Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
POWER
Wasp
Callum and I drove out to the crofthouse in contemplative silence.
“The risk this father of Taylor’s poses, do ye think he’d hurt her?” He palmed the wheel, avoiding the potholes picked out by the headlights in the gathering dusk.
“Honestly? I have no idea what he’ll do next. But he’ll have to go through me to get to her.”
Callum snorted. “He’ll have to go through all of us, ye ken?”
I hummed, staring out at the landscape, the glens and the mountainside I loved almost as much as I loved my lass.
“Then the next question I have is about work. You had your hopes pinned on this career. Ye trained for it and are bloody good. Ye won’t let one agency’s opinion shut ye down?”
“No. But it makes life more difficult if they won’t give me a reference.
Or worse, give me a bad one.” My career issues sat on the outskirts of my thoughts.
Tomorrow, I’d get on the phone and see what I could salvage.
The single message I’d left Reportage One before getting on the last flight had gone, so far, unanswered.
“Ye always have a job here. There’s more than enough work between the estate and Mathilda’s business. If you and your lass are settling down here, both of ye can find a place.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s what Taylor and Mattie are discussing right now.” I loved my brother, and I appreciated the offer more than he could know, but I couldn’t stifle the dismay that rose at the thought of losing the career I’d trained so hard at.
But if it had been a choice between Taylor and the job, she’d always win.
We drove up the final slope, and ahead, my home sat on the hillside.
Excitement stole through me, replacing the angst. “Tell me again what ye did.”
Callum grinned. “Let’s get inside, and you can see for yourself.”
We parked up, and I was out of the car and into the front door, hanging on the door frame as I gaped at the inside of my home.
Fuck me.
For one thing, it had an inside that wasn’t broken tiles and dirt.
In my head, I’d pictured this many times, and I’d drafted the layout on paper.
The framework of the rooms. The big lounge with an under-heated stone floor and views to die for.
But now it had become a reality. Beyond the door, a room structure had been built.
Still just the frame but it let the space take shape.
A floor had been laid. Thick stone tiles. Grouted, swept clean and polished.
Then to my right, the kitchen had been entirely boxed in, and I staggered a few steps and poked my head in the doorway.
Spotlights shone. I had power!
Units had been built. Ones I’d chosen. Sleek and rustic grey wood with metal handles.
“Fuck! I have a sink!” I stared then rubbed my eyes. I’d slept hard, but an underlying exhaustion still held me in its grip. I could be dreaming.
A clattering heralded Ally half falling down the stairs at the head of the hallway. “You’re here! What do ye think? Are you cross that we did it without ye? There’s plenty more work to be done, but we wanted the bones in place as a surprise.”
I wrapped him in a hard hug, knocking the wind out of him.
“Ah, bro. You’re happy, aye?” He grinned into my shoulder.
“Happy?” I started and stopped my sentence. “Very. Over the moon.”
Ally’s gaze softened. “I got the modelling job. Ye did all that for me. I wanted to do something for you.”
Ah, thank Christ for that. It had been worth it, then.
At my back, another set of wheels trundled down the road.
“I think your lass is here.” Ally peered behind me.
“We’ll get out of your hair so you can give her the grand tour.
Then, over the next two weeks, we’ll finish it.
You still need to choose paint and buy furniture and a shed load of fixings.
And the downstairs bathroom is the only one working so far. There’s lots to keep us all busy.”
“Thank ye.” I choked again, and my brothers laughed.
Callum slung his arm around my twin’s shoulder. “It was Ally’s doing. He suggested it when you had the call for the job, as you’d be away. Gordain and I were just the labour.”
“Yesterday, we even panic-bought ye a bed and put it together.” Ally shook my shoulder once then passed me, heading out of the door. “Better check the bolts before you’re too rowdy with it, aye?”
They left, and I slowly followed, stopping at the door. Taylor hopped down from Ella’s car and hugged her friend. My brothers wrapped her in fond hugs, too, then my family drove away. Leaving me staring at the woman I loved.
She approached, the house light spilling over her. “Are you going to invite me in?”
I had another idea. Striding out onto the flagstones, I swept her into my arms. Taylor gave a delighted giggle.
“Like this, is it?”
“Welcome home.” I crossed the threshold, holding her, and made straight for the stairs.
“Nice place you’ve got here.” Taylor laughed again. “I love what you’ve done with the space.”
She couldn’t hear my heart, but it beat for her.
