53. Della
DELLA
When I read the spreadsheet and try to make sense of it, I realize I must have completely checked out when Rose opened with that number. Now I’m looking at it carefully, and I’m so overwhelmed I don’t know how to process it.
Twenty-three of the twenty-five paintings sold, and I earned one hundred and fifty-seven thousand dollars.
Well, that was the total brought in. Rose is taking her fee, and I had more than one future commission piece purchased.
What made the tears spring to my eyes was that over half of the paintings sold were purchased by people I know.
My aunt bought one, as did Quinn, every member of the Wills family, including Molly and Kellen.
And not only did they buy one outright, some did the same thing Jax did; commissioned addition pieces.
When I look at him, he holds his hands up in surrender.
“I know it would be easy to look at this and say I did it, but I didn’t.
Well, not completely. I simply told them what I was doing, and after Cayson helped me out with how to make it work on the money end, the rest of my family made their own decisions about what to do.
Everyone collectively decided to commission works for different parts of the ranch.
I claimed the luxury cabin pieces, but there’s also the lodge, restaurant, spa, and I don’t even know where else my family wants to display your talents. ”
The tears spill over as I wipe them away, trying to make sense of this incredible gesture and act of love.
“It’s not just me who loves you, Della. It’s everyone. Including my dumbass brother.”
I laugh through the tears and openly cry into his chest while he holds me like I’m his entire world.
The hug is reminiscent of the first day I was here; the way he held after he asked if I was okay and the floodgates opened.
Even then, his arms were my safe place, my home.
I didn’t realize to what degree that would hold, but I never could have expected this.
These tears are coming from such a different place than they were months ago.
When I calm down, he pulls me away. “Have you eaten? Are you hungry at all?”
“I was too nervous to eat,” I admit.
“Thought that might be the case,” he says, moving to the fridge. “I ordered a few things from the lodge on the chance you would be hungry afterward.” He pulls out box after box.
“How did you know this would go well for you? How were you so sure?” I ask.
The question makes him stop in his tracks to look at me. “Oh, Della, I was so far from sure. I was hopeful. And that hope was enough.”
My head tilts at his admission. “Well, thank you.”
A goofy smile takes over his face. “This is literally the least I can do. You should have heard some of the other… more unique gestures I had cooked up.”
“Oh my gosh, like what?” I ask as I fall back into us. I’m grabbing plates and utensils, and we are existing like we used to. Domestic normalcy that feels just right.
Before he can answer, a text on his phone dings, and he reads it and smiles before showing it to me.
Hazel
How’d it go? Did you convince her? Can we come over and celebrate her staying?
I read it and look back at him.
“What do ya say, Del? Are we celebrating?”
That feels like a huge question, but the words I said to him earlier ring in my head. I don’t want to leave; I haven’t for some time.
“Staying a little longer sounds nice. I have, like, thirty paintings to do,” I say with a grin.
“There’s a lot wrong with that sentence, but I’m going to take that as easing back in. Because what you should have said was an enthusiastic ‘yes, I can’t wait to plant roots in Amberheart and date you again.’
I laugh knowing how different our dating path is.
“So can my family come over to celebrate you?” he says, lifting my chin to kiss me again.
“How about in an hour?” I say.
“I don’t know if it’ll take an hour to eat?” he answers with question.
“Here’s my problem,” I explain. “I went years, years, Jaxon, with such little intimacy that it became my routine. And now that I know what spectacular sex is? Let’s just say I missed lots of different parts of you. Did you miss me, too?”
His hand wraps around me, and he pulls me into him again, using his other hand to grab mine and put it on top of his pants.
“Does it feel like I missed you?”
The sexy smile breaks on my face as I stroke him. God, I missed this dick. Without further hesitation, he spins me and slowly unzips my dress, the chiffon fabric falling to the floor. When I try to turn around, he holds me in place.
“What did you miss most, Del?” he asks, scraping his teeth over the sensitive part of my ear.
“Was it the way I brought you to the edge and held you there before you tumbled? Or the way my dick felt touching every part of your insides because you’re so fucking tight?
How about when my cum was just spilling out of you.
” He groans at his own words, and I feel my knees go weak.
