CHAPTER 22
HAVEN
As I wake up slowly, all I feel is peace.
Peace. It’s something so many people feel without even realizing or acknowledging what it is they are experiencing.
It’s chalked up to just another day. Where difficult days are infinitely easier to spot, ones rooted in peace are easily overlooked, which is why they’re taken for granted.
Until they’re not.
Until every day feels like a war you’ll never win. Because the battlefield is peppered with mines and you keep slipping on the blood from the day before.
Even though the house is quiet around me, except for the sound of Knox’s steady sleepy breathing behind me where he’s wrapped his body around me like a shield, it doesn’t scare me. For years, silence meant the unknown, it meant unsure steps, it meant waiting for the monster to awaken.
But I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I haven’t had to worry about it for a while, but knowing it’s all over and he won’t ever be able to find me, makes the reality of now so much more.
Even knowing Wilde isn’t here doesn’t put me on edge. He’s safe. There’s no doubt in my mind he had an amazing time.
Maybe one day we can host our own kiddo sleepover right here.
It’s a little early for it because while I feel comfortable in Knox’s home, it hasn’t quite sunk in that it’s my home as well.
Curiosity gets the better of me and, wondering what will happen, I press my ass back against the hard ridge of Knox’s morning hard-on. He grunts, his arms tightening around me. His subconscious might be warning me, but the one thing I’m not afraid of, and haven’t feared for even a moment, is Knox.
He would never raise his hands to me in anger. He would never cause me to sob silently because of the pain he inflicted on me. He would never watch dispassionately as Wilde tried to tend to wounds, which he should have never seen in the first place.
Knox is not my ex, and he never will be.
“Haven,” Knox groans, his sleep rumpled voice more of a breath than anything else.
His hand starts at my hip and slides up my ribcage until he’s cupping my breast. His fingers find my nipple and pinches, his movements decisive. It’s as if he’s mapped out my body and memorized it perfectly. Knowing him, he probably has.
Before my next heartbeat, he lets go of my breast and reaches down to grip my knee so he can pull my leg up and back over his hip. The tip of his hard cock is at my entrance and he’s plunging inside of me, filling my pussy with every inch of him with a punch of his hips.
I gasp and reach for his arm, my fingers digging in to attempt to ground me. If I don’t, I’m liable to float away, adrift on pleasure and the love this man surrounds me with.
“Good morning,” he rasps, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear.
The contact makes me shiver while I move my hips to give him a better angle as he starts to move. There’s something different about the way he is fucking me today. It’s more, deeper.
Our bodies find a rhythm, moving together, but there’s a softness there. It’s almost like we’re not chasing our pleasure but are basking in how good it feels right now, before, as we climb. It’s beautiful, and overwhelming. Tears fill my eyes, but I blink them away and squeeze my eyes shut.
If a few tears escape as I do, no one really needs to know about it.
“Knox,” I whisper, our voices locked within the bubble of our love.
He kisses up and down my neck, the hair of his beard brushing against my skin and making me feel electrified.
Can he feel this? This connection.
“Every time I’m inside of you, it feels better and better,” his voice is husky and thick. “I never want to pull out.” He nuzzles my neck, his words muffled, “Can I just live inside of you?”
I huff out a small laugh, the pleasure coursing through my body not allowing it to be much more than that. “We wouldn’t get anything done,” I point out, the words coming out as more of a moan than I intend.
His hips start to move a little faster and harder every time he fills me. “Damn glad to wake up wrapped around your naked body, little storm,” he growls. “Much easier to slide right inside of your tight pussy.”
My walls clench around him, his words ramping up my desire and need for him. He lets out a sound from the back of his throat while his chest vibrates against my back. The way his fingers tighten on my knee tells me he’s close to losing control.
When his other hand slides underneath my body and around my hip, he goes straight for my clit. My back arches and his teeth scrape along my shoulder in warning.
I push back to meet his thrusts, trying to spur him on to give me more.
“Please,” I beg, shameless in my need for him.
“I’ve got you, little storm,” he grits out through his teeth.
Knox starts to piston in and out of me, forcing me closer and closer to the edge.
