Chapter 35
Harmony
After Vicki’s party, I head straight to the cemetery, while there’s still a kernel of sunlight. Elias is at Frank’s, cleaning up, so he gave me the keys to his car with a kiss. I couldn’t stay there any longer. Being there with all our loved ones made me miss my mother even more than usual.
I kneel in front of her grave—this time without “bodyguards”—and run my fingers across her name. A gentle breeze caresses my face, and I lean into it, pretending for a moment that it’s her. It has been three years too long since I’ve felt her arms wrapped around me.
The entire cemetery is empty. I suppose no one wants to go in the winter. But after my last visit was cut short, I need this.
“I love you and miss you, Mom.” My voice pierces the silence. “I’m starting to learn that thinking about you doesn’t have to be painful, but it still is.”
Footsteps sound behind me, and I tense. Glancing around, I try to find anything that can be used as a weapon.
“It’s me,” Sully’s soft voice says, and my body relaxes.
I crane my neck. He’s standing there with a bouquet of red roses. Red roses. Just like the flowers I found last time.
I cock an eyebrow at him. “What are you doing here?”
He laughs quietly. His light brown eyes hold pain. “Since I’ve been back, I … I’ve visited every week to bring her fresh flowers.”
I’ve known Sully my entire life, but I never knew he was close enough to my mother to bring her flowers after her death.
“Why?” I push to my feet. “Who was she to you?”
“She was the only woman I’ve ever loved.”
I stumble back a step and shake my head.
And then it all clicks with his conversation with Vicki. Something he wants to tell me now that my mother is gone. And now, I’ll finally find out what it is.
“Harmony—” He stops speaking and looks down at the snow-covered ground. He mumbles something under his breath that I can’t hear. Then he looks up at me and says, “Harmony, I’m your father.”
My heartbeat starts to race as my mind tries to catch up with the meaning of his words. “My father died.”
Sully shakes his head, his eyes never leaving mine. “Look; we share the same eyes and hair color.” He points at his eyes and then his hair. “Your mother and I fell in love when I was home on leave one year, and she ended up getting pregnant with you.”
Shock turns to anger, and I ball my fists. “So, you just left her then?”
He closes the distance between us and reaches to grab my hand, but I recoil.
“No. I didn’t find out until you were about four years old, after I came home from the military. I tried to send her letters while deployed, but I never received a response.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Then why didn’t you come to me? My mother struggled, and I could’ve used a father.”
“At first, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Getting out of the military… Well, my time there wasn’t pleasant, and when she realized that, she told me to stay away.”
No, that’s not possible. She’d never do something like that to me.
He looks up at me again and gives me a small smile. “She didn’t do it out of anger but to protect her young child. But it’s why I moved to New York after you. I wanted to stay nearby in case you needed me.”
I take another step back. “I … I don’t know what to say.”
“I understand. Just know that I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
He places the red roses on my mother’s grave before whispering something I can’t hear. Then he gives me a small, sad smile and heads back toward the parking lot.
***
After I brought Elias’s car back to Frank’s Restaurant, he drove me to his place. Everything that happened at the cemetery is still on my mind, no matter how much I try not to think about it. He glances at me as we walk inside his home and picks up on my off mood.
He closes the front door behind us and turns to me. “What’s wrong?”
Now that Elias and I are back in a good place, hiding this bomb isn’t a good idea. “Sully was at the cemetery.”
Elias’s eyebrows draw together. “Why?”
I twirl my thumbs around and around. This is a lot harder to say than I thought, so I just spit it out, “Maybe he felt the same way I did, so he went to visit someone he loved.”
He tilts his head to the side. “And who is that?”
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my out-of-control pulse. “My mother.”
If this wasn’t such a serious subject, I would’ve laughed at how confused Elias looks. This must’ve been how my face appeared, too.
“I’m not sure I’m following.”
I look down at my hands, still swirling my thumbs, and he places his fingers under my chin, drawing my gaze back to him. “He’s my father.”
Elias’s dark brown eyes widen. “I swear he never said a word to me.” He rubs his chin. “But I suppose it makes sense why he moved to the city after you and paid for your protection. He’s never done that before.”
“I’ve been robbed of having a father.” A treacherous tear escapes, and I try to swipe it away before he notices, but he doesn’t miss a thing.
He rubs both of his thumbs under my eyes. “Try not to think of it that way. You gained a father, and now you two can spend more time together.”
I nod, sniffling. “I suppose you’re right.”
Elias pretends to think for a moment. “I’m always right.”
A laugh bursts free from my lips. Even during my hardest moments, he knows how to make me laugh, to make me feel lighter.
And he claimed he wasn’t the same sweet guy from before.
