Chapter Twenty-Two
Marcus
Aurelia’s text says: Told Wren everything. Good luck.
Well, thank you sis. I thought she might have been more helpful considering she was the one who revealed all the details to Caroline.
I’m not angry at her, though. The fault, such as it is, lies with me for offering marriage as if it was a business deal. I thought I was solving all our problems. I didn’t consider what might happen if the truth was revealed.
As I lock up the helicopter and walk toward the farmhouse, my heart races.
I have no idea if Wren is even going to be there.
She promised she wouldn’t leave, but my attempts to show her how I feel haven’t always gone down well.
Maybe after Aurelia told her what I did, it freaked her out and she fled.
The sun is setting, and the farmhouse is the color of treacle. The front curtains have been drawn, and no light shows through the cracks. She’s gone. She must have packed her bags, shut up the house, called a taxi from Cambridge, and left. Oh God. Have I lost her?
I slot the key in the door, open it, and go in.
After closing the door behind me, I stand there for a moment, listening, as I toe off my shoes. I can’t hear anything over the pounding of my heart. I look toward the living room, which is dark, and then toward the bedrooms. Is that a glimmer of light?
“Wren?” I call, my voice sounding hollow with fear.
“In here.”
My heart leaps at the sound of her voice. I stride down the hallway toward the bedroom we’ve been sharing, open the door, and go inside.
Then I stop, staring at the scene.
Wren is lying on her side on the bed, head propped on a hand. She’s wearing a black lacy bodysuit, a black garter belt, and sheer black stockings.
The bed and floor are covered in red rose petals. More rose petals float in a bowl of water with a tea light. Other candles placed around the room fill it with a soft glow.
“Hello,” she says. “Husband.”
I should say something charming and clever, and be suave and sophisticated. But my brain has fogged up. I can’t think what to say.
Wren’s expression softens. She sits up, moves to the edge of the bed, and rises, then walks around it to stand before me.
“Hello, Mars,” she says. “Welcome home.” And she lifts her arms around my neck and kisses me.
A variety of emotions collide inside me: elation, confusion, relief, bewilderment, and hope. I let her kiss me, enjoying the feel of her lips moving across mine. Then I put my arms around her and give her a long, heartfelt hug.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I whisper furiously. “I thought you’d left.”
“I won’t leave,” she says, kissing my ear, my neck. “I promise.”
“Do you mean that?”
She moves back and looks into my eyes. “I do. When you were gone, all I could think about was how much I missed you. I knew you loved me, but I was scared, Mars, so scared of loving you and losing you. And then Aurelia rang and told me what you’d done.
” She shakes her head in wonderment. “I can’t believe you did that. ”
“I know you needed proof. Evidence of how I feel about you. So… it worked?”
“It did, but not in the way you mean.” She takes my hand and leads me to the bed, and I sit next to her. On the bedside table, amber liquid is cooling on ice in a glass, and she passes it to me. “I thought you might need one when you got in,” she says.
“I really do.” I have a big mouthful and give a long sigh, finally releasing the tension that has been building since the call from Dad.
Wren lifts my hand and kisses it. “When Aurelia said you’d told the board you’d rather quit than give me up, it made me realize how much you were willing to give up for me.
And while that was amazing, and I can’t quite believe it, the most shocking thing is that you were going to do it without a guarantee that I’d stay.
In fact, I know you were convinced I’d leave.
I suppose it showed me how truly loving someone isn’t about having proof. It’s about trust, and hope.”
I stroke my thumb over her knuckles. “I guess you’re right.”
“You were willing to put trust in me, even though I’ve insisted so many times this is a marriage of convenience. Before the honeymoon, I thought you were being arrogant, assuming you were so charming that I couldn’t help but fall for you.”
“There might have been a bit of that.”
Her lips curve up. “I know you better than that. You really have feelings for me. And you’re willing to trust that this spark we have will develop into something more.”
I nod. “The leap of faith.”
“Yeah. Like Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade. And I thought, I’m standing on the edge of that cliff.
Am I too cowardly to make the jump? Am I going to turn and walk away because I’m so afraid of the fall?
I’ve never been a cowardly person. And I’m not going to be one now.
I’m going to step off and trust you’ll catch me. ”
I don’t think I’ve ever felt this happy. “I will,” I tell her firmly. “I swear, I’ll always be there for you.”