She didn’t know my long-held dream of doing this exact thing.
“Tell me you love me,” I demanded, finding a partially built airy hallway and diving for an open bedroom door. Sure enough, inside was a bed—the only piece of furniture in the room—but it had pillows and blankets, and if we broke it, I’d repair it before my brother found out.
“I love you, William McRae. Wait, do you have a middle name? I should know that.”
“Cameron.” I placed her on the bed, busying myself with pulling off her shoes then my own.
“William Cameron McRae. Owner of a huge heart. And a big stone house.”
“Lover of Taylor Vandenberg,” I muttered, adding to her list. “Long-time fan and now fervent devotee.”
Taylor took the hem of her t-shirt and, in a scene reminiscent of our refuge in the photography studio, lifted it. This time, I didn’t even consider stopping her. Instead, I let my eyes take their fill of her gorgeous tits.
“I hate that surname,” she uttered.
I swooped in and pulled down her bra cup, licking her then sucking her nipple. “Take mine then.”
Taylor moaned, pushing her breast against me. “I thought I was the one doing the proposing.”
I stopped and moved to gaze into her eyes. “I’m serious. Marry me. Live here with me. Have my babies. Be mine. It’s everything I’ve dreamed of for years.”
She covered her eyes with her hands, and I snuck a hand around to undo her bra clasp, freeing her from the constraint. She giggled from under her arm.
As always, the powerful swell of heat she gave me flooded my system, and I was a man obsessed. Fever spiking, I returned to my task, moulding and shaping her and driving myself nuts. Taylor shivered and breathed hard, giving up her hiding.
“Maybe,” she ground out a few minutes later. “Take off your shirt.”
I did, and her eyes widened. “Quick, now your jeans. Don’t keep me waiting.”
I wanted to turn her maybe into a yes, but I knew we’d fallen head over heels and fast. She’d need time to feel secure with me.
Well, with no job and a house to renovate, I had plenty of time to prove myself.
I removed the rest of my clothes in record time and stood before her, stark naked, my dick hard and ready for her attention.
Taylor bit her lower lip, her eyes gleaming now. “Remember we wrote a list of fantasies on the flight to France? We ticked the first one off—fucking on the hotel room floor. But we didn’t get to the others.”
I gave myself a nice stroke. “Which one did ye have in mind?”
She tapped her lip then rose up onto her knees, bare breasts swaying. Picking up her skirt, she moved forwards on her knees until she was at the edge of the bed. With a flick, she pulled out the tie holding her hair up. It fell in a blonde sheet around her.
Ah God.
Taylor beckoned me in.
As soon as I was within reach, she had my dick in her hand and then, oh, thank Christ, in her hot mouth.
What a sight. I dug my fingers into her silky hair and wrapped it around my fist as she blew me.
“You’re so good. So fucking beautiful.” I groaned, resisting the urge to roll my head back so I wouldn’t miss a thing.
Taylor worked me in and out of her mouth, sucking me and using the end of her tongue to do things I could hardly stand. With my teeth gritted, I stood it for as long as I could bear without blowing my top then I snapped my hips back and swooped down on her.
“Turn around. Arse in the air,” I bit out, picking her up to speed up the action.
Taylor did as she was told. Her long skirt had to go. I wrenched it off her and then grabbed one side of her black lacy underwear. One short tug, and it broke, falling off her.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“Don’t care. Fuck me, please,” she begged.
“This first.” Kneeling on the bed, I took her thighs in my hands and gave her a long lick. Ah, that taste. Her. Sweet as Heaven.
Taylor yelped a happy sound, and I got into my game, licking and teasing her clit then fucking her with my tongue.
But I needed more. Everything.
“Please. Now.” She whimpered, and then the thought struck me that we’d done this before, been in this exact position. The only other time she’d visited my house.
Our house now.
And I’d left her hanging.
Pointedly, I stopped, flipped her over to her back, and set her head on the pillows.
“Better,” I told her and knelt between her legs.
It might’ve seemed tame compared with the wild positions we could try, but I needed to be face to face. To watch the woman I loved fall apart under me. To show her with my eyes and my body what she meant to me.
Lining up, I stooped and kissed her, saying against her lips, “Love you.”
Then I thrust into her tight, welcoming heat.
“William!” Taylor uttered. Her lips sought mine again, her tongue sliding in a gorgeous dirty kiss. We tasted of each other.
We kept it like that. Mouths fused, lips locked, while we ground our hips, making love.
