18. Deacon
Chapter 18
Deacon
Bright white light landed on my living room floor from the window Charlie sat in front of. Her easel took up most of the corner with the large canvas settled on top of it. Her paints sat to her right as she combined colors onto her palette.
The long auburn strands of her hair were tied up high on the top of her head. Tendrils of curls draped loosely down her back and behind her ears. I paused behind the couch, taking in the view of her working. She was so small compared to the giant painting in front of her.
It amazed me how she was able to make the image of the tiny cabin’s backyard come to life. The way she moved the brush across the painting, taking care with the high and low-lights of the trees and water, made the image come to life as if I were standing right there. The crunchy winter grass beneath my feet and the smell of crisp fresh air in my lungs.
Last night had changed a part of me that I wasn’t prepared for. I was falling for her. This woman who had barreled into my life, unannounced and without abandon. A part of me had known there was something between us. The day of the fire, and my inability to make things right with her after, were a testament to that truth. A string of some sort had tied us together. Binding our souls…if that was even a thing.
God. I sounded like a fucking puppy dog who’d been at the shelter for too long and just wanted a home of his own. If my guys were still here, they’d be giving me shit for how tightly I was wrapped around her dainty little finger.
Charlie Banks was doing strange things to me. I watched her delicate neck bend as she tilted her head to the side to get a different perspective on her painting, and I felt it. That incessant pull to be near her. To hear her sweet laughter and to feel her supple body pressed against me with nothing between us. I wanted to sink into her. To stare at those beautiful depthless eyes forever.
And it fucking terrified me.
But I couldn’t let the fear in. If I did, I’d fuck this all to hell and end up chasing her away. And all I wanted was for her to stay right here with me.
“Mmm, something smells amazing!” she called out, not knowing I was only a few paces behind her. Frozen. Like a fucking coward.
I’d managed to keep myself in check since last night but allowing myself to be vulnerable wasn’t something I was used to and my grip on this new experience was starting to slip.
Before I had a chance to get my shit together, Charlie spun around on the wooden work stool I’d brought in for her from the garage.
“Good morning, handsome!” Her cheery voice was like a knife to the heart.
Don’t fuck this up, Deacon . Don’t you dare fuck this up.
She hopped off the stool and bounded toward me, Casper followed in her footsteps, prancing beside her. The smile she gave me was brilliant, like the first rays of sunshine casting through a cloud after endless rain. Warm and striking. It took the breath from my lungs.
“Is this one for me?” Completely unaware of my stupor, she nodded toward the plate in my hand.
“Yes,” I finally managed to say. The single word response seemed to break me from the shackles I’d put around my own mind. “I thought you might be hungry after all the work you’ve been doing.”
Despite our time together last night, she’d gotten up with the sun and set up her art corner in my living room before I’d made it out of bed. Seeing all her things there, like her art supplies belonged in my home, had awoken some insurmountable fear in me. This feeling that I had to protect her at all costs. And everywhere I looked there was a looming threat, waiting to take her away from me.
“That’s so sweet of you.” She took the plate from me and slid her other arm around my waist. “I really appreciate you doing that. I was going to make you breakfast before you woke up, but I got so carried away with my work.”
I pulled her close against me, not wanting to let her go. There was no resistance as she settled her cheek against my bare rib cage. Right against the scar that mirrored hers. A constant reminder of my failure. Despite her telling me the injury wasn’t my fault, I knew better. I’d taken seconds of precious time letting my emotions take over when I should have focused on getting her to safety.
Something snagged at my heartstrings with brute force as she kissed my forearm that was wrapped around her.
I was starting to lose it. The control I exerted over every part of my life. The one thing that had kept me from cracking under all the pressure I’d been through in my life.
I needed to step away. If I didn’t rein things in…I squeezed my eyes shut as my heart rate skyrocketed and my breaths quickened.
“Are you okay?” Charlie tilted her head back to look up at me. Placing a hand over my heart, I stilled, wondering if she could feel what was happening inside my body.
“I’m fine. I was just…wanting to take a closer look at your painting.” I couldn’t look at her. Because if I did, everything would come crumbling down and I needed to regain control.
