32. Sterling
32
STERLING
“How am I supposed to sit through the rest of this dinner with you next to me in that dress?”
“What do you mean?” Hallie teases.
We’ve come out with Sinclair, Sullivan, Trudy, and Mal for dinner. I gave Denver and the boys the night off. Press interest is dying down, and I’m not going to let Hallie out of my sight, so I figured it was time they got to blow off some steam. They’ve been working hard for months.
I lean closer and inhale oranges and honey, which I now know is from the brand of shampoo she uses. The shampoo that’s now sitting on a shelf in my shower.
In our shower. In our home.
“You know exactly what I mean. You look incredible. The most beautiful sight in here.”
She smiles and darts her eyes around the room.
The restaurant is famous for being amongst the best in the city to dine. And its buzzing atmosphere and rooftop bar with views over the harbor make it a place my family has enjoyed many times. But tonight I don’t notice any of that. The only time my eyes have left Hallie for any length of time is when she wanted to take a walk onto the roof terrace to look at the Statue of Liberty all lit up.
She places her cheek against mine, so her lips brush my ear. “How about we cut dinner short by not ordering dessert? You can have it when we get home.”
“Baby girl,” I rumble, heat firing in my groin instantly. “You know it’s a chart day.”
“You actually put it in your diary?” She pulls back, her eyes bright with surprise.
“Of course.”
“Oh.” She blinks up at me from beneath dark flirty lashes as she positions herself back in her seat. “Well, then maybe it’s time we tried something new.”
I clear my throat and adjust my tie before sliding my hand onto her thigh beneath the table. She slides hers on top, interlinking our fingers.
Mal continues telling the table about his trip and how he went out with Ade at sunrise, and they saw a pride of lions. I inhale through my nose and lean toward her, keeping my voice hushed.
“What exactly are you suggesting?”
Her soft lips graze my ear. “I’m suggesting you put it in my?—”
I push my chair back, and it scrapes loudly on the polished marble floor.
“I’m sorry, everyone. Please excuse us for a moment.”
I pull Hallie to her feet and take her out of the main dining area toward the hallway that leads to the restrooms.
I pin her to the wall the second we’re alone and claim her lips with a groan, kissing her like it would cause me physical pain to stop.
“Baby girl, what are you doing?”
“What do you mean?” She slides her hands to the nape of my neck and strokes my hair with her fingertips.
“You know exactly what I mean. You’ve got me acting like a frat boy,” I moan against her mouth, swallowing down her whimper as my erection presses into her. “I’m a fifty-year-old man, and I’m sat at dinner with this in my pants because my beautiful girlfriend just told me she wants to have anal sex when we get home.”
She gasps out a giggle. “That’s the most ungentlemanly thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
I chuckle against her mouth and hold her chin between my thumb and forefinger, slowing our kisses down to tender ones.
“It’s hard to maintain any kind of composure around you most of the time.”
She sighs happily. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Just wait until I get you home,” I groan, stealing another kiss.
We return to the table and finish dinner. Sullivan announces he needs to get home to Molly, who’s being watched by Arabella, and I take it as an opportunity to say Hallie and I need to be leaving as well. We say our goodbyes and I take Hallie’s hand in mine as we ride the elevator down and head out onto the street.
“Your car’s that way,” Hallie says as I lead her in the opposite direction.
“I thought we’d take a walk first.”
Her eyes narrow in question, but a smile plays on her lips. “Sure, okay.”
I wrap my arm around her as we stroll in the direction of Battery Park.
“I love this city. I bet you can’t imagine living anywhere else, having been here your whole life.”
“True. It’s where my family is from, it’s where I grew up. But I haven’t spent a huge amount of time here over the past couple of years. I was out on my yacht as much as possible. The new one. The old one was completely unsalvageable. Not that I think I could have stepped foot on it again.”
Hallie leans into my side, her voice full of love. “Sterling.”
I press a kiss into her hair. “Don’t get upset. I just want you to know that you’ve made being here easier. It feels like home again. I spent so many months on the water after losing them both. Not just in Cape Town. I went all over. Being on the water made me feel better. Like I was closer to my son. I feel like that’s where he is. Even though we brought him home, I…”
Hallie tightens her arm around me.