Pleasure coils in my gut, tightening with every stroke and making my eyes roll back in my head.
As he grunts every time he’s buried balls deep inside of me, I chant his name under my breath and get louder with every thrust.
I’m delirious with how good it feels, my breathing erratic and my heart pounding in my chest. “Need you to fill me with your cum,” the words which slip past my lips come from a place deep in my soul.
The thought of being pregnant with Knox’s baby does something to me. Chains I didn’t realize were still holding my dreams hostage fall away. I want it. I’m aching for it, for him, for our family, for our future.
The humming sound that comes from deep in Knox’s chest, which sounds a lot like approval, makes me wonder if he can feel my fears and doubts fall away completely. I don’t get the chance to think too long about it because Knox pinches my clit.
With that action, he shoves me right over the edge.
I fall into bliss, knowing he’ll catch me.
Always. As I’m lost in my orgasm, I distantly hear Knox murmur words of love as he fills me with his cock and his cum.
I squeeze him, the clenching of my pussy walls is rhythmic as the last of my orgasm starts to fade.
We lay wrapped up in each other with Knox’s cock lodged inside of me, until our breathing has long since gone back to normal.
“I never want to wake up and not have you next to me in bed,” his voice is thick with emotion.
When I glance over my shoulder, I find his moss green eyes already looking at me intently. There’s a seriousness about him which makes my belly flutter.
“I don’t want to wake up and not be next to you,” I admit, my voice soft.
“Then,” he takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as if he’s bracing himself for something, “how about we make it official and move your stuff into this room?”
I nod slowly, but Knox doesn’t take it as agreement, he simply watches me, everything about him steady. “I thought moving in here was only temporary?” I hate the words as soon as they’re out of my mouth.
Knox’s eyes go hard, but the look on his face doesn’t scare me. No, it has the opposite effect which is probably not the best reaction considering this is a conversation we need to have.
“I don’t want to take advantage of your kindness,” I admit. “You offered us to come here because it got us out of Safe Home while keeping my name off paperwork which could have turned out to be bad. Now we know it’s not something I need to worry about.”
“This is your home,” Knox’s voice is fierce with an edge of steel which tells me he’s not going to be backing off any time soon.
He presses his forehead against my shoulder, his breath skittering over my skin with his words, “I may have made the offer with the best of intentions, but deep down I hoped you would never leave. I figured we could both win, you and Wilde would have a safe place to live, and I would have the chance to get you to fall in love with me and never want to move out.”
I look back at him, my eyes going wide with his confession. The top if his ears go red; it could be embarrassment or shame, either way it’s adorable as hell.
“I don’t want either of you to go anywhere. I want to be the man you need and the dad Wilde can look up to. This is your home,” his words hold more weight as he repeats himself like he wants me to not only hear him but feel the truth in what he is saying.
“I don’t want to go anywhere,” I tell him, surprised with how vehemently I feel the truth in my words.
“Good,” he nods and pulls his hips back away from where he’s cradling my ass. As his dick slips free, he smirks and chirps, “Then it’s settled.”
He slides out of bed and then scoops me up in his arms until I’m cradled against his chest. My arms wrap around his neck as I let out a sound of surprise. “What are you doing?”
“Carrying you to the bathroom,” he answers like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “We’re going to take a shower, and then we’ll go and grab your things from the guest room.”
Something sparkles in his eyes, a plan he’s not voicing, as he lays out our immediate plans. I can’t help but laugh, he’s not only eager, but he’s also earnest.
As I point toward the bathroom, I kick my legs slightly and command, “In that case, lead the way.”
Knox laughs, the rich sound wrapping around me feels like an anchor. I lean my head against his shoulder and pout slightly when he puts me down in the bathroom and moves away to get the water going. The amusement dancing in his eyes when he looks back at me is everything.
“Love you, little storm,” he murmurs as he approaches me again and leads me into the shower.
I give myself over to him when he reaches for me and proceeds to take care of me.
His touch is fervent, but gentle. He washes me from head to toe, his fingers gentle as he works them through my dark hair after shampooing and conditioning.
When I reach for him, wanting to give him the same treatment, he shakes his head while his intense eyes meet mine.
Let me. Let me take care of you.