A soft groan came out of him when he ran one of his hands up my thigh and slid his fingers between my folds. He didn’t tease me anymore, seemingly almost as frantic as I was to touch and be touched.
Reaching between us, I wrapped my fingers around his shaft and used my thumb to spread the wetness I found on his tip. He thrust into my hand. Incredibly sexy, desperate little moans fell from his lips when he slid a finger into me.
“Fuck, Anna, I don’t think I can wait,” he bit out. “I want to worship every inch of you for the rest of the night, but I need you so fucking bad.”
“Don’t wait.” I could barely get the words out as I writhed beneath him, already halfway to heaven from the way he was stroking me. “We have all the time in the world for worshiping. I’m okay with fast right now. Just don’t stop.”
“Never,” he promised.
Only withdrawing his fingers to replace them with the blunt tip of his cock, he held my hands and looked into my eyes as he fed himself into me. Both of us moaned when he was fully seated, our panting breaths mingling with the sounds of our lovemaking in the air.
It wasn’t slow or gentle that first time, but it was exactly what I needed. Finally getting to feel him skin to skin was amazing, and I was crashing headfirst into a toe-curling orgasm just a few minutes later.
After I came down, he flipped me over onto my stomach, mounted me like a beast from behind, and sent me careering into orgasm number two before he roared when he found his own release. We lay together in the aftermath, catching our breath as we held on to one another like someone might try to rip us apart again.
Soon after, he kissed me like the ship was going down and spent the rest of the night doing exactly what he said he wanted to. He explored every nook and cranny of my body, and I did the same to him.
Marveling at his ink and his leanly toned, defined muscles, I took him into my mouth and didn’t stop until I tasted his climax on my tongue. I didn’t even know what the time was when we eventually fell asleep without going out to get dinner.
We cooked eggs and made toast in my kitchenette after we woke up again at midnight, but then he pressed his naked body against my back when I was stacking the dishes, and he dragged me back to bed. I’d never thought of myself as insatiable, but for him, I was.
And I had a feeling I always would be. We had a lot of time to make up for, and there was no time like the present to start trying to win back some of the time that we’d lost.
Chapter 39
WILLIAM
The next two weeks were some of the best of my life. Although I technically still had my own cottage at the B&B, I spent every night with Anna in hers.
While she worked during the day, I helped out where I could, did some of my own stuff, and tried to orientate myself with working remotely. I’d lined up a ton of consulting gigs and Jessie had taken pity on me eventually by giving me my own study.
She and Anna surprised me with it, having turned my old bedroom into an office that was so well equipped, I’d have been able to run the damn world from it. There was already an offer on my house in Malibu, and I’d have to wrap up some business when I went there to pack it up, but I was starting to realize that working full time from Mackinac was actually going to work.
When I did need to leave, Jessie had agreed that Anna could come with me. She’d been thrilled about us getting back together, but I was pretty sure that if I fucked up again, she’d personally castrate me for hurting her friend.
Thankfully, I had no intentions of doing anything of the kind. I was happier than ever, and I honestly didn’t know why I’d been so hellbent on leaving the island in the first place. Which was why I’d signed an offer to purchase a house just down the road from the B&B just a couple of hours earlier.
Anna didn’t know yet, but she was going to love the house. My next mission was convincing her to move in with me.
That wasn’t the only errand I’d run today to ensure our future together, and I had a broad smile on my face when I met up with her, Jessie, and Dave. My friend had arrived two days ago to spend some time with me and to see what Mackinac was all about.
The last time he’d come here, it’d been a whirlwind of a trip for my dad’s funeral. We’d both been in the middle of projects in LA, and he’d hardly had any time to look around before we were on a jet to get back to work.
“Is this the time to get here?” he joked when I dropped into my seat at their table at the Italian place. He lifted his arm and, with exaggerated movements, checked his watch. “You’re half an hour late.”
Jessie chimed in next. “I know you said you were ready for the slower life again, but you’re not a sloth. What the heck kept you?”
“That’s for me to know and for you not to find out until I’m ready to tell you.” I kissed Anna, falling into the warmth of her hazel eyes when she smiled at me.
“What was this important thing you had to do? We ordered you a pizza, but it’s got banana on it. That’s your punishment for showing up late.”
“The important thing is a secret,” I whispered against her ear before sitting back. “And lucky for me, this is a pizza place. We can take the abomination with the banana on it home for you to have tomorrow, and I’ll just order another one to have for dinner.”
Dave laughed, raising his hands in surrender. “We’ll stop giving you shit if you just tell us where you were.”
“No can do,” I said, picking up the beer they’d ordered for me and taking a long sip. “This is one cat I’m not letting out of the bag.”
Especially not after things had gone so unexpectedly well. Anna would know soon enough, and I really wanted it to be a surprise.
Jessie leveled me with a look, excitement shining in her eyes as she leaned forward. “Is it the house? Did you get it?”
“How did you know about that?” I picked at the label on the bottle, balling it up once it was off and chucking it at her. “I know for a fact I didn’t tell you.”