She paused for a moment, and I knew she was questioning whether or not I was telling the truth. Thankfully, she didn’t push it. Instead, she let go of her hold on me and walked back toward the painting.
It took me a moment, but with a deep breath in, I let my shoulders drop and tried to empty the worries from my mind and followed her to her easel.
Setting the plate of food down on the small side table, she turned to me. “What do you see? ”
“In the painting?” I asked.
“Yeah. What do you see?” The blue in her eyes shone with delight that had my chest cracking in two; widening further so that there was room for these new feelings. Feelings I hadn’t let myself experience for a very long time.
It was startling and exciting and fucking terrifying.
I couldn’t let myself lose focus. I couldn’t let myself slip back to that place of fear. So, I looked at her painting and tried to focus.
At first glance, I saw exactly what it was. An image of my tiny cabin’s backyard. It was beautiful and appeared effortless. All the colors blended together just like they did in nature.
The longer I stared at it, though, the more I started to see beyond the initial image. I saw the depiction of the forest and river through Charlie’s eyes. The way she wanted it to be seen. Where the river was normally tumultuous and violent with its rapids over the rocks, she’d painted it as serene. Tranquil likeness of the trees were highlighted with a light layer of fog. Not eerie and unnerving. But soothing and inviting. It was…peaceful.
“I see you,” I whispered, throat thick with emotion as I turned back to her. “All I see is you.”
Like a blossoming flower, she unveiled herself to me at that moment. The way her entire face lit up had my chest nearly bursting. Not from fear…from something else. She was beautiful beyond anything I’d ever seen before.
She leapt into my arms. Her laughter and smile sent a flurry of tangles into my stomach. I laughed with her too as I spun us around the living room.
When she was in my arms like this, I could let everything else fall away. The worries. The judgment I’d made toward myself. All of it had vanished with the sound of her joy.
It was dizzying–the back and forth.
As I settled her back down in front of the easel, she beamed at me. “Do you understand the kind of compliment you just gave me? It’s literally an artist’s dream to be recognized through their work.” She rose to the tips of her toes and still had to stretch as she planted a kiss to my cheek. “And you just made my dream come true.”
“Is that right?” I raised my eyebrows at her before snaking my hands behind her waste and dipping them into the back pockets of her jeans.
“Mmhmm.” She nodded, biting her bottom lip. Fuck. My cock was already twitching seeing her bite that lip. “I feel like I should reward you for that.” Then the little vixen winked at me.
I tilted my head at her and smiled. She had something up her sleeve as she twisted in my arms. Her ass pressed firmly against my dick as she turned her back to me and bent over, dipping her finger into the puddle of syrup on her plate of pancakes.
“Keep teasing me like that, woman, and I’ll take you right here.” I ground my molars together as I tried to contain myself.
When she whirled around, the right edge of her lips was tilted upward in a knowing smirk. Syrup rolled slowly down her index finger. “But what if that’s exactly what I want you to do?”
A guttural sound ripped through my throat as she planted her sticky finger over my left nipple and painted me with the syrup. “Oops,” she noted before sticking her finger in her mouth and sucking off the remaining sweetness. Her freckled cheeks hollowed as she sucked. My head fell back as I gripped her hips hard.
“Fuck me,” I groaned, drawing out the words.
“My pleasure,” she said delectably before placing her palms on my sides and licking the dripping syrup from my chest. My fingers dove deeper into her soft hips as she swirled her tongue around my nipple, licking every bit of me clean. She looked up at me, those blue eyes intense with mischief.
My own little sunshine. So sweet and innocent in one moment, only to blind me with her sexiness the next.
“Mmm,” she hummed against me as she licked her way down my torso until she was on her knees in front of me.
I was panting like a fucking dog as she slid her small fingers under the waistband of my sweatpants. A wave of goosebumps rose along my stomach as she licked right above the edge of the waistband in one long go. Taking her hair and twisting it into my hand, I gripped hard, pulling her head back.
She arched a delicate brow at me. “Is my grumpy man on edge this morning? I thought three rounds with you last night would have worn you out.” Charlie tested me in ways I’d never experienced before, but this was on a whole new level.
I fucking loved it.
