by Fox, Cathryn
“Hey,” I say, teasing. “What’s not to like.”
She lightly pounds her fist into my chest. “You know what I mean?”
I run my thumb over her cheek. “I know.”
“Landon,” she murmurs, a hiccup sob catching in her throat. “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for. You’ve been my rock, and now I’m going to take care of you. Not just today, Ella. Forever. I want us to be a family. I want you to wear my grandmother’s ring.”
Her eyes light up and I’m unable to wait one more second. I cup the back of her neck and press my lips to hers, and the second I do, I swear to fucking God, fireworks go off in my brain, and my throat squeezes tight. We lost so much goddamn time.
I break the kiss and her throat gurgles, a mixture of pain and joy in her eyes. “I don’t want to hurt Ivy.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone either but Ivy and I are done. She’s with someone else right now, and this isn’t wrong, Ella. This is right and has been a long time coming.”
“Piper…”
“She’s my daughter. She is my heart. Nothing can change that. We’ll work this out, and know this. Everything worth having is worth fighting for. I know we’ve had a long and convoluted road to get here, Ella. But without it, I wouldn’t have had Piper and I would never want to change that.” I pull her up, and put my arms around her. “I just hate that I didn’t fight for the girl I love earlier.”
“You mean me, right?” she asks with a chuckle.
“Yeah, I mean you, and if it’s okay with you, I’d like to take you upstairs, get you out of these clothes and spend the rest of the night and the rest of my life showing you how much I want you, how right we are together.”
She puts her hands on my shoulders, and she pushes me back. My God, have I read this all wrong? Does she not want what I want?
“Ella?”
She holds her hand out. “I’m Ella Holmes,” I stare at her outstretched arm for a second and tension leaves my body as a laugh bubbles up inside me. I take her hand, bring it to my mouth and kiss it.
“I know who you are.”
“Just getting that out in the open, Landon.” The joy and lightness in her voice fills my heart with all the love I have for her. She angles her head, a small smirk on her face. “Just want to make sure we’re on the same page here.”
“I’m Landon Brooks. The guy’s room you snuck into. The guy you gave your virginity to.”
“That night…it was wonderful.” She puts her arms around me, and lifts her head, her mouth poised open for me, and the welcoming sight nearly makes me fucking sob with happiness. “I never regretted that decision.”
“You have no idea how honored I was. But I wish I’d known. I would have been easier with you.”
She glances away. What is she hiding from me? “Ella?” I ask and turn her face to meet mine. “No more secrets okay. None.”
“I haven’t been with anyone but you.”
My heart nearly explodes in my chest, and I swallow against a painful throat. This woman is a gift, and I plan to treasure every inch of her. “I didn’t want to be with anyone else.”
I gather her in my arms. “Tonight, I’m going to give you an entire year’s worth of orgasms to make up for your long wait.” I stand there with her in my arms, admiring her strength, beauty and honesty. I don’t know where I would have been without her in my life, or how I got so lucky.
“Landon?”
“Yeah?”
“Can we get on with that?”
23
Ella
My heart is beating so wildly, I’m sure it’s going to burst from my chest. I take a second to center myself, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. I close my eyes. Dear God, do not let me be dreaming on Landon’s sofa. I open my eyes again and I can’t help the ridiculous smile I can do nothing to hide.
“You’re still here.”
He chuckles. “I’m still here. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
“I don’t want to get rid of you, Landon. Right here, in your arms. It’s where I want to be. Its where I’ve always wanted to be.” Happy tears I have no control over spill down my face.
“Hey, why are you crying?”
“I’m just so overwhelmed, and happy and this has been such a long hard year.”
“I know it has, Angel,” he groans, and I suck in a breath. “What?”
“You called me Angel. That’s what you called me that night…”
“I know.”
“Wait, do you call everyone you go to bed with Angel?” I put one hand over my face, hating that possibility. “Am I being a silly, naïve girl again?”
