Chapter Forty-Five
Linden
Afew weeks later…
The door swings open in front of me, and I stand immobile, staring at the new patch of carpet on the floor.
Turner died right there, and every day I walk past this spot as if it doesn’t exist. I step over the place that was stained with his blood, and I don’t feel guilty about it.
He tortured me for years. The mood swings and drinking took years off of my life. Being shoved around and having a gun pointed at my head sealed his fate… I refuse to mourn someone willing to hurt me and my daughter.
My steps take me inside, and I glance up the stairs. We’ve already made so many memories here; it’s hard to believe we’ve only known Kay for a short time.
When so much of my life has been a cold shoulder, she’s been a warm hug.
She helps entertain Avery and has already gotten her to try new foods that I never could.
The sailboat room has gotten an upgrade that we jokingly refer to as the royal sailboat room, with pink blankets and princess paintings added to the walls.
Avery even asked me last night if she could sleep in her room by herself like a big girl. Of course, I said yes even though my heart broke a little. I’ve always co-slept with her, but I respected her wishes and snuck out of the room once she fell asleep.
Jack slept on the floor in the hallway so that he would be close by if she woke up scared, but she did great.
I climb to the top of the steps, smiling at the spot next to the door where I found him this morning.
Jack has saved me in so many ways. I can’t wrap my head around the changes that have happened in such a short amount of time.
We have a trip planned to visit my parents. I started researching preschools in the area. I have a partner to share all of this with.
I knock on the door frame as I enter the main bedroom, our bedroom, but as always, he already knows I’m here. He’s putting the pieces of a gun back together that he must’ve been cleaning, and I eye the pink bracelet that he’s never taken off.
“I thought you guys would be at the community center a little longer. I was going to come walk you home.” He stashes his gun in the firearm safe next to the dresser. It arrived a few days ago, and he’s been a stickler about keeping dangerous things out of Avery’s reach.
“Kay wanted to let Avery see the puppet show, but I was ready to come home.”
He looks at me, tilting his head slightly. “Everything okay?”
A smile grows on my face, and he steps closer to me. “Avery wanted me to give you this.” I hand him a green piece of construction paper, and he turns it over.
There aren’t very many words on it, but he stares at it for a long time. “She made this for me?”
“All on her own. She saw the other kids’ pictures hanging on the wall. Happy Belated Father’s Day, Jack.”
He nods tightly before placing the paper gently against the framed photo he has of his parents on the dresser, and then stares at it another minute. “I love it.”
“I knew you would.”
“I love you,” he murmurs, wrapping me in his arms.
“They probably won’t be home for at least an hour–” I whisper, but before I finish, he’s hauling me onto the bed.
One thing about Jack O’Connor… Black ops has made him resourceful. Any spare moment when we could get some privacy, he made it work. Whether he had five minutes or thirty.
In a closet. Behind a closed door. In the shower. He even snuck into the basement when I was doing laundry just so he could eat me out on top of the dryer. He didn’t even get an orgasm out of it, but I got three.
He rips his shirt off, and I let my head fall to the side, enjoying the view. Every muscle that flexes as he undoes his belt and drags my shorts off of my legs is foreplay for my eyes.
By the time my panties come off, I’m already burning with need for him. He crawls between my legs, pushing my shirt up and over my head before he sucks my right nipple into his mouth.
His tongue swirls around my peak until I’m squirming against his erection, but he’s still wearing his jeans, and I’m too trapped under his body to rip them off of him.
“Jack, please,” I beg, clawing at his back.
“If I have an hour. I’m using all of it.” He switches to my other nipple, and I whimper when it floods my core with heat.
Finally, his lips drag down the center of my stomach, and my thighs spread wider, allowing space for his shoulders as he buries his head between my legs. “Oh, fuck,” I moan when he laps at my clit.
His own rumble of appreciation leaves his chest, and suddenly my thighs are pinned open as he devours my pussy. His tongue circles inside my hole before traveling up and down, tasting me, consuming me, worshiping me completely.
There’s never been any doubt, but every time I’m alone with Jack, it’s clear that this man loves my pussy.
I’m equally obsessed with his cock, but he uses his strength against me for this one reason only. He will not cum until I have.
Every blowjob turns into me getting thoroughly fucked because he doesn’t have a selfish bone in his body. He can’t see me go without.
Which only makes me want to spoil him more.
His thumbs spread me wide, and he gazes at my center tenderly before french kissing my tight entrance. One of his thumbs starts stroking my clit, and his tongue keeps teasing me. In and out, and down.
Every inch of me is wide open and exposed, and I’ve never felt more free to feel. He could take my ass, or he could chain me up and gag me, and I’d only beg for more.
That’s the safety that I feel with him. The desire.
From hole to hole he ignites fire in my belly, and my hips jerk as I get closer to climaxing. “I’m gonna cum, I’m so clos–”
The tip of his pinky breeches my puckered hole at the same time his thumb pushes inside my pussy, and I explode. My muscles clench down on him as I cry out in ecstasy, filling the room with my screams.
