27. EION
Chapter twenty-seven
EION
To say my social battery was empty would be an understatement.
I wouldn’t have been able to get through tonight if it weren’t for Angus and his friends.
With them and Barnaby, they calmed me when my anxiety would bubble up.
Eion had stepped in when I got overwhelmed, and it was amazing how his friends would fill in the blanks when I got tired.
I owed them all. I was overly exhausted but still felt on edge.
Part of the problem was that I hadn’t eaten much at dinner because I had been distracted and anxious.
“Hey, Baby, I need food. I’m going to—“ He looked up, his eyes lighting up with a smile. God, he was sexy, gorgeous, beautiful—I was so in love.
“Zachary and the animals are all fine.”
“You checked?” I don’t know why that surprised me. Even though we had been dating for months, it still surprised me that he cared about the Sanctuary and me as much as he did. I had gotten used to being the guy who wasn’t worth the effort. I could see the hurt in his eyes, but it passed quickly.
“Of course. Had to make sure North and South were getting their scritches, and Ramsey wasn’t causing trouble.”
I knew he was trying to deflect and not pressure me. Responding as I did was wrong. I sat down next to him. Instead of looking at me, he faced forward. “Can you look at me?”
He turned his head. Unfortunately, his eyes no longer sparkled—they were glassy.
I did that, and it broke my heart. That bastard, Trey, took my ability to trust someone, believe in them.
It appears we both struggle with trust and need to work through it.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help but distrust. I’m really trying to do better. Be better.”
He looked at me, giving a close-mouthed smile. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not. Will you forgive me?” He let out a little sigh and nodded.
I brought my lips to his, teasing a little.
Tentatively, he kissed me back, and when his tongue touched mine, electricity traveled from my toes to the tip of my head, then pooled in my groin.
Relief washed over me, then desire took its place, but the thing I felt most was hope.
It felt like he understood that I was damaged and was willing to work with me to fix it.
It felt like we could love our way through the damage.
I knew Angus was my person, and even though it shouldn’t, it terrified me.
My stomach grumbled, but we could get room service later.
What I wanted was to unwrap the gorgeous package in front of me.
Angus still wore his tux. Fuck, he looked so good.
My fingers moved to unhook his pants, as I ran kisses down his throat, my hand ran over the corset, tracing the curve of his waist, then I slipped his pants over his ass, where they dropped around his ankles.
The heat of his kisses woke me up. His cock was solid against me when I pulled him tight.
I couldn’t help but think about how his erection leaked because he ached for me.
I palmed him, squeezed his length, and continued to kiss him deeply.
The moan he made rippled through my body, then pooled in my own hard cock.
I couldn’t begin to say how it felt to be with him like this.
Without thinking, I broke the kiss and started to drop to my knees.
As I sank down, I pulled his briefs off completely.
He was thick and swollen, and a bead of liquid dripped from the tip.
I stuck my tongue out and licked him clean.
Like every other time, the taste lit me up.
I had to close my eyes as I savored his flavor and enjoyed the way it made me feel.
“You are incredible.” It was the only thing I could come up with as I looked up.
I stroked him from base to the crown, then used my thumb to tease the slit.
More than anything, I needed him in my mouth.
I longed to feel the weight of him on my tongue, have him gag me with his need.
As I sucked him deeply, I loved how it felt—I couldn’t get enough of him.
As I swallowed him, my own cock begged for attention.
I pulled myself out and used my hand for some relief.
As I continued to pleasure the man I was crazy in love with, his noises alone pushed me closer to the edge.
“Baby. Can I claim you?” I assumed the request was something other than swallowing. Nodding, I pulled off him and started to stroke his length.
“Fuck. Eion.” With that, he started to come, covering my face, chin, and neck. Without touching myself again, my climax washed over me. My body felt like it was in free-fall, and the only person who could catch me was Angus. He helped me stand up, and we both collapsed on the bed.
“Every single time it’s better than the last. If we do that forever, we may simply combust one day.” I didn’t think he realized what he’d said, but the idea of doing this forever sounded great to me.
“Yeah.” Unable to think of something more to say, I left it at that.
“I don’t think we should mention to my mom that having you on your knees for me in a three-thousand-dollar tuxedo is a new kink.”
“Well, if that got you hot. You, in your corset, claiming me in the same tuxedo is a ten out of ten will do many times again.”
He kissed me, and I smiled. “Let’s get undressed before I fall asleep in this tux. Me sleepy.” It was nice to know that I didn’t have to get up early for the animals. I was so glad to have them, but a night away felt good.
Tonight, Angus was the big spoon. He kissed me behind my ear, then whispered. “I love you, Eion.” I did a little wiggle, then snuggled in and fell asleep.
When we woke up, we had changed positions.
I was wrapped around him, our legs tangled together, and my morning wood nestled between his cheeks.
When I moved, I slid easily along his crease, and I couldn’t help myself.
We didn’t have to get up, and I realized how important it was to carve out time for moments like this, which made me glad I'd hired Zachary to be there for more hours. The sheets were pooled around Angus’s waist, and I admired his strong back.
I wanted to touch more, but hated to wake him.
Lying there, I took the time to simply look: the curve of his hip, the top of his ass that was hidden under the sheets.
I flexed my fingers, but kept my hands to myself.
His hips wiggled, and he pushed into my erection.
“You can touch.” He mumbled. It was clear he had just woken up because his voice was thick.
