20. Halliday
20
HALLIDAY
“I can’t believe this.” I grip Sterling’s thigh, giving it an excited squeeze as the helicopter does another loop and Lady Liberty comes into view again.
“I wanted a date.” He rests his hand on top of mine, and I grin.
After two full days of house arrest, during which Sterling wouldn't let me do anything except be pampered by him, we're finally here. Having our date. It started with breakfast in one of The Songbird hotel’s stunning restaurants. Then he took me to his friend’s art gallery where I gazed in wonder at a private early showing of Zoey’s fiancé’s work. Then we had a picnic in Central Park, followed by a ride in a rowboat. Then he took me to see the Broadway showing of Aladdin, before taking me for dinner, then finally taking us up in a helicopter to fly over the harbor at sunset.
The only thing tainting it is that I haven’t heard from Sinclair since the hospital, and she won’t return my calls, but Sterling’s said she just needs time and she’ll come around.
“You’ve given me at least seven dates all rolled into one,” I say as I admire the view.
No matter how much I look at her crown, all lit up against the night sky, the glow it brings to my chest never dims. I picture Jenny’s beaming smile as I watch the light flood out from it.
My fingers tingle and a warm buzz blankets my chest as it sparkles like a heavenly glow through the helicopter window. It’s like the universe is constantly pushing me to accept what I’ve known to be true all along.
Sterling Beaufort is meant for me, as I am for him.
“It’s amazing. Thank you,” I breathe, turning to look at him.
Heat smolders in his gaze and his eyes drop to my mouth. “You’re welcome.”
I turn back to the window and fight the desire to pull him to me and get lost in one of his kisses.
We loop Liberty Island twice more and then our pilot takes us back to Sterling’s penthouse building, landing on the roof. Once it’s safe to get off, Sterling exits first, then holds his hand out to me, like getting a ride home by helicopter is completely normal.
I slide my palm into his. He’s a billionaire; riding home in one is probably normal to him.
“It belongs to a friend,” he says, his warm blue eyes twinkling like he’s reading my thoughts. “But if you like it, I’ll get you your own.”
“I’d prefer a jet. Longer range.” I laugh off his joke. Because that’s what it is. It isn’t real. I’m supposed to be leaving.
“Are you tired?” Sterling asks as we step inside his penthouse. He undoes an extra button at the neck of his shirt as we walk into the open living area.
“I’m okay.” I rest one hand on a table so I can take my shoes off.
I’ve quickly become very at home here. And I shouldn’t be. But every time I’ve done something that shows I’m at ease, the resulting light it brings to Sterling’s eyes has only encouraged me more.
I can’t get enough of the way he looks at me. Like he’s trying to decide whether to kiss me slowly, rip my clothes off in a rush, or both.
We slept on the couch together again last night with me curled into his side like I was made to fit there. His kisses haven’t strayed away from my forehead, and he’s been a perfect gentleman since I came out of hospital. But memories of him slamming me against his front door and making me cry out his name have replayed over and over in my head. If they weren’t, then I might think I’d imagined it.
“It’s been a long day and you’re still healing.” Concern fills his gaze as he walks over and stops in front of me.
“I’m fine,” I breathe, tracing the smile lines at the edges of his eyes.
I trail my fingertips over his jaw, loving the way those lines deepen as he leans closer and murmurs my name.
“Hallie.”
Warm tingles dance over my skin.
“I still haven’t booked my flight,” I confess in a whisper.
“You haven’t?” He searches my eyes, and the deep rumble of his voice makes me lick my lips.
“Every time I’ve picked up my phone to do it, I’ve put it off. It’s like I can’t do it.”
“You don’t have to do it.” His eyes darken with an intensity that makes my breath catch in my throat.
Every vibration I’ve felt, every bolt of energy in his presence all hit me at once; swirling around inside my gut like glitter in a snow globe as I admire the beautiful warmth in his blue eyes.
“I don’t want to do it,” I admit, finally speaking my truth. Not that it will make everything easy. But at least for the first time since coming to New York, I’m finally being honest with myself.
I don’t want to leave Sterling. I want to grab onto the happiness, the belonging, the fate that I feel when I’m with him.
I want it all. I just don’t know if having it all is possible.
“If there was a way I could stay here and not hurt Mum and Dad, not risk my business, not?—”
My words cease in my throat as he cups my face and presses his thumb against my lips.
“What if I told you we’ll find a way together, no matter what it takes?”
“Then I’d want to believe you. I’d really want to believe you.”
“Then believe me. Because I swear, I won’t give up searching for it as long as there’s life in my body.”
I look at the complete and utter determination in his eyes. He’s always had faith in something bigger than us. In there being a way that this all works out.