“I still need to know what happened that day,” I murmur.
“You couldn’t have done anything.”
I exhale heavily, my chest tightening. “I know that. It was too late before I ran onboard to help. They’d already gone. I don’t know what started the fire. I don’t know how it spread so fast to the fuel tanks. I don’t know why neither of them got off in time. There are so many questions that I want answers to. And I need to accept I might never get them.”
I bring us to a stop on the path, the harbor to our left. The Statue of Liberty shines in the distance, lit up by floodlights. I move us so Hallie can stand in front of the railings and look.
I wrap an arm around either side of her and hold her from behind.
“I can’t live in the past anymore. We’ve both lost people we love. But we’re still here. And we’ve found each other. That’s a damn miracle to me, Hallie. You’re my miracle.”
I dip my head and kiss her neck beneath her ear.
“And you’re mine,” she breathes. “I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
“You’d be sprinkling magic, just like you are now.”
“God, I hope so.” Her eyes stay fixed in the distance.
“Your business is going to keep growing. You’ll keep Jenny’s memory alive. I’m never going to stop you from working. I’ll support you. If you have to travel, spend time away, we’ll make it work.”
“I know you will. And that means more to me than you’ll ever know.” She turns inside my arms and smiles at me. “I’m going to apply for an extension to my working visa to start with. I’ve had some inquiries from clients in New York, so I won’t need to travel anywhere for a while.”
“Okay.”
“Which is a shame.” She walks her fingers up my tie, her eyes alight with teasing. “Because it means I won’t be able to use my beautiful new Halliday Burton luggage you got for me.”
“Beaufort.”
“What?” Her brow scrunches up.
I reach up and stroke the backs of my fingers across her cheek.
“I bought you that luggage and asked them to put Halliday Beaufort’s initials on it for me.”
She laughs and then stops and searches my eyes. “You’re serious?”
“I am.”
“I don’t… What?” She looks more confused before she clamps her hand over her mouth.
I look up at her from where I’ve dropped to one knee at her feet.
“I asked your father’s permission when we were in England. And I’ve waited three long, excruciating days since we got back for this to be ready.”
I take out the signature blue velvet box with gold Beaufort Diamonds logo on it from my inner jacket pocket.
“Sterling.” Hallie’s eyes are round as she looks at me in shock.
I take her left hand and kiss the backs of her fingers.
“You came into my life and told me my kissing needed work.”
She breaks out into a smile and her eyes mist.
“I did do that,” she whispers.
“And then you gave me the one thing I’ve never had. You gave me you. All of you. You chose us over everything.”
“I chose you ,” she breathes.
“You chose me,” I say, looking up at her.
“I hope there’s a ring in that box and not some earrings, because now I’m crying thinking you’re about to ask me something.” She laughs, wiping at her eyes with her free hand.
“I am going to ask you something.” I smile up at her as her breath catches and she stares back in silence.
“Hallie, will you marry me?”
She’s nodding before I even flip open the ring box.
“I need to hear you say?—”
“Yes.” She nods over and over, her voice breaking. “Yes.”
Her finger trembles as I take the ring out and slide it on.
“Sterling?” her voice wavers as tears track down her cheeks.
“Hallie,” I counter, gazing up at her.
“I need you to hold me up before I fall.”
I’m on my feet, pulling her into my arms a split second later as she crushes her lips to mine.
“Yes, I’ll marry you.” She kisses me over and over, her fingers dusting over my jaw before she pulls back enough to take a proper look at her ring.
“You had this designed and made in the last three days?”
“No. I had it designed weeks ago, hoping I’d be able to have it made in the last three days.”
She laughs and stares at the three rows of emerald cut diamonds banded together around her finger, all framing one central pink diamond. They’re so big it almost reaches her knuckle. But I couldn’t leave a single one out.
“There are twenty-five around that middle one. I chose pink because it reminds me of?—”
“The rose quartz heart I gave you.”
“The heart you gave me, Hallie. Yours. The most precious thing in the world.”