I set a steady rhythm, denying the urge to speed up, to go hard. All I needed was this connection. This open-hearted adoration.
Sweat broke out on my brow. Taylor moaned, sinking her nails into my shoulders.
“What do ye need?” I asked, low and sweet.
“This. Forever.”
Around my dick, her internal muscles clamped down, her first orgasm of the night beginning. It ignited my hunger, but still I kept it slow, resisting the need to move. Killing myself with denial.
She arched into me. “And for you to make me come. Now. Please.”
“Tell me you love me,” I asked again, because I could. And it would have the effect she wanted.
Taylor gazed straight into my eyes, her lids heavy with lust.
A tremor ran through my taut muscles.
Her chest heaved as she dragged in a breath and said, “I’m wildly and utterly in love with you. You, William. I love you. I love you!”
I surged, gripping her hips and hoisting her to meet my thrusts. Again and again, I slammed into her. In no time, she was howling her pleasure.
In short order, I followed her over the edge, pulsing inside her and filling her up.
My eyes remained open and on her to the last before I surrendered, collapsing down. Blinded by the most powerful orgasm I’d ever known. Her welcoming arms held me close. Heart to heart.
It was all so clear now. Her being here in my imagination hadn’t been me tormenting myself. Taylor’s role as my wife had been a premonition.
Dopey with good feelings, I nudged her, rolling us so I could stand. Then I carried her downstairs. All the time we’d been here, we hadn’t turned on a light. Only the kitchen lights illuminated the downstairs. On the way to the new shower room, I paused at the kitchen door, and we gazed inside.
“I can’t believe how much this has changed.” Taylor craned her neck.
I indicated at a gap against the far wall. “A big stove will go there. The worktop will go snug up against it. I figured the chimney breast could be painted a bold colour as everything else is muted.”
“Classy. I can picture it. Where does that little door go?” She pointed to the far wall.
“Laundry room and mud room. Also where the downstairs shower is. Let’s check it out.” I hopped over the cold tiles—I guessed the boiler hadn’t gone online for the underfloor heating yet—and Taylor leaned to open the door and flick a light switch.
In the bathroom, I hit the shower button, and it sprang to life with instant hot water. Steam rose.
“Such a luxury.” I put Taylor down in the spray, noting my brothers had even thought to bring a stack of towels and installed a rack on the grey-tiled walls. “I’ve slept here on and off for months, imagining the night I could take a shower and sleep in a real bed.”
Then I stepped into the jets and kissed my woman.
“I’m scared of falling in love with this place.
” She placed both hands on my chest and gazed into my eyes.
“Everything I see, I instantly adore. It’s so solid and homey.
I can picture muddy kids running in the kitchen door and being herded into here for a wash before dinner.
I’m imagining deep plush couches in the lounge and a TV on the wall.
But we’d never watch it because the view outside the doors is far prettier. ”
My smile spread. “Aye? Keep going.”
“That’s what I’m trying not to do!”
“Why?”
“Because!” she squeaked. “I should be freaking out but I’m choosing paint colours.”
“Naw. Get used to it. You’ve always been part of this place. You just didnae know it.”
We glared at one another, and I loved it.
“I talked to Mathilda about taking over some of her tasks.” Determination shone in her eyes.
“Her pregnancy is hard on her, and she needs someone to take over. Beth is staying here for a couple of weeks, and she’s going to help, too.
I’m going to have a job! I’ll earn a salary for the first time ever! ”
“We’ll need it. I’m broke.”
Taylor reached up and ran her fingers over my creased brow. “I’ll work something out with my dad. My mind is running over a million and one ideas for ways to make this right. I can’t decide if I’ve been the worst thing to happen to you or the best.”
She dropped her hands to hug me, and I rested my chin on her head, letting the water cascade over both of us, our naked bodies aligned, warm steam washing away the suddenly heavy conversation.
“The best. Always. Without you, I was a man building a family home for one.”
“How poignant.”
“Isn’t it?”
We finished up and bundled ourselves in towels. Like kids in a sweet shop, we poked our noses into every corner of the crofthouse, inspecting what my brothers had done. Then we made noodles in the kitchen using supplies Ally had left.
On our bed, we sat cross-legged and talked for hours until I pounced and had her on her back again. Or perhaps she pounced on me. Either way, we both got what we wanted.
If this was my life from now on, I was the luckiest man to breathe.
If ill will followed our love, we’d stay strong and fight it out.