21. Lily
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
lily
“ G ood morning, baby,” Thoren steps into the room, handing me a cup of hot coffee.
I sit up to take a sip, noting that it’s made exactly how I like. “I preferred how you woke me up this weekend, but this is a good second.”
“Nothing would make me happier than to have you for breakfast every day, but I’d never leave and I have to work.”
I feel a rush of arousal at just the thought of that. Saturday and Sunday, he woke me up with his face between my legs, and the man can eat. He did things that have never been done to me, and didn’t stop until he had wrung every ounce of pleasure from my body. I truly don’t know how his jaw doesn’t hurt, but there are no complaints from me. I read once that women’s cum can turn a man’s beard white, and if that’s the case… well, there’s no hope for him.
“Sorry I slept in and missed our coffee on the deck tradition.”
“It’s okay, it’s raining out anyways. I just wanted to say bye, and let you know I’m taking Shadow to work with me today,” he says with a kiss. “Have a good day, baby.”
He leaves me to it, so I drag myself from the cozy bed to throw on some sweats. I love writing in the rain. Something about the comfort and sound of it really gets my creativity flowing. With my coffee in hand, I meander down the hall to my new office. I don’t know what this room was before, but it’s the perfect cozy office. With the calming pitter patter of rain, I dive into my chapters.
My stomach growls, breaking the spell my writing had on me. I intended to only write for an hour before grabbing breakfast, but looking at the time now, it’s almost past lunch. With three chapters done, I’m not even slightly upset. With phone in hand, I head downstairs to make a sandwich and take something out for dinner.
It’s too quiet in the house without Shadow, so I pull up some music on my phone, but a text notification stops me in my tracks. It’s from a number I know very well, despite having deleted his contact. Tyler’s text reads, ‘Drop the lawsuit, Lily’ and nothing more.
I see red; anger radiating through my body. The audacity of him to lie to me, and treat me like he did and now finally, the first thing he says to me after getting me fired is to drop the lawsuit. There is no way in hell that’s happening. I immediately pull up Kinsley’s number and call her office, knowing she will tell me what to do with this.
Her receptionist puts me on hold while she gets her, then Kinsley’s kind voice answers, “Hey Lily, what’s going on?”
“Tyler texted me telling me to drop the lawsuit.”
Her voice is hard when she responds, “Send me that. Screenshot, and send it to me, but absolutely do not respond. Anything at all from him, text, emails, calls, whatever it is, record it and send it to me.”
“Okay. Is this going to keep happening?”
“I don’t know, but if he’s already sent one, he is probably stupid enough to send more. My team has the subpoena submitted to get their phone and email records. I’m going to add yours to the list, too,” she says, her voice softening again. “If he’s texting you, that means he’s scared and he damn well should be. We’re going to nail him and that entire company, Lily, don’t worry.”
“Okay.”
“As messed up as it is, it works in our favor that he’s reaching out. If he makes a threat, we can press criminal charges against him on top of everything. Let me know if he does again, but for now, I’ll keep working on gathering everything I need and you write that book.”
“Okay.” I’m aware I sound like a broken record, but I’m not sure what else to say. We end the phone call as I slump down onto a stool at the island.
I was looking forward to a new week with a fresh start. I need to get a lot done on my book, and being a stressed out mess won’t help. Tyler’s been out of my life for over four months now, yet I still feel like he has a hold on me in ways that he doesn’t deserve. It’s not fair to Thoren for me to be sulking around, worrying about my parents' opinions or if Tyler will reach out again.
He has been working so hard on making sure I am emotionally, mentally, and physically cared for. I need to get myself together for both of us. Between his actual job and working at my house last week, he easily put in seventy hours. If there is anyone that deserves to be taken care of, it’s him, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
With a plan in place, I grab a small snack, my appetite long gone, and head back upstairs to write some more. I get one more chapter written by the time Thoren should get off work, so I drag myself back downstairs to get dinner started.
“Honey, I’m home,” Thoren calls through the front door, mixed with Shadow’s excited woofs as she barrels straight for me. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of her excitement when she sees me. “What smells so good?”
“I’m making teriyaki wings and sticky rice for dinner,” I smile over my shoulder at him as he leans in for a kiss before moving to the sink to wash his hands.
“And what is all this?”
“I thought homemade apple pie sounded delicious.”
“What did I do to deserve this?” he asks, wrapping his arms around me from behind. He mentioned in Seattle that apple pie is his favorite dessert and it breaks his heart that people mostly eat it once a year.
“Go relax while I finish this and get it in the oven, and then we can talk.”
“Miss Wilks, are you calling me to the principal's office? I do hope you’ll punish me,” he smacks my ass, walking away. “I’m going to take a quick shower and change. Give you some time to make sure my punishment matches my crime.”
