Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
TRACE
I hung up the phone and sank back into my chair. I’d known there was nothing wrong with the James’s land, and yet there was a part of me that had been hoping the surveyor would find something.
How fucked up was that?
This morning I’d been threatening to sue Delaney for reconsidering selling when, deep down, I didn’t really want her to either.
But the town needed this. I needed to set aside my selfishness and get it done.
Fuck, if that wasn’t my mother’s voice echoing through my head, I didn’t know what was.
I owed Delaney an apology. I’d been a complete dick this morning and for no reason. I didn’t even know why I was annoyed with her. Of course, she’d been living her life somewhere else all this time. That was the reason why she left. I couldn’t exactly be angry with her when I’d been doing the exact same thing.
I guess seeing the evidence of her kid, of how happy she’d been without me, was harder than I’d thought it would be.
If she’d only stayed, if she’d chosen me… No, that was the quickest way to driving myself insane.
She looked like a good mom. I bet she was amazing at it. Delaney had always had a big heart, and she saw the good in people, even when they didn’t deserve it. Maybe I wouldn’t be a terrible father. I didn’t exactly have a great example from my parents, but at least I had a pretty comprehensive what not to do guide from my own childhood.
Delaney was obviously single, despite what I’d wanted to accuse her of. She wouldn’t have spent the night with me if she wasn’t. That just wasn’t who she was.
She wasn’t like me.
It was just hard seeing her live out the life that I wanted with her.
Almost like I’d willed her into existence, I heard her sweet voice flow through to my office from the reception.
The intercom buzzed, and I set my mini meltdown aside to try to behave like a sane person for a moment. I was pretty embarrassed about my earlier behavior.
I ignored the intercom and went straight to the office door instead. “Delaney,” I called out. “Come through.”
“Erm, Mr. Farrington, I was hoping to get out of the office?—”
“It’s fine, Rosie. You head out, and I’ll make sure to lock up.”
Rosie nervously shuffled on the spot. “Are you sure? It’s just that Mr. Farrington Senior…”
“Leave my father to me, Rosie. Have a good evening.”
“Thank you, Mr. Farrington.”
Rosie grabbed her bag and darted to the door. I didn’t know my father had been giving her a hard time again. Given that he was only in the office for one day a month, if we were even lucky, he didn’t really get a say in how I ran the office.
Delaney watched her go past with wide eyes before she headed toward me. Damn, she’d always been beautiful, but I couldn’t get used to how much better she looked now. She walked with a confidence she’d never had when she was a teenager, and it radiated out of her. She didn’t even seem aware of how everyone watched her when she passed by. As the late afternoon sun filtered through the office windows, it caught the copper highlights in her dark hair.
As she slipped past me into the office, the subtle scent of her perfume reached me, and I tried not to inhale the smell of jasmine too deeply.
Damn, two seconds in her presence, and I wanted her already.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing this adult Trace at work,” she murmured, a wry smile crossing her lips as she came to a stop in the middle of the office as if she didn’t know what to do next.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted out.
She blinked, clearly not expected the apology. “Wow, that was easy.”
“I know, and I am sorry. I don’t know…well, I do know, and it was stupid, but you didn’t deserve to have to deal with my shitty attitude this morning. And of course, I’d never sue you! I don’t know what got into me. Can you forgive me? It’s just…being around you again, and…”
“I know,” she said quietly. “I know what you mean. It’s been a long time, but the feelings are still…”
“Rampaging through my body just like when I was a hormonal teenager who got a boner every time I looked at your lips?”
“That must have been inconvenient for you,” she quipped.
“You have no idea.” I took a step closer to her and then stopped, balling my fists at my side. If I went to her, I’d only be seconds away from reaching for her, and that wasn’t how I wanted this to go.
Well, it was how I wanted this to go, but the point was that we needed to talk.
“So.” She hesitated. “We need to have a conversation.”
“Yeah, we do.” I drifted another step closer to her before I caught myself.
It had always been this way, ever since I’d met her. Even before we’d taken our relationship to a physical level. I always wanted to be near her. Delaney James was the drug I never forgot and the only woman I’d ever wanted in my heart and in my bed. I was man enough to admit that I’d never loved Chelsea, even if I had tried to convince myself that I did for a time. Ours was a relationship of convenience and expectation. I hated that I did that to her. But Chelsea had only been interested in the Farrington name, not me. It was why we’d never been happy together.
“You’re thinking about staying?” I asked, trying to keep the hope out of my voice.
