Chapter Nine
ELLIE
The porch is quiet except for the distant hum of crickets and the faint bubbling of the hot tub heating on the deck.
The stars overhead are brighter than I’ve ever seen, and the mountain air smells like pine and the cookies I stress-baked earlier while Anson grilled dinner like it was any other night and not this night.
The one where I’m supposed to bare everything including my nerves, and hope he still looks at me like I’m beautiful.
I don’t have a bathing suit. Just soft skin, thick thighs, and a bright red mark that’s going to be a nasty bruise.
“I wondered if you were gonna come out,” Anson murmurs behind me, his voice low and warm.
I nearly jump out of my skin. He’s barefoot and silent as a ghost, moving like a man trained to be invisible until the moment he wants to be seen. Like now—when he’s standing just close enough for the heat of his body to wrap around mine.
“I don’t have anything to wear,” I admit, still facing the stars.
“You won’t hear me complain,” he says, so soft and reverent it makes my breath catch. He cups my shoulders and draws me back against his chest. Sweeping my long hair aside, he presses a kiss to the junction where my neck and shoulder meet.
I shiver, surprised that the area is so sensitive. His soft beard grazing my skin adds another layer of sensation, making my nipples harden.
“Would you be more comfortable in your undergarments?”
Probably, but they’re plain white. Nothing sexy. The moment they get wet, they’re not going to cover much, anyway.
“No.” I can do this. He says I’m beautiful. I trust him. And I want to feel his bare skin on mine.
I feel his chest rumble with his approval. His fingers trace my waist at the edge of my sweater. “Let me take care of you, sugar. We won’t do anything you don’t want.”
His whispered promise gives me the confidence I need. I grip the hem of my sweater and lift it up.
He helps pull it over my head and drops it to the ground, then reaches for my leggings. After I showed him the bruise earlier, he insisted I change into something that wouldn’t rub the injured area. At least until we’d eaten and the water was hot.
Anson slides them down my legs and I step out of them. Cool night air hits my skin, and I shiver.
“Ready?” he asks.
“Ready.”
He slips his fingers beneath my bra, tracing my skin, then releases the hooks. The straps slide down my shoulders, then he’s drawing the bra off and dropping it into the growing pile of clothes. My panties quickly follow.
Suddenly I’m standing bare-ass naked in the open on his back porch, with only the night sky and a hot mountain man to witness.
Deep breath, Ellie.
“Damn.” Pure appreciation laces his voice as he skims a hand down my side. Then he slaps my ass, making me yelp. “Get in there, gorgeous. Otherwise, I’m going to bend you over the side and make you come until your legs won’t hold you up.”
Oh, I have options! I press my lips together, thinking them through.
He huffs another laugh. This one is stronger, fuller.
It melts my heart to hear it, knowing this rare smile is just for me.
He ushers me forward with his big palm on the small of my back. “Come on, sunshine. I’ll be right behind you.”
I step gingerly into the warm water and let out a sigh. It’s perfect on my tender thigh.
Anson leans over and cups my cheek, feathering his thumb over the skin. “Warm enough?”
“Yes.”
He presses a kiss to my temple, then strips off every scrap of clothing.
I forget how to breathe.
Every muscle is a carved work of art. Marble statues should be modeled after him.
His chest, his arms, his abs… even his thick, strong thighs.
His black hair grazes his shoulders, highlighting dark chocolate eyes the way his trim beard shows off his jawline.
More hair dusts his chest, and I track the line in a happy little trail all the way down to where it nestles around his cock.
It’s thick and hard, and as I stare, he wraps one hand around it.
“See what you do to me, Ellie?” He pumps his hand, and I can’t look away.
“Your beauty, your smile. The way you light up when you talk.” He squeezes and hisses a breath.
“And your body. That plump ass gives me ideas. I want to see all of you. But first,” he steps up to the hot tub, “I want to take care of you.”
I gather enough brain power to scoot over.
Anson climbs into the hot tub, completely at ease with his body.
Even better, he seems to like mine too.
He pulls me closer, then turns me until I’m sitting in his lap with my back to his chest. He massages my shoulders and neck, then down my arms to my thighs. Every stroke, every touch is gentle. Meant to soothe, not arouse.
It doesn’t take long for my body to have other ideas. I’m naked and pressed up against the sexiest man I’ve ever met. His hands are on my skin, but they aren’t where I need them.
Things have changed dramatically since yesterday. Will he touch me if I ask? The thought of his strong hands squeezing my breasts, sliding between my thighs… I shift on his lap, brushing against his hard cock, and can’t hold back the breathy moan.
Anson grips my hip, locking me in place. “Jesus, Ellie. You have to stop moving like that.”
The pain in his voice, the need, makes me bold. I slide out of his lap.
“Don’t go.” He grabs my waist, tugging me back.
But I have other ideas. I turn in his embrace, facing him in the starlight. The moon is low to the horizon and darkness closes in our own little world.
His gaze drops to my breasts, just below the surface of the water. How much can he see? Not enough.
Swallowing the last of my nerves, I stand up, baring my body to him.
“Fuck.” He pulls me closer until I’m standing between his legs. My breasts are at eye level, and my core is just below the waterline. “I want to touch you, Ellie.”
“Yes.” I move his hands up to my breasts. “Touch me, Anson.”
He slowly explores my body, running his hands reverently over my shoulders and down my arms, cupping both breasts and tracing the curve of my waist.
“More,” I beg.
He follows with his mouth. First pinching my nipples until they’re hard buds, then drawing each between his lips. His tongue dances around each nipple, flicking and worshiping them.
