Chapter Thirty-One
Angel
Six months later. One week before Christmas.
“Good morning, Chef.”
I looked up from my prep work, smiling at Alex and Monty. “Good morning. How did last night go?”
Alex rolled her eyes. “Marg is still deciding between the blond one and the tall, hot one.”
Monty clicked his tongue, humming in agreement. “The blond woman has a good resume, but Mr. Tall Dark and Please Fuck Me into a Wall? I believe he’s exactly what this place needs.”
“Uh-huh,” I laughed, continuing to chop up the carrots.
“This place or you?” Alex deadpanned.
“Hell, you too. I don’t mind sharing.” Monty strutted around the prep table to stand beside me. “I’m still waiting for this beauty to share her hunk with me.”
“My hunk?” I parroted in disbelief, gaping at him.
Monty grinned. “I’ll only want him for the night, babe. You can have him back. He looks like the commitment type, and I’m not for that.”
“Shouldn’t you all be working instead of hounding our new sous chef on her first day back?” Marg asked, giving me a wink. Everyone dispersed, leaving me alone with her. “Settling back in all right?”
I smiled. “It’s like I never left.” She watched me work for a few moments, and when I finished cutting the carrots, moving onto the onion, she whispered, “He’d be proud of you, you know.”
My eyes started to sting. “Yes, I know he would.” I set the knife down and wiped my hands on my apron. “He’d be proud of both of us, actually.”
Marg’s face split into a smile, deepening her laughter lines.
A sign of a life well lived. She reached up, patting her head in search of her reading glasses, and slipped them on.
“I miss that boy,” she muttered, pulling out tonight’s menu.
“Now, are you set on the main dish? Do you have enough fish or do I need to send Monty down to the docks for more?”
“Why am I being sent to the docks?” Monty screeched from somewhere in the empty dining room.
He burst into the kitchen, eyes wide with fear.
“Two things, Marg.” He held up two fingers, each decorated with thin silver and gold rings.
“One, I work front of house. My job is to ensure your guests are comfortable. Two, I will never in my life touch a fish. Alive or dead.”
“You wouldn’t touch them,” Alex deadpanned, emerging from our locker room. “Mac will give you a cooler. You just have to bring it back the next day.”
“You’re bat shit crazy if you think I’m going to do that.”
Marg leaned close to me. “We’ll send Alex if you run out.”
“Sounds like a plan. If we push Monty too much, he’ll run away.”
“Can’t have that, can we?”
She turned to walk away. “Uh, Marg?”
“Hmm?”
I glanced at the clock. “Would it be all right if I ran home after prep?”
The old woman smiled knowingly. “Of course, dear.”
Two hours later, I was in my car with only one thing on my mind.
Ash.
It had been six months since Red Snake Investigations captured Thomas Herman, and during that time, Ash and I had moved into his Portland apartment temporarily while I finished culinary school.
The school was small, but according to Marg, it had an excellent reputation, and she put in a good word for me.
For a few months, I still felt like Ash, and I were living on edge, looking over our shoulders.
Tucker Fitzgerald was sent to a maximum-security prison on multiple charges, and due to the connections these guys had, Tucker would remain in isolation for a long time.
Which was convenient considering that Hayes, Ash, and Grayson couldn’t break him.
He hadn’t spoken a single word since he woke up in the hold room with his fingers reattached two days after Ash shot them off.
By that time, Thomas had already been arrested.
Sheriff Humbly, according to Carrie, didn’t seem all that interested in Tucker.
He just wanted the man who killed two locals behind bars.
I turned onto our street, seeing a fresh layer of snow on my roof, white and crisp, at the top of the hill.
Though I was glad to have my culinary degree under my belt, I was so happy to be home.
Ash’s apartment had been an empty box until he let me fill it with some furniture.
It still wasn’t home. We both knew where we wanted to be.
The weekend after my graduation, everyone came over and packed up the apartment.
Ash turned in the keys, and he moved in with me.
The gravel of my driveway crunched under my tires as I pulled in behind Ash’s truck, feeling his eyes on me.
He was sitting on the porch steps, dressed in jeans and a dirty cream long sleeved shirt, his skin glistening with sweat. His toolbox sat on the step beside his boot. “Thought you weren’t coming home until after closing,” he called as I walked up the small path, butterflies swarming in my stomach.
“Just came to make sure you weren’t doing anything to my shed out back,” I teased.
“Could’ve called me, baby. I would’ve picked you up.”
“I have to make use of this new car at some point.” I sighed, looking back at my new small SUV. His choice, not mine.
