Chapter Thirty-four
Hades
I understood where Raven was coming from. I really did. But the three days since I tracked her down felt like an eternity.
I know she told me she needed to decompress, but part of me worried that it was all still down to me.
That maybe that one moment of hesitation would haunt me forever and cost me the future I’d just started dreaming of.
So every day I turned up on the doorstep with flowers in my hand and hope in my heart.
Bettie pulled open the door with a wide, knowing smile, and a twinkle in her eye. “The good Lord must be shining down on me, gracing me with your pretty face for another day.”
“You’re looking well, Miss Bettie. These are for you,” I told her, thrusting one of the bouquets at her.
“Well, thank you. They sure don’t make ‘em like you anymore.” She stepped back and waved me inside. “Raven told me about her past and well, if you don’t mind an old woman meddling.”
“I don’t mind,” I answered quickly.
“She’s been hurt, badly. Too many times.” Bettie sighed as if she was carrying some of Raven’s pain. “I think she’s afraid to reach for what she wants. She’s worried she doesn’t deserve it. You’re not the type to run off at the first difficulty, are you?”
I shook my head. “I’m in it for the long haul.”
“I can see that. Just giving you something to think about.” She smiled sweetly and nodded to the staircase. “She’s up in her room.”
“Thank you,” I pressed a kiss to her cheek and marched up to Raven’s door. It was open but I still knocked. “Hey.”
She looked up with a soft smile. “Hey. Fancy meeting you here. Again.”
My shoulders relaxed. She seemed happy enough to see me and I relaxed, handing her the flowers. “Saw these and thought of you.”
She laughed. “You just happened upon my favorite flowers and thought of me?”
I shrugged, lips curling into a teasing smile. “Yep.”
She took them, burying her face in the floral bouquet and inhaling deeply. “Thank you.”
I looked around the room and took a seat in the plush chair beside the window rather than beside her on the bed where I really wanted to sit.
“I love you, Raven. I love you and I want to be with you.” I waited until her eyes met mine.
“I didn’t expect you, Raven. I mean I wanted you for a lot longer than I even admitted to myself, and then getting to know you?
It moved beyond want to need and then to love. ”
“Hades,” she whispered, as if she didn’t want to hear the words. But she needed to hear these.
“I know you’re worried I’m only saying this now because Falcon gave me the go ahead, but that’s not true.
I was never gonna give you up and I need you to believe that.
I’ve never been in love before, and from the first moment you rolled up into my life I was hooked.
I guess that’s why I was always a bit of an ass with you.
And in my head, I used your brother as an excuse to slow-roll shit because I was scared of how I felt and didn’t want to do anything that might fuck up the MC. ”
She glanced over at me. “So, what’s changed?”
“Me,” I answered clearly, my voice firm and sure. “I’ve changed. I sat with myself and with my feelings for you, and what I wanted my future to look like, and you know what?”
“What?” That one word came out soft and gentle.
“You’re all over it, Raven. Every version of the future features you.
The thought of spending the rest of my life without you is un-fucking-bearable.
I’ve never been happier than I am when we’re together.
Even on the run from Russians, it was the best weeks of my life.
” I smiled, unable to believe I fell in love under such crazy fucking circumstances.
“And now my baby is growing in your belly? I am over the goddamn moon. In love and about to be a father. I couldn’t ask for more. That’s if you still want me?”
Her cheeks flamed a beautiful shade of red as her lips tugged up at the corners. “I love you too, Hades.” Her breath hitched, tears streaming down her face faster than she could wipe them away. “I love you and it scares me.”
“Why?” I was on my feet and at her side in a moment. “Tell me, darlin’.”
“I don’t know. There have been so many changes in my life, people taken away, sometimes it feels like nothing is permanent.”
“Babe, we can never know what’s gonna happen, but I swear I’m gonna be at your side. You and our baby. You ain’t gettin’ rid of me.”
She pressed her hands to my chest, not to push me away, like she just needed to reassure herself that I was here. That I was real. “Guess you’re stuck with me, then.”
“Thank fuck,” I said a second before my mouth came crashing down over hers.
