by Honor James
That had her laughing, and she shook her head. “I’m sure that I will love it.” Katherine knew what she liked, and so far everything was perfect. She looked to Lee and asked, “Did Katherine tell you the significance of carrying me over the threshold?” She was curious.
Shaking his head, he frowned. “No, why would you think so?” he asked softly. He knew the significance from Fae lore, but obviously there was something else to it. “In Fae lore it is believed that carrying the wife or bond-mate across the threshold of a new home will ensure great fertility and much love in the relationship. That no fight will ever tear them asunder and no disagreement will ever be too great to be overcome.”
“It’s the same as a human custom. I just wanted to see if you understood the significance of the moment is all.” Rimi smiled as she added, “I look forward to life with you. All right, for now though, show me our home?” Goodness, their home. It was something that was completely and fully theirs, no one else’s, and she loved that fact.
Pressing a gentle kiss to her lips, he waved her forward. “I left this floor very open. I am Fae, and we do not like closed-in spaces,” he told her softly. “So the living space, dining room, and kitchen all flow through one another with no really clear delineation beyond the posts.” He pointed to them. “But even those are mere suggestions. Katherine did tell me that I had to go top of the line for everything. Her arguments on the topic were sound as well as the research the men helped me do. There is a full bathroom on this floor, laundry, as well as a space I created just for you. Upstairs is our bedroom and three smaller rooms all with their own baths.”
That had her grinning. Shaking her head, she asked, “How were you all about to keep this from me? Am I that oblivious that I didn’t realize that you had been going out and handcrafting a home for us?” She wasn’t sure she wanted that answer, but she loved it. Running her hand over the marble countertops in the kitchen, she sighed happily. “And what kind of space did you create for me down here?”
“Come see,” he said softly, holding out his hand to her. When she came to him, he took hers and guided her toward the back of the house. Opening the frosted glass door, he let her go into the room that would be hers and hers alone. It was all glass on two walls, nature right there next to the glass, heavy, double-thick security glass because he had to keep her safe, too. There was a long, wide, and plush lounger and two walls that were bookshelves. “I didn’t know what you might want to do with the space, so I left it mostly for you to decide. I hope that’s all right,” he murmured. There was a computer on the desk discreetly tucked in a corner, but other than the lounger and a plush rug, there wasn’t anything in the space.
“Oh Laighean.” She whispered his name lovingly. “This is…” She turned in the room and then looked at the door, grinning when she noted the kitty doors and tossed herself into his arms. “I love you, Lee. So much. This room is perfect. I can get my easel and set up to paint in here. It’s perfect, thank you.” He had thought of everything, right down to the kitty doors for her little monsters.
“You are very welcome,” he said, softly hugging her close to him. Feeling infinitely relieved, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. Releasing her, he tugged her hand gently and led her to the bookshelves and pointed at the little food and water dishes tucked away and secured in the shelf itself. “They lift out for refilling and cleaning,” he told her with a smile. “There is also a little bed under the lounger since I know they prefer sleeping under furniture than not.”
“Oh, that’s just too perfect,” she told him with a grin. “You have totally thought of everything.” Her eyes teared up because he had even thought of her little balls of fur that she loved. “I love it, Lee. It’s stunningly perfect. I don’t think that I could have created a better forever home for us if I had tried.”
“I don’t know about that. I had to get an awful lot of help because I was quite hopeless with the entire indoor plumbing thing and such. Once it was explained, I understood the principal, but thankfully Trey and Sully were able to assist there. I was very insistent though that we worked with nature and didn’t reshape it. I think poor Mac was sweating bullets everyday with whatever other idea I got in my head.” He smiled slightly.
She couldn’t help but snicker and shook her head. “You know, I can totally see that. I’m glad that you worked with nature and around her instead of trying to reshape it. I noticed solar panels as well, and no lines leading into the home, so I take it that we are a completely self-sufficient home?”
