Chapter Thirty-Seven – Bradford #3
Now that she’s beneath me, my hands have all the time in the world to roam along her body, along every curve, every smooth surface of her skin.
I can feel her shudder into the kiss when my hands near somewhere private, and I have to pull my mouth off hers the moment one of my hands dips between her thighs.
And what do I feel there, other than whispers of future pleasure? A small nub of flesh at her apex, already swollen with desire, along with a wetness at her entrance that tells me just how ready and wanting she is.
I want this. I want her, more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. It’s a scary thing to admit when you’re not used to craving anything remotely like this, especially for someone like me.
I don’t want to disappoint her. I don’t want her to think of me differently if I can’t satisfy her in the same way Hayden had gotten her through her heat.
She must sense my thoughts, because she gives me a tiny nod. She doesn’t say a word, but she doesn’t have to. That nod is enough.
I lower my lips to the crook of her neck, placing a gentle kiss there as my hand between her legs starts to explore.
My cock and balls ache with the need to unite with her, but I don’t rush things.
I want to take my time in learning her, in hearing the sounds she can make before I’m nestled deep inside of her.
Kayla sucks in a hard breath when my fingers rub against her clit, and her eyes close when those same fingers increase their speed. Her thighs clench around my hand, and her back arches, as if she’s riding my hand. She writhes and moans and squirms for me, and all the while I file everything away.
What she likes. What makes her moan the loudest. What kind of strokes get that clit to swell.
She must be at a fever pitch, for it isn’t long before she cries out my name in a breathless sigh and a gush of slick oozes from her core.
That slick smells just like her: rose and almonds, a sweet, addicting scent that goes right to my lower half.
So much stronger, less diluted. That slick and its accompanying scent flick a switch in my brain, and I have to move lower on her body. I have to taste her.
I spread her trembling thighs and dig in.
I catch whatever slick hasn’t already leaked down to the sheets with my tongue, lapping her up with slow, unhurried flicks.
The very first moment I taste her, my chest rumbles in approval.
If she smells like heaven, she tastes like it, too.
The sweetest, most addicting thing that’s ever crossed paths with my tongue.
I could remain here, between her thighs, for the rest of my days and never have my fill.
By the time I’m done devouring her, she’s breathing hard. I prop myself up and lick my lips, and then I ask her, “Are you ready for me?” If she says no, I have no issue with returning to the space between her legs and making her come again.
And again and again and again, if that’s what she needs, if it’s what she wants.
Kayla breathes out a single word, “Yes.”
It’s all I need to hear.
I move so that my knees spread her legs even more, and I only stop when my cock prods her entrance. This might be a new experience, but every part of me knows what to do. I meet her eyes as I bear down, pushing inside of her, and as I fill her, inch by inch, she gasps and writhes again.
It’s a sensation unlike anything in the world. Her pussy is tight, wet, warm, everything it could possibly be to welcome me inside of her. It feels so damn good, I nearly lose my mind right away, the very same moment I fill her to the brink.
This is it. I know it. I recognize it. Every single part of me knows Kayla is it for me, the only one, the end—or the beginning, depending on how you look at it. The end of everything I’ve ever known and the beginning of a new chapter in my life, one where I’m not alone, not judged.
One where I’m loved, wanted, and craved.
I love her. That has to be what this is.
It both snuck up on me and happened so fast, and yet it feels like the only logical conclusion.
I love her in a way I’ve never loved anyone or anything before.
I get why Pax hates me for having his omega kidnapped; if someone dared to take Kayla from me, I’d feel the same.
Hell, I did feel the same when I got that call from my father, and I reacted the only way I could.
I want to tell her, but I know the words won’t come. Not yet. Not while I’m buried inside her core and feeling her body shudder beneath mine for the first time. It’s an overload of pleasure and fire, and so I do the only thing I can.
I claim her. I make her mine.
Her core is so slick and ready for me, her body gives me no resistance whatsoever as my hips thrust against her.
A low pressure builds in me, and I recognize it even though I’ve never felt it before: I’m going to knot her.
There’s no denying it, no pushing it back or ignoring it.
It is happening, and it’s happening right now.
