“I’m…sorry…I…just…assumed,” J stumbles over his words.
“Didn’t your mother teach you why you should never assume?”
J shakes his head.
“When you assume you make an ass out of you and me,” Father says. “Get it?”
This is one of his favorite lessons. I’ve heard it at least a dozen times growing up.
“Why shouldn’t you assume anything, J?” Father asks, to drive the point home.
J repeats the lesson and Father gives him a knowing smile.
“Ladies, you are not eliminated,” he finally says. “Everly will need help in implementing her duties as the Princess of York. Since you all get along so well, I thought it would be nice if you stuck around and joined the court as her ladies in waiting.”
They let out a communal sigh of relief.
More tears follow, but these are ones of joy.
Everly squeezes my hand again and flashes me a big smile. Then she runs over to Teal and the others and wraps her arms around them.
Chapter 39 - Everly
When we are alone…
I sit in Easton’s living room and wait as he makes me dinner. He is just making us an omelet, but I know that it will be the best tasting omelets I’ve ever had.
I am to be his wife.
He proposed to me.
Me.
I glance up at him and wonder what I ever did to get this lucky.
We are alone now.
There are no cameras.
No one is watching.
“Can I ask you something?” I ask, trying to buy myself more time.
He nods, giving me a small smile out of the corner of his lips.
“Did you mean that?”
He looks up at me from the stove.
“Mean what?”
“The proposal?”
“Every word of it,” he says.
I nod, still not completely sure if I believe him.
“It’s just that I wasn’t sure,” I say. “I mean, I know you were glad this competition wasn’t about your father anymore and you didn’t want anything bad to happen to me. I totally understand why you did it. But we don’t have to be married, if you don’t want to.”
My mind is running a mile a minute and I keep stumbling over my words. I don’t know if it’s all coming out right.
“What I mean is that I really appreciate you proposing to me. It was a noble thing to do. I know you did it to help me. But if you don’t really want to be married, I totally understand. We don’t have to be,” I add. I’m not sure if this makes anything any clearer.
Easton moves the skillet off the burner and walks over to me. Sitting down in front of me, he takes my hand in his.
He stares at me for a long time before saying a word. Then he takes a deep breath.
“I’ve given that a lot of thought, Everly. I mean, yes, I want to help you. Of course. And yes, in similar circumstances, I would probably propose to any of the girls here if that’s what it took to save their life.”
I nod. That’s what I thought, of course.
I’m so stupid.
He’s just a very nice guy who thinks this place is as evil as I do.
“But the thing is, Everly, that when I stood there before you, I realized something,” Easton continues. “When I asked you to marry me it’s because I really do want to marry you. It’s crazy, and rash, and probably wrong, but I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to be my wife.”
The words come out of left field.
I don’t expect them at all and they actually take my breath away.
“Say something,” he says.
“I…don’t…” I start to speak without knowing where to go.
“Please don’t feel like you have to say the same thing back to me. I know that your time here hasn’t been perfect. Far from it. I don’t want to put any more pressure on you. I just want you to know how I feel. That’s it.”
Finally, my thoughts come into focus.
“I love you, Easton,” I say. “I know that I probably shouldn’t. I know that it’s not a smart thing to do here. But I do. And when you asked me to marry you…it felt so…real. It felt like there was no one else in the room and that it was just you and me.”
He runs his finger along my lips and then presses his lips onto mine. I kiss him back. Burying his hands in my hair, he tugs at it slightly. I moan and tilt my head back, exposing my neck to him.
Our bodies are more familiar with each other now.
We know each other’s movements.
We know what to expect.
And yet, something about his touch still takes my breath away.
As he stands next to me, I inhale his scent.
He smells of power, and strength, and comfort all at the same time. As he runs his hand down my back, a tingling sensation spreads through me, starting from somewhere deep inside. I tense my legs to keep it at bay, but it’s here to stay.
He brings his lips closer to mine again, but this time we do not touch.
Instead, we stand so close together that I can feel his breath on my lips. I reach for him, but he holds me back. He holds my head in his hands and doesn’t let me get any closer. That’s when I reach out my tongue and run it along his lower lip.
“Hmm,” he says. “Sneaky! Sneaky!”
I nod and break out of his grasp. I press my lips onto his and wait for him to kiss me back.
When I pull away, I see his eyes darken and turn almost smoky in their gaze.
“Oh is that what you want?” Easton asks, grabbing me by my shoulders. I look up at him surprised.
“You want it rough?” He asks.
His hands press into my shoulders and the warmth in between my legs gets hotter.
“Maybe,” I say, giving him a slight nod.
Without another word, he grabs me by my arm and pushes me into the bedroom where the lights are dimmed low.
