Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
THIS WAS GOING TO BE GOOD
Gordain
The next time I woke, Ella bounced on the edge of the bed, returning from somewhere. She swung her bare legs in and curled straight into my waiting arms.
Naked, warm, and mine.
“Bathroom,” she explained. “I rushed. I didn’t want you to wake alone.”
I hugged her hard.
“I checked my phone,” she added. “No messages.”
“What time is it?”
“One in the morning.” She giggled. “Our body clocks are so messed up. But I have an idea of how to tire us out to get back to sleep.”
One of her hands wound around my neck, and the other dug into my hair. Her mouth took mine, and I let her own the kiss.
Until my blood surged. Then I had her on her back in a flash.
Ella crossed her ankles over my arse, her legs tight around me.
“Promise me again that you can’t get pregnant,” I said, gazing down at her. So pretty in the room’s half-light.
“I can’t.” She blinked up at me. “You like not using condoms, aye?”
“It’s freaking me out, but it feels amazing. You feel amazing.”
She cocked her head to one side, affecting ignorance. “And why is that?”
“Because I’m in love with ye.”
A slight movement, either from me or her, I wasn’t sure, and we were nicely aligned for round two.
“You’re not too sore?”
“No.” Ella shifted her hips, and my cock slid inside her.
I gave a rough exhale. The sensation—how well we fit, how the ring pulled on sensitive flesh—was fucking everything.
Almost.
Nothing, ever, could beat the feeling of making her come. Earlier, the first time we’d had sex, after we’d woken from our deep, exhausted sleep, she’d come first, but not with me inside her. I’d made her come then slipped inside.
I could do better.
My new goal had my heart racing, and I worked my hips, watching her face.
She met every move, a wee frown of determination on her brow.
“Ride me,” I told her.
We adjusted our position, and Ella landed astride me, her slight weight adding a new pressure.
This was going to be good.
With my gaze fixed on hers, I took her hands, and she rose, then sank into place, impaled on my steel pole.
“Fuck.” My eyes rolled. Pleasure bloomed through my groin, my balls tightening. “This might be too good.”
Ella chuckled and arched her back, pushing up on her knees before sinking down again. My cock thickened more. A few more strokes this way, and I was in danger.
Concentrate, man.
I bit my lip, thinking of mundane things. Helicopter gearbox failure. Lightning strikes. Leaking castle roofs.
Ella. Ella, Ella, Ella.
A groan escaped me.
She released my hands and placed her palms on my chest, gaining better purchase. Giving me freedom to up my game.
I cupped her breasts, supporting their weight, then swept over her nipples with my thumbs, dragging them into peaks.
“Clit,” Ella breathed, and I jumped to my task, my fingertips glancing over her most sensitive parts.
We fell into an escalating rhythm, Ella running the show, me clamping down on my drive to fuck hard and slam into her.
Every time she lifted, the draw dragged on my piercing. When she sank, it hit a place deep inside her that had me seeing stars.
I wasn’t the only one enjoying it. Ella’s breathing grew faster along with her movements. Sweat ran down my forehead, but I kept up my work, her moans spiking my fever.
Then she arched up with a cry, clamping hard on my cock.
“God, fuck, Ella,” I uttered and thrust hard into her.
She cried out again, coming, her muscles turning liquid. She dropped down, and I was done. Grasping hold of her thighs, I bucked into her.
It was a celebration, being with Ella. That was how I felt, like I’d won a fucking gold medal.
Fever took me, and I let loose. One, two, three strokes, and I followed her into a head-spinning orgasm. A strangled yell burst from me, and my balls pulsed, emptying into her. Instantly making us sloppy. Dirty, in the best possible way.
I would never get used to that.
The utter delight of being all natural with her.
The fear that maybe in time would go away.
White lights sparked in my eyes, and I pulled Ella down onto my chest, dizzy and so fucking happy. “Love you,” I said into her hair.
Ella melted onto me.
This. This was my life now. Ella. Us. Forever.
