I sighed through my nose. “Not yet.”
“I swear to God, you two are the most irritating…” She broke off abruptly as Angelina came back into the kitchen. “Did she go down okay?”
“Not a peep,” Angel said.
“Not that she would…,” Mattie muttered, bustled around us, putting plates of roasted vegetables and buttery rolls on the table.
“She’s an extraordinarily quiet child,” I added, pulling out a chair for Angelina. She looked pale and sat down. She and Mattie exchanged a meaningful glance.
“Violet’s mute, Will,” Angel finally said. She looked up from her plate to my face. “She isn’t quiet… She’s never spoken a word in her life. She communicates in other ways…”
“Her music,” I said softly, understanding. “And with her eyes…”
“And early intervention is really important,” she added. “That’s why I’ve decided to take her back to Seattle.” Angelina was pale, but she looked at me squarely, meeting my eyes with determination. “I can see that she gets therapy several times a week there. And the job here is almost complete. It’s not like you really need me to stay anymore.” She was talking fast, turning her fork in her fingers. “What’s left can be handled without us living here any longer… and you’ve been incredibly generous. I want you to know how grateful we are… and what a difference the money will make in her life…”
“We can do so much more for her together,” I said, taking her fork away and gripping her fingers with mine. “Did you think there’s anything you could tell me that would make a difference in how I feel about you… about wanting a life with you…? Did you think that telling me she doesn’t speak would scare me off?”
“It’s done, Will,” she answered quietly. “Mattie found an apartment and we’re leaving in the morning. She spent the day packing the rest of our things.”
I felt the weight of the ring in my pocket. “This is what you really want?”
“I’ve already told you… it’s the way it has to be, Will. It isn’t about wanting…”
“Angie,” Mattie said gently, slipping out of her chair and kneeling next to where Angelina sat, “I’m going to give you two some space… but there’s something I need to tell you first. Now I’m thinking maybe my timing might suck…
I shouldn’t have waited so long,” she went on. “I thought… I don’t know. I thought it would never come to this, I guess, that you’d be settled first. I should have told you sooner…”
“Told me what…?” Angel asked. I felt her grip tighten on my hands.
“That Rex popped the question,” she said, holding up her hand. On her finger she sported a dark metal band, set all around with blood red stones. “And I told him yes.” I could see happiness in her eyes, but concern, too. For her friend…
“You’re getting married?” Angel asked faintly. “When…?”
“Next weekend,” Mattie replied. “I’ll still be around whenever you need me… but we’re thinking about a place together over in Renton.” She stroked Angel’s blonde hair over her shoulder. “I didn’t spend today packing our things…,” she said carefully. “I only packed my things.
I love you, Angie. Always have, always will. It’s pretty fucking impossible not to. But I think maybe I’ve been holding you back.” She pulled up a chair and sat close to us both. “Our friendship has been safe and familiar. And in the beginning, when Jimmy left, you needed that. But now, I think I’m just a comfortable excuse to avoid taking a chance on love and a real life of your own.”
Mattie glanced at me and back to Angelina, who sat still and staring.
“Learning to let go of what’s safe is part of life,” Mattie said in a whisper. “For both of us,
for all of us…”
“Did you know?” Angelina demanded, letting her fists fly against my chest. “Did you know she was leaving me too, and you just came here to pick up the pieces?”
I took her wrists in my hands and held them tight. She was shocked, overwhelmed… angry. And I couldn’t blame her.
“I knew,” I admitted. I’d followed her outside into the darkness. A cold wind had started to blow and whistled through the eaves of the cottage. It was dark, but not so dark I couldn’t see the look of betrayal in her eyes. “I fully intended to be moving you and Violet into the main house with me before you found out.”
“I want you to leave…”
“I want you to marry me.”
For a moment she was still, blinking as the words settled in. “Because you think I can’t make it on my own? That I can’t raise my own daughter on my own?” She struggled against me and I gripped her tighter.
“Because I’ve spent the last half-decade trying to find you,” I said harshly, pulling her to my chest. “Because I love you and I want us to be a family… whether Violet is mine or not.” I kissed her roughly and the feeling of her breasts against my chest made me suddenly and painfully hard. “Fuck the test,” I growled. “We won’t take it. As far as anyone ever knows, she’ll only be yours. But I’ll be her father anyway, from this moment until the day I die. And your husband…,” I rasped out.
I pulled her hands behind her back and gripped them together with one hand. Her full, lush breasts surged toward me. I tangled my other hand in her hair and tilted her head back, forcing her to face me, aching for her to accept the truth…
“Marry me,” I demanded, using my lips and my tongue to tease her response. “Tell me now… that you love me as much as I love you, that you want me as much as I want you, that the bond we formed years ago is only stronger now…”
“But my daughter…,” she protested against my demanding mouth…
“Isn’t the one who’s afraid,” I finished for her. “Your father left. Jimmy left. And you’re the one who’s afraid, Angel.” I let go long enough to reach into my pocket and pull out the ring. It sparkled like a living, breathing thing, even in the inky darkness. “I never left you,” I said, bringing her hand around and slipping it onto her finger. “And I swear, that as long as my heart beats,
I never will.”
