Chapter 46
Rhodes
Driving back from Maggie’s, the truck was filled with the comfortable silence that came after good food and good company.
My headlights cut an easy path on the darkened roads as I drove, and I tried to pay attention for any wildlife that might dart out.
Sure, I was used to the city, but out here you had to be ready for all sorts of shit.
Opal was passed out in the back seat, her breaths making her lips puff out in little snores.
She’d had an absolute blast chasing Fish in the back garden and being carried everywhere by Kipp, Wade, and East. They’d either put her on their shoulders or zing her around like she was an airplane and didn’t weigh forty pounds.
She’d shown off videos of Cheese on my phone while everyone oohed and ahhed over him chasing his tail and bringing back the acorn cap.
All of it had been a perfect distraction for Sage and the worry that had been rippling through the entire Holt clan for the last month and a half.
They masked it well, but I knew they all wondered when the next shoe would drop.
They were protective and fierce in their love.
That didn’t make me admire them even more.
Seeing them fold my daughter and me into their little clan. Well, that just hit me in the feels.
I held Sage’s hand under mine while we drove, savoring the way her palm fit there. I still wanted to touch base with her about everything. In no way did I want to take for granted that Catherine’s bullshit hadn’t dented the shields she had up.
Apparently, more drastic measures were going to be necessary to get my ex-wife out of the area.
All the reports I’d been hearing were about her reckless behavior, but this was the first time she’d approached Sage.
That meant she was sticking around for a reason, so I clearly needed to do something, but hell if I knew what.
I squeezed her hand to draw a small smile from her.
She still looked wrung out from talking to Maggie in the back garden.
I guessed it hadn’t gone exactly as she’d hoped.
The files showed no indication that the Holts had ever known about the home invasion.
Sage seemed reluctant to broach the topic with me or even with Hattie to get more information about her childhood, and I wasn’t sure she wanted to remember.
The gate loomed in the dark as we pulled up.
I rested my hand on the pad, entered the code, then continued down the driveway.
When I’d first taken on this property, I’d been overwhelmed by its size and the project list, but now that we’d been here a few months, there was a sense of peace.
It was contentment in having found a place for Opal and me, knowing I’d made the right decision.
Leaving Redhawk was an adjustment, but I was juggling things with Briggs, who was handling the operations side. It was working out okay, but he’d need help if I couldn’t go to Seattle more often. Parrish might be an excellent addition to the leadership team. I’d have to think it over.
"You grab the leftovers? I'll get the kid.”
"Deal. She’s a little heavy for me when she’s crashed out so hard. All that excitement with Fish.” Sage glanced back at her, giving a little smile.
After unbuckling her, I scooped my daughter up against me and held her weight easily against my chest. She was a little sticky from all her running with the dog through the grass and still sweaty, but it meant she’d played hard.
Cradling her head with one hand, I balanced her weight and didn’t jostle her too much as we climbed the stairs.
She mumbled against me about dogs and faeries, nuzzling into my neck.
Sage followed, turning on the light and putting the Tupperware on the counter.
We’d been getting into a routine these last few weeks, and she got Opal’s pajamas out for me with the unicorns with tiaras that she liked.
“Love you the mostest, Daddy.” Her eyes were half-open as I eased her arms through the sleeves and tucked her in. Cheese curled up against her with a contented purr.
“Love you more than all the unicorns.” I pushed her hair back and gave her forehead a soft kiss, turning down the light, lingering just a moment to watch her.
Downstairs, Sage had curled up on the couch, her legs tucked under her as she clicked through her emails on her phone.
She looked every bit the woman who had upended my ideas about including someone in my future.
Her cutoffs had ridden up all the way to the flesh of her thighs, and her faded tee clung to her curves in that way that had my blood singing.
But if I were honest, everything about her made me hot.
“Today was rough,” I began as I sat with her.
She scooted closer to me, leaning into my side until I tucked an arm around her. She gave a contented sigh. This was one of the things that I enjoyed about our relationship. She found comfort in my presence as much as I did in hers.
“You have a past with Catherine, but she’s not going to ruin what we have.” She looped her legs over mine, biting her lip in a way that made my dick harden. “I won’t let her.”
“Me neither. I wish she’d go back to Seattle, but I’m not sure I can do anything about it.” My palm spread wider and caressed the curve of her knee. “Apparently, she’s been getting drunk and partying it up a few towns over. I offered to pay for her to go to treatment, but she wasn’t interested.”
“There isn’t much you can do about it if she doesn’t want help.” Sage’s hand soothed my neck as if trying to ease the tension gathering there.
“I guess.” I didn’t like it, or the way she was hovering around the edges of our lives. Sage curled against me as I trailed my hands along her ankles and calves, testing the soft flesh there.
I moved my hand further up her thighs, and her eyes hooded as she moved to straddle me, grinding against me as she tangled her hands behind my neck.
Pulling her t-shirt off, I moaned when I saw the delicate, shell pink bra that somehow held up her glorious tits.