“Honestly, I don’t know what I’m thinking, but I promised to keep my options open. At least until after the funeral.”
I winced at the mention of the funeral. It was so easy to forget the reason why she was back here in the first place. And now I felt like a complete bastard.
“Shit, Lanes. I’m sorry. Here I am thinking about myself, and you’re still trying to deal with everything for the funeral and losing your dad.” I finally let myself go to her then, taking her by the hand and leading her to the couch in my office. “Tell me what I can do to help,” I said as we both sat down.
She looked at me, her eyes darted back and forth as she searched for something in my eyes.
Finally, she sighed. “Just kiss me, Trace.”
Delaney and I were inevitable. This was just how we were made.
My hands came to her cheeks, and I wasted no time in sealing my lips to hers.
Her hand clutched the front of my shirt, and she pulled me closer. There was a desperation in her kiss that hadn’t been there yesterday, and it felt too much like a goodbye this time.
Didn’t she know by now that there was no way I was ever letting her go? It wasn’t a question of if, but when. However long it took, I was going to make Delaney mine again. But for now, I’d take whatever she was willing to give to me.
We became a flurry of movement as we started to pull the clothes off each other’s bodies.
“I’m supposed to be mad at you,” Delaney said, kissing me again before I even had a chance to answer.
I was unclasping her bra and moving to drag my lips across that spot on her neck that made her shiver when I asked, “Why?”
Her breath hitched as the clasp easily popped free, and I pulled the bra from her body, the cool air of the office pebbling her nipples to hard, perfect points.
“I can’t seem to remember right now,” she gasped as I ducked my head and ran my tongue across the stiff peak of her breast.
How, after all these years, was she still so perfect?
I pushed Delaney back on the couch, needing to see her laid out before me. I could appreciate how lucky I was to have even gotten a chance at this moment, and I wanted to remember every second of it.
My lips brushed over her stomach as I lifted up her hips to pull her slacks and her panties down over her ass. Her hands came to the waistband as I did, pushing at the fabric to try to get free of them quicker.
We both laughed then at how ridiculous this was. We were adults, and yes, we were in my office, but there wasn’t anyone else around. But this felt so much like when we were teenagers. When teasing kisses turned into desperate touches, and we were grateful for any second of time we could get alone.
Delaney’s hands were already at my waistband, and I wasted no time in kicking off my dress pants. I wanted to feel her beautiful body wrapped around me. I didn’t want anything between us, not even fabric.
My lips found hers again as she pulled me closer. Her hands roaming my back and gripping my ass to pull me closer. I could feel the heat of her pussy against my cock like it was begging me to take her now.
But then she suddenly flipped us, and given that we were only on the couch in my office, we tumbled together to the floor.
I landed flat on my back with an oomph as Delaney landed on top of me. The giggle she gave as she did made me feel like a teenager again.
Pressing her hands to my chest, she pulled back to look at me. “Did I hurt you?”
“Not even a little.”
She started to kiss down my body, and I gathered her hair up into my hand so I had an uninterrupted view of her face. Her fingers grazed across my skin as she worked her way down.
When she reached my cock, she trailed her tongue along the hard length, and I groaned.
“Is this a good idea?” she asked, then she opened her mouth and took my whole length inside her.
“Oh fuck. Yep, yes, definitely a good idea.”
I was panting with how good it felt as she gently sucked, pulling me free of her mouth before she swirled her tongue around the tip and then swallowed me down again.
Fuck, had it always been this good?
One of her hands cradled my balls, tugging softly as she opened her throat and took me as deep as she could.
I wasn’t going to last long if she kept doing that.
But then she was moving faster, her tongue licking along my shaft as she moved her mouth up and down, every so often popping the tip out of her mouth and swiping the precum off with her tongue.
She hummed in delight as she took me deep into her throat again, and I nearly came.
It couldn’t end like this. Not yet.
“Not yet,” I groaned out, partly because I didn’t really want her to stop. I hooked my hands under her arms and pulled her off me. “I can’t come yet. Not until I’m inside that beautiful pussy of yours.”
She grinned as she slowly made her way back up my body.
“Hmmm, what makes you think you get to do that?”
“I’m praying to whoever will listen and ready to strike any bargain they ask for that it’s on the table,” I admitted.
I was desperate to feel her again. Desperate to draw this out for as long as I could have her.
“I have the implant,” she told me.
