Chapter 12
Beau
Together, Noelle and I walked into the moonlit woods.
Fall had come rolling in fast and abrupt, like it always did; the leaves changed to gold and scarlet, a few coated the path out toward the Witch Tree.
Rhett and Willow had worked to get the path spruced up, wanting our whole family to be able to visit…
wanting to show their kids someday, where a curse was cast and later broken.
Whit had given them endless shit about making the place where they’d had sex into some kinda family heritage site.
I figured it was only right. Where else did anything in this town ever start but with sex and spellwork?
Noelle was quiet beside me, her hand gripped in mine.
She didn’t hesitate—not even once—as we stepped off the porch and walked the path through the garden, then under the arbor to the leaf-littered forest trail.
Branches arched above us like a cathedral, the air cool, rattling the leaves on the trees every so often.
The moon filtered through the canopy, lighting the way better than any flashlight could.
Noelle’s hand was sweaty, trembling. I squeezed it tight.
“I’m not gonna do any weird pagan shit out here, if that’s what you’re thinkin,” I said.
She let out a nervous laugh. “It’s not you I’m worried about.”
“The Gloamstrider?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No…the Painter. It’s always…honestly, I don’t go out in the country much because I tend to see it, even though I know it’s not real. I’ll see it in the trees, walking behind me…watching.”
I slowed, just a little—enough to turn and look at her face.
There was no humor in it; no teasing. Her eyes were wide, clouded with memory…fear, wariness.
“You see it now?” I asked.
She didn’t answer right away; just looked up at the trees, then back the way we came.
“No,” she said eventually. “But I think it knows I’m here.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in it.”
She shrugged. “I’ve seen some things in this town that are making me reevaluate what’s real and what isn’t.”
A chill licked down my spine, but I didn’t let it show. I just kept her hand in mine, kept walking. The Witch Tree wasn’t far.
“You ever think,” I said slowly, “that maybe some of these things don’t show up to scare you? Maybe they show up because they know you can see 'em.”
Her eyes slid sideways to me. “That supposed to be comforting?”
“Hell, I don’t know,” I said. “Just thinkin’ out loud.”
She didn’t speak again until the trail curved and opened up into the little clearing—the roots of the Witch Tree gnarled and sprawling, leaves scattered at its base. Moonlight pooled in silver puddles across the dirt and moss, soft as candlelight.
Noelle stopped walking. I felt the hitch in her breath. Her fingers tightened in mine.
“This is it,” I said quietly. “Where it all started. And ended.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “In a fucked-up kind of way.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Kinda like you.”
She let out a snort, which I counted as a win. Then she turned, slowly, so we were facing each other—still holding hands, but now chest to chest, close enough that I could feel her warmth.
“Why’d you bring me out here?” she asked quietly.
I hummed. “Because…I wanted to show you our history. Yours, maybe…if you end up sticking around for a week, then another, then another.”
She smiled.
“Wanted you to know that I’m well aware you’ve been scared of the woods a long time, but there ain’t nothin’ in this forest that means you harm.”
“The woods in general or this forest in particular?”
“This one,” I said, looking around. “This—it’s sanctified land. My Grandma Hazel used to bury tourmaline out here, scatter pennies and iron nails…and Willow and Silas have done some work too. Hangin’ sigils in the trees, carvin’ them into the bark.”
She laughed. “Very Blair Witch of them.”
I grinned. “I think Silas might take that as a compliment.”
Noelle’s eyes flicked toward the tree again. “So…this is a holy site, huh? We out here to break another curse or something?”
I shook my head. “Nah—I really just wanted to see you come with the moonlight in your eyes.”
That shut her up for a second. She tilted her head, a slow, suspicious smile curling her lips at the corners. “You make it really hard for my jokes to land when you just have to one-up me with something romantic.”
I smirked, stepping in close enough that our hips brushed. “What can I say? You bring it outta me.”
She rolled her eyes, but her breath hitched when I reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. My fingers lingered there, against the soft edge of her jaw.
“I like you like this,” I said. “All smart mouth and shaky hands.”
Her laugh was low and a little nervous. “You know, most guys would lie and say I seem cool and confident.”
I leaned in, my lips brushing her cheek, my voice low against her skin. “You are cool. You’re just also scared. That’s not a flaw, baby. That’s just honest.”
Her hand slid up my chest then, flat against my sternum like she was either going to push me away or pull me in.
She did the latter.
I didn’t need any more invitation than that.
