Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
NATASHA
M y hand over my mouth, I backed away from the door until I reached the bed. My knees buckled and I sat hard.
Holy. Fuck. Was it true?
I hadn’t heard Ella’s side of the conversation, so I couldn’t be sure, but Lachlan made it sound like she’d found my mother.
Part of me wanted to rush into the main cabin and make him tell me the truth, but another part wanted to wait and see if he told me himself. Before I could decide, the pocket door slid open, landing in its mounting with an audible bang.
“Natasha! I’m so glad you’re awake! I have a surprise for you.” He grinned excitedly as he sat next to me. Taking my hand, he said, “I really should keep this a secret, so I don’t distract you, but I can’t wait to see your face when I tell you.”
“Well? What’s your secret?”
“Ella found your mother.”
My heart thudded at the confirmation of what I thought I’d overheard. “Is she safe in Elba yet?”
His face colored and he shrugged. “She’s safe, according to Ella. She lives with her Master near Helsinki and?—”
“What?” When he hesitated, I grabbed his arm. “Why Finland? Do not even tell me she’s still enslaved.”
“She and her Master are in hiding.” He shrugged and gave me a wry smile. “Ella couldn’t believe it either, but apparently, they’re very much in love. Cherise refused to leave him.”
“After all these years… Unbelievable.”
“That’s what I said.” He took my hand and brought it to his lips. “Ella says Cherise misses you very much.”
I tried to parse through my feelings of delight mixed with anger, mixed with sadness. It all whirled in my head until I had no idea which would come out on top. “Let me guess. They’re in hiding because of Ronan.”
“Yes.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, then dabbed my face with a handkerchief that smelled of laundry detergent mixed with his cologne.
When did I start crying?
“Shh, love. It’s okay.” He wiped a few more tears away and hugged me tight. “But I have another secret that might make you feel better.”
For that matter, when did I become his love?
I rubbed my eyes and nodded. “Okay?”
“She’s pregnant. You’re going to be a big sister.”
Wondering if I’d gone temporarily deaf, I stuck a finger in my ear. “I’m sorry, what?”
“The news surprised me too.” He looked down at his hands. “Was she young when she had you?”
“She was barely nineteen,” I whispered, feeling faint. “I found her birth certificate and an old passport in my father’s safe.”
She’d been so young, and so very beautiful, with a bright, open smile and a cute little gap between her front teeth. I’d had one too, before my sperm donor sent me to the orthodontist.
Hell, I didn’t even know why Steve kept her documents or how he’d gotten them in the first place, but it was yet another thing to hate him for.
Had he bought her? Stolen her from a family that might still miss her?
Not for the first time, I wished I’d killed him with my own hands instead of using Dante.
“I promise you. The minute Ronan is dead, I’m taking you to meet her.”
To my disgust, I burst into noisy, yet surprisingly cathartic sobs. I hadn’t cried in… Hell, I couldn’t remember, but Lachlan didn’t stop whispering endearments as he rocked me until I managed to stop bawling.
“Blow.” He held his handkerchief to my nose until I obeyed, then wiped my face with a clean one. “All better?”
I pulled myself together and tried to get my emotions under control. “Let us never speak of this again.”
Shocking the hell out of me, he burst into laughter. “That’s exactly what Ella said when she cried over your mother’s story.”
“Will you tell me?”
“Of course.”
He repeated the parts of their conversation I hadn’t overheard, but I held up a hand to stop him. “Wait. Say that again. I don’t think I heard you properly.”
Chuckling softly, he brushed hair out of my eyes and kissed my forehead. “Not only did he let her boss him around while he cooked supper, but he fed her from his own plate while she sat on his lap.”
“Unbelievable.” There just wasn’t another word to describe the situation, but I was…
Happy? Hurting because we’d lost over twenty years? I decided I was feeling both, but mostly I was glad she’d found someone who loved and protected her.
“Indeed. Ella also sent Saoirse to a safe house in Switzerland. She’ll be protected until we deal with Ronan.” After encouraging me to lie down, he covered me with the blanket. “Rest now, love. We’ll be landing soon.”
Lachlan didn’t know I’d overheard part of the conversation. He could have kept the news to himself instead of telling me. I’d have even understood if he hadn’t said I was about to be a big sister, because fuck, if that wasn’t distracting. But he told me anyway.
For once in my life, a man did something for no other reason than to make me happy. Belatedly, I remembered Jerome giving me Angel. Although it had been a nice gesture, it wasn’t the same.
Telling me about my mother had been a risk. I might lose focus or drop the mission to kill Ronan altogether in favor of rushing to see her. I might even get careless and put myself and Lachlan in danger. Or worse, my mother and unborn sibling.
He’d considered those possibilities and told me anyway. Hell, the jerk had wiped my tears and held a freaking silk handkerchief for me to blow my nose.
Something shifted in my chest, making me short of breath. All these months… He’d been trying to be the man I needed—even when I made it difficult. I inhaled deeply and let it out, feeling lighter and…
Free.
Slowly, I rose to my feet and his eyes widened when I undressed and lowered myself to my knees. “Please, make love to me, Master.”
* * *
LACHLAN
Natasha’s words clicked within me, and I realized I could have everything I’d ever wished for—even if part of me didn’t think I deserved it after what I’d done to her.
