SCARLET #3
Tears blurred my vision and clogged my throat.
What a shame I was never able to meet Jack.
He must have been an extraordinary man. Thank you for rescuing him for me, I whispered in my heart, closing my eyes, forcing the tears over my lashes and down my cheeks.
Blinking back the rest, I watched Grayson tip the urn slowly.
“Thank you,” he murmured as the ashes began to spill out. The morning breeze caught them and carried them away as we watched. “Thank you, Jack.”
And then it was over.
A feeling of peace settled over me as I stepped up beside Grayson and ran a hand over his back. “Are you okay?” I whispered, studying his face, looking for any signs of what he was going through.
“Yeah. I think so.” He managed a brief grin before sighing. “I think he would’ve wanted it this way. No fuss, no emotional over-the-top shit.”
After one last look at the lake, we took the short hike back to the cabin.
It was a beautiful, perfect morning that made a person believe in possibilities.
We could both have closure now. Grayson might never have a relationship with his dad, but they had patched things up when it counted.
As for me, I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to forgive the man for what he did to Mom.
If I’d learned anything over the past few months, though, it was how unpredictable life could be.
If forgiveness came, it would take time, but it might be worth it since, in the end, forgiveness would help heal me.
What mattered was, in a twist of fate, losing her meant Grayson’s salvation. She was the catalyst. She and Jack had saved him in their respective ways.
They had saved me too. I would be alone in the world if it weren’t for him. I now knew the joy of waking up next to him every morning after moving into his spacious but comfortable home. We were building a life together, a real life, the kind with a future attached.
“I never thought much about the future,” he’d admitted not long after I had finished unpacking and settling in. “I never imagined a woman living here with me, but I’m liking it already.”
Thank you, Mom, I thought as we closed in on the familiar cabin, walking hand in hand. You saved him for me to love.
Right now, loving him meant following him inside and going straight to the kitchen. “I can get breakfast started,” I offered. “That morning air really wakes up my appetite.”
He caught me on the way, though, taking me by my hand and pulling me up short.
What a difference, seeing nothing but love in his eyes when he pulled me close.
No conflict, no darkness. The past couple of months we’ve spent together after his injury had done wonders for him.
He was trying hard to move on, and so was I. We were helping each other.
My heart swelled when he stared into my eyes, and a smile tipped the corners of his mouth. Stroking my cheeks with his thumbs, he murmured, “Thank you for being here with me.”
“There’s nowhere I’d rather be. Besides…” I added with a grin, “… this is the cabin where I fell in love with you.”
“This is a pretty special place. I fell in love with you here too. It took time for my brain to catch up with my heart,” he explained before leaning down for a kiss, then another.
“But I’m glad it did,” he added before kissing me until my knees went weak.
Each one was deeper than the last, lighting a fire in my core and awakening an appetite that had nothing to do with food.
I wound my arms around his neck, clinging to him as desire took over, when just a minute ago, I was ready to make breakfast. This was much better, especially when his voice rasped in my ear. “I love you. I need you.”
He gripped my hips and pulled me in against his already growing erection, melting me the way he always did.
“Can you wait for breakfast?” he asked, one hand sliding around to cup my ass cheek.
His touch was fire, burning my skin through my leggings.
Suddenly, I wanted them gone, with not a stitch of clothing between us.
I needed to feel his body against mine, skin to skin, heartbeat to heartbeat.
“I could live on this,” I told him, giggling when he lifted me off my feet, carrying me the short distance to the bedroom.
He couldn’t wait to reach the bed, turning and pinning me to the wall next to the door.
Taking my wrists, he lifted them above my head and held them in place with one of his hands while the other slid down my side.
His hot breath mingled with mine, coming faster and sharper as he rolled his hips, grinding his dick against me.
“I will never get enough of you,” he growled, making my pussy flood in response to his words and his touch—hungry, demanding, undoing me with every caress the way he always did.
We had done this so many times, but it was always like this.
His touch was magic.
And his kiss? I moaned in his mouth as his tongue swept over mine, probing in time with his insistent thrusts against me.
I tugged my arms, wanting to touch, wanting to soak in the softness of his hair and the firmness of his rippling muscles.
He only held on tighter, forcing me to take everything he wanted to give.
When that included tugging at the waistband of my leggings, I wiggled my hips to help him, panting for every ragged breath I managed to pull in. My thong was stuck to my shaved mound by the time he peeled it away from my skin so his fingers could slide through my slickness.
“Oh, yes,” I panted, jerking my hips to move against him to increase the friction. Nothing mattered but getting more, every movement driven by my throbbing clit. “Yes, make me come.”
“I love getting you hot like this,” he grunted, lapping at my throat until I let my head fall to the side so he could reach more of me.
His teeth grazed my skin, making me shiver, making me bear down against his hand while I fought to free mine.
I needed to feel him, rake my nails over his skin, and hear his grunts and hisses.
“Let me touch you,” I begged while his fingers worked me, making me more desperate, more needy, moaning with every breath.
“Not until you come for me. Can you do that?” he asked, teasing my mouth with his tongue, tracing my lips before nipping with his teeth until I strained for more.
“Be a good girl and come for me,” he urged, rolling the tip of his finger over my clit in tight circles, teasing my entrance with another finger, almost killing me with more sensation than I could handle all at once.
The tension built, my core burning, my pussy sopping and aching to the point of pain. I couldn’t take much more of this.
“God… yes!” I sobbed, arching my back, jerking my hips.