The Promise of Tomorrow: An Inheritance Novel

by Candice Wright

  Noah throws himself down on one of the Edwardian-style sofas and looks me over, frowning when his gaze reaches my face. I know he can see the dark circles under my eyes and my already pale skin taking on a ghostly pallor. Everything is beginning to take a toll.

  “I tell you what, Eden, I’m going to run you a bath while Mason and Eli rustle up some food and movies for us. Sound good?”

  I nod and offer him a small smile.

  “Anything specific you want, Eden?” Eli asks from the other end of the sofa.

  “I know I should probably order something elegant but I really just fancy pizza and beer. Think that will be okay?” I ask.

  Mason steps up behind me and brushes my hair aside before placing a soft kiss against my neck. “Pretty girl, we’re guys. Pizza and beer is kind of our thing. You won’t hear us complaining.”

  “Sounds good to me. Get something with chocolate for afterwards too,” Noah calls out as he heads into the bathroom to run me a bath.

  Eli stands and snags his car keys from the dark wood coffee table before kissing my forehead. “I tell you what, Mason and I will go down to Carlo’s and get your favourite for you.”

  That earns him a real smile. “Thank you. That sounds wonderful.”

  “Okay, pretty girl, go and soak. we won’t be long. Stay in here with Noah, okay? Sam has two guys outside watching the place but for my own peace of mind just stay here until we get back, okay?” Mason asks, giving me a quick hug.

  “I’m not going anywhere, don’t worry.”

  I watch them leave before heading into the bathroom which is now filled with steam and smells of roses and freesia.

  “There are a million bottles of girly shit in here so I just poured a bunch of stuff in,” Noah tells me sheepishly as he turns off the water.

  “It’s perfect,” I tell him, laughing. I strip off my clothes and leave them in a pile on the floor before climbing into the warm, soothing water. I lie my head back and close my eyes as the stress and worry start to seep away. I open them again when I hear Noah cough and find him focused on my breasts as my nipples play peekaboo with the water.

  “I’ll just leave you to soak then,” he tells me but he doesn’t make any move to leave, his eyes never leaving my breasts.

  I can’t help but smile. “My eyes are up here, big guy.”

  “Oh, I know. I’m just enjoying the view,” he tells me, licking his lips, making my nipples pebble under his watchful gaze.

  “Want to get in with me?” The words barely leave my mouth before Noah is out of his clothes and slipping into the water beside me before leaping back to his feet.

  “Holy mother—that’s hotter than I thought,” he tells me while cupping his balls.

  I can’t help the burst of laughter at his expense that escapes me.

  “How the fuck can you sit there in that heat? I feel like I’m the main ingredient in a bowl of soup.”

  Ah, Noah, ever the drama queen.

  “Poor baby, here, let me kiss them better,” I tell him, letting Eve come out to play a little. I climb onto my knees and position myself in front of him. His hard cock twitches in response. Guess it takes more than a little hot water for him to go down. I tug his hands out of the way and wrap my fingers around his cock, making him groan.

  I lean forward and flick the head of his dick with my tongue before trailing it down his shaft to his balls. I kiss them softly, flicking my tongue over them before making my way back up his shaft.

  “Better?” I look up at him through my lashes and offer him a coy smile.

  “Oh, yeah, but my dick is hurting real bad. You should probably kiss that better too,” he croaks out.

  “Is that right?” I feather soft kisses up and down his length, never applying enough pressure to offer him any relief. I slide my hands up and down his length before licking around the tip, making him gasp.

  Opening my mouth wide, I slide him in as far as I can take him without choking myself and suck.

  “Ah, Eden.” He grips my hair, urging me to take more.

  I raise my ass a little so he has a nice view, and bob my head back and forth, sucking and licking until his legs start to shake. I hear a click and a whirl before a pulse of water strums against my clit. Sneaky Noah has turned on the jets. I nearly choke on his dick in surprise. I try to move but he holds me in place, taking the reins as he starts moving between my lips faster and faster.