I didn’t understand what she was saying at first because she’d stopped straddling my hips, and I could feel the head of my cock pushing against her wet heat. It was enough to drive any man insane with want.
But then her words registered with me.
“I didn’t mean?—”
“I know you didn’t. But I did. I want you, Trace. I want to feel all of you with nothing between us. I’m on the implant, and I know that I’m clean. I have a check-up every year, but I haven’t been with anyone for a long time.”
“I’m clean too,” I told her, suddenly thankful for how my life turned out. “I was tested when I found out that Chelsea had been sleeping around, and I haven’t been with anyone else.”
“Is that a yes, then?” she asked cheekily.
“It’s a hell yes.”
She grabbed my cock, holding it steady, and notched it at her entrance as she locked eyes with me. This felt significant. This felt like a step you didn’t take if it was only going to be a casual fling.
Then she started to sink down onto me.
I watched in fascination as her lips parted, and a look of awe entered her eyes.
My hands gripped her hips tightly, and I couldn’t stop myself from lifting my hips to push deeper inside her body.
When I was finally as deep as I could go, she sat, panting as she tipped her head back, reveling in the feeling of having my cock filling her. I almost wanted to bang on my chest in satisfaction that I could be the cause of that perfect look on her face.
When she looked back down at me, she started to rock her hips, my hands guiding her movement as she did.
“Touch yourself, Delaney.”
Her fingers came to her clit without needing any other encouragement, and she worked that little bundle of nerves in time with her movement over my cock.
It didn’t take long for me to grip her hips steadily and start to thrust up into her. I wanted to watch her fall apart, to see the look on her face as she was overwhelmed by pleasure.
And then I got an idea.
My grip tightened on her to stop moving, and she looked down at me in question.
I lifted a confused-looking Delaney off my length and helped her up off the ground before I turned her, pulled her back into my chest, and gently kissed her shoulder.
“I’ve got an idea,” I whispered.
She laughed as she took in the sight in front of her, knowing where this was going.
“You dirty boy.”
I started to walk us around my desk, grabbing her waist to sit her on the surface and then spreading her legs wide.
“I want to see you come all over my desk so that every time I sit here, you’re all I can think about,” I told her as I lowered myself into the leather desk chair.
Delaney grinned, and I placed a hand on her chest, gently laying her back across the paperwork that still littered the surface until her head hung over the opposite side. I pulled her legs over my shoulders as I moved my mouth to her core.
“Hold on tight, Delaney,” I whispered, my breath skating across her wet core and making her hips twitch.
I didn’t even wait for her answer before I dived in, my lips closing around her clit as I pushed two fingers deep inside her.
I knew she wouldn’t last long. She’d been too close to the precipice of an orgasm before.
My tongue worked over her clit as I devoured her, savoring the taste of her perfect pussy on my lips.
Adding a third finger, she hissed at the sting of the stretch, and I glanced up her body to watch as she rolled her nipples between her fingers in response.
Her hips started to move, and I groaned at the feeling of her starting to ride my fingers. I wanted her sitting on my face next time. I wanted to feel her gush all over my tongue.
“Don’t stop, don’t stop,” she begged, as I started to fuck her faster with my fingers.
Her pussy suddenly clamped down on my fingers, and her back arched as she came with a shout. The only reason I stopped was because I was powerless not to watch her in awe. She was so beautiful when she came.
I was standing before I even realized it. The need to be back inside her so strong that I was fully sheathed and fucking her before she’d even fully come down from her high.
One thigh was still draped over my shoulder, and I stretched her legs wide as I leaned forward to fuck into her as hard and as fast as I could.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted in time with my every movement. “Trace…don’t stop.”
I could feel the muscles inside her starting to flutter again already, and I wasn’t far off myself.
Delaney pulled my head down, licking her tongue across my lips to gather up her own essence, and then she kissed me deeply.
I wrapped my arms around her, pinning her leg between us as my hips took up a pace I’d never had in me before. The desk screeched as it shifted across the floor, but I didn’t slow down. I was chasing a high that we both needed, an explosive ending that I needed to experience with the woman in my arms.
I felt my balls draw tight as I grew closer, and for a moment, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to get her there with me.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Delaney cried out.
“Come with me, baby,” I growled, holding onto her tight.
I thrust into her as hard as I could once, twice, and then with the third, we both shattered, crying out in ecstasy as the pleasure overwhelmed our senses.
There had never been anything as perfect as the time I spent with Delaney. It shattered my soul and remade me into a better man every single time.