Payback Time, Baby

by Sabel Simmons

  In less than ten minutes the twins were asleep and she walked to their room with trepidation, not knowing what to expect. Tristan paced in front of the balcony doors which stood open, and he had the look of a caged tiger. She shivered, suddenly weary of the man in front of her. A man, she did not know.

  He noticed her hesitating in the door and stopped pacing to glare at her.

  “Well, are you going to stand in the door the whole night?” She walked forward and closed the door behind her.

  “What is wrong Tristan? You are … different tonight? And angry … why are you so angry with me?”

  He snorted and took the two steps that separated them. “As if you don’t know!”

  “But I don’t! Please tell me, my love.”

  “You should know better than to flirt with that bastard in my own house, Savannah! And how is it that you remember him!?”

  “I don’t! The twins knew him so I assumed he was part of the four years I can’t remember. And I didn’t flirt with him!”

  “I have eyes in my head, honey! I watched you chatting and laughing in his eyes before I walked in the room.”

  He grabbed her arms and drew her up against him, his face nearly touching hers.

  “You are mine! Only mine, never forget that! After tonight … even if you can’t remember the past four years or months, you will realize that! I. Do. Not. Share!”

  He pushed the dressing gown off her shoulders and stepped out of his shorts and drew her to the bed, his hands hard on her shoulders when he pushed her to the center of the bed, spreading her thighs wide.

  Her eyes widened and she stiffened when his eyes still glared at her in anger. “Tristan, honey please, you are wrong! I would never …”

  “Enough talking, Savannah. Let your body do the begging … it does it so well!”

  He fell on her, his mouth swooping down to capture hers in a deeply passionate kiss, devouring her and not allowing her any retreat.

  She kissed him back hungrily. She missed him terribly the past two days and her body needed his, desperately needed his. She moaned when his mouth scorched a path of heat down her throat over her chest to pull a nipple deep into his mouth, suckling hard, pulling on the tight nub in desperation, as if to take it into him. When his finger closed around the other nipple to roll and pinch it, she nearly exploded. Fire sizzled from where he sucked her nipple down her stomach and she felt the wet heat gather between her legs.

  She mewled and lifted her hips desperately against his leg that rested between hers. He rose on his knees and looked into her passion filled eyes, noticing the desperation for release there already. He kept still and only when her eyes rose to his did he open his legs wider, spreading her thighs with his. His hands closed around her knees and he pushed them wider apart, opening her completely to his gaze and she shivered at the hard look in his eyes.

  “Tristan?”

  “Now honey, you will come to realize that I will not stand you flirting with another man … ever!”

  She watched as his one hand folded around the base of his shaft, his fingers spreading her slit wide open and he fed the part of his shaft in front of his hand into her agonizingly slowly. Her eyes widened realizing his intent and she shook her head.

  “No, Tristan, please you can’t! Honey I need you … so much!”

  “And you’re going to need me even more over the next few hours.”

  His fingers closed around her clit and he stroked and pinched it while he thrust the tip of his shaft into her. She bucked against him in desperation, pleading hoarsely and cried when she felt the warmth of his seed spurt inside her body and hearing his grunt much too quickly.

  She panted and pleaded but he did not relent. He kept himself inside her, still only halfway, and then set out to make her blood boil, this time he did it all, he sucked, licked, stroked and pinched until she was on the edge time and time again, only to deny her what she so desperately begged for.

  Her voice was raw by the time he left the bed and she curled in a tight ball, her body covered in moisture and her skin sizzling in the need that coursed through her. Tristan went to the bathroom and came back with a cool cloth and slowly stroked it down her body and even between her legs, drying her body dripping with need.

  He stood looking down at her until she opened her eyes and begged him huskily.

  “Please, please honey! Don’t leave me like this! I beg you!”

  Her eyes were green orbs of need and burnt into his. He knelt on the bed and pulled her hands from around her knees, stretching her legs and stroked them all the way to her ankles and back up, hesitating at the apex. Her breathing increased and she panted in expectation. He kept her eyes captive and pulled her thighs wide apart and settled between them, leaning forward to enter her heated body slowly, tenderly, all the way to the hilt.

  He kept still and just looked at her, feeling her muscles tighten around him, her body tightening in anticipation.

  “Tristan? I … need you! Please honey!”

  He plunged then, slowly pulled out and even slower back in. He kept the pace slow and tender and watched her eyes darken. She clutched at the sheets below her. Her legs wrapped around his waist and she thrashed against him, desperate for him to increase the pace. To take her hard and deep, to quench the need he took hours to build inside her, but he refused. He continued to build her need even higher until she was even more desperate and ready to explode. Only then did he plunge - hard and deep, fast, then faster until she panted and bucked against him and screamed when her body shattered around him. He continued to thrust and he felt his own climax building painfully in his loins. He shouted when it shot from him to fill her body with so much force and heat that she shattered around him again.

