62. Always By Your Side
ALWAYS BY YOUR SIDE
Lorelei
The rumble of Axel’s Jeep was oddly soothing as we drove up the Copper Cove cliffside. I never thought I’d miss the sound of the old car, but after three nights without him, there wasn’t a single thing about him I didn’t miss.
And now, I couldn’t take my eyes or my hands off him as he steered us around the treacherous curves with all of Copper Cove stretched out beneath us. My hand lay on his thigh, my gaze fixed to his profile. He’d steal an occasional look in my direction, a faint smile playing on his lips.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going already?” I blurted.
“You’ll see when we get there.”
A nervous energy thrummed beneath my breastbone. He must have felt it because he released the steering wheel with one hand and wrapped it around mine. He felt so solid, so warm, so familiar.
I was completely deluded to think I could ever let him go after that brief taste of happiness. Axel Vanderhart had shown me I deserved more. I had earned a healthy, loving relationship and that was before we even started dating for real.
The Jeep slowed, veering off the main road to a small promontory jutting over the cliff. As we rolled to a stop, Axel released a slow, tortured exhale. His gaze remained pinned to the sweeping views of the white-capped waves below.
“What are we doing here, Ax?”
His fingers tightened around mine as he slowly lifted his gaze. A storm of emotions darkened the twin pools of sky blue. “I need to show you something.”
Releasing my hand, he opened the car door then darted around to the other side and unlatched mine.
The hard set of his lips had the hair on my nape prickling. “Aren’t we supposed to be celebrating? You were just released from jail and acquitted of a murder charge.”
His lips twisted, and he heaved out another breath as he helped me out of the Jeep. “A murder I committed.”
“Don’t say that, Ax.”
“But it’s true.” He shrugged before tentatively drawing me into his side.
I curled into his warmth, not caring about the grisly turn of our discussion. I loved Axel and no matter what he’d done. I always would.
Turning my attention to the bluff we were walking toward, realization smacked me in the face. “This is where…”
His head dipped as we trudged closer to the edge of the cliff. His weary gaze scanned the horizon, and I could practically feel the deadweight on his rounded shoulders.
“I come here once a year, on the anniversary of the day it happened. I’ve never told a single soul, let alone brought anyone.” He paused, a warm breeze coming off the water below and sweeping dirty blond hair across his eyes.
I couldn’t keep myself from pushing back the errant strands, my heart breaking from his confession. “It wasn’t your fault,” I murmured, cupping his stubbled jaw.
“It was, Lore. Peter died because of me. I’ve tried to rationalize it a thousand ways, blamed it on the alcohol, on my past of being bullied as a kid, but nothing can absolve me of my sins.
I thought a real jail sentence was what I deserved, but the idea of leaving you out there with Brock on the loose, unprotected, I just couldn’t have that.
” He paused, those blazing irises locked to mine.
“I just need to come to terms with what I did and try my damnedest to move past it somehow. Maybe I can find a way to somehow tip the scales back in my favor.”
“Ax, you’re a good man, a great man. You’ve done more than you’ll ever know for me.
I see how you take care of your friends, the pledges, the entire fraternity.
You have done so much to make up for that night, that terrible, horrible accident.
You were just a kid. You’ve punished yourself enough over it.
” Lifting to my tiptoes, I pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. “It’s time to move on.”
“I want to.” His Adam’s apple bobbed, raw emotion splayed across his handsome face. “I want to move on with you.”
“Me too.” A stupid smile crawled across my face. “And if you still need to come here once a year, I’ll come with you. I’ll always be by your side.”
That cheesy grin must have been contagious because it snuck across Axel’s mouth next. He pulled me into his chest, squeezing me against his firm torso. “I fucking love you so much, Lorelei. I don’t want any secrets between us anymore, okay? I want this to be one hundred percent real from now on.”
“Okay,” I whispered into his crumpled shirt. After three days in jail, the button-down had soaked in that musky Axel scent I couldn’t get enough of. “I love you more.”
He snorted on a laugh. “I don’t think so, blondie. I think you’re forgetting that I was willing to spend the rest of my days behind bars for you.”
“Fair enough.” I framed his face with my hands and brought his mouth to mine. “I guess I’ll have to figure out a way to make it up to you somehow then.”