“You were never a silly, naïve girl, Ella. You were and are perfect. Then and now.” He quietly opens the door to the spare room, the one I’ve been sleeping in.
Landon places me on the bed, standing back to gaze the length of my body. He studies me so long and hard, I shift a little, feeling uncomfortable. Without thinking, I cross my arms, and he shakes his head.
“I want to see you, Angel. All of you, every inch.” He walks up to the lamp and turns it on. “Last time it was in the dark, and while I enjoyed feeling my way around, I need to see you.”
“I need to see you too,” I tell him. I sit up, put my feet over the edge of the bed, and reach for him. He pulls me to my feet. “I want to undress you.”
His groan tells me all I need to know. I slide my hands under his T-shirt, and a shudder goes through him as my fingers connect with his hot skin. I spread my fingers, eager to touch all his rippling abs and they tighten beneath my searching fingers.
“Jesus,” he murmurs. “That is so damn nice.”
I stand, and drag his shirt up, and he helps me get it over his head. I give a very contented sigh as I take him in, thankful for the lamplight, and he grins, clearly liking the appreciation written all over my face.
“I can’t believe this,” I murmur under my breath as I breathe in his fresh soapy scent, still trying to wrap my brain around everything we’ve been through that took us to this very moment.
“Believe it,” he responds, his voice so gruff and needy it seeps through me, and settles deep between my legs. “This is happening, Angel, and it’s been a long time coming.”
I nod, and release his pants, and he groans as I work to free his beautiful cock. He tugs his pants down just a bit, to release himself from his boxers. His long, thick cock pulsates before my eyes and I take him into my hands, moaning at the softness of his skin. Wrapping my fingers around him, I run my hand from base to crown, and I’m rewarded with a beautiful droplet of pre-cum, which glistens in the lamplight. My mouth waters, and I drop to my knees to drink him in, and he grips my hair, pushes it to the side and lets loose a tortured growl as he takes in the sight.
“Fuck, Angel. That is so good. Only with you is it ever this good.”
I’m not a girl to believe easily. I’ve learned a few lessons over the last year, but I believe Landon. He’s always tried to be honest with me, and vice versa, and I get what he’s saying. He’s been my only lover, but I’m not sure the sex could ever be this good with anyone else, and the honest to God’s truth is, I don’t want it with anyone else.
“I need to touch you,” he murmurs as his big hands lightly caress my neck. I whimper as his thumbs brush my nipples through my shirt, and I arch into him, needing more, needing everything from this man. “I’ve missed you, Ella.”
“I missed you too,” I tell him. He pulls me up, peels my shirt off and drops it to the floor. His gaze drops takes in my heaving chest, and nipples pressed tightly against my bra.
“You are so fucking perfect.”
In a quick move, he removes my bra and leans into me, his breath hot and erotic on my flesh. His lips close over one nipple as his fingers toy with the other, and I grow impossibly wetter between my legs.
“Landon,” I cry out, and run my fingers through his hair, holding him to me. He moans louder, li
king when I let go and show him what I need. He nibbles on my nipple, biting and teasing and tasting and soothing, and I swear to God if he doesn’t touch my sex with his fingers, I’m going to die right here on the spot. A hard quake goes through me, and his soft chuckle vibrates through me.
“Someone’s a needy girl.”
“It’s been so long.”
He inches back, and his dark eyes lock on mine, and the intensity there pulls the breath from my lungs. “I’m not going to make you wait another second.” He pops the button on my pants, and slides his hand in. He cups my hot sex through my panties, and gives a little squeeze. “I’ll never make you wait again, Ella. I vow for the rest of our lives to give you everything you need.”
“I need you. I only need you, inside me.”
He tugs my panties to the side and his eyes shut as his thumb grazes my soaked clit. “Jesus,” he murmurs, that one word drenched in joy at finding me so ready for him. “You waited for me for so long. I can’t even tell you what that does to me.”