Acouple of hours later and we were bouncing around the hotel room, energized from the sleep and keyed up on the drama the past few days had brought. Still dark—my phone showed me it was three AM—we showered, fucked again, then dressed and hit Manhattan, on the hunt for food.
The still-busy streets had us leaping into the first pizza place we found. We chose meat-feast toppings for energy and ate the slices around our smiles, Ella’s leg between mine, under the table.
When we were done, we stood outside on the pavement, and Ella tilted her head.
“What now?”
Across the road, the neon sign for a tattoo parlour blinked. I took my wife’s hand and gestured at the place. “Mind waiting around for me?”
“Just try and get rid of me now.”
I led the way into the parlour and explained to the artist what I wanted. Ella laughed as I produced a picture of the Fitzroy coat of arms—I’d snapped it on my phone a long time ago—then held my hand as I settled in the reclined chair.
The artist drew the outline then started work on the blank piece of skin right above my heart.
It wasn’t the first tattoo I’d had done, and it might not be the last, but it meant the most. I asked for the black stencil-style of Ella’s ink to be incorporated. We made a matching pair.
An hour later, and the artist finished.
“Do you like it?” I asked Ella. The artist taped a breathable cover over the design then took my card to make the payment.
“You’re asking now? What if I said no?” She held my t-shirt in her hands, but her gaze remained on my new ink. “I love it,” she added softly, maybe not wanting to hurt me with her joke. “Of course I love it. I love you.”
Then she took out her phone and snapped a picture of me. I grinned at her coy expression.
“If you want to buy me a wedding ring, I’ll wear it.” I took the shirt and dragged it over my head. “But this way, you’re always with me.”
She took my face in her hands. I circled her waist with a tight grip.
“I’ll get you a ring,” she replied. “And I’ll inscribe Property of Ella on the inside.”
I grinned at her then kissed her hard. Who the fuck thought I’d want that so badly? The world to see I was claimed and owned.
Commitment had made a man of me after all.
Afew hours later, we were in a cab, coffees in hand, heading to Central Park, killing time until it was reasonable for the lawyers to have news.
Ella peered out of the window. “That’s Richard’s building.”
I followed her gaze to a large, brown skyscraper. “Not his for long, with any hope.”
She only stared, quiet as she worked through whatever dark thought process held her captive.
The cab drew to a halt at the park entrance, and we paid up then, in a few minutes, had skirted the boating lake I’d seen in a dozen films and were on quieter paths. Spring sunshine filtered through the trees. We drank our coffees as we walked.
“Did you talk to your brother?” I asked. Yesterday, Ella had sent James a message to tell him our plans and to ask for news on Beth.
“Nope. I’ll wait until I have something concrete to tell him.”
“More concrete than the fact we got married?”
She threw me a sly grin. “I told him that.”
I stared.
“Did you think I was ashamed of you? Marrying you is the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m not about to hide it from anyone.”
I choked on a sip of my drink. “What did he say?”
“He just said to call him.” She beamed now and danced a few steps ahead. “Have you told your family?”
“Not yet. I’d prefer to do it face to face.”
“James won’t tell them, I’m sure. Something like this, he’ll wait and let us deliver the news ourselves.”
A buzzing came from Ella’s pocket. She leapt to grab her phone but then tutted at the screen. “False alarm. Just my reminder about something I needed to do at uni.”
It was Monday. The trial would be underway today. I pushed back the thoughts. “Did you ask for time off?”
“No. I’ll email later so they know I’m still alive.”
“Will it cause you any problems?”
Ella shrugged, and I followed her to a sunny bench.
“Depending on how it goes with the lawyers… No, irrespective of that, I don’t think I’m going back.
” Ella sat taller, her eyebrows two slashes.
“Last year, I doubted every thought that went through my head. I second-guessed myself in all things. With you, with my plan for running my own business. You remember our lunch at Braithar with your relatives?”
“There isn’t a second of our time together that I’ve forgotten.”