I grip his hair, holding him closer as heat floods my body, from the water and his touch. I’m drowning in sensation.
He sucks one, then the other, his fingers dipping between my thighs. Anson teases, stroking around my hot center without touching.
My body winds tighter and tighter, but I need more. Grabbing his hand, I press it against my folds, and sigh in relief.
He gives a dark chuckle. “You need something, sugar?”
I growl at him. “I need your fingers. Right here.” I clench my thighs around his hand, holding him in place.
Anson searches my face and slowly smiles.
It’s the most devastatingly beautiful thing my heart has ever seen. I’m not going to survive.
In a flash, he locks one arm around my waist, pulling me flush to his chest. The hand between my thighs presses against my folds. “Here?” One finger slides lower, teasing my entrance. “Or here?”
“Yes. All of it.”
He slides one finger inside me, stretching my body. “You’re tight.”He presses that finger in once, twice, then slides it out.
“No!”
But Anson has other ideas. He lifts me easily onto the edge of the tub. “Hold the side.”
I grasp it to steady myself. Is this it? Is he going to make love to me?
He gently pushes my thighs wider, and just when I think he’s going to slide his hard cock into me, just as I’m bracing for the pain I’ve been told will happen, he drops to his knees and licks my folds from bottom to top.
I nearly fall out of the hot tub.
Anson chuckles at my squeak, wraps an arm around my hips, and drags me closer to his tongue.
Oh God, nothing has ever felt this good. Not even a hot fudge sundae on a summer day.
His tongue slides through my wetness, swirling around my clit and back down. Over and over, then fucking me with the hard tip. I’m writhing on his tongue, mewling like a cat, and practically riding his face as my orgasm rushes through my body.
“Anson!”
He sucks my clit harder and spears a finger inside me, then adds a second. Between the tiny licks and sucks, and the plunge of his thick fingers, I’m mindless with pleasure.
My orgasm crests, and my body bows.
He drinks down every drop, licking and teasing until I’m spent. Only then does he pull away, tucking me against his chest.
“You’re gorgeous, Ellie. Especially when you come on my tongue. See how good you taste?” He kisses me then, hard and deep. Our tongues swirl together, and I taste myself on his lips. It’s hot as hell.
“Make love to me, Anson. I need you.”
He nips my chin and kisses his way to my ear. “Are you sure?”
I grip his cheeks, making him meet my eyes so he sees the sincerity of my words.
“No one has ever made me feel like you do. I want you to make love to me. Not because we’ve been matched, but because you’re protective and caring.
You make me feel safe when I thought I never would again.
I want to know everything about you. The dark parts.
The Dottie parts. All of it.” I push his shoulders back until he’s sitting on the bench seat in the water, then straddle his lap. “Do you want me?”
Anson grips my hips and lines his cock up until it rubs between my folds. “More than anything, sunshine. But I don’t deserve you.”
“That’s not a requirement. All you have to do is care about me.”
He strokes his thumb over my lips. “I do.”
I kiss him again, and this time, I don’t hold back. Lining up, I ease his cock inside. It hurts a little as my body stretches.
“Easy, sunshine. Take it slow.” He takes over, working his cock inside.
Suddenly he stops, and his fingers tighten where they grip my hips. His eyes slide closed for just a second. When they open, there’s pain lining his face.
“What? What’s wrong?” He can’t stop now!
“Ellie. You didn’t tell me.”
My brain spins. Tell him what? What could he possibly want to know right now? We’re about to… oh. “I haven’t done this before.”
“Jesus, sunshine.” He takes a slow, measured breath, not moving an inch.
“I want you, Anson. Please don’t pull away.” Some part of me knows, if he does, I’ll never get him back. He’ll convince himself he doesn’t deserve me, and his walls will come back up for good. I’m not sure my heart would recover this time.
He searches my face. “Be sure, Ellie.”
“I’m sure. I’ve been waiting for you, Anson Blackwood.”
He sucks in a sharp breath. The shadows in his eyes clear for a few precious moments. “Say it again,” he whispers.
“I’ve been waiting for you. Only you.” I punctuate the words with a tiny kiss to his lips.
He groans and deepens the kiss, stroking his tongue over mine. Then he tilts his hips, surging up, claiming me as his.
When he’s finally seated, I can’t breathe. “God, you’re big.”
“Okay?”
I nod, then move my hips a little. It feels good. Really good. “Wow.”
Anson starts to slowly thrust. Water splashes around us and over the edge of the hot tub, but I am far from caring. This doesn’t just feel good. This is amazing .
I grip his shoulders tight. “Harder.”
He kisses me hard and fast, then slides out of my body. Before I can cry out a protest, he flips me around, anchors my hands on the edge of the tub, and thrusts into me from behind.
The animalistic noise that comes from my throat scares the wildlife.
He slams into me until the pleasure is blinding. I can’t hold on.
“Come for me, sunshine. One more time.” His fingers find my clit, giving a light pinch. Lightning rockets through my body and I come harder than I thought was possible. My body clamps down on his cock so hard, I hear him gasp.
“Fuck,” he roars, pulsing inside me as he comes.
He gathers me against his chest and holds me close, both of us fighting for air.
“You’re mine now, Ellie. Let Grant come. Let anyone come. I’m signing that goddamn contract and making it official.”
It’s a rough promise, and the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m not afraid anymore. Grant’s not the scariest thing in my life now. Anson is. He’s the one the other monsters run from.
And I love him for it.