“You were sick my whole life. You were… cruel and I spent my whole life trying to make you proud…and then you just turned your back on me. Now that I’m doing well…you want to cash in on it, right? Is that why you’re here?”
He finally looked at me. “No. I came because Stella and Santos asked me to…and it was way past time. If you want nothing to do with me, I understand. I deserve it, but I couldn’t live with myself any longer if I didn’t at least try.”
“Okay well, you came and you tried. You can go home now.”
“Aaron!” Stella had stood by silently until then. I looked at her.
“What Stella? Did you expect a fucking tearful reunion? This is my night…” She cocked an eyebrow.
“Okay…okay…this isournight, but not his. I can’t do this right now!” I stormed out, pushing my way past the mass of reporters.
A lump formed in my throat and I felt bad leaving her standing there. She was the one I wanted to celebrate with…but I couldn’t do this now. I found my way to the open rooftop and stood there watching the city sparkle around me. I was supposed to be downstairs at a press conference. Santos was going to be pissed. But years of torment wasn’t going to evaporate overnight and I needed a minute to myself.
I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. It was probably Santos. I ignored it and continued to pace until I heard Stella’s voice behind me. “Aaron?”
I turned and looked at her. God she’s beautiful. Even her annoyed face was cute.
“Stella, I just... can’t.”
She nodded. “Okay baby. It’s okay. I shouldn’t have sprung him on you like that. You’re needed downstairs. Santos and the guys are waiting. Can you do this?”
I sighed. This was their night too. “Yeah, I can do it.” She held out her hand to me and looked relieved when I took it. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and soothed her with a little riddle as we rode the elevator down to where the press conference was being held. As soon as we stepped off, I saw my father, pacing the marbled hallway, waiting for us. I looked at Stella and she shook her head vigorously.
“I thought he left Aaron, honestly.”
I took her hand and walked towards him, planning to walk by him but his words stopped me.
“Aaron, I’m going home. The last thing I want to do is hurt you more than I already have. But, in case I don’t get the chance to see you again I need to tell you that... I love you. I should have told you all those years ago. I shouldn’t have been such a coward when your ma left…I should have done so many things differently…but I didn’t. I love you son and I wish you only the best.” He turned to go and my heart seized. I felt like I was seven years old again.
“I love you too, da.” He turned towards me with tears in his eyes. He nodded, but a sad smile played at his lips. At least if he dies before I see him again, I’ll be able to live with myself.
STELLA
“So what do you think?” Aaron asked me. I was trying to find the words and nothing would come to me that seemed to express the feelings that this place gave me.
“I can’t even describe it, Aaron. I’ve never seen such a beautiful place.”
He smiled sadly. “I didn’t really know how much I missed it until the plane landed. I guess it’s true what people say about the land you were born in being a part of you.”
We were standing at the bottom of a hill in the Highlands near where Aaron grew up. We were surrounded by stunning views of hillsides covered in soft blankets of purple heather and thick underbrush. A running brook weaved it’s way through the lush landscape and rolled down towards the green valley below. I glanced up at a hawk that glided across the overcast clouds and sighed.
“I can’t even imagine growing up here. There had to be so much to do in the summer and springtime…” I caught myself when I saw the shift in his expression. He didn’t lose his smile, but his eyes dimmed.
“I’m sorry.”
He put his arm around me. We had long since spoken about what had happened in New York. In the past two months they had emailed back and forth and had even spoken on the phone a few times. Aaron told me there was a lot about his father he never knew. The only thing he’d really ever known about him was that he was a fighter.
It turned out that his father had been a Senior Naval Officer in the Royal Navy before Aaron was born. He’d been on leave just after Aaron was born when he got word that there had been an accident off the coast during a violent storm. The ship had gone down and fifty eight men had been killed. Aaron’s father admitted to his son that he felt guilty because had he not been home with his family on leave, he would have been in charge of that particular ship.
He’d found ways to release the grief. One of those ways had been fighting. He discovered, after signing up for a few local fights for money that he had a natural talent for it. Aaron’s mother hadn’t been pleased with his choice of careers… but he admittedly hadn’t cared. Over the years his moods and fights with Aaron’s mother worsened. He was never physically abusive, but he admitted if not for the fight clubs he may have been.
After a couple of months of getting reacquainted with his father by phone and email, Aaron agreed to go to Scotland for a visit…but only if I would agree to go with him. Amara and I had just found a building we liked for our joint endeavor but I could handle shopping for our gear online. I agreed to go with him. I’d always wanted to see Scotland and the idea of being separated from him by an ocean didn’t sit well with me either.
We had been here about two hours and had just checked into the inn. We were out walking now, holding hands and enjoying the gorgeous early fall day.
“What time is lunch with your dad?”
“At one o’clock,” he said. “He’s coming into the village so we still have a couple of hours.”
“What do you want to do until then?” He got that mischievous grin on his face that I’ve come to know so well and pulled me by the hand.
