Luna
THIRTY-SEVEN
As soon as we step off the stage after our last encore, the backstage area becomes a flurry of excited chatter and chaos.
I team up with my mom and the other volunteers to get all the children back with their parents. Adrenaline is still rushing through my veins from my performance when I see Cayden walk in with his teammates.
He’s holding two bouquets in his hand as his eyes scan the room before finding me. A smile plays on his lips as they walk over.
“Daddy!” Scarlett runs to Cayden and jumps into his arms. “I danced on big stage!”
“I saw,” he chuckles. “You looked just like a ballerina up there. I’m so proud of you.”
“Those for me?” She points to the pink carnations, and he nods his head.
“They’re for my favorite girl. Every real dancer gets flowers after a big performance.”
“That’s me,” she beams, taking the bouquet. “I danced so big on stage.”
“So big,” Cayden agrees. “I think the guys have something for you, too,” he says, putting her down as she excitedly runs to them. I watch Hayes and the rest of them pull a single pink carnation from behind their backs as they gather around her.
These men, who battle on the ice for a living, who spend their nights hitting and fighting, are standing in the middle of a dance recital holding flowers for a two-year-old girl.
And, somehow, she looks like the one in charge.
It’s clear she has them wrapped around her little finger as she grins up at them and starts to tell them all about her moment on stage.
“And these,” Cayden says, handing me the other bouquet, “are for my other favorite girl.”
I stare at the huge assortment of pink roses and smile as I bury my face in their sweet fragrance.
“Thank you,” I whisper. “They’re beautiful.”
“Not even close to how beautiful you were up on that stage.” He steps closer, and I breathe him in as his green eyes hold mine. They are so different than when I first met him, yet they are still the same beautiful eyes I fell in love with.
I’m not seeing his guarded eyes anymore…the ones he uses to shut people out…
I’m seeing Cayden.
I’m seeing his light again.
“You danced my tattoo,” he murmurs, fingering a black feather on my dress.
“I wanted to surprise you.” My throat tightens because I know what that black feather represents for him. I know the last time he saw me dance it, he wasn’t ready. “The ending…”
His thumb stills on the feather before his eyes meet mine. “Was perfect,” he finishes softly. “It’s exactly the way it was always meant to be.”
I search his face, looking for the shadow that always used to appear when his past got too close.
But it’s not there.
I don’t know if he realizes what he just gave himself…what he just gave me, but I do.
He’s given himself permission to move forward, and from the way he is looking at me now…I’m the one he wants to reach for.
“What?” He asks, the corner of his mouth lifting.
“Nothing,” I smile, shaking my head.
“It’s never just nothing with you.”
I grin wider because he’s right. He knows me so well by now.
“You just look happy, is all.”
He pauses slightly, not because he’s hesitant, but because he knows it’s true.
“I am,” he smiles. “For the first time, in a long time…I truly am.”
Taking out the last of my pins, my hair tumbles down my back as I hear a knock at my front door.
I glance at the clock and see it’s just after ten.
Curious who could be here since I just left everyone a couple of hours ago, I walk barefoot across the wooden floor and look through the peephole.
I smile when I see Cayden on the other side.
After he gave me my flowers, it got hectic when my family and all of the Montgomerys came rushing in with praises and congratulations seconds later. Their kids were bouncing with excitement as they started talking all at once about their performances.
We both decided earlier that the recital wasn’t the place to tell everyone we are together, so Cayden ended up staying for a bit and talking with everyone before he left, saying he had to get Scarlett to bed.
Besides, I know this is all new to him, and the last thing I want to do is overwhelm him by throwing him into the chaos of my big family before he’s ready.
Opening the door, my heart immediately skips a beat when his green eyes find mine.
He’s changed out of his casual slacks and t-shirt from earlier and into grey sweats and a black hoodie. His hands are stuffed into his sweatshirt pocket as he shifts his stance slightly. He seems unsettled as his restless energy washes over me.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, noticing the slight vulnerability in his eyes as he steps inside.
Closing the door, I turn to face him, concerned that something has happened.
“Scar fell asleep.”
“Okay…”
“And then the house got quiet.”
My heart squeezes in my chest as I wait for him to explain.
“I used to hate the quiet. Especially at night,” he adds. “I couldn’t control my thoughts like I could during the day. Even in my sleep, I was reminded of everything I had lost.”
He rakes his hand through his hair as he begins to pace my living room.
“But the quiet hits me differently now,” he finally says. “It’s not filled anymore with turmoil and loss,” he says, shaking his head as if he’s trying to make sense of it all.
“I was lying there in the bed tonight, and I was at peace,” he says quietly, lifting his eyes to mine. “It was the same peace I felt the night you slept beside me.”
Walking over to him, I wrap my arms around his waist and feel his body relax into mine as his arms come around me.
