Chapter Thirty-Seven
Hayes
Inever planned when I’d become a homeowner. It was always a goal I had in the back of my mind, but my place was at the sanctuary. I had no reason to leave.
But when a future I wanted desperately was dangled in front of my eyes, I knew my time in the bunkhouse needed to come to an end.
The property next door to the sanctuary had been abandoned and then taken by the bank after years of illegal comings and goings.
Lochlan spent hours crunching numbers, trying to figure out a way he could purchase the property himself to expand the sanctuary, but more so to eliminate the potential of getting new bad neighbors.
Seedy shit happening next door to his bears is too risky.
Three-quarters of this property borders his, and now I’m his new neighbor.
Unfortunately, the house is in major disrepair. It’s not just a fixer-upper; it was nearly condemned and demolished.
I had no business taking on such a project, but it felt like the right thing. I’d finally have a place of my own, and I could ease some of Lochlan’s burdens after years of him easing mine.
That alone made it worth it, but I’ve still been cursing like a sailor every time a floorboard gives under my foot or something new starts to leak.
I’ve had a lot of time this week to submerge myself in the mess.
I’ve taken my frustration out with my hammer and worked myself like a dog instead of thinking about Liv.
She’s still all I think about, but the projects have kept me from camping out in her driveway. Malec assured me he put extra patrols out in her area. Thea and Jesse were kind enough to give me enough details to know that she was in one piece when I couldn’t have eyes on her.
I feel like I’m barely holding all of my pieces together. She’s finally close, but it doesn’t matter. She’ll never forgive me for the past.
Now, I have to live with it.
I rock back and forth in my first housewarming gift from Lochlan and Jo, staring out at the sheets of rain coming down.
There are at least five buckets inside catching drips already, and I suspect I’ll find more holes in the roof by morning.
I’m almost positive there are bullet holes in the siding, too.
A slow sigh escapes me right before headlights sweep across my driveway, and two vehicles pull up the overgrown grassy lane. The landscape is entirely in disarray, but I wasn’t expecting visitors. No one even knows I’m here besides Lochlan.
His bronco pulls toward the porch, blinding me momentarily with his headlights as I stand to greet him, but he only flashes and makes a U-turn. Once he flips around, I can see the other car clearly, and my feet start moving on their own.
Liv’s Jaguar comes to a stop, and I’m at her door before she cuts the engine. “What’s wrong? What happened?” I ask in a panic, flinging her door open, barely giving her room to get out.
“Nothing, I’m fine.” She swipes her already soaked hair away from her face. It’s dripping down her shoulders onto her– my shirt. It’s molded to her body, and her legs are completely bare. Her shoes are… Mud-caked slippers.
“You’re okay?” She doesn’t look like a woman who is okay.
She doesn’t respond, but a shiver rolls over her, and I usher her to the porch anyway.
“What’s going on?” I finish swiping the hair out of her face that’s stuck to her skin, but she’s still just looking at me.
“You’re freaking me out.” I hold her face between my hands, searching her enigmatic eyes. “Did something happen, baby?” I coax her softly, and her damp lashes flutter.
“I want to see the rest,” she admits, trembling slightly.
“The rest of what?”
“Your tattoos.”
“You came here at night in a rain storm because–”
“Yes,” she cuts me off, gripping my hands where they rest on either side of her head. “I need to see all of them.”
She’s serious. In fact, I don’t think she’s ever been more serious about anything, and whatever her reasoning is, it is obviously extremely paramount.
“Let me get you inside to get dry and warm.” She lets me take her in, but that’s as far as we get.
“How many times did you look at the photograph of us? The one I saw at the bunkhouse.”
“Liv…”
“How many times?”
“I don’t know. A million. Maybe more.”
Her breath catches. “Every day?”
“Every hour if I could.”
She’s so closed off, I still can’t tell if my response is good or bad. I don’t know if it’s what she wanted to hear or not.
“And the tattoos… Why did you get the tattoos?”
“Prison is dark and ugly… I was struggling to find reasons to live. You were already a part of me on the inside, but I needed to be able to see it on the outside, to keep moving forward.”
“I didn’t know you were allowed to get tattoos in prison.”
“You’re not.” A small smirk tilts my lips. “I did most of them myself in my cell. The more difficult ones, I let someone else do once I got out.”
Her eyes blink in shock. “You got more even after you were free?”
“I was free from prison, but I wasn’t free from you, Olive.”
She steps forward, wrapping her fingers in my wet t-shirt, looking up at me with those big, beautiful eyes. “Let me see them,” she demands breathlessly.
I oblige, pulling my shirt over my head, letting her hands fall to my naked skin. Right above the one that means the most to me.
She gasps softly, tracing the letters under my sternum.
