by Jenika Snow
“Good, because no way could I walk away from you.” He kissed my forehead. “No fucking way I could lose you when I just now have you.” He cupped my cheeks and looked into my eyes. “I don’t know if I can give you that fairy-tale life, but I sure as hell know I can make you happy.”
That made me feel all kinds of pleasurable things. “You already are.”
I’d figure out what to do about my once-life in town. I didn’t want to be here, hadn’t even before I decided to just follow my heart and go to Dillon. This place had lost its appeal a long time ago.
I’d figure things out soon enough, but right now my happiness—and Dillon’s—was what mattered.
What was the point of life if you couldn’t be happy with the one you wanted?
Epilogue One
Dillon
One year later
I stared at Lexi through the window. She couldn’t see me, not with the light inside and the darkness out. But I saw her perfectly. I saw everything that made up my life when I looked at her, that made me feel whole once again. It was her that brought me back from that ledge. Although I’d always be dark, always keep to myself, she was the only one that I would ever open up to.
We were one and the same, she and I.
She is mine.
My woman.
The woman I love more than life itself.
My wife.
She’d always been mine, and she always would be.
We’d gotten married months ago. It hadn’t been anything fancy. Hell, we didn’t actually have family or friends that could have attended if it was anyway. No, we did the whole courthouse thing, and our honeymoon was staying in bed, naked, exhausted from fucking, for an entire week.
God, that had been incredible. We’d fed each other, been sweaty from making love numerous times a day, and when we weren’t being together, we just talked.
We talked about anything and everything.
A sigh of contented happiness left me.
I liked having her to myself, and us being out here alone.
If anyone were stupid enough to try and take that from me, to try and get between us, they’d find out exactly how possessive I was about her. If they tried to hurt the one person I cared about more than fucking life itself … they’d find out I wasn’t afraid to break bones and shed blood.
I didn’t care if it was extreme.
I didn’t care if it was obsession that drove me.
I fucking loved her, and that would never change.
I grabbed a few logs for the fire and made my way back into the cabin. It was starting to snow again, and the weather was frigid. It was already a cold fucking winter, and it would only get worse over the next few months.
I got inside, went over to the fire to add more wood and stoke it, then turned and stared at Lexi.
Mine.
She was still looking out the window, the wind now picking up and casting ice and snow against the glass. I lowered my gaze to her belly. She was five months along now, my baby growing inside of her.
Pride and possessiveness slammed into me, with a good dose of protectiveness.
My woman.
My child.
I went over to her and pulled her into my arms. For long seconds I just held her and rubbed my hand over her back. “What are you thinking about?” I asked. I inhaled deeply, smelling the sweet scent of the shampoo she used. My cock punched forward, but then again, it didn’t take much for the fucker to get hard where Lexi was concerned. All I had to do was think about her and I was ready to breed her.
“Just thinking about how far we’ve come this past year.”
We had come far. “But you’re happy?”
“Of course.”
“And you don’t regret any of it?”
She shook her head, and the softest, sweetest smile covered her face.
I leaned down to kiss her. “Did you ever see yourself here?” I placed my hand between us on her belly. She nodded.
“I wanted to, Dillon.”
I kissed her harder. “What did you see, baby?” I cupped the back of her head and brought it to my chest. She rested it there for long seconds before speaking.
“I saw myself not being alone.” She pulled back and looked at me. “I saw myself with someone who was just like me.”
God, this woman could bring me to my fucking knees.
“I saw someone who was an outcast, who had no one on his side, and I wanted to be the person that gave you something more. I wanted to be the person that had more.”
I did fall to my knees then, pushing her shirt up and exposing her growing belly. I kissed her stomach over and over again before resting my forehead on it. I closed my eyes, not sure what a fucker like me had done to deserve a woman like Lexi.
“You’re the one that made me the person I am today.” I didn’t care how sappy any of this shit was. This was the truth, and I’d say it until I had no air in my lungs. “You’re the only one who could break through me and ease that feral quality I held tightly to me like armor.”
She ran her hands through my hair and shook her head. “You and I both know I didn’t tame any of your wildness.” She smiled and kept running her fingers through the strands on my head.
But she had tamed me … partly. I might be one possessive and territorial bastard where it concerned her and the child she carried, but before her I hadn’t given a shit about anyone or anything. Not even myself.
“Before you I was just surviving.” I placed a hand on either side of her belly and kissed her skin. She was warm and so soft. “You made me want to live,” I whispered against her stomach. “I want to be a good man for you, and a good father for our baby.” Before Lexi I’d just been a shell.
“You’ll be the best father, Dillon, and you’re already a good man for me. You’re the best.”
I rose up and hugged her, keeping her close, making sure she knew she was safe.
Because of Lexi I became a man.
I became a real man with a purpose.
Lexi
I wanted to smile at the protectiveness that came from Dillon.
He carried the car seat that held our son, Rowley. He had this scowl on his face as we made our way through the grocery store.
It had only been three months since I had our son, and this was the first trip down the mountain and into town. It was monthly supply stocking time, and although Dillon would have been happy to keep the baby and me at home, I wanted to come.
This had been my home, after all.
“I can put the car seat in the cart, you know?” I chuckled when I saw his knuckles turn white on the handle as he held the baby carrier tighter.
