Chapter 25 Garrick #2
"Was she?" I gesture at myself. Flour-dusted jeans. T-shirt stretched out from too many washings."I'm exactly what she said. Nothing special. Just a baker who'll always be here because I don't know how to be anywhere else."
Violet takes a step closer. Then another. Until she's right in front of me. Close enough I can see the determination in her eyes. ""Good. Cause I don't want special or exciting. I want steady. Reliable. Someone who shows up."
"That's just because your ex was..."
"Don't." She cuts me off. Finger pointing at my chest. "Don't tell me what I want. Don't tell me my choices are reactions to Mark's bullshit. I want you, Garrick. Not because you're safe. Not because my heat demands it. Because you're you."
"I'm nothing."
"You're everything." Her hands find my face.
Force me to look at her. Violet's palms burn hot against my flour-dusted cheeks.
Fever-warm and insistent. Brown eyes bore into mine.
Pupils blown wide but focused. Determined.
"You made me brownies when I was broke. Gave me free coffee every morning.
Let me work here when I had nowhere else to go.
Made sure I ate when I forgot. Protected me without making me feel weak. "
She takes a shaky breath. Eyes bright with something that might be tears. Thumbs stroke my cheekbones. The touch reverent despite her fierce expression.
"You show love by doing. By providing. By being there. And I love you for it. All of it. The flour under your fingernails. The bread smell. The way you wake up before dawn because dough doesn't wait. That's not nothing. That's everything."
The words crack something open in my chest. Some wound Rebecca left that’s been festering for three years. Air rushes into a space I thought permanently closed.
"You love me?" My voice comes out broken. "Even though I'm just..."
"Stop." She rises on her toes. Mouth finding mine. The kiss tastes desperate. Demanding. She tastes like sweet vanilla cutting through the sharp tang of want.
She pulls back to look at me with those bright blue eyes that I could never get tired of looking into.
"You're not just anything. You're mine. My alpha. My pack. Say it. Tell me you're mine."
"I'm yours." Easy to say when she kisses me like I'm air and she's drowning. "Yours, Violet. If you'll have me."
"Already have you." Her hands pull at my t-shirt now. Tugging it up and over my head. Cool air hits my heated skin. Raises goosebumps across my chest and arms. "Now prove it. Need your bite next to Xaden's. Need to smell like both of you."
The permission breaks whatever control I have left.
I pick her up. Hands under her thighs. She wraps her legs around my waist immediately. Arms around my neck. Trusting me to hold her. Her weight settles perfectly against me. Slight and feverish and exactly right.
"Where?"
"Nest. Want you in my nest where I can smell all of us together."
I carry her to the couch, and settle into her carefully constructed space. Blankets soft beneath my knees. Scented with pack. The chenille gives under our combined weight, cradling us. She climbs off my lap. Sheds Xaden's t-shirt in one smooth motion. Leaves her bare and flushed and perfect.
Violet's skin glows pink in the low light, fever-bright and beautiful. Her breasts rise and fall with rapid breaths. The bite mark on her throat stands out vivid red against pale skin and is already darkening to purple at the edges. She watches me with eyes gone dark.
"You're staring."
"Can't help it." I reach for her, my hands spanning her waist. Her skin burns under my palms. Soft and damp with perspiration. "You're perfect."
"So are you." Her fingers find my belt buckle. Metal jingles as she works it open with trembling hands. "Now get these off before I rip them off."
I help her strip me. Belt hitting the floor with a thud. Jeans pushed down my legs. Denim rough against skin. Boxer briefs next. Until I'm as bare as she is. Nothing between us except rapidly vanishing control.
She pushes me back into the nest and climbs onto me. Straddles my hips with confidence that makes my alpha purr. Her thighs bracket my waist. Inner muscles flexing. Slick heat coats my length where she rests against me. "My turn to be in charge."
"Whatever you want. I'm yours to use." I grip her hips. Thumbs stroking circles over soft skin. The texture feels like silk under my roughened palms.
She leans down. Mouth finding mine. The kiss proves slower this time. Deeper. Like she's memorizing the taste of me. Her tongue traces my lower lip before delving inside. When she pulls back, her eyes have gone darker with want.
"Tell me what you need."
"You. Inside me. Claiming me, biting me." Her hips rock against mine. Slick heat coating my length. The glide makes us both groan. "Everything. Need everything from you."
I reach between us. Guide myself to her entrance. Then she's sinking down. Taking me inch by inch.
She's swollen from Xaden. Slick with his release and her own wetness. The combination makes the slide easier even though she's tight enough to make stars burst behind my eyes. Her inner walls grip me. Hot and perfect.
"Fuck." The word escapes. "You feel incredible."
"So do you."
She moves now. Rising and falling on my length. Setting a rhythm that's going to destroy me. Her breasts bounce with each movement. Nipples hard peaks. Sweat beads on her collarbone. Trickling down between her breasts.
"So perfect,” she breaths out. “Like you were made for me."
My hands find her breasts. I cup their weight and their flesh fills my palms. Soft and giving. I brush my thumbs over nipples and she cries out. Inner walls clenching around me. I do it again, watching her response. Learn what makes her gasp. What makes her arch.
"Harder." Her demand comes breathless. "Don't hold back."
I give her what she asks for. Hips snapping up to meet her downward movement. Driving deep. The sound of our bodies joining fills the room. Wet and obscene and perfect. Skin slapping against skin. Her moans mixing with my grunts.
I can feel my knot starting to form. Swelling at the base. But I fight it back. Want this to last. Want to prove I'm worth keeping.
“Garrick. I need your knot. Please."
"Not yet, Sweetheart.”
Now I can reach her clit with one hand while the other grips her hip. The new position drives me deeper. Grinding against that spot inside her. "Come for me first."
"Can't. Too much. Need..."
"You can." I circle her clit with firm pressure. The swollen bundle of nerves pulses under my fingertip. Slick and hot. "Come on my cock. Show me how good I make you feel."
She shatters. Back arching. Throat exposed. Screaming my name as orgasm crashes through her. I feel it in the way her walls clench around me. Rippling and milking.
And I can't hold back anymore.
My knot swells fully. Catches. Locks us together with pressure so intense I see white. She comes again from the stretch. Crying out. Her nails dig into my shoulders, but the sharp sting only intensifies the pleasure.
I follow her over. Groan her name as release slams through me. Fill her with everything I have. But it's not complete. Not bonded.
My teeth find her throat. Right side. Mirror to Xaden's mark. I bite down hard, breaking the skin. The taste of copper and vanilla and mine floods my mouth. Hot and metallic and perfect.
The bond snaps into place like lightning, sudden and overwhelming. Her pleasure washes over me in waves. Her satisfaction humming through the connection. Her love pouring through like sunlight. Bright and warm and undeniable.
“Mine,” I snarl, my alpha taking over.
“Ours,” she answers. “Pack.”
I soothe the bite by licking the wound clean.. My tongue traces the broken skin. Tasting blood and sweat and her. Two marks now. Two bonds. One more to go.
Outside, it sounds like the storm is beginning to break. The wind is dying down to occasional gusts instead of constant howling.
I hold her while my knot softens, and her heartbeat returns to normal. The frantic flutter slowing to steady beats against my chest. While she whispers that I'm enough. More than enough.
Her words sink into the cracks Rebecca left behind. Fill spaces I thought would stay empty forever.
And for the first time, I believe it.