“I want to show you something,” he said. With a smile I followed him, marveling at the sights along the way. There was a massive stand of Douglas fir trees. The smell was wonderful, like Christmas. Aaron pointed out a tree to me that far higher than the rest. Even if I tipped my head back as far as it would go, I couldn’t see the top of. He said it was one of the tallest in the country. We took a path from there along the River Braan and up to a little outlook. When we got there I saw a tiny little house.
“That’s so cute, what is it?”
“It’s called Ossian’s hall,” Aaron told me. “It was built in the middle 1700’s and then it was refurbished in the 1800’s for a famous blind bard. It used to be lined with mirrors and you could stand and look out at the Black Linn Waterfall while it was also projected all around you, they say. The mirrors don’t work any longer, but it’s still a nice view.”
He took my hand and led me up to the hall. It was larger on the inside than it looked and the views were absolutely breathtaking.
“I can’t believe you got to grow up here. This is amazing. I grew up in Reno and counted myself lucky we lived far enough out of the city that Wayne and I got to play in the rocky areas of the desert and catch tarantulas and turtles and snakes…”
“Are you kidding?”
Aaron had a hilarious look on his face. I burst into a fit of giggles. “Don’t tell me the big, tough guy like you is afraid of a little spider or snake?”
“I’m not afraid, lass.” He was a bad actor.
“Good, then our next trip will be to my hometown…”
“And we’ll stay at Harrah’s right?”
“Oh no, we’ll camp out in the desert. It’s lovely there in the fall.”
I had to laugh at his face again. “Just admit you’re afraid of the spiders and snakes and we’ll stay at Harrah’s.”
“Terrified,” he said with big eyes.
I put my arms around his big waist. “Okay, I won’t make you camp in the desert. I was going to volunteer to share my sleeping bag with you and keep you safe but�
��”
“Well now, let’s not be so hasty.” I looked up at him with a smile. His face suddenly went serious, his forehead resting on mine.
“I’ve never been so happy, Stella. You make me so happy.”
I felt a lump in my throat. “I’m so glad. You make me deliriously happy.”
He laughed. “Deliriously, eh?”
“I have no other words for it!”
“Deliriously it is then.” He brought his mouth down to mine and we kissed, lazily tasting each other’s mouths and tongues. I felt his hands sliding underneath my blouse just about the time I heard another couple coming up the path towards the hall. I broke the kiss and took both of his wandering hands in mine.
“I think this place is a little too public.”
He grinned. “Sorry, I can’t help myself with you sometimes.”
He gave me another sly smile and without a word he practically dragged me out of the back door of the hall and down another short path. When we reached the end of it I followed him over some rocks and through another thick patch of trees. When the trees opened up, I gasped.
“Oh my God Aaron! It’s gorgeous!”
“I wasn’t sure if this clearing would still be here,” he said glancing around. “I used to come here a lot when I was a kid. When things got too bad at home, I’d come here and recharge.”
“I can see why. It’s amazing.” From where we stood you could see a clear waterfall cascading down mossy rocks. Part of the river was visible in the distance too, but the best part was the lush field completely isolated and off the beaten track.
As I stood gazing out over the falls I felt him slip his arms around me from behind. He rested them on my stomach as his warm lips found my neck. I leaned my head to the side to give him access and he planted kisses across my neck and down my shoulder, giving me goosebumps that trailed down my spine.
“I love you, Stella,” he whispered into my flesh.
“I love you too, Aaron,” I breathed out. “I love this place too. I love being here with you in a place that’s a part of you.”
“Hmm.. what’s mine is yours lass,” he said between kisses. His hands were slowly making their way up from my stomach to my breasts. He settled one over each breast and I leaned back into him and moaned as he began to massage them through my blouse.
“Mmm…”
He put his warm, sexy mouth to my ear. “You like that beautiful?”
“Oh yeah…”
“I want you, Stella,” he flexed his hips into my backside and I felt the hard evidence of his desire.
“I want you too.”
He gave my breasts one last squeeze and spun me around to face him. “I want you right here, right now.” I looked around nervous. It looked isolated, but there was that other couple on the trail behind us...
“Come on baby, let’s live a little,” he said with a grin. I felt a pain in my stomach. It reminded me of something Wayne had been telling me about my life for so long. I’d been so angry with him for overdoing everything that I hadn’t stopped to consider he might be just a little bit right.
I stepped deeper into the woods as I shot a seductive glance over my shoulder. I faced forward and stepped through a thicket to find a soft patch of grass.Perfect. I heard Aaron behind me and I circled to face him. His sexy eyes widened as I pulled my blouse freely off over my head. I began to unbutton my jeans as he watched in awe, his eyes full of appreciation.
“Are you going to join me lad?”
I don’t think he’d expected me to agree to this. His mouth dipped open, in shock. It took him until I had my jeans all the way down to my knees to suddenly realize I was dead serious. He started stripping off his own clothes and when we were both completely nude he pulled me against his big body and kissed me breathlessly before laying me down.
I couldn’t resist teasing him once more.
“You don’t think there are any spiders or snakes around here, do you?” He knew I was teasing him. He narrowed his eyes at me and threw me a brave look. The threat of the spiders and snakes were soon forgotten as our naked bodies pressed together and our limbs intertwined. His mouth covered mine and we kissed as he caressed my body with his big hands, running them across my breasts and teasing my hard nipples with his palms. I moaned in encouragement and he began using his fingers then, twisting and pulling.