I grasped her hair firmly and bent down until my lips grazed her ear. “You want to test my stamina, baby girl?” I snorted. “Be careful what you ask for.”
Rising back to my full height, I held onto her hair with one hand and dove into my pants with the other. Releasing my cock over the edge of my pants, I watched the light in her eyes grow brighter with excitement.
“Keep your hands together behind your back.” Her shoulders adjusted as she interlaced her fingers, her closed fist falling just above her ass. “That’s my good fucking girl.” I pumped my cock twice then let it fall before I gripped her chin in my hand. “You want to use this pretty little mouth to test me? You want to see what I can fucking do to you?”
She nodded on a whimper.
“Open.” I pressed lightly on the corners of her lips until they opened wide for me. Her tongue was warm as I pressed the head of my cock against her.
“Yes,” I hissed between clenched teeth. “I’m going to fuck the sass right out of that pretty little mouth.”
Slowly, I guided her mouth onto my cock until she took me fully, wet heat surrounding every inch of me. She kept her eyes on me as I pulled out and let her tongue swirl over the tip. Like my dick was her favorite lollipop, she sucked on me hard, pulling me back to her even though her hands were still behind her back.
“Fuck yeah, baby girl. I love watching you take all of me.”
“Mmmm,” she murmured, the vibration in the back of her throat hit me in the best way.
Picking up the pace, I gathered the loose strands of her hair that had fallen and bunched them together again in my hand. She was so damn good at this. Licking the ridge of my length every time I pushed inside of her. My balls tightened. I was already getting closer. She felt so good. So fucking good.
Opening her mouth wider for me, she already knew what I wanted as I hit the back of her throat, gripping her hair hard with every thrust. “You take me so well,” I grunted as tears started to stream down her face from the effort. Not tears of pain, but of pure fucking ecstasy as she sucked me off, loving every second of it.
Tumbling toward the edge, I didn’t want to come this way. I wanted to be inside of her, stroking her pussy nice and deep.
With the most effort I’d put into anything in my life, I retreated. Charlie gasped for breaths with a delicious smile on her face. Releasing my hold on her hair, the tendrils fell forward over her shoulders, covering her breasts like some exotic mermaid.
Fear. Doubt. Worry. All the things I ran away from. All the things I wasn’t good at.
But this. With her. The physical. I could do this all day long.
Extending my hand toward her, she looked at it, head cocked to the side. “Are you already done with me?”
I huffed a breath as she slipped her small hand into mine. “Not even close.” I guided her toward the back of the couch and as she stepped in front of me, I planted my hand over her left breast. The edges of her scar seemed calmer than they had last night when she was itchy and irritated. The salve had worked, and I was thankful. I hated seeing her even the slightest bit uncomfortable.
Charlie tilted her head back, eyelashes fluttering as I moved my other hand to the small of her back, drawing her close. My cock pressed against her belly. I flexed it against her and her lips pulled back into a smile.
“I’m so wet for you, Deacon.” The sultry sound of her voice acknowledging the want she had for me had my entire body tensing with the need to claim her. My head dipped low as my hand skirted up her chest and over her decolletage until my fingers wrapped around her exquisite neck.
She bit her lower lip.
“Do you know what that fucking does to me?” My grip tightened against her skin.
“I think I have an idea,” she smirked.
“Why do you insist on testing me? Crossing all my boundaries and making me fucking feel ? I didn’t ask for this.” I walked her backward until her ass hit the back of the couch.
“I didn’t ask for you to come into my life and wreck me,” I said against her lips before I trailed my tongue along the open seam. Her little gasp of air had my dick throbbing to be inside of her.
“You didn’t ask,” she replied. “You begged me, Deacon. I could see it in your eyes. You wanted me from the second you saw me all those years ago.” She glared at me. My little sunshine fucking glared at me. Feisty didn’t begin to cover what she possessed behind that sweet facade. She was nothing but bright blue flames. The kind that burned the brightest.
“ Stop. Fighting. Us. ” Her words had my mind spinning.
No. I didn’t want to go there. I didn’t want to face all this yet. I just wanted to feel her and not think.
Whirling her around, I pushed her against the edge of the sofa until her front was flush with the leather. She moaned as I slipped my hand in front to find four buttons I hadn’t noticed before. My fingers fumbled with frustration as I tried to unclasp them as quickly as possible.