“I’ll tell you what I missed. Eating you like it was my last fucking meal. ”
Spinning me back around, he traces every inch of my body in approval.
“I lied,” he says, “I missed looking at you. You are the hottest woman that has ever walked the earth,” he says before picking me up in his arms and racing me to the bedroom.
When he puts me down, I scramble up and kiss him like he’s the air I need to survive.
Without breaking our lips apart, I unbutton his shirt and drag it over his muscular shoulders, leaving him in a pair of gray pants that are working overtime to contain his dick.
Fiddling with the belt, it doesn’t take long for me to drop them and grab his length.
“I missed Sir Magnum Biggs,” I say, before bending to lick the bead of liquid and wrap my lips around him. The way his head tips back to the ceiling, paired with the sound of relief, makes me wild. But he only lets me bob on him a few times before he rips himself out of my mouth.
Settling on his back, he speaks to me with such authority, that if the request weren’t so foreign, I would argue more. “Come sit on my face, Della.”
My brain misfires at the words. “I… but… I’ve never…”
“No shit you’ve never. Get your ass over here, hold this headboard, and sit on my fucking face.”
I’m cautious, but the second his head lifts and his rough tongue glides over me, I collapse right where he wants me to.
The way he demands this orgasm from my body tells me he’s exactly where he wants to be, and all my hesitations disappear.
If he suffocates, that’s on him. But the way that his strong arms are holding my to his mouth, I bet Jaxon would have no complaints if that’s how he left this earth, anyway.
“Fuck I missed this,” he growls
“Not as much as I did,” I say back, melting even further.
In an embarrassingly short time, whether because I haven’t had an orgasm in a month or because he’s that good, I’m tumbling.
And before it fully passes, and I process what’s happening, he maneuvers out from under me and is behind my body, begging for entrance.
“Got that headboard good, baby?” he asks.
Gripping it tighter I make some kind of sound that he takes as a yes, before he fills me.
This is one of the two positions I did with Tripp, but this feels completely different.
I whimper and he makes a sound of relief that only makes me push back on him even harder.
Looking over my shoulder, I’m at his mercy.
As I watch his body flex, his eyes are locked on watching his dick move in me. My desperate moan brings his eyes to mine and he smiles.
“Do you know how well you take me, Della?” he says right before thrusting harder. “So fucking well, baby. Did you miss this as much as me?”
A moan escapes my throat because yes, I missed this so much, and I lower my shoulders so my ass is further in the air.
“Fuck, Della. This ass,” he chokes out while both his hands grab my hips to hold me even harder while he goes harder and faster. I’m going to have bruises, and I fucking love it.
I know he’s losing control based on the way he’s slamming me back onto him, but something happens because he grinds out no, and pulls out.
“Jax?” I say, but he’s already lifting me up by my shoulder.
“Lie on your back, Della,” his voice isn’t one I can quite place, but I follow without question. What happened?
He looks at me longingly, as if he’s snapped out of it, and I stare at the way his body looks towering above mine. His dick is wet, coated with my arousal, and the same possessiveness I felt the night of painting resurfaces, solidifying that this man is mine. All mine.
His knees nudge my legs apart, and he continues to stare at me.
There are a thousand things being said between us as he pushes my knees open and slides in.
Given how wet I am, there is no resistance, and with long, slow strokes, he goes deeper and deeper.
It’s deliberate, and a complete contradiction to two minutes ago.
As he moves in me, neither of us blinks at the weight of the moment, hell, I’m not sure either of us breathe.
When I roll my hips against him, he picks up the pace, and my eyes close.
There will never be someone to make me feel the way he does.
“Look at me Della. I want to watch you.” he says.
Following his words, I open my eyes to see him studying me.
I’m trying so hard to focus on his face as he moves faster and faster, but I’m captivated by how we fit together.
Bending, he slams his lips to mine, swallowing my sounds, but keeps pace.
The way this is building for me is new. I want him to keep going, and I want to change positions, and I want to orgasm all at once.
But most of all, I don’t want this to stop.
Like ever. Our bodies are both slick as as he takes me higher and higher, and I lift my ass so he can get deeper.