Jenny would be so disappointed in me for not grabbing what’s right in front of me.
I used to be that person, filled with hopes, dreams and faith. When did I lose her? Is it enough just to choose to be her again? To start now? Making new choices. Listening to my instincts. Not allowing happiness to be something only for other people, but for myself as well?
I place my hands on top of Sterling’s, where he’s cupped my cheeks.
“I want to go to bed.”
“Does your head hurt again?” Concern knits over his brow.
“No. I want you to take me to bed.” I hold his eyes, driving my point home.
“You’re sure?” he asks, his voice like velvet being dragged over rough gravel.
“Have you changed your mind?”
His lips curl into a sexy smile tinted with tenderness. “Baby girl, I will never change my mind about that.”
“Then show me?—”
Before I even finish speaking, he grabs me, hoisting me up into his arms and crashing his lips to mine.
His kiss is urgent and burning with passion, consuming every doubt I have and letting them fly away like dandelion seeds on a summer breeze. Gone.
A wave of bright sparkling energy ignites heat in my veins, traveling through me at lightning speed.
And I soak it in.
I let go of every doubt and fear that I’ve been controlled by since I met him. And I welcome the magic that I fought so hard to re-direct. Our magic. This indescribable, soul-altering connection that’s always been there between us.
“Sterling,” I whimper.
I wrap my legs around his waist, trying to get as close as possible. Our breath tangles, and he gifts me with another kiss that sets my head spinning.
“Hurry,” I urge, trailing desperate kisses over his jaw and down his throat, making him groan as he walks us into his bedroom.
He holds me with one hand beneath my ass and angles my face to his, kissing me and smiling against my mouth.
“I’ve been waiting to worship every goddamn inch of you. Maybe I’ll take my time.”
I huff in aroused frustration as he lowers us to the bed and cages me between his arms.
“Ever since that day I met you, and you sat in my apartment like you belonged here, I was dreaming of this moment.”
He looks into my eyes with a searing heat before swooping on my neck. His kisses trail down, along my collarbone as he grips a handful of my thigh, wrapping my leg around his hip.
His cock pushes against the desperate heat between my legs.
“You sat there looking so damn beautiful. So damn right ,” he growls.
I writhe, but he’s got me pinned by his hips as he kisses his way down my chest to the neckline of my dress.
“Sterling,” I pant as he tugs my dress to one side, yanking my bra out of the way.
His hot mouth engulfs my nipple and sucks.
I arch into him with a whimper, and he cants his hips, pushing his cock harder against me in response. He looks at me from beneath his brows and flicks his tongue over me.
“I bet every inch of you tastes this sweet, doesn’t it?”
He sits on his heels, bringing me with him.
Our kisses turn more frantic as we rip my dress off over my head, crashing our lips back together immediately. He reaches around to unclip my bra, and I fight to undo the buttons on his shirt.
I tilt my head back with a moan as he dips his head to my breasts, sucking, kissing, and biting them. He kneads them, thumbing my nipples before cursing and repeating the move.
My nipples are pulled so tight that they’re throbbing by the time I manage to coordinate myself enough to get my hands back to his shirt buttons again.
“Help me,” I plead.
Sterling sucks my nipple again, grazing his teeth over it before he lifts his head.
His eyes take on a new intensity as he straightens up. He takes over what my eager fingers were struggling with and slowly unfastens the buttons one by one.
Inches of his skin begin to show, and I part my lips with anticipation.
Once he reaches the last button, he slowly slides the shirt down his arms, freeing them of the fabric.
I let out an involuntary gasp.
“It’s okay, Baby girl,” he soothes.
My eyes flick up to his and then back to his torso.
Scars run up one side of it. The skin is uneven and red, angry-looking raised lines lance across the surface. Some areas are shinier than others, like the skin has healed too tightly and been stretched too far.
“Does it hurt?” I whisper.
“Not anymore.”
His nostrils flare as I reach out toward him hesitantly. My hand hovers halfway between us, and he nods.
I move closer until the pads of my fingers make the lightest contact beneath his ribcage.
He sucks in a sharp breath that I feel all the way to my toes.
His eyes never leave me as I stroke him slowly, tracing each crease and mark that’s been made where he’s healed. I follow them up and up. Over his torso, all the way to underneath the base of his neck, and then down his left arm to his wrist.
“You were burned.” I force air into my lungs, past the bowling ball-sized lump that has formed in my throat.
“I tried to save them.”
A sob bubbles in my throat. “My god…”
“Ssh,” he coos, cupping one side of my face. He lowers his forehead and rests it against mine. “Don’t get upset.”