I step into him and wrap my arms around his neck, the movement feeling so natural.
He immediately winds his arms around my waist. The warmth from his body surrounds me, and I soak it in.
Our clothes are our only barrier. But we still aren’t close enough. “I guess if you’re always right, you don’t need me here to soothe your ego.”
“I’ll always need you here.”
The way his words rumble out of his chest, vibrating against me has me twining my fingers through his hair and tugging.
“Where?” I kiss down his neck and untuck his button-down shirt, needing to quiet my mind for a little bit. He lifts it over his head for me as I undo the clasp to his slacks, and I slip my hand inside, wrapping my fingers around his already hard cock. “Here?”
He draws in a ragged breath. “I always—fuck.”
His words break off as I stroke him. I start off slowly until his head tips back, and then I drop down on my knees. The moment I wrap my lips around his cock, he hisses out a breath. I pump him as I take him so deep in my throat that my gag reflex activates.
I look up at him. My vision is blurry from the tears forming in my eyes. The lean muscles in his torso flex and unflex as I continue to work him. I move my hands in tandem with my mouth, increasing my pace. A groan rumbles out of him.
“Fuck. Let me make love to you in my bed.”
I haven’t even seen inside his bedroom yet. He picks me up smoothly, but he flinches. My eyes immediately search out his mostly healed wound. A scar raises his skin.
“I can walk.”
“Hell, no.”
He strides to his room with me still in his arms. He places my feet on the floor and turns me around to unzip my dress.
The silky fabric falls to the floor in a heap, revealing the red bra that drove him wild back at the hotel.
“You’re so beautiful, Harmony.” He takes in my lingerie and says, “Fuck, you wore that today to bury yourself under my skin, didn’t you? ”
I nod, unable to speak.
“I want to hear you say it.”
Taking a big gulp, I say, “I wore it for you.”
“Good girl. Now, take it off for me.”
My heart pounds wildly. Even though he’s already seen me naked, I can’t help but feel a sudden shyness. Maybe it’s because this … us … now we’re official, and he wants to make love.
He doesn’t say anything. He patiently waits as I reach behind my back and undo the clasp with one hand. My bra falls to the floor, and Elias’s breathing turns shallow. His reaction empowers me, and I slip off my matching panties.
Elias prowls over to me and guides me on to the bed.
I land on my back, and he hovers over me, his gaze taking me in again.
He dips his head down and takes one nipple into his mouth as his hand comes up and plays with the other, flicking it, punishing it for being hidden behind my sexy lingerie.
His breath dances along my skin, and I shiver.
“Please, Elias, I … I need more.” My words come out breathy. “I need you to fuck me.”
“Not yet.” He kisses a trail down my chest and spreads my legs. “I want to make you feel good first.”
I writhe beneath him, so desperate that my core aches for him.
He sinks to his knees on the floor and splays my thighs even further, pulling me toward his face.
His mouth goes to work with a ferocious hunger as if he hasn’t eaten in a month and only my pussy can satisfy him.
My hips buck off the bed as he licks me.
I bury my hands in his hair as he gently scrapes his teeth over my clit, and I cry out, “I’m so close. I-I want you inside of me when I orgasm.”
Elias pulls away from my core, and I cry out. He kisses me, my arousal still on his lips. “You’re so fucking sexy. I still can’t believe you’re mine.”
Then he pushes off the bed, and I grasp for him, but he’s just out of my reach. A soft rustling sounds, and he returns a second later with a condom. He opens the foil package and slides it on before I can even blink. Leaning over me, he stares directly into my eyes, his cock nudging at my entrance.
“Look at me,” Elias rasps.
I comply and meet his gaze, wiggling against him, anything to give me friction. All remaining thoughts vanish as he pushes inside me inch by inch, all the way to the hilt, filling me until I’m absolutely certain I’ll explode.
“Fuck!” I scream out.
He pulls out slowly before slamming back into me, and stars blur my vision.
He continues to thrust into me over and over, and I’m a complete mess, lost to the sensation.
Moans escape my lips, and he leans down to swallow them up.
I dig my nails into his back as I teeter closer to the edge.
I lift my hips to match his rhythm, my walls clenching harder against him as I scream out his name repeatedly like a chant.
“I love hearing my name on your lips when I’m making love to you.”
His words throw me over the edge. My orgasm slams into me, and wave after wave of uncontrollable pleasure flows through me. He thrusts faster, and moments later, he’s shattering with me.
We stay together for a moment, neither of us moving away to clean up, and he rests his forehead against mine. “I love you.”
I smile, my breathing still ragged. Everything about him is perfect, and I still can’t believe he’s mine. “I love you, too.”