Her eyes widen as she looks from the ring, up at me, and back down again. “You said twenty-five?”
“I did.”
My heart swells in my chest as she whips her head in the direction of the harbor, staring out across the water. “The number of windows in her crown.”
“The number of windows in her crown,” I breathe as she looks at the ring again.
“You’re amazing.” She sniffs before looking back up at me with sparkling eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you too. I knew the moment I met you that I wanted this. But I didn’t dare dream it. I never thought for one second it was possible.”
“I can’t believe it. I’m going to be Halliday Beaufort,” she whispers. “It sounds?—”
“Perfect. It sounds damn perfect,” I say, lifting her lips to mine.
“Oh wow, that looks…”
Hallie bites her lip as she wraps her hand around my hard as steel cock and pumps it up and down slowly. The giant ring on her finger catches the light and sparkles as she reaches the head and runs her thumb over the weeping slit.
“Looks pretty damn good. It’ll look even better when your wedding ring is next to it.” I groan as I stand next to the bed and look at her kneeling on it as she jerks me off.
“There won’t be room. It’s huge.”
“We’ll make it fit, Baby girl.”
She laughs. “Uh-huh. I guess you’re good at giving me big things to take care of.”
I tip my head back with a groan as she swallows my dick, moaning and sucking it until it pops free of her lips.
“I want to taste you. But I also want to ride you… and I want to…” She lets out a disgruntled huff that makes me chuckle as she pulls me onto the bed with her and kisses me.
I move up, positioning myself against the headboard like our first time together.
“We’ve got all night. We can do it all.”
I hold her eyes as she straddles me.
“We’ve got the rest of our lives, fiancé.” Her eyes glitter.
I grasp her hips and relish the way her lips part on a moan as I pull her down onto me, burying myself inch by inch until I’m deep inside her, filling her completely.
“We do.” I press a soft kiss to her neck as I squeeze her hips, flexing my throbbing cock inside her, taking a moment to rein in the desire to work her up and down my dick fast and hard until I come inside her. “But I still want all those things tonight.”
She moans as she starts to ride me slowly. “Me too.”
Her hands wander from my shoulders to my chest, her eyes following the trail of her fingers as she traces them over the scars covering the skin above my heart.
“You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever met,” she says softly, stroking me with such tenderness that my throat dries up. “All of you. Heart, body, and soul.”
“Hallie.”
“Sterling,” she muses, her eyes creasing at the corners as she smiles.
She sinks up and down me slowly, tilting her head back with a moan as the head of my dick rubs over the special spot inside her.
“Baby girl.” I tighten my grip on her hips, trying to stop her from moving.
She places one hand on top of mine on her hip, putting her other hand on my shoulder and using it as leverage to ride me harder and faster.
Her breathy moans are like a shot of adrenaline to my dick, and it pulses and thickens inside her.
“Hallie,” I groan as the head of my cock throbs inside her. “It’s a chart day.” I curse as she clenches around me and a wave of pre-cum flows out inside her.
“I know. It just feels so good,” she hums, sinking down on me again and making me drop my head back with a moan.
Her lips slide over my throat, and she kisses my windpipe as I drag in a deep breath.
“Hallie,” I utter.
She licks my neck all the way up to my ear.
“What is it, fiancé?” she whispers, her breath warm against my skin.
“You know what.”
My groan is choked as she circles herself back down onto my dick and her perfectly puckered nipples brush over my skin.
The base of my cock heats and I know more hot drops are seeping out of me inside her.
“You’ll be walking down that aisle pregnant if you keep this up.” I squeeze her hips as she brings her mouth to mine and kisses me.
“You feel so good inside me, though.”
She fucks me harder, and I grab a handful of her hair and deepen our kiss.
“I’m going to come inside you if you don’t stop,” I pant.
“Just one more minute,” she breathes against my lips.
I grit my teeth and use every ounce of my strength to keep my balls under control as they tighten. Each time her slap-able ass bounces down onto them I fight not to unload inside her.
“Hallie,” I plead.
“I’m…” she pants against my mouth, and I slide a hand up to hold her neck.
“Damn it, Baby girl. You’re about to come on my cock, aren’t you?”