He chuckled, lifting his water bottle to his lips. My own parted, a small whimper leaving me as I watched him lean back, his throat bobbing with each gulp. A bead of sweat trailed down his temple and into his beard. How could he be sweating in this weather?
“Hate to tell you this, Starlight, but that shed needs to go.”
“It’s part of the house,” I argued, snapping out of my lust. “It has history.”
He smirked and walked to me.
I tipped my head back, smiling back at him. “It’s too cold for you to be sweating.”
“I was in the basement, working on our damn heating unit,” he replied, his arms going around me.
I hummed, no longer cold. “Looks like you got it working,” I whispered as he bent to kiss me.
Before I knew it, I was in the air, my legs wrapped around his waist, and he carried me into the house.
His tongue dove into my mouth as he kicked the front door shut.
My hands went into his hair, tugging him back. “I can’t stay long.”
“You’ll stay until you cum on my fucking cock,” he growled, kicking off his shoes.
We lost ourselves again as he carried me into the living room, laying me on the couch. He pulled away, wrapped his hand around my throat and started unbuttoning my pants. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to fuck you in your uniform?”
I didn’t answer, focusing on getting my pants off. “Hurry, Ash.”
My shoes were gone. Then my socks. He left my pants wrapped around my ankles, yanked me off the couch, and forced me to get on all fours in front of the fire.
I quivered with excitement, my core soaked.
“Didn’t get to fuck you this morning,” he muttered, palming my ass.
I bit my lip at the sound of him unbuckling his belt.
“You wanted to this morning?” I rasped.
He pressed the tip of his cock against my clit.
“You’ve gotten used to our little midday fucking routine because of school, beautiful.
” He pushed in, slowly stretching me. I moaned, my head falling back, my arms shaking.
“But we’re back now. You can’t come home in the middle of your shift to be stretched and fucked. ”
I felt his balls against my clit.
We were fully connected, and suddenly, all the nerves that had been eating at me all morning vanished. “Ash,” I breathed. “Please fuck me.”
His thumb brushed against my other hole, causing me to jerk. “You said I could have this when you graduated.”
“Yes,” I panted, looking back at him.
He kept his eyes on mine as he spit on me.
The warm liquid landed between my cheeks, and he slowly started rubbing circles over my puckered flesh.
My nipples hardened in my bra, and all I wanted was to be naked with him, exploring each other’s bodies for hours on this quiet snowy day.
Until we were both exhausted and sated. But this was supposed to be a quickie.
My thighs began to shake, my body needing him to move. I shifted my hips forward and back once. He spanked me. “No.”
Oh god. “Ash, I have to leave in five minutes.”
“Can make that pussy choke me in two, baby,” he muttered, watching his thumb. “Gonna stretch this hole soon. You hear me?”
I nodded.
He pulled his hips back and slammed into me. My arms gave out, pleasure covering me, and I fell to the floor. “Yes,” I hissed at his steady rhythm.
“Cannot believe my woman needs a good fucking before she can focus on work,” he taunted, smiling at me. “Filthy girl.”
My eyes rolled back and my fingers went to my clit. “God, yes, Ash.”
He grabbed my hips, pulling me back to meet his relentless thrusts. “Pussy’s gonna be leaking when you’re running around that kitchen.” He grunted. “Fucking love that.”
My fingers moved faster, my body climbing higher and higher. “Degrade me,” I ordered on a moan. “Please, Ash.”
His hand went to the back of my neck, holding me down as he mounted me. The new angle of his cock hitting my cervix had me screaming. “Shut up,” he growled. “Shut up and take my cock.”
Yes. Yes. Yes.
“Baby,” I gasped.
His hips went faster. “Such a good little slut,” he groaned. “Bending over and letting me use you.”
That did it.
Pleasure consumed me. As I drowned in it, calling out his name, he flipped me to my back, spread my legs, and entered me again. “Fuck,” he groaned, kissing me. “Fuck, Angel.” His hips resumed their brutal pace, and my neck arched. He dove for it, dragging his teeth over my sensitive flesh.
I wrapped my arm around his neck, anchoring myself. “Take me, Ash. I’m yours.”
“All mine.” He held my hips down, pounding into me. “Mine to cherish. Mine to fuck. Mine to love.” He moved, hovering over me. “Give me your eyes, Starlight.”
My hand went to my clit again, feeling his coarse hair brush over it with each thrust. Our gazes locked and our bodies moved as one. “I love you, Ash.”
We’d said those three words to each other only a handful of times, but there was something about today. I needed to say them. His jaw tightened, his thrust starting to slow.
He was close. “I love you, Angel.”
Our lips met and we lost ourselves again.
I was late getting back to work.