Chapter 45
FORTY-FIVE
“Where the heart is really attached, I know very well
how little one can be pleased with the attention
of anyone else.”
~Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
E lle’s heart thudded in her chest as she stood frozen in the elevator vestibule.
“Elle?” Braedon’s voice cut in from the phone, the call finally connecting.
“Braedon…” Elle’s hands trembled, her stare locked on the greeting made up of purple Post-Its. “...what did you do?” Hot tears fell from the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision.
“I take it that my delivery is there. I’m going to hang up now and not rebook your flight ‘til you call me later. Also, I’ve cancelled all your meetings for the rest of the week and next week,” they said smugly.
“Where is he?” She scanned the empty hall.
“Go to your room,” they commanded.
“Thank you.” she said, her voice a breathy whisper.
“You’re welcome. Just remember who gave him your room number when you do my performance review. Well, unless this is a bad thing, then it was Deborah from HR and not me.” They were still laughing as he disconnected.
“Everybody needs a Braedon.” she said to the already quiet line, slipping her phone into her purse.
Inhaling deeply, hoping this wasn’t a dream, that this was real, she turned the corner toward her room. A furry bullet barreled into her.
“Fitz!” she cried, falling to her knees in the middle of the hallway pressing her face against his, allowing a barrage of snorting yelps and wet kisses to greet her.
“He missed you.” Clayton’s deep voice wrapped around her like the coziest blanket.
Tilting her head up, she drank in his tall frame, leaning against her room door, a smile lighting his beloved face. With a final stroke of Fitz’s coat, Elle bounded to her feet and ran to Clayton.
He caught her in his strong arms, possessing her mouth with a hungry passion.
“I missed him. I missed you,” she gasped between kisses.
“I missed you.” He clasped her face in his hands, his gray eyes studying her as if she wasn’t quite real.
“I was just on the phone with Braedon to get me a flight home so I could see you. You know, a big romantic gesture. What are you doing here?” she said with tearful laughter, motioning to him.
“Big romantic gesture.” He winked, a devilish grin on his lips.
“Clayton, I am so sorry. I never asked you what you wanted, and I broke my promise to you.” She stepped back.
“Which promise?” he asked, closing the space between them that she had just created looping his arms around her waist.
“To talk to you before I made a decision for you and to say what I wanted. I made a decision for us that it was best we end because of something so trivial as where we live. That doesn’t matter. That’s logistics. We can figure it out. I should have asked you what you wanted and told you what I wanted. What do you want, Clayton?” Elle looked up at him with beseeching eyes.
“I want you, Elle Davidson. I love you. I think I’ve loved you since you called me an asshole at that school dance.” He caressed her cheek. “I should have told you sooner. I told myself I was taking it slow for your benefit, but the truth is I was scared I’d lose you if I pushed too hard or moved too fast. I should have told you every day. When you left, I knew I had made a huge mistake letting you go. You didn’t ask but I should have taken my own advice and told you what I wanted. I want you. Now and always, Elle. If that means Fitz and I move to Long Beach or wherever, all that matters is that my life is gray without you. You’re the sun. You’re the moon. You’re my everything.” He captured her with a slow almost reverent kiss.
“That’s a good want.” Elle grinned as they broke their kiss.
“What do you want?”
“So much.”
“Be specific.” His mischievous smile teased her.
“I want to be with you. I want you to read aloud to me every night in your bad British accent. I want Fitz to sleep on my feet. I want to adopt Lizzie because I think I’m supposed to be her human and Fitz needs a sibling. Plus, I don’t want to be the only girl in the house. I want to redecorate the guest room because it needs more color.” She laughed. “I want you to hold my hand when we fly on trips together. I want to cheer you on at VFW darts. I want weekly dinners with your parents and my family. I want to run with you. I want to be not normal with you. A lot.” She nudged his hips suggestively.
“That’s a lot of wants.”
“There’s lots more. I’m not nearly done with the things I want. With you . Above all I want you to know I love you, Clayton Owens. I love you so much. I love you. I love you.” She raised to her tiptoes pressing kisses between each expression of her love for him.
He savored her mouth with his, Elle’s body flush against his.
He lifted her in his strong arms and Elle’s legs folded around him. Pressing her against the door, her fingers threading through his hair as they devoured each other. Whimpering moans escaped Elle as Clayton’s tongue found hers and their middles rubbed together.
The sound of a throat clearing was the only thing that could have pulled them apart.
“There are rooms for things like this.” An older man wearing a kind smile and pink cheeks said from in front of the door two down from Elle’s.
“Sorry.” Elle’s face flamed, as Clayton gently set her on her feet.
Clayton smiled apologetically.
Swiping her keycard, Elle ushered Clayton and Fitz into her room. Following Clayton’s wheeled suitcase, Elle shut the door and kicked off her shoes, running across the room leaping into Clayton’s waiting arms. Resuming their kisses, lips finding one another, tongues tangling, hands caressing, and bodies coming together.
Effortlessly he carried her to the bed, lowering her onto the soft comforter. Like a prowling predator he crawled up the length of her body settling between her legs, taking her mouth again.
Goosebumps blossomed across her skin as Clayton’s nimble fingers unbuttoned her blouse. With less grace, she yanked his T-shirt over his head. Clayton trailed his mouth downward. Her back arched in pleasure as he nipped, sucked, and kissed her body. His hands sliding down her belly toward the button of her dress pants, unbuttoning them, and slipping his hands under the fabric, never breaking the seal between their lips.