“Very much so,” he told her honestly. “We are using thermal heating, the solar panels as well as a large wood-burning oven that is against a stone wall that will radiate heat through the home on colder nights. We pull water from an aquifer below ground that is triple filtered into holding tanks. We have a tankless water heater for the sinks, tubs, and showers. Other than that, Trey threw in a few other things, but I wasn’t really paying attention except for the fact that they would do no harm to Mother Nature, which was just fine by me.”
“Also just fine by me,” she admitted. Leaning back against him, she sighed happily. “Since it’s not one of our ‘no-no’ days, how about you and I get naked and go for a swim in the lake? We will then come back and make love on our new bed for the first time?” she asked with a smile.
“I highly approve of that plan,” he told her with a smile. “But we should wear robes down to the lake since others are out walking the property, and I am not letting them see my bond-mate naked.” That was his privilege alone.
“Fair enough.” She winked at him and added, “Perhaps a fence in the woods would be good. Perhaps one made of stone or trees, something that would blend in with very clear ‘no trespassing’ signs on it.”
Thinking a moment, he nodded. “I could do a stone one. There are many from what was an old quarry a few minutes’ walk from here. Katherine owns it, too, as it’s a part of the property, but she said I could use anything I found on the land to make our home ours. I think it’s all limestone, so it would make an interesting wall of sorts, very old fashioned and rough.”
“I absolutely love it,” Rimi admitted with a grin. “We will have our own stone wall to keep trespassers out so that we can have our own safe haven here. One day, in the very far future, we will have babies, and that boundary will serve well for them as well.” To keep their children safe.
“That is the long-term hope,” he agreed softly. Touching her cheek, he kissed her softly. “Come, more to see,” he told her honestly, taking her hand in his.
“I love that there is more to see.” Rimi squeezed Lee’s hand with her own and followed him up the stairs. At the top of the stairs she grinned and shook her head. “See, and you wonder just why my kittens love you as much as they do.” The kittens did, too. He had been utterly shocked by that fact, but her four little terrors loved him like crazy. “I take it that the one door without the kitty door is our bedroom?”
“Yes,” he told her with a small nod. While the kittens liked him and he liked them, no way was he waking with a face full of fur. “That and the bathrooms. I didn’t think letting them in anywhere with water would be a good plan.”
“Yeah, especially since they all seem to think they are allergic to water,” she teased with a grin. “Goodness, do you know how happy I am?” she asked with wide eyes as she turned to look at him. “I can’t believe how perfect this is.” Their home was stunningly beautiful, and it was amazing.
“I’m very happy that you approve of our new home,” he said softly. Catching her hands, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her to him. “But I was serious. If there is anything you don’t like, please change it. It is your home, too, little one, and you need to be happy and relaxed here.”
“Show me our bedroom?” she asked with a smile. “I would very much like to see our bedroom so that I can make the choice on just how much I like it or don’t like it.” She wanted to see the bedroom, their bed, because as soon as she could she was going to strip him nake
d and show him just how much she loved it.
Taking her hand in his, he led her toward the closed door and opened it to let her inside. There was a huge skylight over the bed so they could see the stars at night. “The glass is charged with something so that when we hit a switch it darkens it if we don’t want to have the view,” he told her, watching her as she moved to the bed that was larger than the one they’d shared in Kat’s home.
“Oh God, Lee,” she whispered softly. “This is amazing. This place is amazing. You really and truly have thought of everything.” It was the massive skylight that was over their bed that had her beside herself. It was truly perfect.
“I happen to like being in touch with nature as much as possible,” he told her honestly as he shut the door behind him and leaned back against it. “The bed is carved from three downed trees that were in this spot when we were clearing it for the foundation. It was beautiful wood and such a horrible waste to just throw away something that was no longer viable in the ecosystem.”