“Fuck, baby. You’re so fucking hot when you cum.” He’s as entranced by my orgasm as I am, continuing to work my clit until my hips arch off the bed. “Scream for me again, Linden.”
“Ah, oh, fuck.” I whimper as he deepens his fingers in my holes, and gasp wildly when his thumb dances over my clit at just the right angle, and… “Jack! Oh my God!”
I cum again, and my trembling thighs clamp together as I ride it out until the end before I collapse, boneless.
Soft, molten kisses pepper the insides of my thighs, and I admire him as I catch my breath. His strong shoulders shift, holding his weight as he kisses my stomach, my chest, my neck.
His lips graze my jaw, but before they can descend on my mouth, I stop him. “Wait, we got carried away… I wanted to talk to you about something important.”
He kisses me anyway, but it’s gentle and swift. “Go ahead, I’m listening.” He dives back to my neck, and it takes me several seconds to remember what I needed to say.
“I decided,” I breathe the words out as he nips at my tender flesh.
His lips still atop my collarbone. “Decided what?”
When I don’t answer, he tips his head back to look at me. I push his long hair off his forehead, running my fingers across his scalp. He’s pliant as he gazes at me, and I take the opportunity to push him onto his side so we can be face to face.
“I want you to make us O’Connors.”
“You’re sure?” He breathes as if he’s truly shocked I’d pick this.
“You’ve saved us so many times, Jack, and I trust you. I love you. Being a part of your family would be an honor.”
“Even if it’s just Kay and me?”
“What more do we need?” I smile, kissing him lightly.
“Just to be clear… The paperwork that I file will also include a marriage certificate. Legally, you’ll be my wife.”
“Just legally?”
“No,” he whispers against my lips. “You’ll be my wife in every sense of the word. Emotionally.” He kisses me. “Physically.” Kiss. “Spiritually.” Kiss. “Eternally.” Kiss.
“That sounds very legitimate to me.” I giggle breathlessly.
He holds me so our noses are close enough to dance against each other. “I wish I was there from the beginning. I wish I could have shown you how easy it is to love you before anyone had the chance to hurt you, but I can do it now, and I will. I need you for as long as I live, Linden.”
“I need you, too.” I kiss him urgently, desperately. “Thank you for taking care of us like no one ever has.”
“Getting to love you guys has been the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
This next kiss is slower, a loving caress of his tongue against mine, and when my hands slip down his sides, he lets me push his pants down his legs.
My legs spread, and without a word, his cock finds its home inside of me. Each thrust feels like a promise, and every kiss is our lifelines blending.
We move as one until I’m breathless and moaning, and my calf ends up on his shoulder. His fingers slide through my slick folds, searching for my clit, and my fingers join his, reaching the spot where our bodies are connected.
Our eyes stay on each other as we both feel where his cock is sliding in and out of my tightness, and how deeply attuned we are as we make love.
And how right we feel.
When I cup his tight sack, his hips jerk, and I know that means he’s close. “Cum inside me, Jack. Show me that I’m yours,” I whisper, biting his bottom lip.
“Fuck. Not yet,” he gasps, but I don’t relent. I want him to know this isn’t conditional love.
He doesn’t have to prove that he’s worthy.
My hand cups his cheek softly, forcing him to look at me. “I love you,” I whisper.
He fucks me harder.
“I love you,” I say again as he pounds into me faster.
“I love you,” I cry out as his warmth fills my pussy.
His fingers grip my ass tightly as he comes down from his release, but then his hand rears back and slaps it lightly. “You know I won’t be able to go to sleep tonight until you cum on my cock.”
“Oh no… What will we do?”
His eyes are closed but a smile stretches across his face. “I knew you’d be a problem the first moment I met you.”
“A beautiful problem though, right?”
“Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
* * *
“Yeah, roger that. I appreciate all you’ve done for me.”
Jack paces the hall as he wraps up his phone call. He wanted to get the paperwork going as soon as he could, and it sounds like all of my Scott-ness will be erased within a few days. Avery’s too.
“Can I assist if my skills are needed?” He stops pacing to look at where I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for my input.
I nod.
As scary as his job was, I know he was helping people. And if there is a chance that someone needs him like he needed his team when Avery and I were in trouble, I want him to be there.
“Yeah, I’ll stay on standby. I hope you find what you’re looking for. Be safe, Onyx.”
He hangs up the phone and tosses it on the bed. His home screen of Avery and me sitting on the swing in the backyard illuminates before going dark, making me smile.
“It’s done,” he states with certainty.
“No more mask?”
“Not unless another Ghost is in trouble.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
“Yeah, I’m definitely okay. I’m ready to put my focus elsewhere.” He sits next to me, leaning back on his hands.
“Is Onyx the boss?”
He nods. “And from the way they talk… I think Project Obsidian is just getting started.”