Chapter Thirty-Eight
Derek
“Derek—please—”
“Please what?” I slid my hand down her stomach, over her hip, to the waistband of her panties. “Tell me what you need, baby.”
“You.” Her voice was desperate, and fuck if that didn’t make me harder. “I need you inside me.”
I hooked my fingers in her panties and pulled them down her legs, tossing them aside. And then my hand was between her thighs, my fingers sliding through her wetness.
“Fuck, Kat. You’re soaked.”
“For you.” She gasped as I circled her clit with my thumb. “Only for you.”
The words hit me hard. Only for me. Mine.
I groaned and slid two fingers inside her, and she cried out at the sudden fullness. I pumped them slowly, my thumb still working her clit, watching her face as the pleasure built. She was so fucking beautiful like this, flushed, desperate, completely undone.
“Derek... I’m gonna—”
“Not yet.” I pulled my fingers out, and she whimpered at the loss. “I want to feel you come around my cock.”
I positioned myself at her entrance, the thick head of my cock pressing against her, and I had to force myself to breathe. This is it. This is everything.
“Look at me,” I commanded, and her eyes snapped to mine. “I want to see your face when I make you mine.”
And then I pushed inside.
Slowly. So fucking slowly.
She cried out at the stretch, and I groaned at the tight heat of her. She was so fucking tight, so perfect, and it took everything in me not to just slam into her and take what I needed.
Easy. Don’t hurt her.
“Fuck,” I groaned, my forehead pressing against hers. My entire body was tense, trembling with the effort of holding back. “You’re so tight, baby. So fucking perfect. Like your body was made just for me.”
I stilled when I was only halfway in, giving her time to adjust. Her breathing was ragged as her body trembled beneath me.
God, she feels so good. So fucking good.
“Okay?” I asked, my voice strained, my jaw clenched.
“Yeah.” She wrapped her legs around my waist, pulling me deeper, and we both groaned as I sank another inch. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
“Never.” I kissed her, slow and deep, as I pushed in further. “I’m never stopping, Kat. You’re mine now.”
When I finally bottomed out, buried completely inside her, we both went still. The sensation was overwhelming—the tight heat of her, the way she gripped me, the way she fit me so perfectly it felt like coming home.
This. This is what I’ve been missing. This is everything.
“Breathe, baby,” I murmured against her lips. “Just breathe.”
She did, and I felt her body relax around me, accepting me.
“Move,” she whispered. “Please, Derek. I need you to move.”
I pulled back slowly, so slowly I could feel every inch of her gripping me, and then thrust back in.
We both groaned at the sensation.
“Fuck, Kat.” My voice was wrecked. “You feel so good. So fucking good.”
I set a slow, steady rhythm, each thrust deep and deliberate. I wanted to memorize this, the way she felt, the sounds she made, the way her body responded to mine.
Mine. She’s mine. Finally fucking mine.
I buried my face against her neck, my breath hot on her skin. She clenched around me, and I groaned.
“Fuck.” I thrust harder. “Do that again.”
She did, squeezing me deliberately, and I cursed, my hips snapping forward.
She’s going to kill me. This woman is going to fucking kill me.
“You’re gonna make me lose control,” I warned, my voice rough.
“Good.” She dug her nails into my shoulders. “I want you to lose control. I want you to fuck me like you mean it.”
My hands gripped her hips, my fingers digging into her skin hard enough to bruise, and I started to move faster, harder, each thrust driving her up the bed.
“Is this what you want?” I growled, my voice rough and possessive. “You want me to fuck you hard? You want me to claim this pussy as mine?”
“Yes!” she cried out, her head falling back against the pillow. “Yes, Derek. Just like that. Harder.”
I pounded into her, the sound of skin slapping against skin filling the room, and I could feel her getting tighter around me, could feel her climbing toward the edge.
God, she’s perfect. So fucking perfect.
“Look at me,” I commanded, and her eyes flew open to meet mine. “I want to see you when you fall apart for me.”
The intensity in her gaze, the trust, the need, the love, made my chest ache.
“You’re mine, Kat,” I said, each word punctuated by a deep, brutal thrust. “Say it. Tell me you’re mine.”
“I’m yours,” she gasped. “I’m yours, Derek. Only yours.”
“Damn right you are.” I shifted the angle slightly, and suddenly I was hitting that perfect spot inside her with every thrust. “And I’m never letting you go. Never.”
Her entire body was trembling, and I could feel her getting wetter, could hear the obscene sounds our bodies made as I drove into her again and again.
“Touch yourself,” I commanded, my voice ragged. “I want to feel you come around my cock. I want to feel this tight little pussy squeeze me when you fall apart.”
She slid her hand between us and circled her clit, and I groaned at the sight of her touching herself while I fucked her.
Fuck. That’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
“That’s it, baby.” My thrusts grew more erratic, my breathing ragged. “You’re so close. I can feel it. I can feel you getting tighter around me.”