I kissed her hungrily, like the starving man I was.
It had been too fucking long since I held her in my arms and enjoyed the taste of her.
A growl escaped as I leaned over her, pressing my chest to hers until her back was flat on the mattress. “Raven,” I whispered.
“I’m right here,” she whispered with a smile, stroking her fingertips down my face. “Waiting.”
I didn’t need her to say more, because I knew what she was waiting for. It was what we both had been waiting for, too long. “You sure?”
She nodded.
I kissed Raven with every fucking drop of love I had for her, while my hands moved possessively over her body until she was naked and panting underneath me.
“You are so fucking beautiful. The ink, the scars, the curves.” I kissed every inch of her, worshipping her body until she trembled against me.
“Please,” she moaned with her head tilted back, mouth parted slightly.
I kissed a trail of heat down her chest and her belly, stopping only when I was face to face with her sweet, slick pussy. “Does she want a kiss?”
Raven nodded. “So fucking bad.”
I smiled, leaning forward until lips brushed hers, making her hips jump up. When I pressed my lips against her whole pussy and French kissed her, she cried out her pleasure. I knew what my girl liked and I loved showing her.
“Oh shit, that’s so intense,” she whispered through clenched teeth. “Fuck, Hades.”
She loved it when I feasted on her pussy, spreading her legs and pushing her hips up, serving herself up for me to feast until her heels dug into my back, until her fingers tangled in my hair, until my name was ripped from her chest.
“Yes!”
I smiled and spread her open, dragging my flat tongue over her swollen clit again and again. She was still gripped by her orgasm, my tongue drawing it out with every flick.
“Hades,” she groaned.
“I’m here, baby. Right fucking here.” I wrapped my lips around her clit and sucked hard while I dipped two fingers in her pulsing pussy until they were fully coated, pulling them out slowly before sinking them between her cheeks.
“Oh. Fuck,” she whispered as one knuckle sank deep and then two. “Wow.”
I sucked her clit and pumped into her ass, loving the wild sounds she made while she bucked back and forth, owning the pleasure at both ends.
I gave her more than she needed and she took it all until her body erupted in a powerful orgasm that shook her body violently.
I licked her gently until she came down.
“Holy shit, Hades. What was that?”
I gave her one last, long lick before I sat up and looked at her with a full heart and a stiff cock. “That was the beginning of forever, Raven.”
She laughed sweetly. “That’s a good start,” she said, reaching for me.
I pulled back, hating the way her smile dimmed just a bit. “Not yet,” I told her, licking two fingers on the other hand and sliding them into her still pulsing pussy. “Fuck, I love the way you feel when you clench around me. You’re already dripping down my hand,” I moaned.
“Imagine how it’ll feel when it’s your cock.”
My cock jumped at her words, but I ignored him. Down boy. Instead I leaned forward and kissed her clit while two fingers plunged deep in her pussy and two more fucked her ass. “I can’t wait to slide my cock into this dripping wet pussy.”
She squirmed, mewling greedily. “You don’t need to wait,” she pleaded.
“Oh, but I do,” I told her, kissing her clit again.
“Fuck,” she moaned, pushing herself against my mouth. “Hades!”
I smiled as I pulled back, still fucking her with my fingers. “I can’t wait to fuck you, Raven. To stretch out that sweet cunt with my cock. Even now, he’s crying to get inside you.”
She growled.
I laughed. “But the next time I slide here,” I split my fingers inside her, making her eyes roll back in her head. “And here,” I pumped deeper between her cheeks. “It’ll be at our house. In our bed.”
“No. Fair,” she grunted as her body tensed for yet another orgasm. “Fuck, Hades!” She was beautiful as she shattered around my fingers, a small smile on her lush lips.
I finger fucked her until her body went slack, melting against the mattress.
She laughed and reached for me. “You don’t play fair, but I can’t even be mad about it.”
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say.” My eyes slid closed as her nails scraped against my scalp, soothing as much as anything could in that moment.
“Let’s go home, then.”
Home.
Was there a sweeter fucking word?