The ease with which he approaches life blows me away. If someone told me we were going to have a talk, I would have an internal panic attack thinking of every worst-case scenario possible. I love that about him, that he balances me out in that way. There are a lot of things that I love about him, and that scares the crap out of me.
With the pie in the oven and dinner done, I clean up the kitchen and set the food out on the table for us. Thoren steps into the dining room and I try not to stare, but I’m failing. Gray sweats and no shirt should be illegal on him, with the corded muscles of his arms wrapped in tattoos. His sculpted chest is still damp, his hair a little wild, giving him a freshly fucked look. It reminds me of the first day he popped out of the woods into my backyard. To think that was only two months ago. Look at us now.
“Close that pretty mouth before I fill it,” his deep voice rumbles, pulling me from my wayward thoughts.
My cheeks heat, but I take a seat and start dishing out our plates. My hands shake as I set his in front of him, and he latches onto my wrist before I can pull away. “What’s going on, baby?”
I feel so stupid. It isn’t like he’s in trouble, or this is even a big thing to talk about. I just don’t do well being assertive and holding my ground, and I’m expecting some pushback from him on this.
“I’m setting a limit for you.”
“A limit?”
“Yeah. You’re doing too much; working too hard. I would like to hire someone to finish my bathroom. You’re doing such a great job, and I’m so appreciative, but I can’t let you do it anymore. You’ve hit your limit on things you can do for me.”
His chuckle is a little sinister as he grips my wrist tighter, forcing my eyes to meet his. “There is no limit on what I can and will do for you, Lily. If you want me to work on it less, I will. If you want me to take a week off work and get it all done, I will. If you want to hire someone because you don’t like my work, that’s fine, too. But not letting me do this because you think I’m doing too much for you is not something I accept.”
Well crap, that’s not where I expected this to go. I don’t even know which option to choose, but I know I can’t let him burn his candle at both ends for me. “Two days,” I blurt, “You can work on it two days a week, maximum. I can find another rental, or maybe stay with Michele for a bit since it’s going to push the timeline back.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not. My home is your home until the bathroom is done. You’re lucky I didn’t end up having to re-pipe the kitchen, too, because I would love nothing more than to have you here with me for months. I’ll stick to two days if that’s what you want. Is this all you wanted to talk to me about?”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him that Tyler reached out, but the oven timer saves me. I slip away to pull the pie out, setting it on the trivets to cool. I should tell him about the text; he’s been with me every step of the way through this. He just worries about me so much already, and I can’t keep adding to that. If he reaches out again, then I’ll tell him about it.
We finish up eating as I tell him about how my writing is coming along and he tells me about his day at work. I refuse to let him clean up dinner, so he sets up a movie for us to watch, and gets the pie and ice cream ready.
“I picked Bad Teacher, since I didn’t get my punishment I was hoping for,” he smirks before taking a bite of his pie.
The moan that leaves him is unholy, making me desperate to hear him do it again. I watch as he savors every bite he takes, licking the fork clean each time. Heat sears through my body, traveling south at the thought of that tongue licking me the same way. It gives me the courage to do something crazy.
Putting my bowl on the coffee table, I sink to my knees on the floor in front of him and pull down his sweats. He lifts his hips, helping me get them down, his hazel eyes boring into me with a question written in them. His cock is quickly growing under my gaze, and I lick my lips before licking him from his balls to the tip. The low moan rumbles from his chest again and I smile at the thought of bringing it out of him.
He brings another bite of pie to his lips, casually eating while I suck his cock. An idea forms in my head, so I turn to my bowl and slip a bite of ice cream into my mouth before wrapping my lips around his thick purple head. His stomach muscles tense as the cold sensation hits him, but I slide my lips down as far as I can, cooling and warming him as I go. The ice cream melts in my mouth as I suck and lick every drop off.
“You look so pretty with your lips wrapped around me,” he says, taking another bite of his dessert.
His praise spurs me on, sucking him down until I’m gagging on his cock. This isn’t something I’ve really done before, making noises and being sloppy while giving head, but it's clear Thoren loves it. His fingers are tight around his bowl and his knuckles are turning white. I know he wants to thrust into me, but he’s holding back.
I take some time to give his bulbous head extra attention, swirling my tongue around it, getting rewarded when pre-cum leaks from the tip. Never did I think I would crave the taste of a man, but I want his cum. I want to earn every drop while watching him lose all control because of me.
Moaning as I lick the glistening cum from his slit, I pull off of him with a loud pop. “You’re my favorite flavor.”