She was right on the edge, her entire body coiled tight.
“Derek...” My name came out as a broken sob.
“Come for me, Kat.” I leaned down and bit her neck, hard enough to sting. “Come all over my cock. Let me feel you.”
She came with a scream, her body clenching around me so hard I saw stars. The feeling of her coming apart around me, the way she squeezed me, the way she said my name, it was too much.
“Fuck, Kat!” My voice was wrecked. “Fuck, you’re squeezing me so tight. I can’t...”
I thrust into her one last time, burying myself as deep as I could go, and I came harder than I ever had in my life. My entire body shuddered, my arms trembling as I held myself up, and the feeling of filling her, claiming her, made everything else fade away.
Mine. She’s mine. Finally.
“Mine,” I groaned against her neck. “You’re mine, Kat. All mine.”
“Yours,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “I’m yours.”
For a long moment, we just lay there, breathing hard, our bodies still joined. I was still inside her, and I could feel the aftershocks of her orgasm rippling through her every time one of us moved.
I lifted my head and looked down at her, and the sight of her, flushed, satisfied, looking at me like I was everything, made that spot deep in my chest crack wide open.
I love her. God, I love her so fucking much.
I kissed her then, slow and deep and tender, and something shifted between us.
“I love you,” I murmured against her lips. “God, Kat, I love you so much.”
Tears pricked at her eyes. “I love you too.”
I stayed inside her for another moment, just holding her, my forehead pressed against hers. And then, slowly, I pulled out, and we both groaned at the loss.
I rolled to the side, pulling her with me, and she curled into my chest, her heart still racing against mine.
“That was...” she started, but she didn’t have words.
“Yeah.” My hand stroked up and down her back, soothing. “It was.”
She tilted her head up to look at me, and the tenderness in her eyes made my chest tightened.
“I love you,” I said softly. “I know I already said it, but I need you to know. I love you, Kat. And I’m not going anywhere.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek. “I love you too.”
I tightened my arms around her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
This. This is what I’ve been fighting for. This is everything.
We lay there in comfortable silence for a while, just holding each other, and I felt more at peace than I had in years.
I ran my fingers lazily along her spine, tracing the delicate curve of her back. She was so perfect, so completely mine now. The thought of building a life with her, a real life, made something fierce and protective surge through me.
She’s mine. Frankie’s mine. We’re a family.
The thought made something warm bloom in my chest.
“Kat?” My voice was soft in the darkness.
“Hmm?” She tilted her head up to look at me, her eyes still heavy with satisfaction.
“What do you think about giving Frankie siblings?” The question came out before I’d fully thought it through, but once it was out there, I realized how much I meant it. “I mean... she’s twelve now. And I know she loves having Cami and Nox around. Have you ever thought about expanding our family?”
Siblings. More kids. A bigger family.
The idea made my heart ache with longing.
She went still against me, and I felt her entire body tense. Her hand, which had been resting on my chest, curled into a fist.
“Kat?” I prompted, my hand stilling on her back. “What is it? Talk to me.”
“You had a vasectomy—sure, they can be reversed sometimes,” she whispered. “but I can’t have children, Derek. That’s why I adopted Frankie.”
The words hit me, but not in the way she probably expected.
“Kat—”
“I had severe adenomyosis,” she continued, her voice shaking. “The doctors said the only option was a hysterectomy. I was twenty-three.”
“Kat.” I tilted her face up to look at me. “I don’t want to get a reversal; I’m happy with the decision I made.”
She looked up at me, her eyes glassy. “Really?”
“Really.” I kissed her forehead. “But... there is something I need to tell you.”
She tensed slightly. “What?”
“I know of three girls,” I said carefully. “Three girls who desperately need a home. Who need a family.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“Hannah and her two sisters,” I said. “Stacy’s daughters.”
The color drained from her face. “What?”
“I asked Nav to keep an eye on them, and it’s getting worse,” I said quietly.
She sat up abruptly, pulling away from me. “Stacy’s girls?”
“Yes.” I sat up with her, keeping my hand on her back. I took a breath. “Nav’s been monitoring them. The situation is rough. They’re going to end up in the system if someone doesn’t step up,” I said carefully. “They need a home. They need a family.”
She stared at me, and I could see the wheels turning in her head—the guilt, the grief, the desperate need to fix what she couldn’t fix years ago.
“Hannah,” she said softly. “She was seven when I left. The girls were even younger.”
“Fourteen, eleven, and nine now,” I confirmed.
“And they need a home?”
“They need a family,” I corrected. “They need people who will love them and protect them and give them a chance at a real life. People who already know them. Who already care.”
She was quiet for a long moment, her eyes filling with tears.
“Tell me everything,” she finally said. “Tell me what’s been happening to them.”
And as I started to talk, describing what Nav had observed and what the three girls had been enduring, I saw something shift in Kat’s eyes.
Not just hope.
Purpose.
And maybe, just maybe, the beginning of something beautiful.