I waited, watching her face slowly begin to soften. The furrow in her brow smoothed… her body relaxed… she blinked, her eyes wide and so lovely.
“You could love her as your own,” she asked, “without knowing…?”
“That she’s a part of you is enough,” I answered honestly. I picked her up and cradled her against my chest. As I carried her back inside, I shot a glance toward the living room. Mattie, God bless her, had had the optimism to camp out on the living room sofa for the night. I looked only enough to see her lift her head and smile in satisfaction. And then I carried my woman to bed.
I smiled from between her heated thighs, savoring the trembling warmth against my face. She threaded her fingers through my hair and lifted my head until it rested on her sweaty belly. She watched me when I licked my lips, and a wicked shiver ran through her whole body and straight to the head of my waiting cock. I was leaking, hard and slick against her leg.
“So it was really all just for me?” she asked with a soft sigh. “The house… even the playroom?”
“Who the hell else?” I asked, with a smile of my own. I nuzzled her pussy and tasted her again, letting my tongue flick against her nub. “The prom with you was the first… and the last time for me, too.” I leaned up on one arm. “Did you really think I’d spent the last six years tying up random women and doing sinful, unspeakable things?” I gave a long, leisurely lick up the inside of her thigh.
“I didn’t want to think about it at all,” she admitted. “How could I have ever known it was only me?”
I rose up and climbed her body slowly, kissing and nipping and tasting my way up. My heavy cock dragged the length of her, jerking and bobbing in sweet anticipation. She spread her legs wide and inhaled. Her breasts rose to meet me…
“Only you,” I said, giving her my weight. “Forever you.” And I lifted her legs, pushing her knees up… spreading her wide. I fel
t her hands reach for my cock to position my head between her lips, and felt her diamond thump heavily against me. I sucked air through my teeth.
“Tell me you belong to me. Tell me you’re mine now and always.” I held back, throbbing with need, waiting for her to give me what I needed most. “I want all of you, Angel. Every inch of your heart…”
And her answer was everything I needed, everything I’d struggled for, everything I’d waited so long for. I was inside her in a single powerful thrust, consumed by her heat and by her love,
and by the unbreakable bond between us.
34
Angelina
“It’s only fair, after all,” I said, pushing him onto his back and climbing on top. I straddled him, enjoying the hungry way he looked at me. We’d both come hard and fast the first time. But I had plans of my own now. I let my breasts dangle in front of him, just out of reach as I stripped the pillowcases off.
“They may not be diamond bracelets,” I said, wrapping each of his thick wrists. “But I think they’ll do… as long as you don’t try to fight me…”
A dark, throaty chuckle escaped him as I pushed his arms up toward the bedposts and tied him off. He knew as well as I did that he could free himself in a hot second, but I leaned into him, letting my nipples drag along his chest, and we both knew he was my willing slave. “It’s my turn to explore you,” I said, letting my tongue find its way. His abs were hard, rolling hills of muscle… all leading downward.
He groaned, a mixture of pain and sweet torture, as I took my time, learning every nerve, every flick of my tongue that his body responded to. He was enormous when I finally knelt between his spread thighs and took his cock in my hands. No fucking wonder I come within minutes, I thought, running my fingers over his slick head. He was huge and heavily veined… I squeezed and was rewarded with even more slick fluid. I ran one hand over it, smoothing it down the length of his shaft, my fingers sliding easily over his girth. I cupped his tight, huge balls and tightened my hand around his massive base.
Fucking Christ, Angel…,” he gasped out. “If you don’t suck me now, I’m going to tear the posts right off the bed and…” I went down on him, taking in as much as I could swallow and then some.
My pussy can take all this…, I thought, shocked and excited. And I could taste us both on him... Me sweet, him salty. I worked him with my lips and the muscles in my cheeks. And every time he grew and stiffened like granite, I pulled back until the tension eased. But each time I let up, I would begin again, only to drive him higher… each time getting him closer and closer until I needed his climax almost as desperately as he did. I felt his veins thicken and tasted his imminence. Every muscle in his body stiffened as he groaned my name and began to leak his seed. He thrust his thigh between my spread knees and I clenched it, rubbing my hungry clit against him shamelessly. That was all it took. His climax hit, taking me over the edge along with him.
“Fuck me,” he ground out. “Now… I have to be inside you… right the fuck now.”
He bucked and I let him go. I threw my leg over his hip and he thrust again… and I was fully impaled, straddling him and riding him like a warrior. He was still coming… jets of hot fluid spilling inside me. Another shattering climax hit me and left me collapsed against his chest. Hot, heavy throbs pulsed as the last ebbs of his orgasm slowed. My hair spilled over his chest, my breasts spread over his face as I worked to catch my breath. His heart was pounding… as was mine…
“And I remember saying you’d never dominate me…,” he said, his voice gentle, his breath warm against my hair. “Never say never…” I kissed his throat, feeling his satisfied chuckle.