“It’s beautiful.” She ran her hands over the intricately carved headboard and frowned. “Who carved this?” It was beautiful, but she had no idea what the scrollwork meant. She could tell it was some sort of writing but didn’t know what type.
“I did. It’s the original tongue of the Fae. It’s basically a protection to ensure sweet and pleasant dreams and good nights’ rest,” he explained in the most simplistic of terms. In fact it was an omen for a great future, plenty of children, and long life, plus a bunch of other things that really only meant something to another Fae and lost a lot in translation.
“I love it,” she whispered with a grin. “I really and truly do love this, my love,” she whispered happily. Turning to look at him, she winked. “It’s beautiful, honey. Absolutely perfect.” Because it was a part of him and his heritage.
Tipping his head in acceptance of her praise, he smiled slightly. “I wanted you to have something that was just from me as well. Something that you could carry with you always.” Laighean pointed to the side table nearest her. “In the drawer there is a carved box of sorts.” Crude, but it worked for the gift he was giving her. “A little something that shows a bit of what my father used to do and taught me to do so the heritage would carry on.” His father had been an amazing artisan of fine and very rare jewelry. While Laighean didn’t have the same talent, he had taken his time to craft the pendant and chain with painstaking care for his mate.
Moving to the side table, she pulled open the drawer and looked at the smallish box there. Tears welled in her eyes because it was stunningly beautiful. It had the same scroll type as the bed did. “What does it say?” she asked as she lovingly ran her fingers over the top of the box.
Stepping up behind her, he put his hands on her shoulders. “It translates to ‘For my only,’” he murmured softly. “In Fae lore a bond-mate is more than merely the other half of our soul, it is the completion of that which had been incomplete. Before a mate there is a sense of emptiness and with a mate that emptiness is filled, so they are known in the old tongue as such, our only.”
“This is an absolute work of art,” she whispered softly. It truly was amazing, beautiful, and looking to him, she smiled. “What is inside?” she asked as she lovingly stroked the box top, tracing the words as she did so.
“Something that you can wear at all times,” he told her softly. “It’s a symbol of luck in my world,” he said quietly as he brushed a kiss to her neck. “Open it and see if you like it. It has been a very long time since I’ve made anything so intricate, so be kind.”
He had made that? She couldn’t wait now. Lifting the lid to the box, she gasped when she saw the pendant and necklace inside. “Laighean.” She breathed his name like a caress. “Oh honey,” she breathed and touched her fingertip to the jewel and was shocked. “This is…” She didn’t have words. It was so stunningly beautiful. God, she loved it. “Help me put it on?” Her fingers traced the intricate chain lovingly as well.
Smiling, he took the necklace from her and, undoing the clasp, slipped it around her neck. Doing it up, he let it settle lightly on her skin and turned her so he could see it. Nodding, he approved of the length of the chain, long enough to drop it toward her breasts but not so long that it fell between them and was hidden from view.
Stroking her fingers over the pendant, she smiled. “Laighean, I love it. It’s stunningly wonderful, honey. I can’t believe that you did this,” she whispered in awe. “Thank you, Lee,” she said as she turned to face him. A happy and wondrous smile was on her face. “I love you so much. This is just…” She shook her head. “Amazing, Lee. Simply amazing.”
“I am glad you like it,” he said softly to her. “I created a little workshop and it’s the first piece I’ve made there. It seemed fitting.” Christening the room with her piece had been the only way to do it in his mind. “Who knows what else I might make for you in there,” Laighean smiled.
“Well I look forward to anything that you have to give me, my darling man.” She thought that it was amazing that he would create something this stunning and give it to her. “I would love to see you as you were working, darling,” she said with a smile. “If you wouldn’t mind, that is. I would love to be able to watch you working.”
“I wouldn’t mind.” He smiled slightly. “But I tend to get very into the work and tune everything out. So If I’m ignoring you and doing it too much, just poke me,” he warned quietly. “Come see the bathroom,” he told her, tugging on her hand gently.