“Show me,” I boldly challenge him. He drops to his knees and takes my pants down with him, and I lift my legs, one at a time, so he can remove my pants. My panties come down a little slower, and it’s easy to tell he’s savoring this moment, like it’s been a long time in the making, and he doesn’t want to rush it. I don’t want him to rush it either, but I can barely stand on my quivering legs as it is.
“Ella, baby, you are mine.” He removes my panties, parts my wet lips with is finger, and leans in to swipe his hot tongue over me. “This is mine.”
“Yes, it’s yours. I’m yours.”
He goes back on his heels and I run my fingers through his hair as he glances up at me. “I’m yours. I’ve always been yours. Nothing can ever take us away from each other again.”
“Nothing,” I promise.
“We can fight anything.”
I nod, tighten my fingers around his head, and pull him back to my sex. He chuckles at my brazen neediness, and goes back to licking me. My entire body quivers as he slides a thick finger inside me, and while I’ve used my vibrator for the last year, nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to this man’s touch. My imagination isn’t this good, and I have no idea how I’m going to hold on. Then again, who cares if I don’t. He’s offering me a lifetime of orgasms and I’m ready to accept them.
“Landon,” I cry out as his tongue centers on my clit, and his finger works some kind of magic inside me. My body pulses, spasms, and a little yelp climbs from my throat as I climax all over him, my hot juices pouring down his hand, covering his face.
He groans and circles his head, his tongue taking in every drop it can find. I continue to clench around his finger, and after some time, the world around me finally rights itself. I chuckle slightly, realizing exactly what he meant when I woke up and found him by the sofa watching me sleep.
“I love you, Ella. I fucking love you,” he says as he climbs up my body and finds my mouth. I taste myself on his tongue as he devours my mouth with his lips, his tongue probing, eating at me like he can’t get enough—like he’s trying to make up for our lost year. I kiss him back, delirious with need, pleasure, happiness and hope. Our bodies tangle, as we cling to one another like our lives depend on it, and I wrap my legs around him.
He walks to the bed, and falls over me. We kiss as he centers me on the mattress. “Condom,” he murmurs, and makes a move to go, but I hold him to me, unable to let him break the contact, the intimacy.
“I’m on the pill. I promise,” I say, and he exhales.
“I believe you, Angel. Of course I believe you. I’m clean.”
I nod and let my thighs fall apart, welcoming him into my body, my heart and into my soul. The next thing I know he’s inside me, filling me, stretching me, making me the happiest woman in the entire world. I love this man. I trust this man, and none of those things come easily to me, but he’s always been there for me, even back in college when Cameron tried to assault me. Only Landon, Peyton, and Brady were there. They’re my family. They’re the ones who truly care about my wellbeing. I see that now. I see that Ivy hasn’t been a good sister.
“Touch me, please,” he says his voice low, full of need and agony. I run my nails down his back and his muscles bunch. “Yes,” he murmurs into my throat as he peppers hot kisses over my damp flesh, loving me with his hands, mouth and cock.
He powers into me, going so deep he hits my cervix, and a new kind of sensation rockets through me. I’ve read about full-body orgasms before, but never until this very second did I ever think I could have one.
“Landon, ohmigod, that is so good.”
“Yeah?” he asks and continues to slide into me with deep, blunt strokes meant for my pleasure. I claw at him as another orgasm grows, expands and pulls me under until I’m drowning in bliss. He continues to give it to me the way I need it and somehow slides a hand between our bodies to stroke my aching clit.
“Yes,” I whimper, my voice a low keening cry that does something wild to him. He pumps harder, faster, taking me to the precipice where he does not leave me hanging. No, he promised he’d give me everything I need, and he’s a good man, a man of his word, who takes to heights I’ve never even dreamed about.