She whimpers.
“And you expect me not to explode inside you as you do?”
“If you hold it, then I know where you can put it.” She bites her lower lip, her lids hooded as she looks at me.
I can’t help my growl coming out sounding angry. “Jesus Christ, you’re going to be the death of me.”
“Just one more second…”
She slams herself up and down my cock twice more and then drops her head back, her throat pressing into my palm as she cries out my name and her pussy falls into pulsing waves around me.
I groan like I’m in pain as I watch her.
“I can feel every squeeze of your cunt as you’re coming,” I scold. “Every damn twitch, and you expect me not to come inside you?”
I hold her throat tighter as she whimpers and shakes above me, using my body to make her feel good.
Coming all over my goddamn painful cock.
“You better be damn ready,” I hiss, screwing my eyes shut, sweat beading on my chest as I fight the heavy draw in my balls that’s threatening to detonate.
“Okay,” she pants. “Okay.”
I lift her off me and flip her over onto all fours.
“Naughty girl,” I say as I grab my cock and squeeze it hard to stop my impending orgasm in its tracks.
I want to come inside her. I don’t want to waste a drop by shooting my load before I even get there.
I sink my face in between her legs from behind and lick her.
She cries out as I spear her with two fingers. My dick is still rock-hard, pre-cum dripping out of it onto the bed sheets. But the urge to come has eased off.
“You think you can fuck me like that, coming all over me, and expect me not to blow inside you?”
“Sterling,” she cries out, jerking forward as I slap one ass cheek, loving the way the skin turns pink before I flatten my palm over it and rub in circles.
“No, you don’t. Come back here.”
I wrap one arm around her waist, pulling her back onto my hand as I fuck her with my fingers.
“You can give me another before I put my cock in your ass, just like I know you’ve been wanting me to.”
I smile against her back, kissing her skin as she comes instantly, rippling around my fingers with a strained mewl.
“You like it when I forget to be a gentleman, huh?”
“Sterling.” She shudders, a gush of wetness running out into my palm as I pull my fingers free.
“Now rub that clit for me, Baby girl.”
She murmurs an incoherent cross between a moan and a gasp as I straighten up, kneeling behind her.
I press the head of my cock against her asshole.
“You sure you want this?” I ask, my voice softening as I stroke her hip.
“Yes,” she moans, rolling them so her body rubs against my crown.
I reach to the bedside drawer, pulling out a tube of lube.
“I’ll take it slow,” I say, squeezing some onto my dick and letting some drip down between her ass cheeks.
She flinches as the cold liquid hits her, then moans and pushes back toward me as I rub it into her skin with my fingers, sliding the tip of one inside her.
“Are you rubbing your clit?”
“Yes,” she murmurs.
I look forward. Her left hand is on the bed, scrunching up the bedsheets, her engagement ring twinkling between the fabric.
“Good girl.”
I pump my dick a couple of times, coating it in the lube. Then I press the head against her asshole.
The moan she makes almost makes me come on the spot as her body opens up for me, letting me ease inside a little.
“Jesus.”
My jaw clenches and I pause, then slide in a couple of inches. I circle gently and ease another inch forward.
“So goddamn tight.” I suck in a breath, stroking up and down her spine tenderly with one hand. “You’re so beautiful. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she moans, pushing back. “Keep going.”
My eyes drop to where she’s taking me and I push forward slowly, giving her body time to stretch for me.
“Yes, like that. That feels good,” she whimpers.
Her hand is moving frantically, buried between her thighs.
“You want to come, Baby girl?”
“Not yet,” she pants.
“You want more?” I stroke up her spine again, my fingers dusting the dip of her waist on the way down.
“Yes, please.”
Her breathy moans spur me on, and I keep the pressure up, easing deeper and watching inch after inch disappear inside her.
“Damn, that’s good,” I rasp.
Stilling my hand on the base of her spine, I push forward, closing the final gap until my hips meet her skin. I look at how we fit together. She’s quivering, like she’s holding back.
“You okay?”
“I feel so full.”
My cock flexes inside her and she whimpers my name, which only makes it swell more.
