Chapter 17
seventeen
LIV
I felt bad for my car by the time I fell into the driver's seat around midnight, drenched and filthy. My headache fucking raged, and my phone had died sometime earlier, while I was focused on the trees.
I'd lost count of how many I'd grown after a thousand, but that was fine.
I'd survived it, at the very least.
I was going to have to bring an overnight bag tomorrow and stay at the villa for however long I kept working on the orchard, though. I couldn't keep driving back and forth.
I'd get a few solid hours of sleep after a quick shower, and when my energy recharged enough to make me miserable in the early hours of the morning, I'd pack up and get back to work.
I was completely zoned out when I parked next to a large truck in my garage, abandoned my shoes next to a pair of men's sandals at the door that led into my house, and peeled off my wrecked clothes. They landed with a wet plop, and I shuffled inside.
The dirt I wore like a second skin covered me enough that I could've been walking around naked and no one would've seen any of my important bits.
"What the fuck happened to you?" Niall growled, a dish towel over his shoulder again as he strode down the hallway angrily.
I blinked at him.
Then blinked again.
"You're not here," I mumbled.
Had I passed out in the orchard?
Was I asleep?
Suddenly, I remembered the truck I'd parked next to in the garage.
Niall's truck.
And the shoes I'd seen near the door.
Niall's shoes.
"I texted and called. You didn't answer." He cupped my cheek as he tilted my head back to look at me, and my eyes closed automatically at the warmth of his hand on my face. "You're freezing cold and covered in dirt. What happened?"
God, he felt good.
If this was a dream, I hoped it didn't end.
"Livvy?"
I realized he must've asked me a question. "Hmm?"
"Where were you?"
"The orchard. Grew a lot of trees. Need a shower."
His thumb met my temple, and I groaned when he massaged it lightly.
"My head hurts. That happens when I grow plants."
"I know."
Of course he knew. He knew everything about me.
"I miss them," I said, my eyes suddenly stinging again.
I'd thought about them over and over in that orchard.
The family I'd loved, and lost.
Not the fae royals, but the ones who had raised me.
"I know. Growing plants does that to you too." Niall pulled me to his chest.
"This isn't real," I said against his pec. "You're not really here."
"I am."
"You're not."
His chuckle was soft. "We can talk about it in the morning."
Without warning, he lifted me into his arms and carried me down the hall. I must've fallen asleep as we went, because I jolted awake as he stepped under the shower's falling water with me.
I didn't protest when he scrubbed me clean. Or when he dried me off. Or when he tugged one of his t-shirts over my head and carried me to bed.
Or when he tucked us under a blanket that smelled like both of us.
Or when I fell asleep in his arms.
"This is a good dream," I mumbled, and his quiet chuckle against my back felt almost as good as the kiss he pressed to my battery tattoo.
It wasn't a dream.
I woke up in the early hours of the morning and blinked at the clock I hadn't put on my nightstand.
4:21.
I never wanted to know what time it was when I woke up in the middle of the night. Niall did, though.
That was his clock. I'd thrown it onto the driveway, on a pile of his clothes, the day I kicked him out.
I sniffed the soft, familiar duvet pulled to my chin.
That was his blanket.
I moved my hips a tiny bit, and felt the hard throb of something against my ass.
That was definitely his erection.
I looked at the wall near my side of the bed, leading into a bathroom I knew well. It still smelled like soil and the shampoo I liked.
This was my house.
"Niall," I whispered.
"Hmm?" he mumbled.
He'd always been a light sleeper. Or maybe my magic irritated him when it started bugging me or something, because he almost always woke up when I did in the middle of the night.
"You're in my house," I said.
"Our house." Despite the sleep in his voice, I didn't miss the emphasis he put on the first word.
"In my bed, too."
"Our bed."
"What are you doing here?"
"I texted you. Called too. You didn't answer." He cleared his throat, pulling me harder against his erection instead of pushing me away. "I made an executive decision. Moved back in."
I blinked. "I don't think you can do that."
"Already did." His lips brushed my throat, over the battery there or at least near it. "How's the magic?"
"Annoying."
He adjusted his position a little, and my eyes closed as his hand brushed my lower belly.
He was going to touch me.
Thank god.
The last thing I wanted to do was get on my bike or go for a swim.
"We shouldn't," I whispered, though I wanted it desperately.
"Why not?" His fingers stroked me, a few inches above where I really wanted them.
I tried to come up with something, but my exhausted brain was sluggish, and my head still kind of ached.
"Don't know," I finally admitted.
"Let me take care of you so we can go back to sleep. Fingers only."
"Mmkay."
He pulled one of my legs over his thighs, opening me up wider, and finally found my clit.
The brush of his fingers to my most sensitive part felt like a fucking work of art.
This time, when I neared the edge, he dragged me over it.
Again.
And.
Again.
Until I was so slick and exhausted, I managed to fall asleep with his fingers buried inside me as he held my center like he owned it.
Maybe he did.
Maybe he always had.
The next time I opened my eyes, my heart was pounding so viciously that I gasped as I sat up quickly, rolling into Niall hard enough to make him grunt.
My magic was going haywire. I sucked in deep breaths, trying to calm myself down.
"Easy, Livvy. You're safe. We're good."
I stared blearily at the clock.
8:06.
I'd only woken up once in the middle of the night.
I'd slept for damn near seven hours.
I silently took stock of my body, and for once, I felt rested.
That never happened.
Not since I threw Niall's stuff out, at least.