“I’m sorry. Just knowing what you went through. Everything that you’ve…”
I kiss beneath his collarbone where the scars begin. He sucks in a ragged breath, his chest expanding beneath my lips.
“Is this okay?”
“It’s okay, Hallie,” he rasps in a thick voice.
I take my time kissing down his torso. When I get to the area below his ribs where the scarred skin ends, I move to his wrist and kiss my way up his arm, back to where I started.
“Baby girl.” His hand tangles in my hair and he pulls me to him, screwing his face up and kissing me in desperation.
I cling to him, our kisses growing deeper and deeper until his hands fall to my hips and he pulls me against him with growing urgency.
“Sterling,” I moan.
My mouth doesn’t leave his as I reach for his belt and slowly undo it.
His grip on my hair tightens as I drag his zipper down, the hard length of him pressing against the back of my fingers.
“Take them off,” I whisper.
He kisses me again before rising from the bed. His eyes fix on mine as he pushes his pants and underwear to the floor and steps out of them.
My mouth goes dry.
Each defined muscle in his lower abdomen and legs scream with strength as he stands with his legs apart. His cock juts out, solid and thick, the slit at the end glistening with beads of pre-cum.
He takes a step back toward the bed and his balls swing heavily behind his dick. I can’t help but stare. It’s as though they’re taunting me, knowing they’re about to pound against my skin.
And that I’m going to love every second.
“You okay?”
I gaze at his face, speechless.
He grazes his lower lip with his teeth before rolling his tongue over it. “Take off your panties, Hallie.”
Arousal swims in my core at the way his eyes heat. I hook my thumbs into the sides of my panties and slide them off.
“Jesus Christ, you’re beautiful,” he chokes out hoarsely.
I shuffle on my knees to the edge of the mattress. His skin is hot where I run my palms down his shoulders and over his chest. When I reach his hips, his cock jumps against my skin, smearing me in hot liquid.
“So are you.” I press a kiss to his chest.
He hooks two fingers underneath my chin and lifts my face to his, capturing my mouth in a kiss that has me moaning around his tongue.
“Sit for me,” I whisper breathlessly, pulling my tingling lips from his.
He moves up the bed to the headboard and turns, sitting back against it. The blue of his eyes glints, and he grabs hold of my hips as I slide one leg over his hips to straddle him.
“I want to feel every part of you,” I whisper.
He nods in understanding. “Me too. It’s safe. I’d never put you at risk.”
“I knew when I met you… the way I felt… this energy that ran through me the first time I looked into your eyes.” I stroke his jaw, my gaze softening. “I was so scared of what accepting it meant that I blocked it out. I ignored everything my intuition was trying to tell me.”
“Hallie,” he murmurs, stroking my hip bones with his thumbs.
I press my lips to his.
“I’m so sorry it took me this long.” I position the head of his cock against me. “So sorry,” I repeat as I circle over it, allowing the fat tip to stretch me as I take the first inch of him inside me.
The groan that leaves his throat sends an army of butterflies raging in my core.
“Thank you for being so patient.”
I sink down another inch, and his eyes flare with desire.
“Thank you for never giving up when you knew all along it was always meant to be us.”
I circle my hips and try to push down further, but my body struggles to accept his size.
A hiss leaves him as I circle and stretch around the first couple of inches I’ve managed to take. His look of awe sends a rush of warmth from my core, and I try to sink down again.
“That’s it, Baby girl. Just a bit more,” he groans.
The sexy husk in his voice acts like a key, allowing me to sink down until our bodies are fully flush.
“Jesus,” he chokes, tipping his head back.
Every muscle in his upper body goes taut as I flutter around his long, thick length.
His grip tightens on my hips, his eyes dropping to where he’s buried inside me.
“I’d have waited an eternity for you.”
He lifts me by the hips, staring at the wetness coating his cock before he pulls me down and buries himself inside me again with a rough groan.
“You’re everything I gave up hoping for a long time ago.”
I run my hands down over his straining chest as he digs his fingers into my hips like he’s trying to hold back. His eyes stay locked on my face as I curl my fingers through the short hair on his chest. It’s thicker on the side without the scars.
He squeezes my hips, lifting me again, and encouraging me to start riding him slowly.
“Hallie,” he utters.
I hold on to his shoulders as I work with him, moving in deep, slow strokes, our breath mixing in the tiny gap between us.
“You’ve never felt like someone’s first choice, have you?” I whisper.
My heart cracks as something shifts behind his eyes before he blinks it away.
A muscle in his neck twitches, and he groans, as I clench around him.
“You’re not only my first choice.” I lift up and sink down onto him again. “You’re the only choice I will ever make. It could never have been anyone else.”