A moan escapes me as my cock starts to swell inside her, and as said knot locks us together, Kayla clings to my sides and moans with me.
Her pussy seemingly tightens around the knot once it’s fully-formed, as if her body is attempting to pull me in deeper.
I am already as deep as I can be, and once that knot binds us together, everything grows to new heights.
The pleasure. The unrelenting pressure in me.
The way her slick core feels wrapped around me.
I shudder as I lose myself to it, and Kayla is just as lost as I am.
The knot must stretch her, hit something deep inside her core, because when she erupts again, this orgasm is ten times louder with more than double the slick, only this time the slick barely escapes her with my knot blocking the way.
That slick, feeling her core tighten and pulsate; it pushes me to the edge faster than I’d like. I erupt soon after, spewing my cum into her core and marking her as mine as a low groan rises from my chest. It’s such a strong orgasm on my part I swear I see stars.
The high from the orgasm doesn’t fade right away.
It lingers, fuels me as I continue to make her mine.
The knot locking us together will not disappear for a long while.
The stereotypical alpha stamina apparently also applies to me, even though I’ve never tested it out before.
Though I just came, I’m still raring to go, still hungry, and I still need so much more.
So I take it, and she gives it to me. We are one, finding pleasure in each other over and over again until neither of us can think straight. By the time it’s over and I can pull my cock out of her without hurting her, it’s evident we are both beyond exhausted.
I roll beside her and pull the blankets up to cover us both. She cuddles against my chest, and I hold onto her in a way that would inform anyone who sees the embrace that no one will ever take her from me again. If I lost her… I’d lose myself.
“I love you,” I whisper against her hair, not even caring if she doesn’t say it back. I need to get it out there, need to have it said. You never know when tomorrow might not come, and I’m done holding back.
Kayla stirs against me, leaning her head back as her eyes meet mine. Her mouth is tugged into a sweet smile, and without a hint of hesitation, she says, “I love you, too.” Her smile deepens when she says it, and then she blushes and buries herself against my chest.
Hearing her say it, and hearing her say it so easily, as if the words were right there on the tip of her tongue this entire time, makes me do something I don’t normally do.
I smile at her.
It’s a gentle expression on my face, not one of those overly-ridiculous grins like Hayden wears all the time, but it’s still a smile, and for the first few seconds, it feels weird on my face.
But then that weirdness goes away, replaced by something else: happiness.
Pure, unbridled, unfiltered happiness that seeps into my bones.
If this is what life can feel like, I’m ready for the future. I’m ready for whatever else life wants to throw at me. As long as I have Kayla by my side, I’m confident I can handle any and everything.
I don’t know how long we lay there together, but it must be a while, because our reverie is eventually interrupted by Hayden, who pokes his head in the room.
He spots us on the bed together, beneath the sheets, and he takes it upon himself to stroll over to us and sit on the edge of the bed, his phone in his hand.
“I know I said I’d give you guys some privacy, but I am starving. I want to order pizza. Please tell me you don’t want anything else, because I have a real hankering—”
All I do is sigh, while Kayla giggles.
He looks between us. “I’m serious. I’m hungry. I need food. Besides, it’s probably best to eat something before the three of us discuss what comes next.”
She moves so that she leans her head against my shoulder as she looks at him. “What’s coming next?” She acts completely unfazed, being so close to me while Hayden is so near. In a way, I suppose I feel the same.
If someone would’ve asked me in the beginning if I ever thought the three of us would be here, I would have had some choice words for them, but now? Now I couldn’t imagine it any other way.
Hayden’s gaze flicks between us. “Uh… are you serious? Are you really going to make me say it? Fine, fine, fine. I see how it is. Make the guy who got shot do all the hard work here. That makes total sense.” Once he’s done playing the too-dramatic woe-is-me card, he adds, “We have to talk about us, obviously. If we’re forming a pack, if Bradford and I are going to fight to the death to win you for ourselves—”
Kayla giggles, while I only roll my eyes at him. I bet I’ll be doing a lot of that.
“Seriously, though,” he says, “we need to make sure we’re all on the same page. I assume we are, but you never know. Crazier things have happened.”
I break my silence and say, “Order the pizza, then we’ll talk.
” Even as I say it, I already know where the discussion will end.
