Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
PIERCE
My wife sits in the passenger seat, happily eating her burger as I drive us back to our cabin. It didn't take me long to piece together her plan. There was only one reason to unlock the back door to City Hall. The one thing in that building that meant shit to me was our marriage license.
I thought I was making progress with her, but again, I know it will take time. My track record with her isn't clean. Would she have really destroyed it?
I should have waited to hear her response to Kindred's question, but knowing Tinsley, she would have danced around it better than Nelly and Mia's grand performance in the middle of the diner.
That performance was impressive given the limited space and the fact that they were only about ten years old.
It made me wonder if they were a glimpse into how Katherine and Tinsley were growing up. The girls around here seem to shine and aren't shy about much. This town is truly a place you'd want to raise your children.
"I wasn't going to destroy it," Tinsley says, closing the lid on her to-go box, burger half eaten before setting it on the floorboard.
"Leverage?" I glance over at her to see her watching me intently.
"Not sure it can actually be leveraged."
Every time my eyes land on her face, all I can think about is kissing her and pulling her close.
I'm starting to see my attraction goes far past appearance or that quick-witted mouth of hers.
It's about the way I feel when she's near, or hell, even then I'm thinking about her. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’m addicted to it, to her.
Tinsley lights flames to any coldness inside of me, burning it away so that there is only her to fill it.
Those flames also give light to all these possibilities in life I didn't know were out there.
Thoughts of having a family of my own. Little girls that will break out in dance to cover for their friends.
"Why's that?" I’ve got an idea of what she means, but I want to hear it from her lips.
"If you really want to stay married, you won't betray me, and that would leave no reason for me to destroy it." You'll never convince me that Tinsley has destroyed anything fully in her life. Even in her destruction she would create something new and bigger than before.
"You want to stay married," I point out, nudging her along to that reality.
"I didn't say that," she blurts, and then quickly presses her mouth together, sealing her lips tightly closed.
"You don't have to admit it. I already know." I wink at her, knowing I'm riling her up.
"You don't know shit." I know I got those plump lips of hers back open, and that's what I was going for.
"Like I didn't know your plan tonight?" She puffs out a breath.
"Okay, fine. I might like you." Tinsley starts playing with a nonexistent string hanging off her sweater, her attention there. I might as well put it out there so she sees how all in I am. I thought marrying her would do that, but it hasn’t, so time to bring out the big guns.
"I think I might love you." I tell her as I park in front of our cabin, seeing that the construction crew has already gotten started, but Tinsley doesn't notice that. She's staring at me, her lips parted. Well, shit. Did I shock her with that one?
"You can't be. We don't know each other well enough." I don’t miss the hope in her eyes.
"If you say so."
"Don't say that right now." She wants me to give her more, so I do.
"You'd know more about love than me, Tinsley. I have never loved before nor been loved. Just know that this feeling is different from anything I have experienced before.”
“Pierce.” My name comes out whispered. “I can’t imagine that. I’m sorry.” She unclips her seat belt, wanting to be closer.
“Don’t be sorry,” I tell her. Reaching over, I pull her over into my lap.
“You can’t miss something you never had.
Now if you go and take it from me…” Tinsley wraps her hands around the back of my neck, locking her fingers together.
The thought alone is too much to bear. I couldn’t imagine a life without her in it.
“This would explain your obsession with me.” She shifts in my lap.
I think my girl doesn’t like the idea that I have never been loved before, but I believe a small part of her appreciates that she has given me that love because that’s who Tinsley is.
She is always focused on others. As for her needs, I’ll be the one handling those.
Taking care of her and making sure all of them are met. I’m already working on it.
"I don't need it explained."
"I more than like you," she admits. "And it scares me." Tinsley isn't as chaotic as she can appear. Even in that chaos, there is an order of her own. Her mind just works a little differently than everyone else's.
"Everything doesn't always have to go as planned. If you've shown me anything, it’s that the best things aren't planned at all."
I've seen her books filled with her ideas and dreams. A few I'm not sure can fit into New Hope. At least at the moment, but I'll get us there.
"I'm starting to see that." She leans in, and I'm quick to do the same, wanting her lips on mine. Hers part for me, letting my tongue slide into her mouth.