  “You want me to stop, Eden, you pinch my leg, okay?” he barks out, his lust riding him hard.

  I grip the edge of the tub on either side of him as the water continues to pulse against me, bringing my whole body to life. Oh, god, I don’t know how much more of this I can take. My breathing speeds up along with his movements as I hold on for dear life.

  Abruptly he pulls free and helps me to my feet before lifting me onto the wide lip of the tub. I lean back against the wall as Noah spreads my legs wide and presses his cock against my opening right before he slips and falls back down into the tub.

  “Balls, shit, fuck. They make this look so much fucking easier in the movies.”

  I try to answer him, to ask if he’s okay, but I can’t catch my breath through my laughter. All that comes out is a strange wheezing noise.

  He climbs out of the bath and lays a large fluffy bath towel down on the floor before stalking over to me with a look of such determination on his face that I stop laughing and gulp.

  “So, you think that’s funny huh?” He picks me up and slaps my ass before laying me down upon the towel.

  “It was kind of funny.” My voice comes out a touch higher than normal as his eyes move over me, burning my skin with the fire I see within them.

  “Ah, fuck, condom.” He is gone before I can get my brain into gear enough to tell him it’s not necessary. He strolls back in with a large box of condoms and a bottle of lube in his hands. I quirk my eyebrow at him in question.

  “Someone came prepared.”

  “What can I say? I was a boy scout in a former life.” He drops the stuff down next to us before spreading my thighs and climbing between them.

  “I find that hard to believe. You don’t strike me as someone who likes to follow the rules.”

  “Fine, you got me. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. When it comes to you, Eden, all the rules go out the window.” He reaches for the box of condoms but I still his movements with my hand on his arm.

  “I’m clean and I can’t get pregnant.” His brow furrows but I shake my head a little, not wanting to get into it now.

  “You sure? I mean, I’m clean too, me and Eli get yearly medicals through work and I haven’t been with anyone in a long time. I’ve been too busy looking for your sexy ass.”

  “You love my sexy ass,” I tease as he grabs the lube next to the condoms instead. “I’m sure.”

  I gasp as he pops the lid and drizzles it directly over my heated core. I watch his cock jump as he dribbles some on himself before setting the bottle back down beside us. He slides his hand up and down his cock, his eyes fixed on my smooth waxed pussy. Waxing became an evil necessity thanks to my line of work, what with all the skimpy barely-there outfits I had to wear. It was never a sexual thing but seeing Noah look at me like that, I vow to myself to keep it up. He moves closer so the head of his dick is pressed against where I want him most. I lift my hips in anticipation of him sliding home but instead, he slides his cock over my clit, making my body jolt. He repeats the motion again and again, strumming my clit with the head of his dick over and over, gliding with ease thanks to the lube.

  “Noah.” I pant out his name, thrashing my head from side to side unable to comprehend just why that feels so damn good.

  “I know, Eden, let go, gorgeous.”

  I don’t want it to end so I fight it, fisting my hands and curling my toes as I ride out this wave of euphoria. Noah takes the choice away from me when he smacks my clit hard with his dick, making me detonate a second before he thrusts inside me, prolonging my pleasure as I clamp down ar
ound him hard. He’s too close to the edge himself to go slow. He fucks me hard and deep, not like it’s our first time together but like it’s our last. He fucks me like he has a point to make to every other man out there and even though it shouldn’t, his possessiveness turns me on. When he roars out his release, spilling himself inside me moments later, I feel branded from the inside out.

  He collapses on top of me, bracing himself on his forearms so he doesn’t squash me. We’re both panting, trying to catch our breath even as he keeps our bodies locked together. He trails his nose down mine, placing a soft and tender kiss on the end before locking his eyes with mine.

  “I am so fucking in love with you it’s insane. You make me crazy in the best possible way but I feel like a dick because part of me is grateful for all this madness swirling around us. Without it, I would never have known you existed. That kind of terrifies me. I can’t lose you, Eden, you’ve infected me.”