“Oh I wouldn’t mind, and I know how that is. When I get painting, I tend to be the same way,” she told him with a smile. “So I completely and fully understand it, honey,” she admitted with a grin. “I just would love to see how you work, honey, and that is the complete and utter truth.” She would love to see him all consumed in his work. It would be wonderful actually.
“Then we will do it,” he assured her, pushing the door open to the bathroom. All the walls were glass, slightly opaque, and you could only see out, but it brought the nature right next to the house into the room. It made it feel like one of the many pools of water under a waterfall he used to find out in the country around his home.
“Holy smokes, this place is amazing,” she whispered in shock. “Truly, this is amazing. I love it. All right then, let’s you and I get ourselves in the nice shower then, darling, shall we?” She looked forward to getting to know every single part of the home, but she didn’t know if she wanted to bathe here in their bathroom or go and play in the lake beside their home.
“Giving up on going to the pond to skinny dip?” he asked with a smile. “We could go and play in the pond and then come back and warm up with a shower,” he pointed out softly to her. Stroking his fingers up her arm gently, he tipped his head. “We have plenty of options, my little mate.”
“I love that idea,” she said with a grin. “I think that it will be a great idea actually. To go out and have us some fun in the lake and then come back and have us some fun getting warm in the shower.”
Smiling at her, he pulled her close and kissed her. “Then we should get naked and into robes so we can go down to the lake,” he said softly. Any excuse to get his bond-mate naked, Laighean would gladly take.
Smiling, Rimi winked at him. “Well then, I think that we should get naked.” She all but purred. Stepping back a step from him, she began to peel away her clothes. “Well?” she asked with her brow arched in question.
“Just ensuring you don’t require any assistance before I do the same,” he told her with a grin. At her look that said she wasn’t buying what he was selling, Laighean stripped down quickly and tossed everything into a hamper, except his boots. Collecting two robes, new and extremely soft, he passed her the shorter and smaller one.
“Oh, this is very nice. I can tell that Katherine picked these out.” The woman loved the finer things in life, and being who she was, she could afford them as well. “She’s such an amazing woman,” she admitted as she looked to Lee. “You
like her, don’t you?” She stated the obvious.
“I do like her,” he said quietly to her. “I’m not sure if I trust her fully yet, but I do like her, so that is helping with my thought processes on the matter.” Leaning in, he did up her robe. “Enough of that for the moment. Let’s go and swim. Later we can discuss my trust issues with the Fae Queens.”
“Sounds good to me.” Reaching out, she grabbed the lapels of his robe and said, “You do know that you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, right, darling? I love you, sweetheart, and I understand trust issues, darling mine.”
“You are my bond-mate, my other half,” he said softly to her. “I want to be able to talk with you, to discuss things with you, Rimi. It’s part of the deal of being mates.” Stroking his fingers up her throat, he cupped her cheek. “I love you, Charisma. You are everything I was missing.”
She shivered when he said her name. “Again?” she whispered. Never before had someone saying her name gotten her so hot. “Good lord, I felt intense pleasure just from you saying my name.” Shuddering, she licked her lips as she watched him.
“Charisma,” he whispered, dropping his voice an octave. Smiling slightly at her shiver again, he drew her closer to him. “My little Charisma,” Laighean moaned against her mouth. Kissing her gently, he nipped at her mouth. He could smell her rich arousal.
“Always yours,” she agreed as she brushed up closer, tighter to him. “God, that feels so good,” she whispered against his lips. Her eyes were more than slightly glazed with need, her breath coming in pants and her desire scenting the air sweetly.
Undoing her robe, he spread it open to bare her to his hands. Picking her up, Laighean put her back to the wall and slid his cock into her wet and waiting pussy hard, fast. Kissing her, he held her to the wall and took her with a hunger that he knew would never be sated. Fucking her as fast and deep as he could, he fed off her mouth, only letting her take a breath when needed.