37. Alice #2
“No.” Colt sits up, the quilt falling away.
His hands cup my face, thumbs sweeping my cheekbones.
“I saw you in that letter, Alice. I felt a kind of…kinship…when I read it. For years, I didn’t write back because you always seemed so happy.
And I didn’t want to take that away from you by introducing my own…
shit. But I should have. I should’ve answered every single one.
” He shakes his head. “I see that now. But that last letter you sent me… Yes, I was worried. But also… It made me feel like maybe you understood me more than I realized. And that we weren’t so far apart after all. ”
Tears burn my eyes. “And so we found each other.”
Colt nods emphatically. “Yes, Alice, we found each other.”
I start to cry then, unable to silence the question that’s burned inside my brain since he said his mom’s house sold. “And for what?” I falter. “So I can have my heart broken when you leave?”
He drops his head, and the world holds its breath. I don’t dare move. Don’t dare speak. Because what he says next determines everything. If he confirms that he’s leaving next week, I will crumble right here on this bed—a handful of ashes tossed to the wind.
Colt presses his forehead to mine, breath warm against my lips. “Alice,” he says, his eyes closing. “I could never leave you.” He kisses me once, soft. “You are my home.” Another kiss, deeper. “You are everything I never allowed myself to want.”
My heart sings, and laughter—rich with relief—bursts from my chest at his words.
“I want you, Alice,” he continues. “Every moment of the day. I want to wake up beside you every morning. I want to go to bed with you every night. Building this dream beside you… It’s been the best few months of my life.” His mouth finds mine again, slow and sure, tasting of salt from my tears.
“You’re not leaving? I whisper against him.
“If you want me to stay—”
“I do,” I say fiercely. “Don’t leave me.”
“Never.” The word fires from his mouth. “I will never leave you. I would live in your backyard if it meant staying near you. I would sleep in the chicken coop.”
I laugh through the tears, and he smiles against my mouth.
“I thought I could go,” he admits quietly, rocking his forehead back and forth against mine. “I thought you might have a better life with someone else. But when I saw you get hurt in the river—”
“No.” My hands fist in his flannel shirt. “It’s only ever been you, my Colt. It can only be you.”
Colt grabs my face and kisses me with a longing I feel down to my bones. His fingers find the hem of my sweater, and he peels it up and over my head. The cool air hits my skin, but the warmth of his mouth is right there, kissing the slope of my shoulder and the hollow of my throat.
“You really came back after you got my last letter?” I ask.
“The second I got it.” His hands slide down my ribs, pulling me against him. “I wasn’t surprised to see you in the Hall that night, Alice,” he says. “I was searching for you. My whole life, I’ve been searching for you.”
Colt kisses me like he’s sealing a vow.
And the heat between us ignites.
“Colt.” I breathe his name, euphoria flooding my system.
He looks at me, eyes turning hungry, drinking in the sound of his name in my mouth. He pulls off my jeans and panties, kissing the insides of my thighs, my ankles, as he goes. The fatigue we felt moments ago is forgotten, replaced by the need to show each other how we feel.
“Lie back for me, baby,” he murmurs, voice low but commanding. “Let me see you.”
I do, spreading my legs. He settles between them, breath hot on my inner thigh, teasing, before ghosting over my pussy. “So perfect,” he whispers, tugging me closer toward his impatient mouth. “Are you wet for me, my Ali?”
“Yes,” I gasp.
He licks a stripe up my center, tongue warm and flat against my clit.
I arch with a gasp and he groans in approval, the vibration shooting straight through me.
“You taste so damn good. I could devour you whole.” He sucks my clit gently, then harder, two fingers sliding into me.
I clench around them, moaning. He pumps slowly, mouth never leaving my clit.
“That’s it.” He raises his head to watch me writhe beneath his touch. “Look at me, Alice.”
My eyes find him at once.
“Watch me work your cunt.”
I whimper, my head falling back.
“Baby,” he urges. “Watch me.”
I force my head up and watch as his forearm flexes, fingers disappearing inside me.
“You’re squeezing me so tight already,” he growls.
“I can’t wait to get my cock inside you.
On your knees now, Ali,” he says abruptly, as if recognizing he can’t wait a moment longer.
I obey, trembling with desire as Colt undresses, because I worship this side of him.
The one that allows me to relinquish control and trust that he’ll bring pleasure to us both.
He juts his chin toward the bed. “Hands on the headboard.”
I watch for a moment longer as his cock springs free, thick and heavy. He strokes it a few times, then moves toward me. Turning, I grab hold of the headboard, already spreading my legs. Wanting him so badly I’m vibrating with need.
