Chapter 28
With her hand in mine, I led Birdie to the side of the ballroom. A large, ornate tapestry hung against the wall. Birdie looked side to side, and I could tell that she was confused. I looked around the room to see if anyone was looking at us.
“I thought we were leaving?” Birdie asked.
“Do you remember the night of the gala and how you asked if I knew any escape routes?”
“I do.” She grinned, catching onto my train of thought.
“Keep a lookout so I can open the door.” I winked.
I pulled the corner of the tapestry aside and pushed against the top of the intricate chair rail until I felt a small click. A small passageway opened, and a cold breeze blew in.
“Okay, let's go.” I took Birdie’s hand as she bent down to crawl through the small door. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and turned on the flashlight. We traveled down a stone-lined passageway, took a turn around one corner and then down a few stone steps.
“This is so cool,” Birdie said as she ran her hand along the wall. “Do you know where we’re going?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I do. Oliver, Xavier, and I used to sneak around these tunnels to spy on our parents when we were younger.”
“How very naughty of you.”
“You have no idea, baby.”
I stopped walking and pushed her back against the cool wall.
Her breath caught as I laced my fingers through her hair and slid my lips along her neck.
She let out a soft moan, which was now one of my favorite sounds in the world.
As I moved my lips up her neck to her ear, I whispered to her, “Do you want to see what other naughty things I can do?”
“Yes, please.” She grabbed the hem of my flannel and pulled me closer to her.
I fisted her wrists in one hand and lifted them above her head as I brought my other hand up her lean body and under her sweater.
I ran my fingers across her stomach and up to her lace bralette.
Pulling down the lip of the cup, I skimmed my thumb over her nipple and then gave it a light little pinch.
I continued to kiss her throat, nipping and teasing her skin.
“Knox,” she whispered.
“God, I love hearing my name come out of your mouth.”
Her breathy moans sent me over the edge of gentleness, and I took her mouth captive, biting and sucking her bottom lip. She was the perfect equal for me, sliding her tongue in my mouth in a beautiful dance we had cultivated together.
She rolled her body against my own, and I thrust my hips forward, giving her something to grind on.
I could feel the heat coming from her center and I couldn’t take it any longer.
I unbuttoned her jeans and slid my hand down the front, her scorching wetness soaking through the lace panties she wore.
“Mmm, baby. You’re drenched.” I smiled.
“I want you so badly,” she heaved.
I ran my fingers through her wet folds, lubricating my finger before I played with her swollen clit.
“Knox,” she moaned, “that feels so good. Please don’t stop.”
“Anything for you, sweetheart.”
I pushed one finger inside her and then two.
Bringing them out slowly and then back in, I curved them forward on the upward thrust, searching for that special spot inside of her.
I found it and pushed farther in as Birdie mewled.
She fucking mewled, and it brought my dick to full attention.
It grew and pushed against the zipper of my own pants, begging to be freed.
As my fingers pumped in and out of her tight pussy, I moved my thumb in little circles, giving her clit the attention it deserved and needed. I could feel how close she was by the way she rode my hand and how her breath picked up and faltered.
“I’m so close, Knox.”
“Yeah, baby. I want to feel you come all down my fingers. Ride my hand and use it to get every ounce of pleasure you need.”
As if she needed my permission to fall apart, her orgasm hit her and she rode it out on my fingers, screaming my name and a trail of expletives.
I let go of her wrists and held her up against the wall while she got her bearings and came down from her high.
“Please tell me you haven’t done those types of naughty things here with anyone else,” she panted as she caught her breath.
“Just you, sweetheart. Only you.” I gently kissed her lips.
As we kicked our snow-covered boots off inside the door of my cottage, Eugene almost bowled Birdie over with his excitement.
She didn’t even bat an eye at my rude dog, going to sit on the floor and letting him lick her face with excitement.
I couldn’t blame him though; I was still just as excited to see her.
“Eugene, give her two seconds to get settled before you knock her down.”
“Oh, he’s fine. He’s just excited that I’m home.”
My breath caught and I thought my heart skipped a beat. She had just called my cottage her home. The woman who, two weeks prior, could barely voice her feelings and took pride in never having strings to hold her down. My shock was written clearly all over my face.