  “Infected?” I snort. “Thanks for that. I always wanted to be compared to a disease.”

  “I’m not good with words, Eden, but what I’m trying to say is you are in my blood. I can’t breathe without you. You have woven your way into the fabric of who I am. You are part of me and I thank god for it every single day.”

  “You’re better with words than you realise,” I whisper, wide-eyed at this outpouring of emotions from him.

  “I love you too, Noah. Everything that happened to me, every tear, every bruise brought me here to you three. I feel like you guys are my reward for not giving up when sometimes it would have been so much easier.”

  He rests his forehead against mine and we stay that way for a while just breathing each other in before the sickly, cloying scent tickling my senses for the last half an hour becomes more than I can bear.

  “What’s that smell?” I ask, trying not to gag.

  Noah lifts his head, a tinge of pink on his cheeks looking foreign and out of place.“Piña colada,” he answers quietly.

  My confusion must be clear because he rolls his eyes before nodding towards the lube. I couldn’t stop the giggle from escaping if I tried.

  “You bought piña colada flavoured lube? What? Did you think it would make a good cocktail?” Tears leak from my eyes as he slips free from inside me.

  “Laugh it up, Eden, but I didn’t see you complaining a minute ago.”

  He pulls me up and plonks me in the shower before turning it on, making me squeal when the water comes through cold.

  “Asshole,” I mutter as the shower finally begins to heat up.

  “Now that’s just mean,” he tells me, stepping into the shower behind me before closing the frosted glass door.

  I’m just about to answer him when the bathroom door opens and Eli’s voice calls out.

  “Food’s here. Come and get it before it gets cold. Eden, they didn’t have your beer so we picked you up a couple of the cocktails you like.”

  I swear to god I nearly choke on my own tongue.

  “Did you get any piña colada?” I manage to get out before Noah’s hand covers my mouth, muffling my laughter.

  “Er… I’m not sure, Mason grabbed them. Jesus, what’s that smell?”

  My body is shaking from laughing so much that Noah has to lock his arm around me to stop me from slipping.

  “We’ll be out in a sec,” Noah answers, ignoring Eli’s question.

  He waits until the door closes before spinning me around and pinning me against the wall. His lips are on mine, hard, possessive and dominating and I feel myself growing slick again before he pulls away.

  “I will buy every cocktail flavoured lube on the market just to hear you laugh like that again.”

  My laughter dies out but my smile remains. “I love you,” I tell him, meaning every single word.

  “Right back at you, gorgeous.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  MASON

  She had come out of the bathroom with bright eyes and a smile on her lips but as the night wore on and the conversation inevitability went back to the events of earlier, the sparkle in her eyes dimmed and she grew quieter. When she fell asleep on the sofa between Noah and Eli, I carried her into the bedroom only to find my T-shirt in a death grip.

  “Stay. I want you all to stay,” she murmured. I don’t know if she meant the night or if she was talking about forever but what pretty girl wants, pretty girl gets. Which is how the three of us ended up squeezed into one room despite having the largest suite in the hotel.

  I look down at her, where she finally crashed out beside me with her hand splayed across my chest. Her long lashes flutter lightly against her cheek as if she is dreaming.

  “This is all such a clusterfuck.” Eli drags his hands down his face as he sits in the chair by the window. “How long were we at Dante’s? Two hours, give or take? The intruder could only have broken in then because when I left my surprise for Eden just before we left, her room was fine. The question is, did this guy sit and wait for us to leave or did he work with this woman to set up the distraction in the first place? Oh, shit…” He grabs his phone from his pocket and dials.

  Noah and I look at each other wondering, what now?

  “Mal? Yeah, I know its late, but I need you to do something for me and at this time the only person they might listen to is you. Can you phone Jenny from the Lansdown agency? Yeah, that’s the one. Earlier she said the offer Eden put in for the theatre had been accepted. I left a note in Eden’s room as a surprise for her but with everything else that happened, I forgot about it until just now. The thing is, Mal, that note wasn’t there after the break-in.”