This is right. Everything in my heart and soul tells me so, which means everything else will follow and this thing we call life will all work out the way it’s supposed to, as long as I have Landon by my side and he has me by his. I hug him tighter, as I tighten around his pistoning cock, fresh tears fall as my heart fills with all the love I have for this man.
“I love you,” I whisper into his ear as he swells even more inside me.
“I love you too,” he declares and closes his mouth over mine, kissing me thoroughly, deeply as he fills my body with his seed. My chest squeezes, my heart so full of love, I’m ready to explode. He shifts my body to put his arms around me, and we both hold each other so tight, it’s a wonder we can get any air. But who cares? Air is overrated. He buries his face in my hair as he continues to deplete inside me, and when he’s done, he collapses on my body, pinning me with his impressive weight.
I cry a little more, let the tears fall freely, and revel in the pounding of his strong heart against my chest. This is where I’m meant to be, yesterday, tomorrow, forever. No regrets.
After a long moment, he inches back, and his eyes are glossy so damn expressive and full of love as they meet mine. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
I grin, loving the way he’s checking in with me. “Only in the best ways.”
The corners of his mouth turn up. “Why don’t we take a shower, and then I’ll come back here, and kiss all the places that hurt.”
“There are a lot of places,” I fib. Nothing hurts, in fact everything, for the first time in my life, feels wonderful…perfect. He slowly inches out of me and I yelp a little at the loss. He puts his hand between my legs, and lightly touches me, soothing any sting left behind.
“Do you hurt too much, my sweet virgin?”
“Never,” I say with a chuckle. “I no longer think we can say I’m a virgin again, though.”
He goes serious, and blows out a breath. “Are you really okay?” His dark eyes narrow in on me. “I tried to go slow, but Jesus, Ella, I wanted you so much. I still do.” He pushes my hair back with both hands and cups my face. “I’ll never stop wanting you.”
I’m about to answer, to tell him I’ll never stop wanting him when I hear my sister at my bedroom door.
“What the fuck is going on here?”
24
Landon
“Shit,” I curse under my breath as Ella stiffens beneath me, a little gasp catching in her throat.
“Shit is right,” Ivy shoots back. “What the fuck? I’m gone one night and you fuck my sister? What are you even doing home anyway?”
“It’s over between us, Ivy. You know that.” I slide off Ella and sit upright as she tugs the blankets to her neck. Ella groans, and sinks into her pillow. She hates this. So do I. Bu
t this isn’t a mistake and neither of us should have regrets.
“It’s not over until I say it’s over,” Ivy shoots back and takes a step closer to the bed. She glares at Ella. “Are you just going to hide there, Ella? Pretend to be the sweet innocent girl that fools the damn world so she can get what she wants?” She gives an unladylike snort. “Is that act still working for you?”
Ella makes a move to sit up, and I put my hand on her, my way of letting her know this is my battle, but the pain in her eyes is a wake-up call that it’s her battle too, so I back off.
“What do you mean by that?” Ella asks.
Ivy’s mouth drops open. “Really, you’re going to play stupid? I’m your twin. I can see right through you.”
“She’s not playing stupid,” I say through clenched teeth.
“You’re both stupid. I want you out of here. Right now.”
“I live here, Ivy. You’re the one who wasn’t here when I got home. Care to tell me where you were or who you were with?”
She turns her glare to me. “You don’t get to ask me questions when I come home and find you in bed with my sister.”
“We’re not together anymore, Ivy. We never really were together.”
She points to the door. “I said I want you both out of here.”
“Let’s talk, Ivy.”
“About what? How my asshole sister always gets what she wants? How she puts on that ridiculous sweet and innocent act, and gets all the attention and love, especially from Mom and Dad? Well, you know what, Ella? I’m sick of it, sick of you.”
Ella goes cold beside me, and I glance at her, note the paleness in her face. Her eyes are wide, stark against the whiteness.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Ivy. I’ve never put on any act. I’ve always stood back to let you shine. You’re the actress, not me. I was happy to be in the background.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, drop it already.”