“Jesus,” he utters, tightening his grip on my hips.
I increase my speed, spurred on by Sterling’s deep moans of pleasure as he guides me up and down his length.
“That’s it, Baby girl. Ride my cock. It’s yours. Ride the hell out of it.”
His eyes glint, and his pupils dilate as I cry out and clench around him.
Our speed increases, and he works his hips, thrusting into me mercilessly.
“That’s my girl.”
I whimper.
“Damn, you know just how to make me crazy. That’s it. Bring that perfect pussy back down.”
He grabs my ass, squeezing hard, his eyes glued to my face.
I moan as he bottoms out inside me again.
“Yeah, like that. Exactly like that,” he rasps.
We fuck harder, desperate, and greedy. All gentleness is gone as we buck and thrust together, sweat slicking our skin where our chests press together.
Every minute since I arrived in New York has led to this moment. It was inevitable, no matter how much I tried to fight it. We were inevitable.
I grab on to his shoulders, digging my nails in as he fucks up into me so deeply that I cry out his name like I’m begging.
“You like that, my beautiful girl?”
“Yes!”
“So goddamn perfect, aren’t you?”
His eyes are glued to mine, like two blue flames. I hand over all control, letting him set our pace. He spreads his thighs, forcing my legs wider around his hips. When he drives inside me again, my eyes roll in my head, and I gasp.
“Good girl, give yourself over to it. Come on my cock. All over it.”
I clench in response to his filthy growl.
“Jesus,” he hisses, spanking my ass with a sharp flick of his wrist. “Show me, Baby girl. Show me what you look like when you come with me buried inside you.”
He slams me back down onto him, circling my hips inside his powerful grip, so that his body drags over my clit. I fight to think straight.
“Sterling,” I whine.
He kisses the column of my throat, his voice vibrating against it. “Let it go.”
My eyes roll as the pressure mounts inside me. Sterling slides a hand into my hair and grips it tight, holding me in place so he can watch.
“Let it go,” he urges.
My mouth falls open and my vision blurs.
I come so hard that all I can do is cry out and trust that he won’t let me go.
Wave after wave crashes through me. My body ripples around him, and he swells inside me, stretching me even more.
I choke out a sob as my body spasms, wringing out his pleasure with it.
The way he curses my name as he comes inside me, filling me with surge after surge of blazing heat, is a sound I’ll never forget. It imprints itself, burning into my memory as he thrusts hard.
He comes so deep inside me that the sensation of him burying himself, mixed with his guttural growl, makes my orgasm stretch on and on until I screw my eyes shut, unsure how much more I can handle.
“God!” I shriek.
“Hallie.”
His voice anchors me to him as my chest begins to shake uncontrollably. The warmth of his mouth meets my quivering throat, and I suck in trembling breaths. He slows down his movements until he’s still, nestled inside me, my body pulsing in aftershocks around him.
“I-I feel funny.”
Emotion bubbles in my chest. But I can’t control it. I feel happy and sad and vulnerable all at once.
Strong hands cradle my face, and I manage to open my eyes. His understanding gaze blurs as I realize my eyes are full of tears.
“S-Sterling.”
“It’s okay, Baby girl.” He thumbs away my rapidly falling tears. “You’re coming down, that’s all. Don’t be scared, I’ve got you.”
My breath splinters, and I sink into his arms, sobbing.
I cry, soaking up every reassuring sound he makes, every gentle way he touches me.
All bringing me back to myself with tenderness and care.
Bringing me back to him.
I stay like that, safe and protected in his arms, letting him take care of me until my tears stop and my heart rate slows.
He’s waiting for me when I’m fully present, his eyes latching on to mine as I lift my head from the crook of his neck and refocus on him.
He takes one of my hands and places it over his chest, over his scars.
“You’re okay, Hallie,” he breathes.
My heart feels like it could burst inside my chest. I lunge forward and crush my mouth to his in a desperate kiss.
“I love you.”
His breath leaves him in a rush like he’s waited his whole life to hear someone say that and really mean it.
He takes my face between his palms and holds it still.
“I love you too, Hallie. I love you in a way I never thought I’d ever be able to say. In a way I gave up believing in. You’ve brought magic into my life when I started to think it didn’t exist.”
I sob and press my lips to his again, losing myself in him, soaking up every spark of magic as they fire through my body.
And they keep firing over and over as he kisses me, holding me in his arms, taking care of me.
And I let him.
For the first time in my life, I hand over all responsibility to someone else.
This time, I’m not scared.
I welcome it.
Because it’s him.
And he’s exactly where I’m supposed to be.