Because Colt is here.
And he isn’t leaving.
Colt kneels behind me, cock nudging my entrance.
He wraps one arm around my waist, holding me in place, then he buries his face in the crook of my neck.
“Alice,” he breathes as he pushes into me an inch.
The emotion in his voice tangles with his lust, making my pussy throb.
He leans back a touch, watching his cock disappear the rest of the way inside me.
“Look at you,” he groans, barely audible.
“So beautiful stretched around my cock. And you’re mine. All fucking mine.”
I moan hearing that word on his tongue—mine.
He bottoms out and stills, letting me adjust, one hand gripping my hip, the other reaching around to circle my clit. “Move for me, baby. Show me how bad you need it. Show me that you’re mine.”
I rock backward, fucking myself on his cock. The words tumble out of my sweet, quiet Colt’s mouth as I work myself, using his body for my own pleasure.
“That’s my girl,” he growls. “Take what you need.”
The angle is deep, devastating.
Colt pulls out and moves me onto my back with a gentleness that belies the filth spilling from his lips.
Filth I want to swallow whole and beg for more.
I will never have enough of this man. Will never get enough of those abs, those biceps.
The raw desire in his eyes and the feel of his cock buried inside me.
Colt slides back into me, his body covering mine. “Wrap your legs around me.”
I lock my legs around his waist. “Yes, sir.”
Colt’s head snaps back, his eyes darkening. “Say it again,” he growls, pupils blown wide.
A bolt of confidence fires through me at the look on his face. At the memory of him saying he’d do anything to remain by my side. “Yes, sir.” I drag the words, biting my bottom lip. “I’m ready to obey your every command, sir.”
Colt drops his head to my shoulder. “Fuuuuck me.”
“Gladly.” I rock against him.
Colt thrusts into me, his movements growing erratic. My hips meet every thrust, my fingers gripping the muscles in his back until he captures both wrists and pins them above my head, driving into me faster, deeper.
He slows, kissing me. Against my lips, he breathes, “Not done with you yet.” He pulls out, lies back, and guides me on top of him. “Ride me, Alice,” he instructs. “Slow at first. Let me feel every bit of you.”
I sink down onto him and he grips my hips, guiding me as I start to move. Every rock drags my clit against him, making my vision dance and my breath quicken.
“Beautiful,” he whispers when I sit straight up. His eyes sweep over my body, my face. “You’re so beautiful.”
He sounds reverent, entranced.
He sounds like a man in love.
I ride him harder, grinding my clit against his pelvis. He sits up suddenly, arms wrapping around my middle, warm mouth on my nipple when I arch backward. And then he’s pulling me flat against his chest as I continue taking him. One of his hands slides up to cup the back of my head.
“Tell me you’re mine.” He moves faster.
“Yours,” I say at once.
I’m nearly sobbing with pleasure now, my orgasm hurtling toward me with the force of a tsunami. My nails dig into his back as Colt thrusts upward into me. “Alice,” he says again, that same tone as before. Broken. Vulnerable. Desperate. “Alice…I—”
“I know,” I whisper, crashing my mouth onto his. “I know.”
He kisses me like he’s dying. Like this is the last thing he’ll get to do on this green earth. His rhythm falters, hips snapping harder. “Come with me, baby,” he murmurs, his lips against mine. “Come with me.”
We crash over together, his cock pulsing deep inside me, my walls gripping him as ecstasy cracks me open, filling me with him, and him, and him until I know nothing but pleasure. Until my heart is so full from joy and our future that I fear I’ll die in his arms.
After a minute, our chests still heaving, he eases out of me, pulling me into his arms again as we collapse onto our sides. His heart hammers against my back, his fingers sliding up to gently sweep my hair from my face. He leans forward and presses a lingering kiss between my shoulder blades.
A smile forms on my lips, and though I’ve worn many smiles in my life, I’ve never known one like this. “Colt?”
“Mmm,” he hums against my skin.
“Maybe instead of sleeping in the chicken coop,” I say, “you could sleep here. In this bed.”
Colt doesn’t respond at first. Then he backs up and pulls my shoulder until I turn to face him. His hand cups the back of my neck and his eyes are unwavering when he replies, “Anywhere you are, Alice Sinclair, that’s where I’ll be.”
I smile at that, even wider than before, letting my head fall to his chest. When at last we succumb to sleep, me drifting off to the sound of his heartbeat steady against my cheek, one single thought shines bright and full of possibility in my mind—
Colt is my forever.