I cleared my throat, and thankfully, my voice remained steady. “Are you sure, love? Is this what you want?” Before she could reply, I stood and circled her, letting my hands brush against her muscular shoulders. “Do you kneel for me because you think you should, or because you want to?”
She sat on her heels and rested her upturned hands on her spread thighs, as she’d been taught, but lifted her chin to meet my eyes. “The days of me doing anything I don’t want to are over. I’m on my knees because I want to be.”
“Such a good girl,” I murmured as I unfastened my trousers. “Open your mouth. I want to feel those pretty tongue piercings slide against my dick.”
More quickly than I thought she would, Natasha parted her lips and stretched her neck as if anticipating my cock. I couldn’t help enjoying the way she focused on my thickening shaft.
Leaning close, she swirled her tongue around the crown, making me swallow a groan of pleasure.
Keeping her eyes on my face, she took me deeper until I bumped the back of her throat.
I felt her swallow an instant before she took all of me.
I tried to pull away, knowing I wouldn’t last if I had to suffer such delicious torment for much longer.
Without warning, her hand shot up and she tightened her fingers around my balls, her eyes filled with challenge as she forced me to stay still.
“Natasha, fuck!” She hummed around my cock and my knees almost buckled under me when she loosened her grip on my scrotum and rimmed my ass with a wet fingertip.
She increased the suction on my cock, and slowly…painfully slowly…she released me from her mouth.
“You were saying?” she asked.
“Bad girl.” I tried to clear the spots from my eyes and hauled her to her feet. “Very bad girl.”
“Ooh, is Master going to spank me?” Her brown eyes lightened almost to gold, and she unbuttoned the top few buttons on my shirt. After delivering a gentle bite to my nipple, she added, “I might as well earn that spanking.”
She giggled and didn’t stop me when I spun her around and pushed her shoulders until she bent over the bed with her luscious ass exposed.
Instead of answering, I brought my hand down in a hard slap, leaving a pink handprint.
She squeaked and tried to wriggle free as I kept spanking her until her bottom was red and hot to the touch.
I could have kept spanking her forever—especially when she lifted her hips for her punishment—but I wanted to hear her pleasure even more. Deciding turnabout was fair play, I flipped her to her back and dropped to my knees between her splayed thighs.
“Do you still hate edging?” I asked.
Her expression turned pensive. “I don’t know. Maybe?”
Although disappointed by her answer, it didn’t surprise me, and I wouldn’t push. If I didn’t manage to fuck things up with her again, we’d have plenty of time to explore each other.
“Then I won’t, but you’ll be a good girl and give me at least two orgasms before I make love to you.” I didn’t wait for her reply before burying my face between her legs.
I sucked her clit into my mouth and lashed it with my tongue as I slid two fingers into her wet channel. Crying out, she bucked her hips and sank her hands into my hair. I found the sweet spot inside her and rubbed hard, making her scream my name as a gush of fluid bathed my face.
I lapped at the honey and salt of her spend, drawing her sweet scent deep into my body as I slowly drove her to another climax.
“God! Lachlan!” Her short nails dug into my scalp, sending a shivery sting coursing down my spine.
Her passionate cries were like the sweetest music, and although my cock ached with the need to be inside her, I redoubled my efforts. Using my free hand, I pinched her nipple, dragging another scream from her as she convulsed with another climax.
“There’s my very good girl,” I murmured as I kissed her inner thigh before scattering more kisses on her taut belly. Slowly, I pressed my lips to every inch of her, relishing her labored breaths as I finally reached her lips.
“Please, please, make love to me?” Her whisper lifted at the end in question instead of demand.
Doing my best to keep kissing her, I tore off my clothes. This was how it should have been between us—like our first night together, but better.
So much better. My anger and disgust at both her and at myself were gone.
“Yes.” She reached between our bodies and gripped my erection, positioning me at her entrance. “I’m ready.”
“I think I’ve been ready all my life.” Slowly, with my eyes fixed on her beautiful face, I eased inside her, feeling as if I’d finally come home.
“God, yes.” She wrapped her calves around my hips and surged upward to take me deeper. “Perfect, but I’m not going to last long.”
“Then you’ll come twice.” Praying I could keep my own climax in check, I lowered my head and rasped the scruff of my beard against her neck as I kissed the tender skin under her ear.
Her legs tightened around me, and she dug her nails into my shoulders.
The sting drove me like a goad, and I took her mouth in a searing kiss as her inner walls clamped down on my cock.
My lower back tingled, and I gritted my teeth, trying to hold on.
I moved my hand to her luscious breast and teased her nipple, making her gasp and cry out as her inner walls massaged my dick.
“Fuck, yes,” I hissed. “You feel so good, love. Give me one more.”
“I…” Her face reddened with exertion, and she panted like she was running a race. “I can’t.”
“Oh, I beg to differ.” I slipped my hand between our bodies, then rubbed the barbell in her clit hood against the sensitive bundle of nerves in a way I knew would send her into orbit.
“Lachlan!”
I smiled at her shrill scream of pleasure and, still working her clit, I fucked her hard, increasing the tempo until sweat beaded on my body and my head ached from the force of holding myself back.
“God, yes!” She sank her hands in my hair and pulled. “Kiss me, please!”
I was lost the minute I tasted her sweet lips. Never—not even on either of our wedding nights—had Natasha begged for a kiss.