horror!”
I grabbed the soap from the side and lathered it up between my hands before I silently picked up one of Delaney’s arms and ran the suds across her skin. My cock hardened in response, and I shifted, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. This was about looking after Delaney. It wasn’t an excuse to fuck her again.
It might have started off playfully, but as my hands slid across her soft skin, she rolled her head to the side and hummed in contentment. I dug my thumbs into her tense muscles and felt her soften against me as I smiled.
Unfortunately, the soft sounds of pleasure flowing from her as I did were doing nothing for my own situation as I tried to shift my hips away from her again. It wasn’t exactly possible in the tight confines of the bath, though.
Delaney giggled, a sound completely at odds with how she’d felt just moments before.
“You’re not going to scandalize me with your erection pressing into my back.”
“I’m being a gentleman,” I said in faux shock. “And a gentleman does not rub a lady with his rock-hard cock while trying to massage her in the bath.”
“Quite right,” she joked. “Although, if we were to get out of the bath…”
She peered over her shoulder at me with a wicked gleam in her eyes.
I didn’t need to ask twice.
“I like the way you think. But first, I’m going to thoroughly pamper you until you’re begging for me. I need to get you clean before I make you filthy again.”
My hands trailed up her arms before they slipped across her chest to cradle her breasts. I ran my thumbs across her tightened nipples, and now it was Delaney’s hips that were starting to shift as her head pressed harder back against my chest.
I dipped my head to her ear and whispered, “Unless you need me to stop. We could just go back to sleep if you wanted to.”
I rolled her nipples between my fingers, and she groaned. “Don’t stop, Trace.”
“Never.”
My soapy hands slid down her stomach as they dipped below the water and traced across her thighs.
Delaney’s breath hitched as my fingers moved to her core. I could feel the tension in her body as she waited to see if I was going to give her what she wanted. When my fingertips found that tight bud of nerves between her legs, I swore she stopped breathing. Only starting again with a soft whimper as I teasingly moved away.
“You’re supposed to be relaxing,” I whispered in her ear as I went back to slow strokes along her thighs, ignoring the place where she wanted my hands the most.
“You know why I can’t.” I could practically hear the pout in her voice, and I grinned.
My girl had always been impatient, but she should know by now how much better it would be when she finally got what she wanted.
I hooked a hand under her thigh and gently drew her leg up and out of the water, draping it over the side of the tub. Shifting slightly, I moved my legs beneath her so Delaney sat on my lap. It had the effect of raising her beautiful pussy out of the water, and my cock slid teasingly between her ass cheeks.
I couldn’t stop myself from cupping her breast and pinching her nipple between my fingers. My other hand trailed up the inside of her thigh, and Delaney’s hips twitched in my lap, grinding her ass against my cock and sending waves of pleasure through my body.
My fingers slipped inside her, and Delaney groaned, her head tipping back against my shoulder as she let herself feel the pleasure I was starting to build inside her.
I pinched her nipple harder, my lips moving to the side of her neck as I kissed her and then softly grazed the skin with my teeth.
It wasn’t long before I’d built a rhythm between her legs that had Delaney thrusting her hips in time with my movements. The soap of the bath coated her body, and her ass glided tantalizingly over my cock.
I could feel that telltale tightening inside me that I desperately tried to hold at bay. I wasn’t going to come all over her bath. I had far better plans than that, but first, I wanted to see this beautiful woman shatter in my arms. I wanted to watch her face for every minute expression as she lost her mind to the pleasure I’d been the one to give her.
“Let go, Laney. Show me that beautiful face you make when you come,” I crooned.
My thumb moved to her clit, and she ground her hips down, desperate for me.
“That’s my girl. Show me what you want.”
Her hands, which had been gripping the edges of the tub, moved. She slipped one behind my neck, pulling my head tight against her neck as I felt her fingers join my thumb at her clit.
“Bite me,” she moaned as her fingers tangled with mine, and we worked in tandem to push her toward the orgasm she was desperately careening toward.
I sucked hard, my teeth biting down softly, giving her just the edge of pain she wanted. It was the final thing that she needed, and Delaney’s hips thrust hard against my hand as every muscle in her body tensed, and she shouted out in pleasure.
I didn’t let up for a second, even when she started to squirm and twist to escape my touch. I teased her hard little clit, drawing out the orgasm until she took a sobbing breath, pleasure overloading her system to more than she could handle.
Only then did I let her rest.
For now, at least.
I kissed her softly over the faint mark on her neck that had the caveman inside me growling in pleasure, and as I pulled my hand away from her core, her hips moved to chase it.
I smiled against the softness of her skin. “Don’t worry, baby. I’m far from done with you yet.”
Slipping my hand under her chin, I tipped her head back further to give me access to her lips and kissed her, wishing I had the taste of her release against my lips. She panted softly, relaxing into me, and I gently ran my hands over her body.
It was impossible not to touch her. Not to revel in the fact that this beautiful woman was back in my life once more. So much had happened between us, both good and bad, and yet here we were on the precipice of a second chance if we were brave enough to take it. If she was forgiving enough to give it to me.
I didn’t deserve it. I knew it as well as I knew that this could be the last time I got to hold her in my arms. There was no way I’d ever be ready to let her go again. No chance I’d survive it. But so much had happened, so many years had passed. Was it even possible that she could still want me the same way I wanted her?
As Delaney’s breathing slowly returned to normal, she turned her head and smiled. Her eyes practically danced with a fire I’d built, and she wasn’t ready to put it out.
“I like the way you think.” I was moving before she’d even finished talking.
This could be my last chance. The last time I got to be with her, and there was no way I was going to let it end now.
Gently moving Delaney, I climbed out of the bath and then held out my hand for her. She took it as she carefully stepped out of the water, and I quickly wrapped her in the soft towel that was hanging on the back of the door.
It was the perfect opportunity to run my hands over her curves once more, and it did nothing to ease the aching erection I still had. Not that I wanted it to.
She smiled at me wryly as I dried her, but then she caught the grin on my face and her eyebrow twitched in question. She didn’t have time to ask it aloud because, without warning, I grabbed her by the hips and had her tossed over one shoulder as I strode out of the bathroom.
“It’s far too early to call it quits. I want to see how many times I can make you come before you beg me to stop,” I told her wickedly as I headed back to the bedroom with absolutely no intention of leaving it for the day.