“Now you see what you’ve been doing to me,” I said, pushing myself up, still keeping him deep inside so I could pulse against him.
“Then God help us both,” he said, with a sinfully dark smile. “Because if you ever untie me, I might have to take my revenge…”
And I dangled my breasts in his face like a challenge as I reached up to release him. He caught one swollen nipple in his teeth and sucked hard, making his point. I ran my hands over the thick muscles of his arms, the wide tapering spread of his lats… And my fingers touched something smooth on his skin… and strangely familiar…
“There’s something here…,” I said, shifting, turning him so the moonlight illuminated the spot. But it was dark, nearly hidden in the fold of his arm… I strained to see…
“It’s only a birthmark,” he said, smiling easily and running his hands over my shoulders… lightly over my breasts. He lifted them gently and let them bounce with their weight. He sighed and let his hands roam around the curve of my ass. “My father had it, too…”
And I ran my fingers over it again, exploring the size and shape… realizing why I already knew it so well already…
A thin sliver of moonlight slipped through the window… I must have slept, because I remembered waking up in his arms. But I also remembered watching him, as he fell asleep, with one heavy arm, slung over his head… so much like my daughter…
Like our daughter, my conscience whispered. I leaned up on one elbow and drew his dark hair back with one finger, tracing his brow. How had I failed to see?
You always knew, the whisper came. Only you were too afraid to believe… too afraid to trust…
I watched the diamond on my finger twist and turn, sparkling with the warmth and brilliance of a flame even in the dimness of the light. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but it wasn’t the ring that made my heart catch in my throat. It was that Will had offered his heart to me, and to my baby girl. Without boundaries, without conditions… without reserve.
“What are you thinking… that makes your eyes that particular shade of blue?” he asked sleepily. “They’re the color of the ocean…” He pulled me close and the heady scent of warmth and sex made me dizzy. I wondered absently when I’d eaten last and couldn’t remember…
“I love you,” I said, simply. “The very idea itself has always terrified me. This is the first time in my life that the love felt stronger than my fears…”
He smiled and took a long breath in… and out. “You have to be willing to take a chance, in order to truly love,” he said. “We learn to love when we’re finally willing to risk it all, and we learn to trust when we survive taking that risk.” He kissed me until I was breathless and the room was spinning around us. “It’s the world below the surface, Angel,” he said, as breathless as I.
And together we plunged, headfirst and daring, into its glistening depths.
He kissed me awake and I felt my eyes flutter against the light. I stretched next to him, never wanting this morning to end. But I could hear Mattie, already up and bustling in the kitchen.
“It’s still early,” he said, reassuringly. “I offered the helicopter, but she said she’d wait for the boat. But she’ll have to be at the dock soon. I should go… and let you two have some time together…”
“I can’t believe she’s leaving,” I said, sitting up and reaching for my robe. I took a second to steady myself. “And I can’t even guess how this might affect Vi.”
He smiled and pulled on his jeans. “Best advice? Trust her to be as strong as her mother.” He buttoned his shirt and leaned down to kiss me again. “You have more than enough love inside you, Angel.”
“I can’t do this without you.”
“You could,” he said confidently, lifting me to my feet.
“You just don’t ever have to.”
Mattie was in the living room when I kissed him goodbye at the door. I could hear her swearing softly under her breath and went in to help.
“Fucking boxes,” she said, lightly. “Tape the top and the bottom falls out. I should’ve taken Will up on that offer of his, the helicopter… plus a couple of well-built moving men with boxes of their own…,” she smiled. “But oh, no… I had to do it on my own…” She sat down on the floor and took a swallow of coffee from her mug.
“So…? How was it?” she wheedled. �
��First night, as a newly engaged couple…?”
I blushed until my toes tingled and held out my hand. “How did you know?”
She gripped my fingers and took a long, admiring look. “Because he told me.”
“I meant, how did you know I’d say yes?”
“Because you’re independent, not stupid,” she said, with a crooked smile. “And because you two have always been meant to be. Hell, I could see it back when we were still in high school…”
“I think he’s her father…,” I said slowly. “I didn’t see… maybe I didn’t want to see…” I shook my head. “I was too afraid of having to share Violet, and too relieved when Jimmy gave up any claim to her.” I took her hands in mine and watched her face. “He’s got the same birthmark, Mattie… in the very same place…”
“No shit? Did you tell him?” She glanced around. “I want to see this… Are you going to tell him when they get back?”
“Who… get back from where?” I asked, confused. “Will wanted to leave before she woke up… to let the three of us have some time together before you go…”
I watched lines form across her forehead. “But I thought he took Violet and Miri out for a walk on the beach,” she said slowly, the expression on her face showing the pieces were falling into place. “The puppy was whining twenty minutes ago…”
In a flash we were both on our feet. I made it to the bedroom door first and opened it with a reckless crash. Violet would have been terrified… except that Violet wasn’t there…
Her bed was rumpled, the sheets still faintly warm. There was no sign of the puppy…
And my daughter was gone.
35
Angelina
The Baby Pact_A BDSM Romance Page 12