Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Atlas
Cora’s been quiet since we left the shop. I’m not as on edge as I was earlier. I still want to murder someone, but since her parents are already dead, and I don’t know who is sending her threatening notes and flowers, I have to wait. Noah and I sat together for a while. He really is a cool kid.
I can tell Cora has tried to erase any lingering pieces of his early childhood. Thank God for Emma. I’d be dead without her, either at the hands of my foster father or by my own reckless decisions.
Pulling up to Cora’s house, I cut the engine and help her grab their bags. Unlocking her front door, she walks past me with a quirk of her eyebrow.
“How’d you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Open the door. I know I locked it when we left.” She crosses her arms over her chest, then eyes Noah. “Go grab a shower, stinky.”
Rolling his eyes, he walks up the stairs, leaving the two of us alone. I’ve been dying to get her to myself all day, and I’m not wasting any time. “I didn’t know you wear glasses.” I close the distance between us, standing chest to chest. She’s so much smaller than I am. I fucking love it.
I could easily overpower her if I wanted to, but I don’t, not unless we’re in bed. There’s so much I want from her. I want to hold her and take care of her. I want her to let me love her. I want her to let me in. Fully.
“It’s a requirement for librarians. Proves we’ve spent too many hours reading books in the dark,” she jokes.
“You look sexy in them, baby. With your hair pulled up like that, it’s given me all sorts of ideas all day.”
“Is that so?” Reaching toward me, Cora grabs my waist and pulls my body closer toward her. My dick twitches at her boldness.
I’m usually the one to initiate contact, so when she does it, fuck, it turns me on. There’s so much I want to do, both with her and to her.
Straining to listen, I hear the shower still going.
Good, we still have some time. “It is. Everything about you is sexy.” I bend to kiss her.
Starting at her forehead, I move down to her cheeks and nose, lightly pressing my lips as I go.
“There is not a part of your body I don’t want to touch or taste,” I whisper as I capture her lips with mine.
Cora releases a sigh and leans against me.
Wrapping my arms around her, I lift her into my arms. Instinctively, her legs wrap around my waist, and without breaking my hold, I walk us to the living room.
I want more space, and if I sit her on the counter, it will be a repeat performance of last night.
Not that I’m complaining. I’d never turn down a taste of my girl, but Noah is still wide awake, and I’d rather not scar him for life.
Sitting on the couch, I keep Cora in my lap. I groan when she arches her body against mine, grinding on my hard dick. I barely fight the urge to rip her leggings off and sink into her. Patience, Atlas.
“God, you feel so good.” I pull my lips from hers and stare into her eyes. I’m so fucking in love with her, and as much as it should scare me, it doesn’t. I’ve waited my whole, miserable life for her. Cora is everything.
She has no idea what she does to me. The blue of her eyes is tinged dark with lust, but she squeezes them shut as she leans her forehead against mine. Rubbing circles on her back, I freeze when she speaks.
“We have to talk, Atlas,” she starts, blowing out a puff of warm air.
Talk? No. I’m more of a man of action. Pulling her lips back to mine, I kiss her harder than before.
Taking advantage of her surprised gasp, I slide my tongue against hers.
Grabbing the side of her face, I hold her where I want her, deepening the kiss.
I feel her pulling back again, and as much as it pains me to, I let her go.
“Atlas, I mean it.” She pins me with a serious look. “I need you to give me time to—”
“Cora! I’m done!” Noah shouts from upstairs. I was so preoccupied, I didn’t realize the water had turned off. Giving me a look, she moves off my lap. I wince when she grazes my dick. It’s painfully hard, and I want her to come back and sit on it some more, preferably naked with her glasses on.
“Go. I’ll wait.”
Nodding, she heads up the stairs. While she’s gone, I look through the photos on my phone. She doesn’t know it, but when we had dinner, I took a couple of pictures of her. I desperately want one of us together. Maybe I can get one at the shop. Stowing that idea for later, I focus on the image.
It’s from when we were sitting at the table. Emma and Cora were talking and laughing, and I was reading a text from Seth, but when I heard Cora’s laugh, I quickly focused my attention back on her. In the image, she’s grinning with her head thrown back in laughter.
Cora is the perfect light to the darkness that lives in me. I needed to capture some of it for myself. She’ll never understand just how much she means to me. I never thought I could have something like this.