My mouth found hers, and she tasted like wine and adrenaline, like fear trying to turn into want. I kissed her until she melted, until she moaned softly against my lips and clutched my shirt like she couldn’t remember how to stand on her own.
I backed her into the crook of the tree, one hand braced beside her head, the other finding her waist and dragging her flush against me.
“You still scared?” I murmured, kissing her jaw, her neck, the spot just below her ear that made her gasp.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Of me?”
“No.”
“Then let go.”
She did.
Her hands were in my hair now, tugging, guiding. My thigh slotted between hers and she moved against it like her body had been waiting on this all damn night. I reached down, hooked my hands under her thighs, and lifted her against the tree.
She wrapped around me instinctively—legs tight around my waist, arms around my neck, mouth back on mine like we were trying to swallow each other whole.
When I got my hand beneath her sweater, she didn’t stop me.
When I slid it further, cupping her breast over the lace of her bra, she gasped into my mouth and rocked against me.
“I want you,” she said, breathless.
I growled against her skin. “Tell me how.”
“Hard,” she whispered. “Fast. Like you can’t help it.”
“Here?”
“Yeah.”
I put her down, and Noelle let out a surprised little breath as I spun her to face the tree, her fingers catching on the bark. I didn’t waste any time pulling her pants down, falling to my knees.
“You stay just like that, baby,” I rasped.
Then I pressed my mouth to her pussy.
She let out a choked gasp and braced herself harder against the tree, her legs trembling.
I kept my hands on her hips, anchoring her, slow at first, learning the shape of her with my tongue.
The way she moved against me told me more than words ever could—what she needed, where she wanted more, how close she was to coming undone.
I loved the way she gave herself over.
Even now, even here, where she was scared and trusting me.
The woods hummed around us, all shadow and moonlight, but I didn’t give a damn about anything but her.
The way she shook when I sucked her clit into my mouth.
The way she said my name like a prayer. The way she sounded like she might cry when she came, her whole body tensing, her hand slapping the tree bark as she broke apart.
I kissed her through it—savoring every twitch of her thighs, every ragged breath.
And she was talking…her words a little disconnected, nonsensical—but makin’ enough sense that I knew exactly what she wanted.
“Beau…I need…”
“You stay right there,” I ordered, scrambling to undo my belt buckle and my jeans. “Keep those pretty legs spread for me, Noelle…I’m tryin’ to hurry.”
She whimpered when I stood, her cheek against the bark now, both hands fisted tight like she needed something to hold her to this world. I shoved my jeans down just enough to free myself and gripped her hips, guiding her back to me.
I rubbed the head of my cock through her slick folds, and she shivered like it was too much and not enough all at once.
“Beau,” she breathed, her voice shaky. “Please.”
I leaned in close, my chest brushing her back, my mouth hot at her ear. “Please what, baby?”
She whimpered again, but then I felt it—the moment she stopped fighting it, the moment she gave in to whatever this was between us. She pushed back into me, hips rocking, voice breaking.
“Make me yours.”
I froze.
Just for a second.
Because that was the kind of thing a woman like Noelle didn’t say. Not lightly. Not by accident. And not unless she meant it.
A growl ripped out of me before I could stop it.
“Oh, baby,” I rasped, lining myself up and thrusting deep—one long, steady push until I was fully inside her, buried to the hilt.
She cried out, and I gripped her hips harder.
“You already are,” I said against her shoulder. “You were mine the second I saw you. I knew it, even if you didn’t.”
She moaned, high and desperate, pushing back against me.
“Tell me again,” she gasped.
I slammed into her harder. “You’re mine.”
Again.
“Mine to fuck. Mine to hold. Mine to keep.”
“God, Beau—”
“I don’t care if it’s fate,” I snarled, pounding into her now, the rhythm rough, relentless, everything I’d been holding back. “I don’t care if the whole town saw it coming. I’d choose you a thousand times.”
She reached back blindly, grabbed at my wrist, grounding herself. “Fuck, I love the way you talk to me.”
“Then listen close,” I said, panting now, my forehead pressed to the nape of her neck. “I’m gonna fill you up, baby. Gonna fuck you so deep they’ll hear you cryin’ my name all the way back at the house.”
“Please,” she begged. “Do it. I want it.”
My hips stuttered.
“You want me to come inside you?”
She nodded against the tree, desperate. “I want all of it. I want—fuck—I want everything.”