“I realized tonight just how much I wanted you there next to me, so here I am, feeling like a goddamn puppy dog running over here just to be near you,” he chuckles softly into my hair.
“I’ve always wanted a puppy,” I smile into his hoodie.
“I said I felt like a puppy,” he says, picking me up as my legs wrap around him. “Make no mistake, though…”
He grins wickedly as his hands slide under my tee and grip my ass.
He immediately starts to swell between my legs as he presses me further into him. “There’s nothing small or harmless about me, little moon,” he says as his lips brush against mine, walking me toward the small hallway.
He easily finds my bedroom in my small apartment and drops me on the bed, hovering above me with a devilish grin as he cages me in.
“So, now that I’m here, there’s something I’ve been very curious about.”
“Oh yeah? And what is that?” I giggle.
“Where’s this secret drawer of yours that Connor mentioned?”
“What?” I laugh.
“You heard me,” he grins. “I want to see how dirty this teacher likes to get. So which drawer is it?” he asks, standing up and looking around before his eyes land on my white nightstand on the left side of my bed.
Heat rushes to my cheeks as he glances back at me.
“Found it,” he chuckles, walking over to the other side of the bed.
“How did you know it was in that one? It could have been the other one?”
“Well, besides your crimson face that’s a dead giveaway?” he laughs. “When you slept in my bed,” he explains, “you chose the left side, so I’m assuming that’s the side you usually sleep on.”
“Do you notice every little detail?” I chuckle.
“I’m a goalie,” he shrugs. “It’s in my DNA to notice every little thing around me.” He grabs the black knob on the drawer and raises an eyebrow in question. “Nothing is going to spring out at me, is it?”
Flipping onto my stomach, I bend my knees and slowly kick my feet back and forth as I watch him with interest. “A big dildo might smack you in the face, but other than that, you should be safe,” I grin.
Rolling his eyes at my smart mouth, he opens the drawer. Frowning, he takes in my hand lotion, lip moisturizer, and a few other items like my Kindle and my latest paperback I’m reading.
“Hmmm…I guess Connor lied.” I struggle to keep a straight face as he shuts the top drawer.
“You’re a bad liar,” he chuckles, opening the second drawer. His lips twitch as he picks up a pink box and sets it on the nightstand. “I wonder what’s in here?”
I quickly scoot up so I’m sitting on my knees as he lifts the lid to the box.
“You naughty girl,” he tsks, looking through my collection of various vibrators and suction toys.
I’m surprised I’m not mortified as he examines each one, but it oddly excites me to see him handle what brings me pleasure, which, up until now, was something I did in private.
“Which one is your favorite?” He asks suddenly.
“My favorite?”
Nodding, he glances in my direction. “I want to know which one you use the most.”
“The…the pink one,” I whisper.
He reaches for the rabbit, and a low hum fills the rooms as he turns it on.
“Show me,” he says, holding it out to me as I take it from his grasp. His eyes hold mine, and I feel the underlying heat brimming at the surface.
“Now?” I squeak as I watch him remove his shoes and socks before lifting his hoodie over his head, revealing his bare chest underneath.
Just the sight of him half-naked in my room sends a wave of desire coursing through my body. I don’t need the damn toy.
I want him.
“Yes, now,” he smirks. My gaze follows him as he picks up my desk chair in the corner and places it at the foot of the bed, settling his large frame down on it.
He leans back like he has all the time in the world as he looks at me expectantly.
“But you’re here. I don’t need it.”
“That is the right damn answer,” he grins. “And one I want you to remember even when I’m not here.”
My breath catches as his gaze darkens and his demeanor turns more serious.
“But right now, little moon. I want to watch.”
My heart rate increases as my body awakens to the low tone of his voice.
I’ve never used my toys in front of someone, but seeing Cayden look at me with such an intense hunger in those green eyes makes it easy for me to want to please him.
The view alone is going to make it easy to cum in seconds….but.
Suddenly eager to do this, my mind starts forming a plan as I feel the rush of adrenaline run through my veins.
If he wants to watch, then I’ll give him a show he will never forget.
But I know Cayden.
He thrives on control.
There’s no way he’ll want me to finish without him taking over and being the one to bring me there.
I lock eyes with his as I slowly take the hem of my shirt and raise it over my head before tossing it aside.
My panties come next, and by the time I’m sitting up against the cushioned headboard with my knees bent and my legs opened wide, giving him the perfect view…
I know I’ve got him right where I want him as I watch his body tense and his jaw tick from the pressure.
His eyes are ablaze with pure, unabashed need.
I pick up the toy and run it through my arousal already forming between my legs because of the man before me.
It’s only a matter of time before he caves and tosses the toy aside.
Because if I know anything about the Cayden Blade sitting before me now…
It's that he doesn’t sit back and watch life happen anymore.