My lips trail down his dick, taking one ball into my mouth, then the other, sucking and swirling my tongue around him. I bob back down on him, sucking him with fervor, hollowing out my cheeks as I suck him like my life depends on it. I love the silky feel of him, the feel of bringing this man to his knees. His bowl is discarded on the couch next to him as one hand flies to my hair, the other gripping my throat, unable to stop himself.
“Fuuuu- I’m gonna cum,” he grits out as the first shot of him hits the back of my throat. I don’t dare stop, continuing to work to earn my reward. Hot ropes of cum fill my mouth while his hand grips tighter to feel me swallow it down as fast as I can. When his hands finally loosen, and he sags into the couch, I give his tip a kiss, then tuck him back into his sweats.
Grabbing my bowl off the coffee table, I take a seat next to him and continue to eat, trying to focus on the movie he put on. His head rolls to the side, staring at me with a dazed expression.
“I’m going to marry you one day, Lily Wilks.”
I huff out a laugh, and continue eating while his words float around me, warming me from the inside out. I don’t think he means it, but it heals another piece of me. Tyler used to tell me marriage wasn’t in the cards for him again, but I just assumed his mind would change eventually since he still promised a future together. I should have listened.
Thoren lets me finish eating, but the moment I set my empty bowl down, he launches himself on me, pulling me down the couch under him. His hard body crowds over me as he drops his hips, thrusting his hardening cock over my wet center. I’ve never gotten wet from giving head to anyone else, but Thoren’s thick veiny shaft fills me with need when it glides over my tongue.
His lips hover over mine as he pulls my hands over my head and holds them together. “Don’t move these,” his husky voice skates over my chilled skin as he lowers himself down my body. He places soft kisses on my belly where he lifted my shirt as he works my pants down, finding me bare and dripping for him. “So fucking needy and weeping for me. Let me take care of you, baby.” He trails a finger lazily through my slick pussy, circling my entrance before sliding it in. My head falls back on a low moan as he glides his tongue over my clit. He adds a second finger, stroking and licking in tandem, taking his time to make me feel good.
I feel his hot mouth suction around me, driving me closer to that edge. My hands want so badly to run through his hair and pull him tighter to me. Thoren works me right to the brink, my body lit like a Christmas tree before he sits up and hastily removes his sweats. His hands wrap around mine again as he leans over me, his lips taking mine in a passionate kiss as he pierces me in one quick thrust.
I cry out, feeling so full of him. His thick cock stretches me wide, the slight burn a welcome feeling. Our tongues tangle, the slight tang of my arousal hot on his lips. Calloused hands grip my wrists tight as he rolls his hips, fucking me into the couch. Seeing his wild eyes trained on me while he holds me captive below him strokes the fire in me. My legs wrap around him of their own accord, digging my heels into his ass to drive him deeper.
“You’re taking me so well, baby,” he grunts against my lips, hitting my clit with every glide of his hips. “Your pussy was made for me. Made to be stretched by my cock. Fuck, Lily, you are so perfect.”
His words send a flutter of butterflies through my belly, heightening every emotion and the feel of him inside me. My orgasm hits me full force, barrelling through me as my senses fail and all I can feel is tingling down to my toes and the hard thrust of his cock.
“So beautiful when you come for me.” His lips press to mine as his rhythm stutters and he stills, his dick pulsing as he spills into me. Our kiss turns lazy and tender as we calm down. With careful movements, he pulls from me and rushes to the bathroom for tissues to clean me up. I beat him back to the couch as he puts our dishes away, cuddling back into the cushions.
He grabs my socked feet when he sits, putting them in his lap to rub for the rest of the movie. It almost feels like we are trying to one up each other in the things that we do, but I know better. We are doing it because we want to, because we get joy out of caring for each other. It’s the purest expression of our feelings for each other, and I am quickly realizing it is rare. These feelings that we have, the way we treat each other, the ease with which every moment flows together; they are the things fairytales are made of.
I retreat to the bedroom when the movie is over to shower while Thoren lets out Shadow and locks up. This feels much better than the rushed exhaustion of last week, and I’m glad I put my foot down on how much he can help with my renovation. Right as I’m slipping out of the shower, he slips in with a passing kiss.
Strong arms wrap around me when he climbs into bed behind me after his shower. “I forgot to tell you, my parents want us over for dinner Friday night. Is that okay?”
“Mhmm. I’m looking forward to meeting them.”
“They’re going to love you, baby.”
God, I hope he’s right. I already have one set of lackluster parents around, but knowing Thoren and River, I know they were raised by incredible people. Maybe it’s time I try to reach out to my parents again, though the thought makes me shiver. I get pulled in closer with the movement, and settle into my favorite place, drifting off to sleep.