  It took them a long time to get their breathing under control. When Tristan could master enough energy to withdraw from her he fell down next to her on his back. He pulled her tight against his side. He cursed and berated himself. She might not remember, but he promised her he would never treat her like this again. The moment James pitched up, he lost control! How could he do this to her again! Especially now!

  He held her so tight she struggled to breathe, but her arms folded around him and she held onto him, her eyes clouded.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Tristan woke before Savannah and lifted on his elbow to gaze down at her. She was beautiful in her sleep and he sighed heavily, remembering the anger that surged through him when he saw her smiling at Wilson.

  He probably would never get past that part of her life. He resented anyone that had her and his twins during those years. He resented her even more for allowing them in!

  He sighed again. What does that mean to their future? Would he ever be able to completely forgive and forget? He knew that if he didn’t, their marriage would be rocky at best and eventually break down totally.

  He reached for her bare tummy and tenderly stroked and watched his hand on the slight bulge that has steadily grown over the past weeks. Soon, he would have to tell her they were expecting. How would she react? Probably now, with no memory of how it came about, ecstatic, but once she had her memory back, would she resent the baby … and him? That and that alone was the reason he wanted to wait until she had her memory back before they got married.

  He needed to know that she still loved him and wanted him … the man he was now … the man he became over the past four years.

  He looked up at her face again and was immediately caught by the emerald green of her eyes, smoky this morning, and his gut tightened. Did he make her hate him last night? They looked at each other for a long time, then she smiled and lifted her hand to stroke down his jaw.

  “Morning, my love.”

  “Am I still?” He asked huskily and she frowned.

  “Baby, I don’t understand why you would even think I would flirt with another man. You are the only man I want to be with. The only one I have wanted to be with from the day we met. I … don’t know what … happened over the past four years,
but I am sure that is one thing that never changed!” He noticed her hesitation and frowned at her.

  “Last night … I … what I did … will properly do to you again every time I find you flirting or believe you to … do you … do you still want to marry me?

  She looked into his eyes, but saw no regret for what he did and the hours of suffering he caused. Rather asking for acceptance of the man he was now, and she understood that, more than she was prepared to admit, or could admit at this stage.

  “I love you, Tristan. With all my heart. There is nothing I want more than to be your wife.”

  His eyes flared and she saw the emotions flash in his eyes and she nearly cried. If only he would tell her! Why could he not tell her?

  He pulled her close and kissed her deeply and tenderly, pouring all his emotions that ran through him into the kiss, praying she understood. He still needed her to remember before he told her what was in his heart. He lifted his head and she looked at him with love shining in hers.

  “The answer is yes, I still want to marry you, and I really, really, really want that day to be on the 16th!”

  “Honey, you know how I feel. I want you to have your memory back be …”

  “I know … I just know that my answer would be the same then … please let us not wait any longer!”

  He closed his eyes, praying that she was right, if she remembered and hated him then, he would not know how to handle the disappointment.

  “Very well, my love. We can get married on the 16th. How far are you with all the arrangements?”

  Her smile was blinding in her joy, and he leaned down for another kiss.

  “Everything has been finalized already; we just need to confirm the date. I am going for a final fitting for my dress today and you have to go and get your suit fitted as well.”

  “And pray tell, honey, how are you going to get the invitations out and get people to attend a week and a half before the wedding?”

  “He of little faith! Don’t you worry, my love. We have everything under control. Just be sure you are there … that is the only person whose presence I require!”

  “And the twins, of course?”

  “And the twins!”

  As if on cue the two rascals opened the door and peeked in to see if their parents were awake and the minute they did, they came running to hurl themselves on the bed. Savannah got herself covered with the sheet in the nick of time, glaring at a laughing Tristan, the brute, who already put his shorts on earlier.

  Later, while Tristan took the twins downstairs to start on breakfast, Savannah relaxed in a lukewarm bubble bath; a happy smile on her lips. She sobered somewhat and recalled her confusion when she woke up that morning. She suddenly remembered everything that happened since the day of the shooting. Trust Tristan’s ‘punishment’ to be the trigger she needed to remember.

  When she looked up into his beautiful, strong face she was filled with joy that he was not hurt by the shooting. She filtered through her memories to quickly put the picture together of what happened thereafter. His telling her they were getting married was the one thing that her mind got stuck on and nothing else mattered.

  She felt a twinge of guilt for lying to him once again. She could not admit to recovering her memories when the first thing he asked her was if she still wanted to marry him. She was not prepared to take the chance that he would change his mind if he knew she had her memories back. If she had to lie for another week and a half to become his wife, then so be it.

  She would deal with any punishment he dished out for her deception then. If she was honest with herself, she did not mind the punishment so much, as long as he gave her the release afterwards as he did last night. Her stomach clenched and rushed to her core remembering the pleasures that he drew from her. For now … she just wanted to bask in happiness that they were to be married at long last!