“Wait,” he says and I stand perfectly still in the twilight.
He lights four candles, slowly and deliberately.
Then he walks back up to me.
“Take off your clothes,” he says.
I like the command in his voice.
I like the directness.
In a world that I’m always trying to influence, it is nice to give up control for once - give it up to someone I trust with my body and soul.
“Are you going to do it or do you want me to do it for you?” He asks.
Chapter 40 - Everly
That night…
I smile a little out of the corner of my mouth and do as he says.
This is a new side of him. It’s an unexpected one. It scares me, but in that good way.
I pull my shirt over my head and then peel off my leggings.
“All of it,” he says, and I unclasp my bra.
My breasts fall open before him.
When I reach for my panties, he stops me.
“Not yet,” he says.
“Go sit there,” he points to the leather sofa-like chair to the right of the King-size bed.
I do as he says.
“Open your legs and put them on the arms of the chair.”
Again, I do as I am told. I’m scared, but it’s a good kind of fear. I’m about to ride a rollercoaster. I know that I’m going to make it to the end in one piece, I just don’t know how.
Easton takes off his shirt and unbuckles his belt.
He slides his pants off and steps out of them.
His chiseled body sizzles in the candlelight and it takes all of my strength to not reach out for him.
Easton is dressed in a pair of James Bond boxer-briefs. Tight and black, exposing exactly how big his package is without showing it off completely.
“Now, don’t remove your hands from the arm rests, no matter what,” Easton says. “Or there will be consequences.”
I nod and lick my lips in anticipation.
He kneels down before me.
He slides
my panties to the side, exposing me.
Wet and thirsty for him, he touches my yearning.
He makes his way carefully around the lace, toying with me.
Flirting with me.
Touching me in every way that I want and have to be touched.
Opening me up wide, he finally presses his lips to me and pushes his fingers deep inside.
I moan and say his name over and over again.
He continues without stopping.
Small swirls become bigger and stronger ones. He opens me up wider and wider until his hand and mouth are glistening wet with my arousal.
As his mouth makes its way toward my clit and makes a home there, one of his fingers wanders toward my butt. It’s surprising at first, but also good.
Really good.
He plays with my butt cheeks, squeezing and tugging prior to pressing his finger inside. I feel myself tightening up and then slowly letting him further inside.
“Oh Easton,” I moan, arching my back, when his thrusts get stronger and stronger.
“You can’t come until I say so,” he says, pulling away from me for a moment.
But it’s too late.
Pleasure starts to pulse through my body without my control.
Everything tightens around his fingers and then lets go completely.
My toes point outward and my body beings to shake.
He continues to thrust his fingers in and out of me for the duration until I collapse limply into the chair, completely spent.
“You are a very bad girl,” Easton says, pulling away from me and licking his fingers.
“I’m sorry,” I say without meaning a word of it.
“You should not have done that,” he says, adjusting my panties back in place.
I put my feet to the ground. The hardwood floor feels cold and nice on my bare feet, still tingling from everything that has happened.
“Why? What do you mean?” I ask.
My body is spent, but new desire for him is starting to build up.
“I told you you couldn’t and you still did it,” Easton says. “Now, you’re going to have to pay the price.”
My whole body pulsates with anticipation. Easton is going to punish me and I can’t wait to find out what he has in mind.
I trust him. I love him.
And that’s what makes this so…delicious.
Easton leans over me. He pulls my hair back and gives me a kiss.
Only this time, the kiss is completely different from the ones before.
His tongue isn’t softly brushing against mine. No, he is no longer asking permission. He is taking what’s his.
He presses his lips onto mine and pushes his tongue inside. It swirls around mine for only a brief second before making its way down my neck and toward my breasts.
He explores my body like I belong to him. He demands that I let him as if I don’t have a choice.
Every part of me is screaming yes. My heart starts to pound faster and faster and his hands make their way around me. His teeth find my nipples and bite down. The pain is a good kind of pain that makes me even wetter than I am already. My legs open up on their own.
Easton pulls me to the bed.
When he is about to flip me over, I stop him.
I reach for him and put him in my mouth. His hands scoop my hair and he gives out a loud moan. I run my tongue around him and pick up the pace.
His fingers tighten around my hair, tugging at it along with each of my movements. His hips move toward and away from me as he continues to moan with satisfaction.
The louder he is and the stronger his thrusts get, the more tightness I feel in my core. I squeeze my thighs together and feel the warmth in between my legs. It’s the start of another explosion, the beginning of the build.
Just when I feel him getting close, he pulls out. Grabbing me by the back of my neck, he flips me over and leans me over the mattress.
“Don’t move,” he says and I give myself over to him.