“Yes, baby…but maybe we should skip the foreplay in case someone shows up.” I glanced around his big shoulder.
He laughed. “I thought you were “living a little.”
“Baby steps,” I told him with a smile.
He grinned and ignored me, dropping his hand between my legs as he traced the outer lips of my pussy with his expert fingers. I was already soaking wet. He put the other hand back on my breasts…obviously unconcerned about how much time we may or may not have. He began to twist and pull my tender flesh, provoking a wave of excitement across my exposed flesh.
He brought his wet mouth down one me and as he sucked one bud into his mouth, he let a thick finger slide up inside of my pussy, causing me to gasp out loud. I bucked my hips up off the ground and cried out as he began to move it in and out.
“Oh Jesus Aaron, that feels so good, baby!”
He mumbled something unintelligible around the flesh of my breast that was still in his mouth and then he let a second finger slip up inside of me. I arched up and pressed my head back into the grass, rocking my hips as he used his fingers to pleasure me, thrusting them in and out of my wet tunnel, gently scraping against the smooth walls.
As if that wasn’t enough sweet torture, he moved his thumb up and covered my clit, pressing into it and moving it in slow, sexy circles while his fingers continued to play inside of me. I felt like my head was going to explode and my orgasm raced towards climax at the speed of a locomotive.
When he felt the walls of my pussy clench down against his fingers…he pulled them out. I whimpered out his name and he caught my sound by covering my mouth with his. He pushed his tongue deep into my mouth and I heard a groan rumble up from his chest. I had to have him…now.
I wrapped my arms tightly around him as we kissed and shifted my body underneath him so his throbbing erection was lined up with my opening. I reached down and grabbed his cock in my hand, reveling in the smooth hard feel of it. He let out a sound that was a cross between a growl and a cry as I moved it up and down against my wet folds. I had him soaked with my juices as I began to slide my hand up and down from base to tip; stroking him slowly, gripping him firmly and making him shake and shudder.
“Fuckuhhh…You’re killing me!”
I smiled and tightened my hand around him. He gasped and took one of my nipples back between his fingers, pinching and rolling it and then moving over and doing the same to the other.
“Naughty girl…” He was breathless and his dark voice was even sexier. “I’m afraid I’m going to come in your hand.”
I smiled with my eyes closed and as he moved his hips against me, I slid the head of his hard cock back and forth against my swollen clit sending waves of delight coursing through my body.
“Aaron…?”
“Aye lass?”
“Will you put your tongue inside of me?”
He chuckled darkly “Why you asked so sweetly. How could I refuse? Besides…I’d love nothing more.” He put his lips against my throat and let them glide down to my breasts and across my belly until he reached the top of my mound. He ran his tongue and lips back and forth across it, making me squirm.
I lifted my hips up off the grass and without warning he buried his face in me. I cried out loud as he sucked my clit in between his lips. He was making me writhe all over the grass as he used his tongue to delve in and out between my lips. I was shaking all over and I felt like I was losing my mind already when he let his fingers join his tongue. The feelings were so intense it was almost too much. I felt like I couldn’t take any more and yet I knew that I didn’t want him to stop. He returned his attention back to my clit, flic
king it back and forth with his tongue while moving his fingers inside of me.
“Fuck! Aaron! Just like that!”
He didn’t stop as my body tensed and once again my pussy clenched down around his fingers as my orgasm took hold. This time he worked me through it as the waves began to wash over me again and again. Jesus, that was good! I finally stopped coming and fell back into the grass. I was still whimpering and squirming and he paused until I finally stilled before slowly slipping his fingers out of me. I was quivering all over as he moved back up to my face and kissed my lips. I strangely loved the taste of myself on his lips.
While he was kissing me, he lined himself up with me once more, this time sliding into me, slowly…but completely. I groaned into him as he filled me up and brought my hips up off the ground to buck into him as he pulled back. I needed it hard and fast now and it didn’t take him long to figure that out. He lifted my legs, one at a time, and put them on his broad shoulders, increasing the angle. He held onto my hips and I reached up and stroked my fingers across his taut chest and tattoo as he began to drive his cock into me again and again.
The sound of his balls slapping against me echoed off the trees and it wasn’t long before another massive orgasm tore through me at the same time his body began to tense and he cried out loud enough to scare any spiders or snakes that might be slithering around. He rocked his hips against me a few times and then he collapsed down into the grass alongside of me.
“Stella, Stella… Where did you come from?”
I laughed. “The desert,” I said.
He pulled me into his chest, crushing me into him and kissed the side of my face. “I love the desert then,” he said.
I laughed and peered down at his flower tattoo. I traced the lines and looked at him curiously.
“Scotland’s national flower.”
“A thistle?”
“Even though it’s a weed, it’s one of the most resilient plants in our legends. Humble but a tough rebel.”
“Like you.”
He only pulled me in closer and once again moved his lips against the side of my face.
BWWM: BEFORE I WAKE: A Bad Boy Billionaire Book Collection (African American Interracial Series) Page 291