I reached down, my fingers finding her clit again, rubbing tight little circles as I drove into her, faster now, harder. Her thighs started to shake.
“Come for me again,” I whispered. “Let me feel you.”
She shattered with a cry, her whole body trembling as she clenched around me. Jesus…Jesus fuckin’ Christ, she was perfect. Maybe I didn’t care anymore if I hadn’t really chosen her, if the town forced us together—I’d never felt something more right.
“Damn it,” she gasped. “Oh fuck—fuck, Beau, fuck, I don’t ever want you to stop fucking me—”
Her words hit me like gasoline to a flame.
I was already close—too close—but that did it. I slammed into her hard enough to rattle the tree, dragging her back onto me with every thrust like I couldn’t stand a single inch of space between us.
“You’re not gonna have to,” I growled. “You want me to fuck you every night? Wake up to me every morning with my cock still inside you, still drippin’ with how bad you needed me?”
“Yes,” she gasped. “Yes, fuck—yes.”
“You want me to come home to you?” I rasped against her neck, my hand sliding up her belly to palm her breast, to feel her heart thudding under my touch. “Put a ring on your finger, get you pregnant in this fucked-up little town that keeps tryin’ to keep us here?”
Her knees buckled like she couldn’t stay upright through the sheer intensity of it—but I caught her, shoved deeper, held her steady.
“I’ll give it to you, baby. You just say the word.”
She was moaning now, wrecked and breathless, her voice breaking around every word. “I want it. I want it. Fuck, Beau, I want it all—”
“I know you do,” I panted, thrusting harder, faster. “You don’t wanna run anymore. You wanna stay.”
“God, yes—”
“You wanna let me take care of you,” I whispered. “Let me keep you barefoot and spoiled and full of me.”
She cried out, shuddered. “Yes. Please, yes.”
“Say it.”
She half-sobbed, her hand fisting in the bark. “I wanna be yours. I want this. I want you. I want a house and a porch swing and your goddamn baby inside me—”
And that was it.
I came with a groan, deep and raw, hips jerking as I emptied into her, filling her until she was dripping with it. I stayed there, buried in her, holding her like I could tether us both to this moment, to this place.
To this choice.
We were breathing hard, both of us trembling, the Witch Tree standing sentinel, the woods quiet and watchful. And Noelle…
Fear locked my heart up for a split second. Had I said too much? Jesus…I didn’t even know why I’d said all that shit. She drew it out of me like a confession, I couldn’t stop—
She straightened, making a little noise of protest when my cock slipped out of her. She tugged up her pants, and I waited…waited in complete suspense.
But when she turned around, she had a dreamy smile on her face, her lips red and swollen, cheeks flushed.
“Barefoot and pregnant, huh?” she asked.
I flushed bright red as I shoved my dick back in my pants. “Jesus…that was—”
“—incredibly hot,” she finished for me. “Just…just unhinged enough that I’m gonna be thinking about it for the rest of my life.”
I blinked. “You’re not freaked out?”
“Oh, I’m absolutely freaked out,” she said, tugging her sweater back down and smoothing her hair. “That was like a horny fever dream and a fertility manifesto rolled into one. My therapist is gonna have a fucking field day.”
I winced. “Shit, Noelle, I didn’t mean to—”
“Beau.” She stepped closer, put her hand on my chest. “I liked it.”
“You did?”
“Are you kidding?” She laughed, but her voice was softer now. “It was wild. And weird. But also weirdly sweet? Like…who says that kind of shit and actually means it?”
“Me, apparently,” I muttered.
She smiled wider. “Yeah. You. And maybe I liked hearing it more than I should.”
I took her hand, kissed the inside of her wrist, then looked down at her. “You still want it?”
Her gaze went soft, thoughtful. “I don’t know what I want,” she said. “But I know I don’t want to walk away from you.”
She slid her hands around my waist, nestled into my chest…demanded to be held. I wrapped my arms around her, tucking her head under my chin.
“It’s gonna keep getting weirder,” I said against her hair. “This town, this family, us.”
“Good,” she murmured. “I’m tired of pretending I’m not weird, too.”
We stood like that for a while—just holding on. The moon was high overhead now, filtering through the branches above the Witch Tree like it was blessing us. Or maybe watching. Or maybe just being.
And I didn’t want to scare her—not after telling her she was safe out here in the woods—but as I held her in the aftermath, shuddering and warm…I could have sworn I saw a pair of glowing blue eyes watching us from the shadows.