After giving me one long kiss down there, he spreads my legs with his hands and positions himself behind me.
“You’re so beautiful,” he says, running his hands up and down my back.
I arch my body toward him.
I feel myself opening wide for him.
My body is begging for him to come inside.
Easton grabs onto my hips. I feel him throbbing impatiently and then he slips right in. Placing his hand on my shoulder to steady himself, he starts to move in and out of me.
The movements are slow at first.
Deliberate.
But they quickly accelerate, turning into short quick thrusts. Just as before, we morph into one being.
I can no longer tell where my body ends and his begins. Our love-making becomes a dance. His hands lose their way around me as his lips kiss my neck and back with abandon.
A warm sensation starts to build deep inside.
I don’t have the strength to keep it at bay or to slow it down.
He is doing beautiful things to me and my body is no longer my own.
I yell his name as a wave pulsates through me, starting at my core. Holding me closer, he moves in and out of me even faster until one final thrust.
A moment later, completely spent, we collapse into each other’s arms.
Chapter 41 - Everly
Later that night…
As we lie in the afterglow of what just happened, the world suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. I have a man I love who loves me back. I don’t want to make a life with him here, but I know that I want to make a life with him.
“Have you given any more thought to what we talked about before?” I ask.
I don’t want to mention Dagger or his father or Alicia.
No one is supposed to be listening, but how do I know that for sure?
I almost divulged that information to the whole world before, I will not make the same mistake twice.
“You mean about how I tried to leave before?” he whispers.
I suspect that he has the same suspicions as I do.
I give Easton a small nod.
“I don’t know,” he says. “I haven’t made any plans yet.”
“So, what do you think is going to happen now? I mean with us and the wedding?”
Easton shrugs and sits up a bit in bed. “If my father has his way, which he will, it will likely be a grand affair. Lots of invitations to lots of important people. Your parents, of course.”
“My parents?” I ask in a gasp.
The thought had never occurred to me.
“Yes,” he nods. “It’s a real wedding. Your side of the family. My side of the family. At least, that’s what I suspect.”
“And if I were marrying your father?” I ask.
“Then it would’ve been a little different,” he says. “I’m not sure if your parents would’ve been invited. But this is…a real wedding. I mean, he’s pretty serious about wanting me to find someone I want to marry. Have kids with.”
I sit up in bed. That phrase, have kids with, just hangs in the air between us.
“Do you not want kids?” Easton asks.
“I haven’t really thought about it,” I say after a moment.
What I really want to say is that yes, of course, I do.
But no, not yet.
And not under these circumstances. But again, I bite my tongue.
This place is supposed to be safe now.
The competition is over.
We are alone, but are we really?
I mean, can I tell Easton what I really think without consequences from the higher ups?
I decide to take the conversation in a different direction.
“So…where will we live after the wedding?” I ask.
“Come with me,” Easton says.
He pulls me from out of the covers and toward the bathroom. There, he pulls down the sheet that I wrapped around myself, and leads me into the shower. When the water starts to run over us, he leans closer to me.
“This is just a precaution,” he whispers.
I nod.
“We are not staying here. I’m going to marry you and take you away from here.”
“And they will just…let us leave?” I ask.
“I think so. I don’t live here. My life and my job are in Manhattan. I’d like to go back there…with you.”
I nod.
Suddenly, I can’t see a thing through the tears streaming down my face and the hot water gushing out of the shower head. I begin to sob.
“Are you okay?” Easton asks, wrapping his arms around me.
I mumble something incoherent in response.
He brings me closer and holds me tighter.
“We are going to get out of here, Everly,” he whispers.
“But what about…what you said before?” I ask quietly. “About Dagger and your father?”
The last bit is inaudible, so Easton reads my lips.
“I’ve given that a lot of thought,” he says after a moment. “The thing about revenge is that it can consume you, you know? It can take over your life. And now that I have this opportunity, to marry you and be with you forever, I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. At least, not now.”
I nod.
“If my father is willing to leave us alone, then why shouldn’t we take him up on that?”
I nod again.
He’s right.
Of course, he’s right.
I mean, I’ve vowed revenge myself.
There are a lot of things I want to get payback for - everything that happened to me in the dungeon, for one.
But how can I do that and get out of this place in one piece?
Is that even possible?
No, perhaps, marrying Easton is my best bet.
I love him.
I would marry him anyway, despite his family. And if after the wedding they allow us to start our lives together somewhere else…why press our luck? Why fight a losing battle?
“I agree with you,” I say after a moment. “There’s no reason to create conflict when your father is willing to give us everything we want.”
Easton gives me a smile and a peck on the head.
I exhale deeply.
We stand there under the strong flow of hot water, holding onto each other.
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