“Thank god.” I kissed his shoulders while my hand ran down his ribs and over his hip.
When I pushed against him, it felt natural, and I liked that he pushed back.
As I used my lips on his neck, he moaned softly, and it wasn’t long before I was making love to him, my cock buried inside his molten heat.
We climbed out of bed around 10:30 a.m., having enjoyed lying in bed together.
The conversation had turned to the event and how well it had gone.
I insisted on sending his mother a thank-you gift.
“She already likes you better than me.” He nudged my shoulder.
“That’s how it is sometimes. She probably only likes me because of Orlando.” Barnaby jumped up and made sure he hadn’t been forgotten. Both of us gave him belly rubs.
“I think you’re stealing my service dog.
” I watched as he loved on Barnaby, who made soft noises, showing he was happy.
It was okay, though, because I realized that everything that was mine was his, and that included my sweet companion.
Plus, I think Ramsey had dumped us both for Orlando. That giraffe got everyone’s love.
After we enjoyed lunch, we headed back to the Sanctuary. “I need you to put this on.” He handed me a silk scarf.
“It’s beautiful, but doesn’t go with my outfit.
” I was wearing jeans and a brand new Henley.
When our tuxedos arrived, there were five Henley shirts.
All had been altered to compensate for my harness.
I wanted to protest, but, to be honest, the comfort of having that extra room to stretch and move in a shirt that fit was pretty fantastic.
So I rewarded him for the gift and chose to wear one for today.
He had pulled over about a mile from our house. “As a blindfold.”
“You what?”
“I’d like you to blindfold yourself.”
“I’m all for using these in the bedroom. There are some delightful things I’d love to do to you while you were blindfolded, but this seems a weird time to get things started. He rolled his eyes and leaned over to give me a quick kiss.
“Trust me now. And we can bring the blindfold into the bedroom later.” I liked that idea, and even without the incentive, I trusted him completely.
He had the one thing I swore I would never give away again, my heart.
Putting the scarf around my eyes, I knotted it and felt the car get back on the road.
There wasn’t much out here on the way to the Sanctuary.
All the land on the left side of the road was mine, and on the right was fifty-five hundred acres that I couldn’t afford to purchase, and up the road about five miles, another five thousand acres owned by a guy starting a sheep ranch.
Someday, I’d get that land across the street, but it isn’t even for sale.
It was obvious when we pulled up to the Sanctuary by the sound of the gravel under our tires.
“Don’t peek. And sit right there.” He got out of the truck, and a second later, my door opened.
“Okay, step out carefully, and then we are going to walk a few feet.” I was suspicious at this point.
There was never a time that I was into surprises, but this was my Angus, and I trusted whatever was about to happen.
We shuffled forward about thirty feet, then stopped. “Ready?”
“Since I have no idea what I should be getting ready for, sure?”
He untied the blindfold. “Open your eyes.” Blinking a few times, I was trying to identify what I was looking at.
Turning around, I made sure I was in front of our Sanctuary.
Set into rocks that hadn’t been there a few days ago was a full-color sign.
Within the sign itself were carved animals, including, of course, Orlando, Annabelle, and Walter.
There were other animals around it, too, all carved in wood, very rustic and gorgeous.
A rainbow flag wove through the letters. It was our new logo, just expanded.
“Holy shit.” These were the only words my brain could conjure. “Angus. Holy shit.” When I looked at him, he was grinning so big my heart pounded hard.
“You like it?”
“Holy shit.”
He kissed my cheek. “You said that. A few times.”
This was the most gorgeous sign that there ever was.
It’s perfect for the Sanctuary, and you wouldn’t see it until you were pulling in.
The new logo was represented, but the carved animals were unbelievable.
“Who? How?” At least I managed to come up with something other than ‘holy shit’, but my mind was reeling because it was so perfect.
I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that someone had arranged this for us.
“A secret admirer.”
He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “And the name of this person?”
“If I told you, then it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.”
“You know. I could deny you sex until you tell me. Or we can skip that, and you can tell me.”
He laughed. “Okay. The fact is, I would end up telling you this evening, so I will tell you now. The sign was purchased by West, me, and my mom.”
I refused to cry over a sign, but I couldn’t believe these people did something else so nice. “It’s gorgeous. I’ll thank you differently from the others. You must have had this in the works for weeks.”
“A few, but I wanted something really nice for the front of our place here. I was talking about ideas with West one night at work, and he insisted on pitching in, so I agreed. Then I showed my mom, and she wanted in too.”
I pulled him close to me. “It does something to me when you refer to the Sanctuary as our place.”
He looked down and blushed. “Sorry. I shouldn’t say things like that. I’ve just become attached.”
“No. I mean it. I like it.” I liked how that made him blush.
“Let’s go check on everybody. It’s getting time for the evening feed, and I need me some raccoon time.”
I got my bag from the car, and Barnaby was more than ready to do a patrol around the facility. I watched as my companion started toward the sheep pasture, obviously comfortable that I wouldn’t need him. “Go see the raccoons, and I’ll throw our bags in the trailer.”
“Okay. Love you.” I couldn’t help but smile as he started to jog toward the nursery.
It looked like we were going to be able to upgrade and change a lot of the buildings here.
How lucky did I get when that persistent man showed up and forced me to befriend him?
I laughed at my own thoughts, then headed to check on the bear cubs.