“You are full, Baby girl.” I run my thumb around the base of my dick, admiring the way her skin is stretched around it, clutching onto it so damn tight.
“Sterling,” she whimpers again. “Move… fuck me.”
It’s barely a whisper, but it’s enough to almost tip me over the edge. I withdraw a couple of inches before sliding back in with a groan.
“Oh my god, that feels good,” she moans.
I watch her take me as I repeat the move. She told me she’s never been with anyone like this before. She said she’s never wanted to. Yet she’s been asking me to do this with her for a while. And as much as I wanted to, I’ve never been with anyone in this way, either. And I was afraid of hurting her.
I could never hurt her.
“That still feel good, Baby girl?” I ask as I set a slow, steady pace, going a little deeper each time.
“Yes. Do it faster.”
My hips pump quicker, and I lose all coherent thought as my body is spun out with pleasure.
“Damn.” I drop my head back, clenching my teeth. “You’re so perfect.”
She moans over and over, getting louder as I increase my pace. Her ass cheeks ripple each time I bottom out inside her, my hip bones hitting them.
“You like it like that? Nice and deep?”
“Yes,” she whimpers.
“I wish I could see your face.”
She drops her hand from her clit so she can steady herself on both hands and looks at me over her shoulder. Her eyes are darkened with lust, her cheeks flushed.
“That’s better. You’re so goddamn beautiful.”
“Sterling,” she moans, her eyes dropping to where my hips are driving my slicked-up dick inside her.
“You can’t see what I can. But let me tell you, it looks and feels incredible.”
Her mouth makes an ‘O’ shape as I speed up, the muscles in my torso all rippling with the force of holding back. I’ve been ready to come since I first pushed inside her.
“I’m close,” I grit, digging my fingertips into her hips.
She turns back around, scrabbling to get her hand back to her clit.
“I’m going to come again,” she pants.
“You want to do it together?”
“You first,” she moans.
“Where do you want it?”
“You know where.”
I grunt as my knuckles turn white against her hips and I thrust faster, my ass cheeks clenching.
I’m the luckiest man on earth.
“You want me to come inside your ass, Baby girl? Is that what you’re saying? You want me to fill your perfect little asshole with all this cum you’ve made me hold onto?”
“Oh god, Sterling. Please .”
The way her voice breaks as she begs is my undoing.
“Hallie!” I growl as I come hard.
I keep thrusting, my eyes rolling in my head as my dick swells and liquid heat fires from it in breath-stealing pulses.
“Damn, Baby girl.”
I watch my cock pumping in and out of her knowing that I’m coming deep inside her right now. I groan, my balls slapping against her ass as another wave builds up inside me, crashing out in searing shots as I pump out more heat inside her.
“God, Sterling, I’m coming,” she cries. The sound of her crying out my name is enough to make my dick swell and my balls pull tight all over again.
“Come for me. That’s it,” I growl, flexing my hands against her hips so I don’t leave bruises. They’re damp where even my palms are sweating against her shaking body.
Her whimpers and moans increase.
“You’ve got your fingers inside yourself, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” she moans, swirling them around so I feel them press along the underside of my dick.
“Jesus Christ,” I hiss as the extra fullness makes her body’s grip on my dick even tighter. I thought I was coming down, but my balls throb again and heat races up my shaft.
“I’ve got more for you,” I choke.
I spill inside her with a curse. All the breath leaves my lungs and my vision blurs. Every coiled muscle in my body tightens as my dick squeezes out its final drops inside her.
She rides out her orgasm, my name falling like a prayer from her lips.
I keep pumping into her, slowing my movements gradually. My heart pounds in my chest as I fight to take a deep enough breath.
“You okay?”
She shifts her weight onto one hand and reaches back with the other.
“I’m okay,” she breathes.
She sounds like she’s smiling, and a grin breaks out onto my face as I exhale with a groan.
“That was amazing, Hallie.”
I take her hand inside mine, twisting my fingers around hers, and around the giant twenty-six diamonds gracing her ring finger.
She’s mine.
I’m her first choice.
And I’m going to make damn sure she never regrets that decision.