“I might’ve caught a peek at your computer when we were having coffee the other day.” She shrugged and nudged Dave, who was sitting beside her, in the ribs with her elbow. “Sorry, but it seems you’ve lost your wingman to love in a small town.”
My friend chuckled, a look in his eyes when he turned to Jessie that I’d never seen in them before. “I don’t mind. I’m all for love in a small town. God knows he dodged a bullet when he left Angelina. That woman was never good for him.” He faced me again, but his body remained angled toward my sister. “Have you heard the news about her?”
“Nope,” I said cheerfully, slinging my arm over the back of Anna’s chair and absently toying with the ends of her loose hair. “If I never hear anything about her again, I’ll die a happy man. What’s she done now?”
He and Jessie exchanged a conspiratorial look, and I knew I wasn’t imagining the chemistry between them. Since Jessie had always been cool about me dating her best friend and had always been our biggest cheerleader, I couldn’t pull too much of a dick move if there was something brewing between them.
However, as her older brother, it was my God-given right to strike the fear of the big man himself into his heart if he hurt her. I didn’t want to think about the implications of them getting together too much, though.
No guy wanted to think about his best friend fucking his sister. A shudder passed through me and I shoved the thoughts away. I’d just make sure that he knew she wasn’t some random one-night-only girl. On the other hand, Dave wasn’t like that. He would never treat any woman that way and definitely not my sister.
Besides, they’d met when he was here for the funeral and hadn’t seen each other since. Maybe they were just getting to know each other and hitting it off. It was entirely possible that I was trying to see potential relationships everywhere, considering that I was so ridiculously happy in my own.
Dave’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “She’s been turned down for every role she had lined up. After everything that happened, it seems h
er career is struggling. Before I came out here, I heard that she’s shacking up with some guy in his golden years to try clawing her way back to the top.”
“I wish her the best of luck,” I said. “As long as she stays away from me and from us, I hope she gets whatever it is she wants.”
Jessie grinned and shook her head. “I don’t hope she does. Screw her. I’m glad she’s paying for what she did. No one should be allowed to get away with being unfaithful and a complete ass about it. Actions have consequences.”
Anna lifted one shoulder and changed the topic. I knew she still struggled with how close I’d come to marrying someone else, and considering that I’d have been out of my fucking mind about it if our situations had been reversed, I got it.
I moved my hand to her back, rubbing soothing circles on her bare skin left exposed by the summery sundress she was wearing. We were making progress toward healing, repairing what we’d broken, but we weren’t quite there yet. Which was the only reason that ring was still in my drawer instead of on her finger.
“What house are you talking about?” she asked, turning to face me after shooting Jessie a confused frown.
I released a fake long-suffering sigh. “I was going to tell you about it later when we were alone, but I suppose now is as good a time as any. I’m buying a house here, and it looks like the sale of the place in Malibu is going to go through.”
She stared at me with wide eyes filled with equal parts disbelief and hope. “Are you serious?”
“Yep.” I reached for her hand under the table and squeezed it. “Don’t get me wrong. I still plan on showing you every part of the world you want to see, but this is home. I figured we couldn’t squat in Jessie’s cottages forever.”
“Are you asking me to move in with you?” she asked after a brief pause. “Because if so, you should probably have worked on a clearer delivery.”
I grunted my agreement, waggling my brows at her before leaning over so only she would hear what I was about to say. “There wouldn’t have been any question about what I was asking you if everything had gone according to plan. I’ll ask you properly, the way I wanted to, later. But yes. That’s what I’m asking.”
Angling her face toward me, a small smile played on her lips before she pressed them to mine in a chaste kiss. “I think I’ll wait to see what this big plan of yours is before giving you my answer, then.”
A quiet groan came out of me, but I nodded. “Fair enough.”
“Tell me about all these parts of the world you’re going to show us,” Jessie said, her eyes sparkling with mischief over sliding the us into that sentence. “I vote we start with Scotland and Ireland and then make our way to Europe. You could fund the whole trip, of course.”
Dave got in on the joke, faux seriousness on his face as he slowly bobbed his head up and down. “Oh, he’s definitely funding it. We’ll charter a private jet, and obviously, nothing less than five-star accommodation will do.”
I rolled my eyes, chuckling at them. “You guys have fun on that trip. The one we’re taking is only for us.”
Hopefully, a honeymoon in the near future, but I was getting ahead of myself.
Anna laughed beside me, gazing at me adoringly as she batted her eyelashes and took their side. Motherfucker. “I’ll let you whisk me away to any place your heart desires. I’m happy as long as I’m with you, but since you’ll be funding their trip, it’s only fair that we get to go with.”
I sighed, knowing they were joking but suddenly also kind of keen on the idea of traveling together. But not for the honeymoon trip. No way. I’d waited long enough for that. I wasn’t sharing her with anybody for however long I could convince her to stay away from Mackinac.
If she said yes, that was.
I put my hand on her thigh under the table, feeling a rush of love that I’d never felt with Angelina. But I also knew that it was because this was right. This was what had always been meant to be.
