Chapter 10
“What is the history between you and Wyatt?” Forrest asked as he struck a match to light the last candle in the dimly lit bedroom.
After returning from the village square, I had spent the remainder of the day keeping myself occupied with various menial tasks around the cottage.
The events of the afternoon had replayed over and over again in my head.
Seeing Maxx upon entering the village square, the unsettling visit with Violet, the confrontation with Wyatt, and the ensuing altercation between him and Forrest. Selfishly I had hoped Forrest’s silence on the topic was confirmation that he had no interest in discussing it. I was wrong.
“It’s such a long and uninteresting story. I don’t want to bore you with it,” I said as I undressed.
“Nothing about you is uninteresting, Aurelia.” Forrest raised his eyebrows at me as he watched me slip into my nightgown. “Or boring.”
I sighed as I climbed into bed. Truth be told, I was worried that if I shared this history with Forrest, he would think less of me, cast judgment on me for my choices.
I was nervous. Forrest had said that whatever had happened wouldn’t change his opinion of me, but I was scared nonetheless.
Forrest made me genuinely happy, an emotion I could honestly say I hadn’t felt in a long while. And now I was going to ruin it.
Forrest reached out and grabbed my hand, holding it as if to reassure me that he was a safe space for me.
“Wyatt has an importing-and-exporting business based out of the South. He runs supplies gathered from there and neighbouring isles up to the Northern Territory. Most of the supplies I require for my herbal remedies have to be imported, so Wyatt and I would routinely see each other every couple of months when he dropped them off. Before long, I found myself becoming quite fond of him, and our ‘relationship’ began.”
“It was a relationship of ease, then? Did he know about your work as a healer?” Forrest asked.
“I was never honest with him about what I was doing with the things he brought me. I have always had to keep my abilities to myself, and I guess I just never felt like I could trust him. As far as he knew, I sold bathing oils and tea blends in Magda’s shop.
To be fair, we didn’t really ever discuss work when he was around. ”
“You mentioned before that the reason you were no longer together was that he wanted more of a commitment?”
“Yeah,” I responded, curious where he was going with this questioning.
“What kind of commitment was he looking for?”
“He wanted something I was not prepared to give.” I looked at Forrest and quickly averted my gaze to the blanket.
“Early on in our relationship, we bonded over discussing our awful previous partners. Wyatt had been married and had a small child. And then, without warning, his wife left him for another man. As for me … well, I had escaped from what Magda called ‘a deeply problematic and abusive’ relationship.” I clasped my hands in my lap and shifted under the covers, restlessness settling in my limbs.
“I was honest with him from very early on that I was not looking for commitment, that I could not give anything more to him than a casual, physical relationship.” I let out a sigh and closed my eyes, readying myself for Forrest’s response.
Forrest moved closer, our thighs brushing against each other. He placed his hand behind my back and rubbed large soothing circles. “What happened with you?” he asked nervously.
I opened my eyes and looked over to find Forrest staring at me intently.
“Do you mean with my relationship?” I asked, surprised.
He nodded.
“I was young. I thought I was in love, but it was really me erroneously looking for safety and support in a man after my grandmother had passed. He worked in the mines and had a really bad drinking problem. We were together for a little over a year, and each day I was with that miserable man was like a test from the Mothers Above to see just how much of his abuse I could endure.”
I could feel Forrest tensing beside me. “Where is he now?” he said in a dark whisper.
I smiled. “He’s dead. He died in a mining accident, similar to my father.
” I took a deep breath before sharing the rest. “I found out a few weeks after he died that I was pregnant. I hated that man so much that the thought of carrying his child made me physically ill. I couldn’t let part of him fester and grow inside me.
I decided to end the pregnancy myself. I would rather have faced the penalty of death than continued his rotten bloodline.
Thankfully, no one knew I was pregnant, so no one was the wiser when it ended. ”
Forrest looked at me thoughtfully for a moment.
“And that’s why you don’t want to be in a relationship?
Because you think you will be trapped again?
” He paused for a moment, like he had remembered something.
“And that’s why you didn’t want to call me your boyfriend.
I’m so sorry, Aurelia. If I had known, I wouldn’t have said that. ”
A single tear fell down my cheek, and then several more followed unbidden. I hadn’t been expecting to get emotional, but something about Forrest figuring it out on his own made me appreciate him all the more.
“There’s no need to apologize for something you couldn’t have known,” I said.
“More importantly, though, you get it. Wyatt didn’t, or he straight up refused to.
When we first started to become intimate, I made it very clear that I didn’t want a relationship.
He was aware of my past and its impact on me.
He was also often away for months at a time for work.
A casual arrangement worked for us. Until Wyatt decided it wasn’t enough for him. ”
Sniffling, I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand. I let out a deep breath and smoothed the blankets over my legs before I continued.
“About a week before I found you, Wyatt came back from one of his trips down south. He said that he wanted to make things official regarding our relationship. It had been over two years since we had started seeing each other, and he felt that I could trust him to treat me right and provide support and protection. At first I told him that I didn’t want to talk about it.
I tried to avoid the conversation, but he persisted.
I reiterated my stance on the subject, and he basically said that he had waited it out over the last two years, fully expecting that I would eventually change my mind.
I was hurt and upset by what I felt was a betrayal.
He left that night, saying he needed some space.
As far as I was concerned, it was over.”
Forrest smiled at me. “See? I was right to support you and defend your honour today blindly. Although knowing what I know now about Wyatt, I wish I had broken more of his limbs.”
“You don’t think any differently of me?” I asked quietly.
“No. Why would I? If anything, I think even more of you now. Standing firmly by your principles is quite attractive, Aurelia.”
He wrapped an arm around my waist and rolled on top of me. He placed gentle kisses along my forehead, my temple, my cheek, and finally, on my lips.
His lips then brushed my ear as he whispered, “As far as what we are, I’m more than happy to be whatever you’ll allow me to be, for as long as you’ll have me.”
His tongue, gliding down the column of my neck, sent shivers all over my body.
My nipples hardened, exposing themselves through my nightgown.
Forrest, eyeing them right away, placed his mouth over one.
My breath hitched as he gently flicked it with his tongue.
His hand made its way underneath my backside, grabbing a handful of me as he held my breast with his other hand, moving his mouth over to my other nipple.
He dragged his teeth along the silk, sending shivers throughout my body.
The area between my legs throbbed with a dull ache.
Wetness slickened the spot where my thighs and sex met.
He was suddenly caressing the inside of my thigh with the back of his fingers, teasing his way up to the hem of my nightgown.
His other hand wrapped underneath my other thigh, gently pulling it to the side.
He shifted my nightgown up a few inches and looked up at me with a devilish grin. “I can’t wait to bury my face inside you,” he whispered as he kissed up my inner thigh.
His lips grazed my wetted core, gracing it with his softest kisses.
His tongue slid, teasingly slow, inside me, feeling around like he was searching for a prize.
I spread my legs wider, giving him more space to work with.
His hands were on either side of my sex, spreading me apart, licking me with forceful thrusts from bottom to top.
With each passing stroke, the tension within me increased.
His mouth made its way to my clit, sucking and flicking it with his tongue.
My back arched as a loud moan escaped me.
He lifted his head up to look at me. “Your taste, your scent, it drives me fucking wild,” he growled.
I sat up and tried to grab his cock, but he snatched my hand and tsked at me. “No. Right now is about you, and I want to make you come as many times as you’ll allow.”