  The week and a half before their wedding day flew by and Savannah, Leandra, her Mother, Tristan’s mother and sister Georgina had to perform miracles to ensure all the arrangements were in place ahead of time.

  Savannah was adamant from the start that their wedding was to be held at their own home. There was more than enough space on the lawn next to the swimming pool, facing the sea to put up a Marque and a dance floor and Tristan was happy to comply. They smiled intimately at each other at the time, agreeing that they would not find a more suitable venue. This was the place where they committed to each other and their love in the first place. To cement that with their wedding ceremony would close the circle of their love for each other.

  The family and close friends surprised them on the Wednesday afternoon before their wedding by arriving en masse to give them their bachelor and bachelorette parties.

  His two closest friends, Shane and Damien were miffed because they could not give him a proper bachelor party, with the strippers and booze, they joked winking at her. She wagged her finger at them and warned them sternly.

  “He is too old for strippers! Besides, if he ever were to indulge in that, he would find out what it is like to be castrated without anesthesia!”

  Tristan laughed with them and pulled her into his arms. Hugged her tight and kissed her deeply. “I only need you, honey … I promise!” And as an aside to his smiling friends looking on, “She would probably use a blunt knife too!”

  She hit him playfully on his arm, but returned his kiss just as passionately when his lips closed over hers again.

  They turned back to their guests, but John Wade intercepted them and requested a private word with them. They followed him outside to the pool. He turned to them and had tears in his eyes.

  “I came to realize the error in my ways, even before you came back, Savannah. I knew Tristan was not happy for years and that he never stopped searching for you.”

  “Dad … now is not the time … Sava …”

  “No, my son, I have to do this.”

  “Please Dad. Savannah does not have her memories back and would not understand what you are referring to.”

  Tristan was desperate at this point not to upset her. Everything was in place, she loved him, they were getting married … they did not need this now!

  “All I want to say is this. Savannah, you are the best thing that has ever happened to Tristan. He is a different man when he is with you and you make him happy. I realized no matter what I or Jessica did, would ever change that. He has with you what every other Wade man before him had, who really found his future. Acceptance, for what he is, what he is not and the only one that will ever be able to offer him peace. The only one he will lose control with and will fight for until his last breath.”

  “Uncle John … thank you for telling me this and please know that I feel exactly the same way about him. Nothing and no one will ever change that. He is my life, my future … my forever after.”

  Tristan stood looking at his father for a long while without saying a word, the truth of what he said, entrenched in his heart. True regret shone in his father’s eyes and he realized now was the time for new beginnings and he smiled.

  “I forgive you, Dad.”

  Those simple words had the big and imposing John Wade burst into tears and father and son hugged each other fiercely. They stood chatting a while longer and then John made his way to his wife to tell her the good news.

  “When did you start remembering?”

  His voice was quiet in the night and she held her breath when she looked in his eyes.

  “I … please don’t be angry!”

  “When?”

  “The morning after James was here.”

  “Yet, you still demanded we get married?”

  “I am sorry for deceiving you, but I …,” she could not continue over the lump in her throat and the tears burning in her eyes.

  Tristan looked deep into Savannah’s eyes, his expression serious. He took her ring finger in his hand and pulled off her engagement ring and put it in his pocket, causing her to gasp in fear and the tears to run down her cheeks.r />
  He went down on one knee and looked up into her teary eyes. He pulled the ring from his pocket again and cleared his throat, his voice low and husky.

  “Savannah Seagers, I asked you once on this spot to be my wife. I have done and said things since your return that I am not proud of. I have changed over the past four years, I became hard, ruthless even and I need you to know that is the man I am now. So many things have changed in our lives over the years, but one thing has never changed and that is my love for you. I still want you to be my wife, for us to be a family, but I am what I am, and it is not going to change overnight, if at all. Know that I am a man that even standing here, still struggles with forgiveness for what was denied me.”

  His eyes bored into hers, earnest and as clear as silver crystals.

  “All I can offer you unconditionally is me and my love that will never change, but beware it is a selfish love, a possessive love and a jealous love. That when you give me yours, I will take and demand all of you, unconditionally! Will you be my wife, Savannah? To love me unconditionally for the man that I am today, not the man you remember.”

  The tears of grief long since turned to tears of joy. She went down on her knees in front of him and took his face between her hands. She leaned in to place a soft kiss on his lips.

  “Why do you think I hid the fact that I had my memories back from you? I needed to marry you! I needed to make you mine. I have always loved you, for the man you were then and now for the man you are today. Yes, we have a lot of issues and we have both changed. I am willing to accept those changes and I can even accept that you still have not forgiven me for the twins. Maybe one day soon we will have another baby on the way. Maybe you will be able to forgive me then and share in all the joy and happiness only a child can offer, together. I know you think you have become a hard and ruthless man, but I have seen how tender and loving you still are, and as long as I have that man as well, I can accept the other just as willingly into my heart.”