  He listens quietly to what Malcolm says.

  “I’m sure. I stuck it to her mirror. It’s gone and I think whoever broke in took it with them. All right, let me know.” He hangs up and looks at me and Noah, who is reclined on the other side of Eden.

  “As I just said to Malcolm, the agency called me earlier and left a message saying Eden’s offer had been accepted. I wrote it on a note and stuck it to her mirror, hoping it would cheer her up. Now I feel like I’ve fucked it all up. If this guy has the note, and at this point, I’m about ninety percent sure he does, he now has something else he can use against her.”

  “Eli, you had no fucking reason to think this asshole was going to be able to get inside our place. How could you? Cut yourself some slack. What I can’t stop thinking about is the woman who slashed Mason’s tyres. If we can figure out who the fuck she is, I just know she’ll lead us back to the guy doing this. That guy Eden used to work for, Russ, was it?”

  He looks at me so I nod.

  “He said he couldn’t think of anyone that stands out as overly interested in Eden, male or female until we turned up.”

  “And Karl turned up,” I add.

  “What are you talking about? Turned up where?”

  I look at him, sure we had already mentioned it. “At Midas. The morning after you guys got there.”

  “What?” Eli shouts, making Eden stir.

  I scowl at him and he shuts up.

  “That’s not possible. He can’t have chartered a plane from London if he was supposedly in Newcastle at the same time. Do you have video footage?”

  “I haven’t seen it but there should be. I don’t know if he made it any further than the entrance but there is a camera on every exit and two at the bar.”

  “So who actually saw him?”

  “The only one I know saw him for sure was Russ.”

  “You’re positive Russ can make a positive ID?” Noah asks excitedly from beside me.

  I think back to that day and replay the events over in my head. “You’ll have to ask him. He described him to Eden and she freaked out as the description fit Karl. Now that I think about it, it’s possible it could have been someone else.”

  “Fuck.” Noah slumps back down on the bed.

  “Can’t hurt to have him look at a couple of pictures to see if he recognises him, though,” I offer.

  “I’ll text Sam and see if he can
sort that out.”

  I look down at the beauty beside me, feeling happy and terrified. I finally have the girl of my dreams in my arms but at any second I expect some asshole to jump out of the shadows and snatch her away. “I feel like we’re missing something here, something obvious, but I’ll be damned if I can figure it out.”

  “I think we all feel like that, Mase. It’s fucking with all our heads. Christ knows how Eden is coping.” Noah looks over at her and smiles softly.

  “She’s amazing, isn’t she?”

  “She truly is.”

  I couldn’t agree more.

  “All right guys, get some sleep. I’m going to go out, have a smoke and check in with Sam’s guys before I crash.” Eli stands and stretches, making his back pop.

  I nod and close my eyes, breathing in Eden’s scent, letting it soothe me. I feel Noah move closer behind her, probably seeking the same assurances as me. That she is here and that she is safe. For now, that’s the best we can ask for.

  It feels like I’ve only just closed my eyes when they are snapping open again as I process Noah’s phone ringing from his side of the bed.

  He reaches out blindly to answer it as Eden stirs between us. Her eyes flutter open a second before they connect with mine. Her tense body relaxes instantly when she realises where and with whom she is.

  “Ello…” Noah mumbles into his phone. Clearly not impressed with being woken up at… I glance at the clock beside me and am shocked to find its eleven thirty.

  Eli sits up in the chair he fell asleep in and stretches. Noah sits up abruptly, all remnants of sleep gone in the blink of an eye. We all turn to look at him, waiting for him to land the next blow.

  “You sure?” he asks into the phone. A smile spreads across his face as he looks over at Eden and reaches out to grab her hand.

  “We’re on our way. Thanks.” He hangs up and takes a deep breath. When he lets it out, his shoulders drop like all of the tension he has been feeling has just fallen away.

  “Just got a hit off the DNA sample. A Raymond Fellows.”