I don’t want to rush her, but I want more. It would probably scare her if she knew just how bad it was.
When I hear her footsteps approach, I stand to pull her back into my arms. Sitting back on the couch, I hug her to me and breathe in her scent. Just having her close to me is calming. It’s a balm to my damaged soul and body.
“Atlas?” she murmurs.
“Yeah?”
“Did you mean what you said earlier to Noah?”
“Which part?”
“About why you call me Firefly?”
I hesitate before answering. If this conversation heads where I hope it will, she’s never going to get rid of me.
She’s already stuck with me, but this will speed things along.
She’s been holding back, and I’m hoping I’ve finally breached the walls she’s built up.
I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but I think Cora’s finally starting to get it.
“No.”
“Oh.” She freezes and starts to untangle from my grip.
Nope. That won’t do.
I hold her tighter but turn her so she’s straddling my lap again. “I didn’t tell him the whole reason. I mean, how do you explain to a kid that female fireflies don’t fly, and that they use their light to attract a mate?”
Cora looks at me in confusion. I’m doing a terrible job explaining it to her. Grabbing her hands, I twine our fingers together and bring them to my lips to kiss them. I’ll never get enough of her touch. “Female fireflies don’t fly, baby; they stay on the ground.”
“Okay?” She looks at me with a questioning gaze. “So…?”
“So, a male firefly just coasts around until it sees a certain light it’s drawn to.
He flies lower to the ground because he’s so captivated by it that he needs to see it for himself.
When he reaches it, he recognizes it as his mate.
” Letting go of her hands, I tip her chin up and look straight into her eyes.
“You captivate me, Cora. You have from the start. There is no level I wouldn’t lower myself to for you.
No line I wouldn’t cross to keep you safe.
And even though those dumb bastards don’t mate for life, there’s not going to be anyone else for me.
You are it for me Cora, in every way, and every lifetime, it’s only ever going to be you. ”
“Atlas…” she starts, but I cut her off with a kiss. When I pull back, her eyes flutter open.
“You are the greatest light I’ve ever had the fortune to bask in.
I’ve lived so long in darkness, I didn’t know there was another option.
I don’t deserve it, but I’m begging you to let me show you that I can be the man you need.
The one who deserves to fly down to you.
Don’t make me go back in the darkness, baby.
” I rest my forehead against hers, tightening my hold as my heart races.
If she doesn’t want this, I’ll just have to try harder.
“That’s quite the explanation, Atlas,” she finally says. Pulling back, she searches my eyes. “No.” She shakes her head as she stands and leaves my grip.
“What? Cora, no, please.” I’m not above begging. Standing from the couch, I move towards her. I am not above kidnapping her either. Although, kidnapping is such an ugly word. I’d prefer to call it a ‘lover’s retreat.’
Walking toward the door, Cora ignores me. Furiously, my mind starts making plans B through Z. I swear I’ll make sure Noah gets back and forth to school and stuff.
“Cora…” I start but then freeze when she locks the front door and shuts off the lights. “What are you doing?”
“Come on, I’m not leaving you in the dark.” She holds her hand out to me. “Unless you don’t want to?” she asks, then looks toward the stairs.
Fuck me. Is she offering what I think she is?
Slipping my hand into hers, I pull her close and cradle her in my arms.
When her eyes find mine, I pray to every God that has ignored my existence, that this is my reward for all the years I suffered.
“Are you sure you want this, Cora? Once we go there, and you surrender completely, there is no going back. I need you to be absolutely certain you want this, want us. It’s going to change everything.
I’ll have you and I’m never letting you go. ”
Folding into my arms, she stands on her tiptoes and kisses my neck, then moves to my lips. I lean down, needing more. “I’m sure.”
Not wasting another second, I grab her around her waist and toss her over my shoulder. “Let’s go, Firefly. Time to light up our world.”
Heading up the stairs with my girl, I hear her giggle. “Shhh. Don’t wake Noah. I don’t want him to witness what I’m about to do to you, baby.”
When we reach her bedroom, I sit her on the bed and turn around to shut the door. Not wanting to leave it to chance, I lock it too.
Looking back toward Cora, I see her sitting where I dropped her, waiting, and I’m not one to leave my girl hanging.