No secret meanings, nothing to decipher. Just the name of the woman who owns me.
“It’s always been you, Olive.”
She blinks up at me again, but this time there’s heat behind her eyes. She’s looking at me like she did in her office, the way I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. When her gaze falls to my lips, my breath stills in my chest.
“Don’t,” I plead reluctantly, and her eyes snap to mine.
“Don’t kiss me until you mean it. With your entire soul.”
She blinks at me, but doesn’t respond.
“I’ve waited for this, for you, for well over a decade.
And, I’ll wait longer if you’re not ready, but when you are…
It’s the end. All the bullshit, all the lines drawn in the sand.
I’m yours, I always have been. I’m only waiting for you to choose me so I know I fulfilled my promise not to derail your life. ”
“What about your life? You’d wait forever if I never gave in to this?” She whispers huskily, still trembling in her wet clothes.
“My life doesn’t exist without you.”
“Don’t say that. I almost married someone else.”
I thread my fingers into her hair. “I’d still be here, even if it meant watching you get married to someone else.
Watching you have children. Sending them off to college after giving them the childhood we always dreamed about.
I’d watch from afar as your hair grays and your body weakens.
I’d wait until your last breath and then take my own so I could be with you every possible second. ”
“Jensen,” she breathes, wrapping her hands around the back of my neck and drawing my head closer to hers.
“I’d wait for you forever, Olive. But I won’t live a day on this earth without you.”
The final inch between us disappears as she forces her lips to mine, taking exactly what she wants, and kissing me mercilessly.
My Olive.
I palm the back of her neck, pulling her closer until her damp body molds to mine because I’m convinced I’m dreaming. I’ve waited for this for so long. A soft whimper escapes her throat, and I respond fervently, needing all of it. All of her.
My tongue swipes at her lips, and they open on a gasp as I delve inside. She’s as sweet as I imagined.
Her nails dig at my neck and my chest, demanding more.
God, I want to give her everything.
Electricity shoots down my spine when she bites at my bottom lip, and a groan rumbles my chest, making her still. Her hooded gaze is filled with excited wonder as she leans in again, nibbling along my jawline.
“Fuck,” I moan, completely at her mercy as her lips graze the spot below my ear and continue downward.
Her teeth scrape along my neck, and when she sinks them into my collarbone, I’m nearly a goner.
“Olive,” I beg breathlessly, lifting her by her ass and forcing her legs around my waist. My fingers dig into her soft flesh as her center settles over my stomach, and I almost forget how to use words. “Are you sure you want this? Me?”
She tips her head back, looking at me tenderly before capturing my mouth in a gentle kiss. “It’s all I ever wanted.”
Joy and relief hit me all at once, and I sink to my knees with her in my arms. “I’ve waited so long,” I breathe, resting my head against her chest as she wraps her arms around me, holding me close.
“It feels like a lifetime,” she whispers into my hair.
I tip my head back to look at her. “I’ve loved you since the moment I set eyes on you. I’ll love you for the rest of my life, dove.”
Her breath catches. “Are you sure?”
I nod, and she can’t squeeze her eyes shut tight enough to stop the tears that escape. “Meeting you changed my life. I knew it even back then,” she says, wiping at her tears. “Your karate sweatshirt is so faded now,” she laughs, smiling at me sweetly.
“I can find a new sweatshirt to give you.”
“No, I like the one I have.” Her smile widens, and I can’t help but mirror it. This time, when I kiss her, it isn’t urgent.
I capture her lips gently, savoring her like I dreamed about so many nights. Even if it takes another lifetime, I’ll make up for the moments we lost.
She giggles as I kiss her cheeks and nose, battling with me to bring my lips to hers so she can kiss me back.
“I love you, Jensen. I’m trusting you not to break my heart,” she utters against my lips, and I still.
“I won’t lose you twice. I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth before I let that happen, again.” I hold her face, forcing her to see the truth in my eyes, but I don’t expect to see hers flare.
“Is that what you want? To be chased?”
“I always wanted you to come for me,” she admits, resting her forehead on mine. “I hoped you’d steal me away and take what was yours.”
My cock flexes against my zipper, and I can feel her heat through her barely there silky shorts. “You’ve always been mine,” I growl, thrusting against her.
“Always yours,” she whispers, shifting her hips atop me until it turns to a languid grind. Like she can’t help herself.
“You’re so sexy,” I utter as she rides me, snaking my hands up her spine under her tiny satin tank top. “Is this what you wear to bed every night?”
She nods, smiling. She knows exactly what she does to me.
“But not this.” I peel my dress shirt off her body, stealing it only to see more of her.
“I’ve slept in it every night this week.”
“I’ll give it back once it’s dry.”