That earned me a swift grin. “Marianne told me that she’d learned all she needed but ditched the exams. All I have left of my first year is exams. Then the course outline tells me exactly what I’ll be learning in years two and three.
That got me thinking. Why don’t I kickstart my business now, buy in the skills I don’t have, and learn the rest as I need to? ”
“It’s a great idea.”
“You think so? Your opinion means the world to me.” Her look turned bashful, and she peeked at me under her lashes. “I need to get into the mindset of thinking as part of a couple now. How does that work?”
I raised a shoulder. “Beats me. All I know is I want to be around you all the time. I think I’d go crazy if I couldn’t see you.”
“G?” Her gaze turned feral. “I won’t be parted from you either. You’d better understand that.”
My heart swelled, and I tucked her into my side.
We quieted. People passed by, the park getting busier.
“I hated my life until pretty much the moment you came into it,” Ella said, low and sweet. “Until you swept me off my feet with your flying rescue. I was angry and scared all the time.”
“If I ever see your uncle, he’ll regret what he did to you.”
The skyscraper Ella had pointed out from the cab loomed in the skyline, unmissable with its position overlooking the park. I blinked at it, a thought occurring. “Do you think that apartment is still on the market?”
Ella sipped her coffee. “Probably? Wait, we should be able to find it online.”
She produced her phone and performed a search.
“Motherfucker,” she swore. “Here it is.”
She passed me the device, and I blinked at the screen.
Then I spotted the price guideline in the corner.
I wasn’t na?ve. I knew an apartment in Manhattan with views over Central Park would be expensive, but the figure against Richard’s place was insane. Tens of millions.
“G?” Ella poked me.
I snapped my mouth closed.
“Bet you’re even happier you married me now?” She laughed at my expression. Then her smile dropped. “Here’s a crazy idea. Let’s go and see the place.”
She leapt to her feet and pressed something on her screen.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Hello?” she said into the phone, a wicked grin playing on her lips. “My name is Mrs Gordain McRae. I’d like to book the first appointment this morning to see the duplex in the Steinway building.”
She answered a number of questions, but all I heard was Mrs Gordain McRae over and over in a loop.
Ella’s smile soon dissolved, and she hung up the call and took a deep breath. “The realtor said they are organising a single block viewing for two hours and they expect to have a buyer by the end of it. Fuck!”
“Can we get in?”
“No. We need to be preapproved for the asking price. Which there’s no way of us being. We don’t have the money.”
We both stared at her phone.
“Mathilda is one of the wealthiest people I know.” I cast my mind to my sister-in-law. “But even she doesn’t have that kind of money. The only person I know who does is—”
“My brother,” Ella finished the sentence. “But with Beth ill, I don’t want to bother him. Wait a minute. Maybe this will work.”
She placed another call, talking rapidly to her lawyer. She gave me a worried look halfway through then muted the call.
“The lawyers are going to try to get us in. She suggests we call ourselves Laird and Lady McRae so we can pack a punch. If you’re uncomfortable with that, I’ll say no.”
I pictured my da turning in his grave, outraged at me using the title he’d so adamantly denied was mine. Fuck him. I could borrow it for a morning. “I don’t mind, so long as it works.”
Ella finished the call. Now, in the dappled sunlight, she paled. “They’re going to ring back to say if they’ve been successful. James has enough money for them to not lie about the backing, but it’s all in the careful wording.”
We stared at her phone, then I reached out and took her hand.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I am. Richard won’t be there, and it’s not like it was ever my home, but I’m facing all kinds of demons. I need you to keep holding my hand to keep me steady.”
“Always,” I said, my throat thick.
I’d realised something crucial.
Ella’s uncle had taken her inheritance and bought himself the fanciest pad around, all while he’d abandoned her to a boarding school. No love, no family.
No real home to go to.
When we got back to the UK, I was going to create Ella a home. How, I had no idea. I lived with pilots in a shared apartment. She had her space under her brother’s roof.
Neither worked for both of us. Definitely not long-term.
If I broke my back to do it, I’d give her everything she’d missed.