It’s more than clear neither he nor I are willing to walk away from Kayla.
I wouldn’t say Hayden and I are friends, but we are comfortable enough around each other.
There’s no jealousy, something alphas find only in their packs.
At the rate we went, we might as well already be a pack.
“Aye-aye, boss.” Hayden salutes me, and then he extends a hand toward me, keeping his phone in his other, like he’s waiting for me to hand him something.
I lift my eyebrows as I glance at his outstretched hand. “What?”
“Oh,” he deadpans, “I just thought you’d, you know, pay, seeing as how you’re the moneybags around here.
” His response is ended with a boyish, dimpled grin that, in any other scenario, would annoy me, but given the fact that Kayla is still comfortably snuggled against me, I suppose I’m in a good mood.
“My wallet is in my pants on the floor,” I tell him. “You already know the card. Go nuts.”
“Ooh. Shopping spree, anyone?” Hayden laughs at himself as he hops off the bed and goes in search of said wallet and the card within.
“I’m kidding. Sort of. I mean, realistically, after everything we’ve been through, we could all probably use a little shopping spree.
” He has to kneel instead of bending his top half down; I can tell even now he’s still a little stiff from getting shot.
“Tell you what,” I say as I watch him pull out my wallet and, soon enough, the card within, “once I can leave this house again, I’ll take you and Kayla wherever you want and buy you two everything your hearts desire.”
Hayden stands and gasps, holding my card above his chest. “You know how to treat a man, Bradford, I’ll give you that—and I’ll hold you to it. I’ve always wanted to blow a bunch of money that’s not mine.”
Kayla chuckles softly and mutters, “You two are ridiculous.”
He waves her statement off as he comes to sit on the bed with us, though this time he sits closer to me instead of near my feet, and in doing so he forces both me and Kayla to scoot over and make room for him. He leans on the headboard beside me, totally ignoring the pointed glare I’m giving him.
“I should just save this bad boy to my digital wallet,” he says, mostly to himself. “That way I don’t have to keep asking for it.”
“You seem to enjoy pushing your luck,” I mutter.
“What? If this whole thing is going to work, what’s yours is mine anyway, right, Kayla?”
She is unable to resist his charm, apparently, because she blushes and says, “Right.”
“There we go,” Hayden says with a wide grin. “Now, what kind of pizza are we feeling tonight? I could go for some deep dish. The real stuff. Nice and thick and crunchy.” He moans like it’s the most pleasurable thing he can imagine. “Not that thin stuff we got last time. Real pizza.”
I give him a narrowed look. “What’s wrong with thin pizza?”
“Nothing! Nothing. It’s just, you know, I like my pizza when I can’t fold the slices in half. Call me crazy.”
“You’re crazy.”
Hayden blinks. “Are we at an impasse? We can agree to share our omega and spend your money, but when it comes to pizza, you draw the line at flimsy, floppy, thin as hell pizza that belongs in a mall food court?” He shakes his head.
“I don’t know if I can do this anymore. That there crossed the line. A fight to the death it is.”
I scoff. “As if you could win.”
“Pretty confident for a man who, until recently, didn’t want anyone touching him.” At that, he stops, glances down at something, and then says, “Well, would you look at that.”
Would I look at what? I have no idea what he’s talking about, but when my gaze drops and I follow his line of sight, I immediately see what he’s talking about.
Hayden is next to me. That much I knew already. What I did not know, however, what I didn’t realize until right then, is that he sits so close to me his arm is touching mine. The sight of him practically leaning on me startles me for a moment, but that reaction fades away pretty quickly.
And the weirder thing is, I don’t feel like scooting away from him.
Kayla snuggles into my side and whispers, “No fighting to the death. I don’t want to lose either of you, so I guess you two will have to learn to get along.” She smiles softly, flicking her gaze between the two of us.
She won’t have to lose one of us. Hayden and I might go back and forth sometimes, but there’s no real heart behind it. We both already know that this omega is ours—ours being the keyword there. She’s ours, and because of that, we are hers.
I don’t know where we’ll go from here, but for the first time in my entire life, I can confidently say I am optimistic when I look toward the future. These two people, sitting on either side of me, feel like one thing.
Family.