“I take payment in sexual favors,” he mumbled against my lips as he guided me back against the cliff wall. A small niche had been carved out of the rock, a perfect fit for the two of us.
“That’s my favorite kind.”
His mouth ravaged mine as he pressed me flush against his body and the side of the bluff. The kiss went from chaste to explosive in seconds. His cock pressed against my belly, and a feral growl vibrated his barrel chest. After all we’d been through, I needed him, all of him.
“I want you to fuck me, Axel,” I whispered against his lips. “Right here, right now.”
Excitement lit up his bright blue eyes. “You don’t have to ask me twice, blondie.”
I reached for his jeans, unfastening the button and freeing his thick cock in seconds. He let out a hiss as the air rushed over his heated flesh. Precum already glistened on the tip, so I dipped my head and gave it a lick.
He moaned, struggling with my panties as I tasted him. Once he dragged them down my legs, he cupped my pussy, and the groan turned feral. “Fuck, Lore, I love how drenched you always are for me.”
“Only for you, baby.”
A spark of amusement ignited in his heated gaze. “I like it when you call me that.” He ran his finger through my folds, and now I was the one groaning.
“Well, I love when you do that, baby.”
“Then get ready because I’m just getting started.”
I wrapped my fingers around his cock, stroking his thick length. “I’m ready.”
I guided his erection between my legs, my skirt already shoved up past my hips, and positioned his head at my center. He curled my leg around his waist and heady anticipation sent my heart racing. A thousand nerve endings ignited, and raging heat unfurled as he sank inside me.
“Oh, Axel,” I moaned, my head falling back and brushing the rocky hillside. “Fuck, you feel so good.”
“You stole the words right from my mouth. I could live inside you, fuck you all day and night and never have enough.” He thrust, long and slow with each word.
“I’m more than willing to attempt that experiment.”
He chuckled, the warm sound filling my battered soul. “Deal.” His grin was breathtaking. “Tonight, you’re coming home with me, and we’re going to spend the entire weekend in my bed.”
“You promise?”
“Yeah, baby, I promise.” He leaned his forehead to mine, his languid, deep thrusts pushing me closer to the brink. “Now, as much as I would love to drag this out, my parents are waiting for us at the house. So get ready to come for me.”
I was so ready. The second he thrust inside me again, the raging intensity blossomed. I never knew sex with someone you loved could be so good. I’d never believed it made a difference, until Axel.
Reaching for my other leg, he curled it around his waist, driving himself deeper inside me.
I groaned at the new angle as that powerful energy zipped through me, starting at my spine and building into a fiery inferno.
He thrust harder, faster, his crown hitting that mystical spot that had my toes curling.
“Yes, Axel, fuck, I’m so close. Don’t stop.”
“Never, blondie. Not until you come on my cock, moaning my name.”
The rush of sensations was too much, the heady tangle of lust and love was too overpowering. The orgasm ripped through me, a wave of tantalizing pleasure.
“Axel…” I groaned, clenching my calves around his ass as he pounded into me.
His head fell back, and a sexy growl erupted from his lips as he spilled his warmth inside me. “Oh, shit, Lore, your pussy is incredible.”
The surge of pleasure rippled through me, through him, vibrating both our bodies. As the tremors racing through finally began to subside, he pressed a kiss to my lips, running his tongue along my swollen bottom one.
“I can’t wait to do that every day for as long as you’ll let me.” With one final devastating look, he pulled out and tucked himself into his pants.
“You have my permission,” I panted, tugging down my skirt. “Forever.”
A beaming smile parted his lips before he captured my mouth again, his hand fisting my hair to deepen the kiss. A breathless minute later he finally released me. “We better get out of here before you work me up again.”
“We could probably sneak in one more time…” I batted my lashes, earning a heated glance.
“Don’t tempt me, blondie.”
“No, don’t you dare tempt him, you whore.” That contemptuous hiss sent ice spilling through my veins. Brock.
From over Axel’s shoulder, I could just make out his sinister grin.
And the gun leveled at the back of Ax’s head.
“If I can’t have you, Lorelei, no one will.”
“No!” I shrieked as a shot rang out.