Tinsley presses her body harder into mine, grinding down on my cock, a small moan leaving her. I sink my fingers into her hair, pulling her head gently back. I know I need to take things slowly, but these small little tastes of her are both torture and pleasure at the same time.
"You need to come?" I ask. She's not getting away with trying to steal it. I want her to be a part of this fully in every way. I might have tricked her into marriage, but this is different, even if it fucking kills me to hold back.
She tries to give a slight shake of her head, but I only tighten my hold on her, making a whimper come from her, and not one of pain.
“I’ll let you do a lot of things, spitfire, but in this you don’t hold the control.” I wait for her to respond. Her tongue comes out, sweeping across her bottom lip.
“Understood.”
“That’s my girl.” I kiss her this time, long and hard. “Inside. I owe you orgasms.” I open the door and carry her toward the house.
“Ah, what’s that?” she asks, seeing the cement already laid. No matter how pre-occupied I might think Tinsley is, she doesn’t miss a thing.
“Going to connect a garage.”
“A garage?” I open the door and then kick it closed behind me.
“They’re safer as a whole.” This place isn’t permanent, but it will be for the time being, and I’ll be making it as safe as possible.
With all the emotions that have been flooding my system since Tinsley came into my life, a very dominant one is protecting her. I still have a strong worry over anyone seeking revenge on her or simply wanting her for themselves.
I can understand that. She could burn my home to the ground, and I’d still want her. There is no stopping or fully controlling it. I will embrace it. Why fight it when I have more entertainment fighting with her—or, well, her fighting with me?
"You're really doing this." Tinsley presses her hands to my cheeks.
"We're doing this." Sooner or later she’s going to come to that conclusion.
"We are," she agrees, a shy expression taking over.
"And you're doing me." I sit her down on the bed, watching as her cheeks pinken.
I grip her chin, tilting her head to look up at me.
Innocence drips from her still. My cock hardens more at the thought of taking it.
Patience, I remind myself for the thousandth time.
"You think you're ready for that?" I swipe my thumb across her bottom lip. "That you can handle all of me?"
"I'm always up for a challenge, but—" Her gaze drops to the hard outline of my cock in my jeans.
"Only pleasure," I reassure her as I grab the bottom of her sweater, pulling it over in one quick motion, making her eyes widen in surprise. "The bra," I order her as I reach behind my head and pull off my sweater.
"Your chest does things to me." I watch her breathing grow heavier as she gazes at me with desire. She reaches up to trace the cherry blossom tree that takes up the whole right side and up my ribs. "Only you could make a cherry blossom tree look masculine but still laced in a delicate beauty."
I slowly enjoy the feel of her soft fingertips tracing it, closing my eyes for a brief moment to savor it. "Why'd you pick it?" Her question breaks me from the trance her touch put me under. She tilts her head to peer up at me.
"It was one of my first," I admit. "One of the longest foster homes I lived in had one in the backyard. It was the impermanence. Each year for a few weeks it bursts to life and then fades away. That delicate balance between beauty and joy but an inevitable passing.”
"To embrace it when it's there."
"To savor it." For me it had been simply surviving each year as a young boy.
Then with each of my accomplishments, I took the time to relish each of them.
Getting into the college I wanted with a full ride to being selected as a member of the King of Thieves.
To go on to make the biggest investment and patron deals that would long outlast me.
As much as you want to barrel through one accomplishment after another, you can miss sight of everything happening around you in full clarity. I knew it before, but both Tinsley and stepping into New Hope have really put a lot of things into perspective for me.
"It can be a reset." Her fingers trail down the waistband of my jeans. "We only get to experience so many of their blooms in our lives. The world can try and pull you under, but it can't hold you down forever."
"You'll bloom again." I add.
"I love that. Not just the tattoo but how you have a deep memory for it. It wasn't a random quick pick out of a tattoo artist's books."
“Don’t give me too much credit now. I’d let you pick out and design a piece for me.” Her fingers stop.
“Really?” I can hear the skepticism in her question.