She moaned as his lips left hers, then gasped as he nuzzled above the lace fabric of her panties.
“Clayton.” She bucked into his touch.
“Elle.” He almost purred her name, then stopped touching her, his jaw slack with disbelief. “Wait.”
“What?” Her face puckered.
“VFW? Farmhouse? Are you moving to Perry? What about your job? I can’t let you give up everything you’re doing. Baby, I love you too much to let you sacrifice all you’ve worked for.”
“Do you not want me to move to Perry?”
“I want you to do whatever you want. As long as it’s with me. I just don’t want you to give up anything. You’ve got me, I’m going wherever you go.” He threaded his fingers through her hair, his eyes adoring and pleading.
“I’m giving up nothing. I’m getting everything. I was offered a promotion today and accepted with one condition. They let me work remotely three weeks a month. One week a month I’ll fly back to Los Angeles. I’ll stay with Viet or Willa. It lets me still have time with my people there and the rest of the month with my people back home. I get it all because I asked for what I want…because I chose me and I’m worth the risk.” Pride and happiness swelled within her.
“And what you want is to come back to Perry?”
She caressed his cheek. “What I want is home and I finally found it…with you..”
He beamed. “And we know how sexy I find it when you ask for what you want.” The timbre of his voice was a low rumble.
She bit her lower lip.
Wickedness sparked in his eyes. “Tell me.” He tugged her panties off before coasting kisses down her body.
“I want you to taste me until you have your fill.”
“Impossible,” he growled with a deep inhale of her sex.
“Oh…god…” she hissed with pleasure with the first flick of his tongue against her clit.
Every muscle in her body wound tighter as Clayton took her to the edge and back again. His slow licks, hard sucks, and teasing flicks ignited every nerve ending into raging bonfires until Elle thought she’d be consumed.
“Clayton!” Her legs seized around him.
He pressed his smirk against her trembling thigh. “That’s my girl,” he murmured, stroking his rough hands against her smooth skin.
“Inside me! Now!”
“Yes, ma’am,” he drawled, straightening and taking off the remainder of his clothes.
Climbing back on to the bed, he prowled up her body with nipping kisses until he reached her mouth. The taste of her still on his lips as he took her mouth in a devouring kiss.
With a seductive smile, she pushed him onto his back and climbed on top, sinking onto his rigid length. The fullness ensconced her in a sensation of belonging. She to him. Him to her.
“I love you,” she breathed.
He cupped her cheek. “I love you.”
Gazes locked, Clayton’s strong hands guided her hips in a deliciously slow movement on top of him. Their “not normal” behavior had never been just sex. There was a physical desire and need for each other, but it was so much more. It had always been love, even before she admitted the words to herself and spoke them out loud.
They were a tangle of naked limbs as they lay, the cotton sheets twisted around them, talking. Elle told him everything she wanted to tell him since she’d left. His lips gently kissed away her cautiously relieved tears about her mom. Then they laughed at how she had two ambush-style grand gestures in one week. He told her he read the article about the ribbon cutting and the partnership announcement on the plane this morning. Elle wiggled happily as Clayton told her about the fourth veterinarian who would be joining the practice in December.
His fingers traced her starfish pendant as he told her about Liam coming to the clinic on Saturday and how Meghan got him a child-size lab coat with Vet in Training stitched on it.
“Jerome’s been calling him ‘fun size’ Clayton.” He grinned happily.
She teased him asking if Noah had intervened to push him to fly to Chicago and surprise her.
Winking he said, “Perhaps.”
She grinned. Thankful for their friend.
“Oh, I brought something.” He scooted out of bed, walking over to the large black suitcase in the corner.
Clayton tipped the case flat, unzipped, and dug around. Her face scrunched at how much he had packed. There were neat piles of clothes, a Ziplock bag with toys for Fitz, a plasticware container full of dog treats, a pair of running shoes, and a pair of dress shoes. When they went to Boston for the night, he’d only had a small overnight duffle.
“That’s a big suitcase. When are you planning to fly back home?” she said perplexed.
“Well, I’m flying with you to Long Beach tomorrow and staying ’til next Sunday. Meghan and Jerome are covering for me.” A boyish grin played on his face as he looked up at her, his hands blindly searching for whatever he was looking for.
That’s why Braedon had canceled next week’s meetings. Her big smile couldn’t be contained.
“Found it.” He straightened and turned back toward the bed. “We have a book to finish.”
“Our book… Wait, didn’t you have book club on Monday?”
“I didn’t finish it.” He lifted Fitz into Elle’s arms. “It’s our book. It didn’t feel right finishing it without you.”
The familiar flip of her belly and thump-thump of her heart hit simultaneously. Books are littered with stories of men that conquer lands, slay monsters, find treasure, build kingdoms, or discover new worlds, all for the women they love. Life is full of stories of men showing up with roses or jewelry to declare their love. All the fictional and the real stories were nothing compared to the knee-wobbling, swoon-inducing idea that Clayton, who adored books as much as Elle, wouldn’t finish one because they had started it together and together, they would finish it.
“I love you.” She sighed, feeling as if her heart may burst with how much love filled it for Clayton, and how much he had for her.
“I love you.” He slipped in beside her, looping his left arm around her. “You ready?” It felt like he was asking less about the book and more about this journey they were embarking on, together. A life together.
“I’m ready.”