Epilogue
Aleks
Two weeks later
“Are you sure, Aleks?”
I knew he wanted the actual word “yes” but my body was so crazy with need that it was hard to form the necessary sounds. Not to mention I could barely breathe.
Who would have thought Vaughn’s fingers could make me so mindless?
Well, his fingers… and his tongue… and his hot breath against my neck… and his words…
Like how beautiful I was.
And responsive.
And tight.
And hot.
And his.
I probably could have orgasmed from that last word alone because the way he’d said it – growled it, actually – was like its very own sex act.
Oh, and of course, who could forget that spot inside me that Vaughn knew just how to play to just completely rob me of the ability to speak or think?
In the best way.
“Please, James,” I managed to get out, because I knew he liked hearing the words. When I felt his penis start to push into me, I closed my eyes and pressed my mouth against his shoulder to keep from crying out.
In pleasure.
It wasn’t the first time Vaughn was penetrating me, but I swore, it seemed to get better each time and I had no clue how that was possible.
The first time I’d asked him to put himself inside of me, I’d chickened out and then I’d freaked out.
At that point, Vaughn had already introduced me to all the pleasures both his fingers and his tongue could bring my body, including that place where it had only ever hurt before.
But my mind had started playing tricks on me as soon as his dick had touched me there.
I’d started to cry and tell Vaughn I was sorry over and over again.
He’d immediately stopped and then he’d just held me for what had seemed like hours until I’d fallen asleep.
The next morning, we’d lain in our new bed and just talked and talked.
Well, I’d talked.
He’d listened.
I hadn’t been telling him anything new, but he knew that talking things out helped my mind work through everything, so he’d patiently listened and then he’d reminded me that if that one aspect of making love wasn’t something we ever did, he didn’t care.
Then he’d told me he loved me and we’d showered together where he’d proceeded to cherish my body and bring us both to a pleasurable end with his hands and mouth.
We’d tried again the next night, but only because I’d pushed so hard for it.
If it wasn’t something I could have with Vaughn, I’d wanted to know it.
The whole process had been slow and awkward at first, but Vaughn had made every second of it about me and my pleasure.
By the time he’d put himself inside of me, I’d been mentally prepared.
I’d figured it was something I could tolerate.
Then he’d started moving.
And touching me.
And talking to me.
And I’d been a goner.
So had my body.
He’d made me come twice before he’d finally spilled deep inside of me.
And I’d once again become addicted.
This was our third time with him making love to me and while he was still being careful by going super slow, I was very, very over all that. “Fuck me, James,” I practically demanded as I dragged him down for a kiss.
Vaughn smiled against my mouth. Then he pushed into me hard and deep.
I dug my nails into his back and closed my legs around his hips.
My body stung where his flesh was spreading me, but the burn that followed was like the sweetest drug.
I threaded my fingers through Vaughn’s hair as he thrust into me in a rhythmic glide that was both powerful and gentle at the same time.
But soon it wasn’t enough anymore and he and I both knew it.
“Do you need more, baby?” Vaughn asked me as he wiped at my sweaty brow with his fingers.
I bit into my lower lip and nodded.
God, I needed so much more.
Of all of it.
And I needed it forever.
“Say it will be us one day, James,” I said as I slid my hands to his shoulders. “Say it will be us standing in front of our family and friends saying words to each other that mean something just to us.”
“It will be, Aleks,” Vaughn said as he dropped his weight to his elbows and kissed me deeply before lifting his head again. “I’m going to tell you how one of the best days of my life was when you chose my grits.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. I caressed his cheek. He’d slowed his thrusts a little, enough so I could find my breath to speak, but it was just causing my orgasm to build on itself at frightening speed.
“And I’m going to tell you how much I love your butterscotch candy and that you’re a terrible dancer.”
Vaughn laughed. He’d gotten hooked on the dance video games I’d become obsessed with, but the man was as uncoordinated as a baby giraffe.
“You’ve got all the moves, baby,” he said.
I slid my hand down to his butt and squeezed. “You’ve got some pretty good ones.”
“Pretty good?” he asked. He suddenly pulled almost all the way out of me, shifted his hips and shoved into me hard, hitting my gland in the process. My entire body bowed off the bed, but I couldn’t really go anywhere because his weight was holding me down.