Her breathy giggle lightened my chest.
“Why are there so many damn buttons?”
Cheeks flushed, she peeked at me over her shoulder. “To add a little more of a challenge.”
I leaned over her back and nipped the bottom of her ear lobe. “Challenge accepted,” I drawled before I clasped both sides of the front of her jeans and pulled hard. A loud rip had two of the buttons flying toward the floor, landing with subtle thuds against the hardwood.
“So impatient,” Charlie giggled as I yanked her pants down and pulled them away from her feet.
“Mmm, I like these on you.” I tugged on the frilly black lace of her thong.
“I thought you might.”
The fact that she wore black panties just for me had my mouth watering. Charlie Banks was my fucking dream girl and here she was bent over the back of my couch with her perfect little peach in my face, ready for me to take her.
“Always plotting, I see.”
“Only when it comes to getting you inside of me,” her husky voice was like velvet over my skin.
Taking both her wrists in mine, I held them tight behind her back as I smoothed my palm over her ass cheek. “You’re about to get all of me, baby girl.”
With my other hand, I slid her thong to the side revealing her beautiful pink pussy. Rubbing my fingers over her clit, she strained against the hold I had on her wrists.
“Damn. You’re fucking dripping wet for me.”
She wiggled her ass, showing me how ready she was. Lining myself up at her entrance, I nudged her with the head of my cock.
“Is this what you want?”
“Yes,” she crooned, eyelids already growing heavy as she looked at me over her shoulder.
With my free hand, I gripped her ass and slid into her slowly. She was so warm and tight, I had to control myself from pounding into her. We’d had our fun last night, but this time I wanted to take it slow. I wanted to feel every part of her.
Her head dipped as she cried out right when I made the final inch and buried myself completely inside of her.
“Ah, so fucking good,” I groaned, nestling even deeper. With my feet, I pushed hers into a wider stance until she was completely open to me, then I slipped my hand between our thighs and rubbed her clit as I pulled out of her all the way.
When I sank back into her, her legs started to quiver. I loved making her feel like this. Loved seeing her wild side come out.
My fingers slipped over her wet clit as she started to back into me. “Deeper, Deacon. I need you deeper.”
A loud smack of her ass hitting my pelvis resounded around us as I slammed into her. When she cried out, I knew I’d hit her spot. “Yes, don’t stop. Please.”
Matching her desperate rhythm, I pounded into her. Her pussy clenched around my cock, tightening so hard around me I could tell I was getting her right where I wanted her to be. Delirious from the pleasure I gave her.
Charlie challenged my manhood with her delectable sweetness. I’d always prided myself in being able to last, but when it came to fucking her…it was hard to keep my grip.
A wild frenzy took hold of me as I let go of her wrists and dug my fingers into her luscious hips. Our labored breaths synced together as I slammed my cock into her over and over again, so fucking hard the couch started to inch forward.
“Deacon, I’m coming. I’m coming!” she panted before letting out a wild scream that had my balls cinching upward.
“Fuck!” I pulled out of her and stroked my shaft twice before my release sprayed over her pert ass. I caught her smiling at me as she wiggled her butt again.
Those blue eyes watched as I pumped my cock, the final bits of my release seeping over my hand.
She licked her lips, eyes dipping to my cock. “I can’t wait to see what part of me you’ll claim next.”
I snorted. “You might need to give me a few minutes first.”
“Oh?” She pouted, sticking her bottom lip out as I picked up my sweatpants and wiped her clean. “I thought you were supposed to show me what you’re made of.”
There she was again. My little sex vixen who liked to push me to the teetering edge of my limits.
Charlie turned around so she was facing me again. I stepped into her space, snaking my hand around the base of her neck then I ran my thumb along the edge of her bottom lip. The one she’d used to guilt me into fucking her only a second ago.
“I might need a moment, but there’s no way I’m done with you yet, baby girl,” I said before kneeling in front of her and claiming her sex with my mouth.
I spent the next hour ravishing her body until she could hardly keep her eyes open. All I could think to myself was that I’d never tire of this. Never tire of her .