He moved a little, not complaining about the fact that I was sitting on half of his body.
I looked down at the slickness I could feel between my thighs.
It wasn't just slickness.
His palm was still cupping my core, with two of his fingers deep inside me.
"Come here." His free hand tugged my hip until my ass was pressed against his erection again. "Need me to fuck you?"
"I think I need you to tell me what's going on, actually. I'm obviously not mad about it, but why are you here?"
He sighed into my hair, his massive body basically engulfing mine. "You didn't answer your phone."
"You know that thing dies whenever it feels like it. I think my magic should be able to recharge it, but I don't have the finesse I'd need to make it happen."
"Remember that time you blew your phone up when you tried to power it?"
I snorted. "That was awful. Your arm bled so much."
He chuckled into my hair. "You said that I wasn't risking anything for you. I figured out something to risk: getting thrown out of our house again."
"Seriously?"
"Mmhm. Lars and Rob helped me move all my shit back in yesterday. You'll have to throw it out again if you want to get rid of me. I'd prefer you do it in a shirt this time, so the neighbors aren't distracted by your tits."
"I had a sports bra on, so there was nothing to see."
"Just glorious skin and pretty little nipples poking through the neon orange fabric."
"You don't remember what color my bra was."
"I do. It was a very memorable day, considering I was losing basically everything that mattered to me."
"Don't say that."
"It's the truth, Livvy. I don't lie to you." He inhaled deeply, his nose to my hair. "I've missed this."
"He says, with his hand between my thighs," I mumbled, wiggling my feet against the energy that was building up again, irritating me. "I'm supposed to be at the orchard."
"With Jonah?" He didn't bother hiding the irritation in his voice.
"With myself. I was alone for most of yesterday. The only person I really talked to was Gwen, and she just wanted me to ask Kat business questions. I kind of wish I followed through with one of the many murder plots I considered enacting against her."
"I always liked it when you were trying to decide whether or not to kill someone."
"I know." I hooked a leg over Niall's hip again, my back still pressed against his chest. "Okay, you can fuck me with your fingers. I'm not done with the conversation, though."
He adjusted my position with a hand on my hip, and dragged his thumb over my clit slowly.
It wasn't long before I writhed.
Rocked.
Cried out loudly as I came on his hand. Repeatedly.
As I neared my last orgasm, I slipped my hand into Niall's boxer-briefs and wrapped my fist around his cock.
He swore viciously when I stroked his length, and he came all over my hand when I climaxed.
"Fuckkk, you're good at that," he said into my hair, as we caught our breath.
"I really do have to go to the orchard."
"No time to throw my stuff out? Bummer."
I rolled my eyes at him. "I wasn't going to do that. We have things to figure out. Like the fact that I'm the reason you lost basically everything that mattered to you two years ago?"
He let me slide off his fingers and slip away from him. His gaze tracked me into the bathroom.
It was impossible not to notice his shampoo in my shower.
The lotion he preferred, on my bathroom countertop.
His clothes and shoes, in my closet.
I hadn't realized it, but I'd left the spaces his things used to occupy empty, as if I'd been waiting for him to come back.
Maybe in some ways, I had.
Niall met me in the closet as I pulled the bottom hem of my sports bra into place.
"If you don't want Jonah to know what we've been up to, you should probably shower," he said, tugging my hair out from beneath the strap of my sports bra.
"You keep saying his name like that."
"Like I want to kill him?"
"Mmhm."
"Probably because I do."
"He's not my mate, and I'm really glad about it. There's no need to kill him now."
"He still fucked you, Livvy."
That, I had no way to change. "I'll try to run into him while I smell like you."
He leaned his head over my neck and flicked his tongue against my tattoo while I tugged my shorts up my thighs. "That won't change the fact that he knows the way you taste, and that he has a massive mark on your skin now."
"I can't fix that."
"There is one way."
"You want me to help you kill him? Sounds fun."
"I think I can handle taking out a little werewolf, Livvy."
Fair point.
"How about we make a deal?" I asked. "Not a bargain. A good ole' deal between whatever we are. We're not exes or just friends anymore, if you moved your stuff in here while I was gone. You do realize that you basically abducted my house, right?"
"You think abduction is romantic, and I'm listening."
I turned to face him, and put a hand on his bare chest. "If you agree not to kill Jonah for fucking me in the past—very poorly, I have to add—I agree to release him from the bargain as soon as I've fulfilled my side of it, so his mark is no longer on my leg."
He studied me. "You would do that?"
"For my whatever you are right now, yes. It's clearly important to you. You keep glaring at my leg. I like it better when you look at me like you want to eat me."
He bit back a grimace. "I didn't think I was that obvious."
"You were. Deal?"
"Not a bargain, but yeah. Deal." He lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me lightly.
We were rough and wild when it came to sex, but he had never kissed me like that. When he had my mouth, he was soft and sweet, making me melt against him.
I was sure he knew he was doing it, because I was always putty in his hands after he pulled away.
"You're mine, and I'm yours," Niall said against my lips. "That's what we are."
I was dazed enough that it took me a few moments to process the words. By the time I did, he had already kissed the battery on my neck and left the closet.
I figured he would go back to his studio, so I packed a bag of clothes.
I'd text him later to let him know I was staying at the orchard for a few days so I could make some kind of a dent in the work I had to do.
He would probably drive out to stay the nights with me because of his jealousy, but that was fine.
I didn't want to be around Jonah and Gwen anyway. Definitely not while I was on my own.
After my bag was ready, I headed out to my car.