By now, I was well acquainted with her lingerie choices, and somehow, they still took my breath away.
It did something to me to look over at her, bent over the flower beds in her overalls, knowing she was wearing the most delicate lingerie imaginable.
Crushing her mouth to mine, she sealed our lips in a kiss that was all hot yearning and tasted like cookies.
God, she wrecked me. I’d been in love with her since she called me Sasquatch in that hospital room.
Maybe I’d been fighting it since then, but as she pressed against me, I realized I was a goner.
Her hips ground against me desperately, but the things I wanted to do weren’t couch-rated. Hiking her up against me like a koala, we made our way upstairs, where I deposited her on the bed with a hot look. Fuck, she was a goddess.
“Strip,” I ordered. My voice rough. She complied, watching me as I checked the security cams to make sure Opal was asleep.
She wasn’t wearing much, but she made each piece count, pulling the straps of her bra down and then lowering the cups before releasing the weight of each breast into her hands, caressing them gently until her nipples puckered.
Only then did she undo the strap, pull the material off, and start on her shorts, wiggling out of them to reveal the tiny thong.
“Teasing me? You’re playing a dangerous game. Take that off, too.”
She gave me a slanted smile. “Maybe that’s what I want.” She hitched a finger on each side of the thong and eased it down.
I stripped out of my t-shirt and jeans before crawling over her. We’d learned each other over the last few months, and I knew how to make her go off like a rocket. My guess was that she was already dripping.
“I love you,” I snarled, dropping to my knees on the bed and yanking her by her ankles towards me. She was already glistening, the lips of her pussy slick and wet. Goddamn, that sent a bolt of raw need straight to my cock.
I spread her thighs wide, rough hands bruising as I held her open, diving in like a man starved. My mouth claimed her without mercy. Being with her like this was one of my favorite things as I thrust my tongue deep to lap at her with brutal strokes. It was intimate and raw.
She bucked, a cry ripping from her throat, but I pinned her down, one arm across her hips and belly like a vice.
"That's it—feel how much I want you. Only you.
" I sucked her clit hard and let my teeth graze just enough to make her jolt.
My fingers joined the assault—two plunging in to curl and hit that spot that made her walls clench.
Her hands fisted the sheets as she gasped. “Rhodes…” Her back arched off the bed. Her taste exploded on my tongue, sweet and addictive. I growled against her, my free hand pinching a nipple, twisting just shy of pain.
“Nobody else could make you drip like this.” I pulled back for a second, blowing cool air on her swollen clit, watching her squirm. "Say it. Who loves you?”
"You do,” she moaned, hips grinding against my face, desperate for more.
Damn right. I dove back in, tongue fucking her relentlessly, fingers pumping faster, the wet sounds filling the room like a filthy symphony. She was close—I felt it in the tremble of her thighs, and the way she clenched around me. "Come for me, baby. Drown me in it."
She shattered with a scream, body convulsing, flooding my mouth as I licked her through every wave, not stopping until she was a quivering mess, begging for mercy.
But mercy wasn't on the menu tonight. I stood to shuck my boxers so my cock sprang free—hard and throbbing. Already pre-cum beaded at the tip.
"On your knees," I commanded, flipping her over, positioning her ass up, face down on the mattress. She arched back, that perfect curve begging to be claimed. I grabbed a condom from the nightstand, tearing it open with my teeth.
"Rhodes—please," she whimpered, voice muffled in the sheets.
"Please, what?" I teased her entrance with my tip, sliding just the crown in, then pulling out, making her whine. The feeling was insane as I traced over the curve of her ass, spreading her cheeks and plunging my cock just teasingly inside her folds.
“You. Inside me. Love me. Love me hard.”
Yes. That’s what I wanted to hear. I slammed to the hilt, a guttural groan escaping as her heat enveloped me, tight and perfect. Gripping her hips, I pounded into her with brutal thrusts, making the bedframe jostle. “You want me to own every inch?"
"God, yes," she cried, as she pushed back to meet me. Her moans had my balls tightening, and it was all I could do not to blow right then.
Leaning over her, I yanked her head back for a messy kiss, tongues clashing as I drove deeper. The other snaked around to rub her clit, rough circles that had her clenching, milking me. "You're everything, Sage. Feel that?"
She managed to nod, just before her moans turned to a scream that she buried in the pillow. Increasing my angle even further, I continued to fuck her until I was sure I’d explode. I wanted to own every part of her and tie her to me in every way.
Sweat slicked our bodies, and the room filled with our grunts and gasps with the scent of sex heavy in the air. "Come again,” I ground out. “Squeeze me dry."
She exploded, her walls pulsing as she pulled my release from me. Heaving over her, I tried to gather myself back together enough to kiss the salty skin of her shoulder.
Discarding the condom, I pulled her against my chest. “I love you,” I murmured, kissing her damp forehead. She smiled, tracing patterns on my skin, before she gave me the words I’d been praying for. Words that had only been said to me by my parents or my daughter.
“I love you too.” She gave me a soft smile. “So much.”