“Yes.” I’m asking her to trust me. I have to show her that I trust her too. "Now take the bra off," I order her as I drop down to a knee and remove her boots.
"You think you can just order me to get naked?" she asks but is already doing as she's told.
"Yes." I grip her hips as I stand, tossing her to the center of the bed. A sweet giggle leaves her. I don't give her a chance to try and sit up. I position my girl beneath me and distract her with a kiss.
A moan leaves her when I release her mouth. "Pierce." Fuck, I love the breathy way my name comes from her when she's turned on.
"You want my mouth on your pussy, baby?" I give her neck a nibble, making her body jerk under mine when she doesn't answer quickly enough, or maybe I'm impatiently greedy. I lick the spot to soothe it. All she can manage to say is my name again, followed by another whimper. She’s not getting off that easy.
I want to hear her tell me what she wants.
I rise up on my elbow to hover over her but still keep enough of my weight on her to keep her right where I want her. I use my free hand to roam her soft body, cupping one of her tits.
"Answer me." I stroke her nipple with my thumb.
"Yes, I want it." Her back arches as she says it, and I wrap my mouth around her nipple and suck. I want to take my time, but lust flares inside of me. I need her cunt. I have been dying to taste her all damn day.
I might be able to keep my dick out of her tonight, but my tongue is going to fuck the hell out of her.
I drag my hand down to the button of her jeans and pop it free. "Do you know how fucking good you feel?" I move my mouth to her other nipple. The way her body reacts to me is such a turn-on. She was made for me and me alone.
"All I can feel is you." I release her nipple and trail my mouth down farther as I work the rest of her clothing off and she's laid out bare before me. I kneel between her thighs. With her in the center of the massive bed, she appears even smaller.
My eyes track all of her, taking every inch of her in from the three freckles on her upper right thigh to the small scar on her knee. I watch as shyness starts to take her, and she goes to cover her pussy with her hand, and I push it away.
"That's for me," I tell her, cupping it with my hand. "Isn't it?"
"Pierce." I didn't think her cheeks could flush more, but they do. I love that I’m the only one that will ever get to see this side of her.
"Look how wet it is. That better be for me."
"It is. Why do you make me say it?" Her teeth sink into her bottom lip.
"Because it soothes that jealousy I told you about inside of me, and it's a reminder to you that you're mine. That you always will be.” Her acknowledgement was all I needed. I don’t waste another second before I bury my face between her folds. There’s this uncontrollable hunger I have for her that only she can sate.
I can feel her back arch off the bed, pushing her pussy more into my face. Her hands desperately grabbing my hair, letting me know that she’s enjoying every fucking second of having my mouth on her.
“Pierce.” Her grip on my hair tightens, and I know she’s close. I suck her little clit into my mouth, giving her what she needs to push her over the edge. I would do this all day every day if she’d let me.
It’s not long before her legs are shaking and she’s coming in my mouth. I drink it down, savoring every drop.
I don’t stop, my lust fueling me. I push one of my fingers inside of her.
My cock aches with envy, wanting to be there but in time.
I have to get this pretty little cunt ready for me.
I work one finger in and then another as I reach down and undo my jeans.
I have no doubt the zipper is now imprinted on my dick at this point.
"Oh God, are you touching yourself?" She licks her lips watching me.
I only growl against her pussy, unable to take my mouth off it as I stroke my cock, giving a firm squeeze to stop myself from nutting already. I keep thrusting my fingers in and out of her and hungrily suckling at her clit.
Tinsley’s pussy starts to flutter around my fingers. “In me,” she whispers, her hips starting to buck, moving with the thrust of my fingers. “Pierce, in—” The orgasm cuts her off with a loud moan leaving her as her cunt locks down around my fingers.
I lift my mouth, replacing my tongue with my thumb to keep drawing out her orgasm as I come and shift up over her. When her body goes limp, I slide my finger out of her, pressing the head of my cock inside her.
She’s fucking soaked for me, but even getting only half of the head of my cock into her is tight, barely a kiss to her opening.
It’s all I need as I start to come, imagining each drop painting her insides, wanting my mark and smell all over her.
It's covering her hymen that will one day be mine too, with all the rest of her.
I already belong to her.