“Acceptable?” I asked.
He nailed me again. I cried out at the sensation that rocketed throughout my entire body.
“Lots of potential,” I gasped.
He chuckled against my mouth and then slammed into me again.
And again.
I clung to him as he drove me higher and higher. When I was right there, he suddenly stopped.
“No,” I croaked.
“I like the word godlike.” He kissed me softly but refused to move again until my body started to come down. Then he started all over again. When I was once again hanging on the edge of the cliff, he stopped.
“No, James, don’t stop,” I cried out in all seriousness.
“Aleks, look at me.”
I forced my eyes open. His eyes were black with passion and his forehead was creased with tension. “There’s only one word that’s good enough to describe this… us.”
I nodded because I knew what it was. I didn’t know how I knew, but I did. “Perfect,” I whispered.
His eyes widened just a little, then he slammed his mouth down on mine and began ramming into me hard, hitting my prostate every time. “Love you so fucking much, Aleks,” he breathed against me.
I wanted to say the words, but he chose that exact moment to send me over and then he was flying with me.
And I reminded myself I’d have to tell him just as soon as we both landed.
If we ever did.
“Aleks!”
I turned to look over my shoulder at Caleb as he approached, his baby daughter in his arms. “Tell Remy he needs to stay,” my friend said as he approached. My eyes shifted to the taller man behind Caleb.
“I should get back to work,” Remy said, looking uncomfortable.
Like me, he wasn’t one for crowds and Dante’s wedding reception was most definitely a crowd.
I was doing okay with being around all the people, but if Vaughn wasn’t by my side, I was constantly searching him out.
He seemed to know how important it was for him to always be in my line of sight and so he went out of his way to make that happen.
“It’s Sunday,” I said to Remy.
He looked really tired and I was certain he’d lost some weight recently. I knew it probably had had something to do with my abduction. Dante had told me how frantic Remy had been, especially when he’d learned the original plan had been for me to be taken back to Chicago.
Chicago was where Remy had spent most of his life after he’d been taken as a child.
He’d never told me the details of what had happened to him in captivity, just like I’d never told him about what I’d been through, but I knew from Dante that Remy had ended up working the streets of Chicago as a prostitute.
But not by choice.
I’d heard Marcus and his friends talking about how some kids who lost their “value” or were too much trouble to train were often sold to pimps. They were then turned into drug addicts to keep them dependent on their pimps.
Or they were threatened with death if they tried to walk away.
With Remy, it had been both.
After helping to find me, Ronan and one of his men, Memphis, had helped get Remy set up in a methadone program.
They’d also found him a job with a friend who owned a security firm.
As far as I knew, Remy was doing well both with his recovery and working a desk job at Barretti Security, but his appearance had changed drastically in the month since I’d been kidnapped.
I’d seen him only once in the past couple of weeks since I’d gotten back to Seattle.
I’d invited him to come over to the house Vaughn and I were renting from Magnus.
We’d moved in about a week after Dante and Magnus’s wedding because as much as I loved my brother, trying to live with him and my boyfriend at the same time was a living hell.
Dante was having a little bit of trouble accepting that I’d grown up in the past month and that while I’d always need him, I didn’t always need him like I had before I’d been abducted.
“I just have a little bit of paperwork I want to get done before a meeting tomorrow,” Remy said.
“At least wait until Magnus and Dante head out,” I said. My brother and Magnus were finally leaving today for their honeymoon. No doubt they’d delayed the whole thing because they’d been reluctant to leave me.
But I was well protected with Vaughn, as well as Ronan’s men, who were still shadowing me from afar.
Ronan had promised me it wouldn’t need to be for much longer…
they just needed to be sure that the message I was off-limits had been received loud and clear.
The fact that the very men who’d reveled in my return to their world were now facing substantial time behind bars seemed to have reinforced the fact that anyone who messed with me was messing with my family.
So between Vaughn and the men I was only now starting to meet and whose stories I was coming to learn, I was probably one of the most well-guarded people in the entire world.
“Hey, you got it back,” Caleb said as he motioned to the bracelet on my left wrist.