“What's wrong?” she asked.
“You just called this your home.” I smiled broadly. “It made me really happy.”
“Well…yeah.” She scratched Eugene’s ear and then looked back up to me. “You’re my home now.”
“Say more of that.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the floor.
“It’s been a really long time since I’ve truly had a home, somewhere I was happy and comfortable and ready to put down roots. And I’m ready to do that, here, with you.”
That’s all I needed to hear. I leaned down and gave her a gentle and intimate kiss, a kiss that told her I wanted nothing more than to make her mine and build a life together. The slow gentleness washed away, and passion took its place.
I picked her up and she wrapped her legs around my waist, never missing a beat or breaking our kiss. I kicked the door to our room open, then gently laid her down on the bed. I wanted to show her how much she meant to me and what a life together would look like.
I pulled my shirt off and looked down at her body that was lying on the bed like my own personal Christmas present, just waiting to be opened.
“You are absolutely beautiful,” I breathed.
“Knox?” she asked.
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
Hearing those words come out of her mouth was surreal; I didn’t think I’d ever get enough of it. After stripping both of us of our clothes, I stood at the edge of the bed and grabbed her left ankle, bringing it to my mouth and trailing kisses up her calf.
“I love you,” I said in between kisses. “Every single inch of you.”
I grabbed her right ankle next and placed gentle kisses up the other side. “Everything about you.”
I placed her leg back down on the bed so I could crawl up her body, kissing trails around her navel, her torso, and between her breasts. As I sucked one perky rose-colored nipple into my mouth, I squeezed the other one just the way I knew she liked.
“I think if you don’t get inside of me soon, I’m going to combust,” she panted.
“You need it that bad, huh?” I quipped back, my tongue still flicking her nipple.
“I want you, Knox Henderson,” she said as she threaded her finger through my hair, lightly pulling on the strands to drive her point home.
The fact that she was choosing me, that she wanted me—that’s all I needed to hear. I stroked the length of my hard cock and reached for the bedside table.
“Knox?”
I paused. “Yes, baby?”
“I have an IUD, and I got tested before I came to Wexstone…”
I grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I’m clear, too. Are you saying you don’t want to use a condom?”
She nodded, want blazing in her eyes. She didn’t have to tell me twice; I settled over her, giving my dick a few pumps before I lined myself up to her entrance.
Rubbing my cock through her folds and wetting it down with her slickness, I pushed in just a few inches, letting her adjust until she was ready for my full weight.
“Mmm, yes,” she moaned.
“Is this what you wanted?” I asked.
“Yes. More.”
That was all I needed to hear. I grabbed her leg and lifted it up and onto my shoulder, giving myself deeper access to her tight, perfect pussy.
She cried out as I pushed all the way to the hilt, sliding in as far as I could, claiming every inch of her.
I needed to be as close to her as I could be.
I wanted to be as much a part of her as she was of me.
“Bee, I love you and you’re mine.”
“I’m yours. Only yours,” she breathed out.
I loved the way that I could tell when Birdie was close to coming. Her face grew tight and the walls inside her started to tremble. I reached up and ran my thumb over her swollen clit, and like the little button it was, it set her off.
“Knox! Yes!” she screamed as I continued to thrust in and out of her.
Hearing my name come out of her mouth, dripping in ecstasy, sent me over the edge. Two more pumps and I was unleashing everything I had inside her. I fell over, barely able to keep my weight on my forearms as I kissed her deeply.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you.”
I awoke on Christmas morning, sunlight streaming through the window and warming my face, my eyes still closed. For a moment I was afraid to open my eyes, that it might reveal that yesterday had been yet another dream.
But there was the warmth of Birdie’s body tucked into my side, the weight of her head resting on my arm, Eugene curled next to our tangled feet. I opened my eyes and soaked in the sight of her, her hair tousled from sex and sleep, her breathing deep and even as she slept.
Not a dream. She was here, all of her.
I gently disentangled myself, being careful not to wake her. Eugene opened one eye, surveying me. I put a finger to my lips and, as if he understood, he closed his eye again and burrowed in deeper next to Birdie.