I have a last mouthful of the drink and put the glass down, then pull her into my arms. She presses her hands on my chest, though, and stops me.
“You must be tired,” she says. “Do you want to go and have dinner first? We can always come to bed later.”
But I shake my head. She’s sitting there wrapped like a Christmas parcel, and I’m exultant that she wants to make this work. “The last thing I want to do is eat,” I tell her. Then I tip my head to the side. “Food, anyway.”
She laughs. “Naughty boy,” she murmurs. “But I have something else in mind.”
My eyebrows rise. “Oh?”
She gets to her feet, then takes my tie in her fingers and pulls me up. Once I’m standing, she begins to undress me. First, she takes off my tie. Next, she slides my jacket over my shoulders and hangs it over the chair. And then she starts undoing my buttons.
I’m prepared to rip it off and ravish her at this point, but when I try to help her along, she pushes my hands away. “I want to do this,” she tells me. “I want to do something for you.”
So I let her, recognizing that she needs to show me she’s committed to her decision, and that she wants to show her appreciation of what I’ve done. And it’s not a hardship to let a beautiful woman make love to me. I watch her while she finishes the buttons, then tips the shirt over my shoulders.
“Mmm,” she murmurs, running her fingers over my biceps and down my arms, then back up to my chest. “You’re a fine figure of a man, Mars Ashford.”
“Why, thank you.”
“I can’t believe I’ve got myself a toy boy.
” She gives a mischievous smile. “I’ve been too scared to believe I could keep a man like you interested.
You’re so young, and gorgeous, and fit…” She runs her fingers over my abs, and I shiver.
“But I’m done with that,” she says. “If you want me, I’m here for you.
If we do this, Mars, we both give it one hundred percent. ” Her voice is fierce. “Agreed?”
“Agreed,” I murmur. My heart swells. Wren captured my heart ten years ago. The thought that she’s finally going to let me into hers fills me with joy.
She unbuckles my belt, slides down the zipper of my trousers, and helps me out of them, and I remove my socks. Then she helps me out of my boxer-briefs, carefully lifting the elastic over my erection before dropping to a crouch, sliding them down my legs, and letting me step out of them.
Then she tips forward onto her knees.
My eyes widen as I realize what she’s about to do. “Ah… oh… wait, let me have a shower first…”
But she takes my cock in her hand, looks up at me as she moistens her lips, then closes her mouth over the tip.
The breath hisses through my teeth as I inhale sharply, and every muscle in my body tenses at the sensation of her tongue washing over my sensitive skin. Captivated by the sight of her sliding her lips down the shaft, I slide my hand into her hair and gently cup her head.
Holy fuck. It’s the first time she’s done this. In fact it’s the first time she’s really shown any initiative in bed at all. It’s only now that I realize how much she was holding back. How scared she was of letting go. How afraid she really was.
My heart goes out to her. I know how much it’s costing her to open up like this. Showing vulnerability to someone else is one of the hardest things to do in life, especially when you’ve been hurt in the past. But she trusts me. And shit, if that isn’t the greatest aphrodisiac a man could ever have.
Ahhh… it feels amazing, the exquisite sensations amplified by the thought of her wanting to please me.
I tip my head back and close my eyes for a while, enjoying every second as she licks and strokes me.
She murmurs her approval, exploring with her tongue and fingers, discovering every part of me.
Eventually I drop my head again and watch her through hazy eyes, finding it extremely erotic to watch myself disappearing into her mouth.
“Ahhh… Birdy, that feels amazing… God, you turn me on so much…”
Encouraged, she strokes me more firmly and takes me deeper, and I feel the first glimmers of my climax way off in the distance.
“Babe…” I put my hands on her upper arms. “Stop.”
She moves back and looks up at me with her big blue eyes. “Sorry,” she says as I lift her to her feet. “Did I do something wrong?”
I give her a wry look. “No, not at all. Quite the opposite. We’re supposed to be making a baby, and if my biology is right, coming in your mouth doesn’t increase the chance of fertilization.”
She giggles and pulls me toward the bed. “Well, next week, when the fertility window has passed, I want to take you all the way.” She licks her lips.
“Definitely,” I reply, heat filling me.
She turns me and gestures for me to get on the bed, and I pull the duvet aside and lie back on the pillows. “On your front,” she states.
Eyebrows rising, I do as she bids and roll over.
She leans over me, and I feel her hot breath on my ear. “Good boy,” she murmurs.