So, I sat back, drumming my fingers on the table as I pretended to consider it. “Fine, but if I’m paying, I get to choose where we go first, and I choose Wales.”
There were a series of groans and Jessie tossed a piece of her breadstick at my head. “Dream on, big brother. We’re not part of your legion of worshipers. To us, you’re just the same bossy brat you’ve always been. Welcome home.”
Welcome home indeed. But I couldn’t deny that there was nowhere else I’d rather have been. I didn’t know what the future held, but I knew who I wanted in it. And it wasn’t the legion of worshipers Jessie had mentioned. It was the people around this table. They were what was real, always had been. It’d had just taken me a long-ass fucking time to see it.
Epilogue
ANNA
Today was the day I’d been working toward for the past three and a half months. It was the grand opening of my addition to the getaway estate that was the B&B.
A history room.
I stood in the middle of what used to be the cigar lounge, meticulously checking every last detail before we opened it to the public. There were tapestries on the walls and hangings depicting what Mackinac used to be and how it all began.
Images of the original settlers and of the main part of the city before it was anything but dust and dirt and the beginnings of the fort stared back at me. I smiled, even though I was alone in the room for now.
Everyone in town had been invited to the ribbon cutting, and Jessie was convinced having an attraction of significance to the town on the property was really going to put us on the map. She’d been gleeful about it ever since the owner of the biggest hotel around had commented about how the pieces from the museum should have been displayed there.
Will with some time on his hands had proved to be a powerful addition to our humble little team. He’d managed to get his hands on some old relics from the local museum, which were now housed in glass cases right here to protect them from the curious fingers of guests.
Logbooks showed the names of workers from the original families who used to live here, and I’d even managed to procure an old diary that had been kept by one of the first settlers. All together in one place, I was surrounded by Mackinac’s history and I couldn’t wait to share it with guests.
Strong arms wrapped around my middle, and Will swept my hair to the side to press a hot, open-mouthed kiss to my neck. “It looks great, baby. I’m so proud of you. You’ve taken your passion for the island and turned it into something people can come here to see.”
A shiver traveled through me at the feel of his lips brushing against my skin and his masculine, spicy scent enveloping my senses. I leaned my head back against his shoulders, wrapping my fingers around his muscular, inked forearms.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” I said. “Later, when we get home, I’ll show you just how much I appreciate all your help.”
His chest vibrated against my back when he released a low groan, his grip on me tightening as he sucked gently on my skin, his breath ghosting over the wet patch he’d left behind and making me shiver again when he spoke.
“Keep talking like that, and we’ll be giving the people who are here for the ceremony an entirely different kind of show.”
I chuckled, squeezing his arms before letting go of him and stepping out of his embrace. “That’s a very good point and my dad is out there, so I’m going to need you to stop touching me.”
He dragged his hands over his handsome face, scrubbing them against the stubble on his jaw as he took a deep breath. “Yeah, about that. It’s time. People are gathered right outside, and Jessie’s about to give her speech. Let’s not keep them waiting.”
“Let’s not,” I agreed, giving him a soft peck on the lips as I passed him on my way to the door. I still couldn’t quite believe how easily and happily he’d settled back into life on the island. There was none of that restlessness he’d had before to leave.
There was a peace about him that I loved seeing, not in the least because it’d helped to ease my nerves about
him changing his mind about going back to LA. It’d been almost four months since he’d shown up on Jessie’s doorstep to talk to me, though, and I’d finally started to trust that he was really staying with me about two months ago.
Things between us had never been better, and so, nearly six weeks after he’d first asked, I’d finally agreed to move in with him. It’d been domestic bliss ever since, and although we’d only been out of the house a few hours, I was already dying to drag him back there.
Jessie’s voice filtered through the door, and there was a smattering of applause that was my cue. I opened the double doors wide, beaming a smile at the gathered crowd as I reached for the silly, oversized scissors she’d insisted on for the occasion.
A ribbon had been strung on the outside of the doorway. I posed for a few pictures from the handful of reporters who’d shown up before I snipped it. More applause followed. Then people surged forward and started congratulating us as they passed to get a good look inside.
My father had tears in his dark eyes when he reached me and pulled me in for a big hug. “I’m so proud of you, darling. You’ve made something from your heart to share with people who come to town and for the locals to remember where we’ve come from. I love it.”
“Thank you, Daddy,” I whispered, hugging him back before stepping away. “Go check it out. Will is in there if you have any questions.”
He chuckled, something flickering across his gaze before he blinked it away. “I’m not the one with the questions today, but I’ll find him and say hi.”
In the time since he’d come back to town, William had put in some real effort with my dad. They’d spent afternoons together fishing, and their relationship was solidly improving. Although my dad’s comment confused me, I brushed the thought away when one of the reporters came over to do a short interview.
Guests who attended the grand opening milled about with glasses of wine in their hands and checked out the new room while Jess and I fielded questions. It’d been a long time since a new attraction had been opened in town, and the locals were genuinely excited.
The Billionaire’s Second Chance: A Small Town Romance Page 24