An older woman with her husband purposefully moved to the side for us, and Dillon grunted.
This might have been my home at one time, but not anymore. My home was where Rowley and Dillon were. I’d left this all behind, made a life for myself away from it all.
And when our children were old enough for school, were old enough to decide what they wanted, then we’d take that step. We’d do what was best for us and not what others thought.
We went to check out, and I felt eyes on us from all directions. And I lifted my head and looked at each and every one of them. I could have said something, anything to them, but they didn’t matter. Nothing mattered aside from Dillon and our son.
Mary was working the register, and I wish I could have taken a picture of her face in this moment: wide eyes and a look like she was a fish out of water. I remembered all the shit she’d talked about Dillon when he came in, and I wanted nothing more than to say something smug. But I was better than that.
Dillon wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close, the proprietary mark being made known.
That made me feel so good, so loved. It also made me feel like a woman owned.
Dillon leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Because I do own you, baby.”
I felt my face heat. I’d either said that out loud, or he knew me too well. Either way I wasn’t embarrassed.
I was pleased.
When we left the store, I felt everyone still watching us.
“I want to go back in there and really give them something to stare at.”
We put the baby in the back, and I turned and faced him. “Let them stare. Let them talk. They’ll never have what we do.” He had me wrapped in his arms a second later.
He kissed me in front of everyone, and all I did was hold on as he took possession of me. “No, they’ll never have what we do. No one can ever have what we have, Lexi.”
That was the truth.
When I moved back, I saw Dillon had gone tense, his focus on something behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw a man standing there, a cigarette between his lips, his focus on me.
There hadn’t been many times where Dillon’s possessiveness came through concerning an actual person since we lived away from people, but right now I knew this was what truly living was about.
He was jealous and wanted to stake his claim.
I felt Dillon move his hand down the length of my spine, over the small of my back, and finally along the curve of my ass. Truth was I liked this caveman attitude he had going on. I loved that he wanted it known I was his. The look on Dillon’s face was pretty dangerous, and if I’d been that guy my man’s focus was on, I would have hauled ass inside.
Dillon’s attitude right now screamed “mine” in every single way.
The guy finally looked away after a second and made his way inside the store.
All I could do was smile and let those butterflies in my belly continue to warm me.
My man loved me to the ends of the earth.
He gave my ass a smack, and I chuckled. Of course he had to get that last thing in.
We got in the vehicle and headed back to our home. I couldn’t help but stare at the man that had opened my eyes to so much, to a world that was unlike anything I’d ever imagined. What we had might not have been conventional to some, and people might talk. But when you have the love of a man, and the knowledge that he’d move heaven and hell to make sure you’re happy, there was nothing that could ruin that.
He pulled me closer, and I rested my head on his shoulder. The baby made little grunting noises, and I smiled.
“I love you,” I said softly.
Dillon made a low sound. “And I fucking love you, baby.”
Yeah, perfection was what we made of it.
It was the love of a man, and the feeling of your child in your arms. I knew that just because things were dark, that didn’t mean it was bad. It just meant the light hadn’t reached it yet.
Epilogue Two
Dillon
Considering where I started, what I’d lost, and where I’d been, my life was pretty fucking incredible. I had the one woman who “got me,” who knew where I was coming from and accepted me no matter what. I had a healthy baby boy, and hopefully more on the way.
I had love despite still having darkness in me.
I bought my hammer down on the nail, securing the slab of wood to the frame. I did this over and over again, the sound of contact from the tool echoing off the trees. When the sun started to set, I put my tools away and took a step back to eye the work that was done so far. We were expanding on the cabin, making it bigger, hoping to fill it with a family. It would take a long fucking time for sure, but that’s all we had, and I looked forward to it.
Maybe just moving into town would have been easier, buying a two-story with a white picket, four bedrooms, and a family room. But that’s not who I was, and I knew that wasn’t how my wife was either. This was the type of living we wanted and needed.
I glanced at the living room window. I thought about a year ago when I’d been standing almost in this exact place, and looked to see Lexi standing on the other side of the glass.
And look where we are now.
My emotions for her were genuine. Authentic.
My love for her was fierce, untamed.
And my desire for her was feral and uninhibited.
True, I was sweaty and exhausted from working all day on the cabin extension, but just looking at her had me rock hard.
I need her.
I went inside and immediately glanced over at the basinet. The baby was sound asleep, a fire was cracking and roaring in the hearth, and my woman was looking at me like she knew exactly what I wanted.
She’s looking at me like she wants the same thing I do.
We didn’t say anything, just started getting undressed. I was covered in sweat, smelling like lumber, but hell, I knew my girl liked that.
When I was naked and she was just in her bra and panties, I grabbed my cock and stroked myself. “Take it all off for me,” I said softly.
She pushed her underwear down, then went for her bra. And when Lexi was stark naked, I moved closer. No way in fuck was I going to do foreplay tonight. This was going to be rough, hard, and nothing would be held back.
I crooked my finger at her and made her come to me, made her eat up that foot between us. I had her in my arms a second later and moved over to the kitchen table. I kissed her for a long second, running my tongue along her lips, plunging it into her mouth. When I broke away, it was to turn her around, press my hand on the center of her back, and shove her forward. I kicked her legs out and leaned back to look at her exposed pussy.
“Fuck, baby,” I groaned.
When I ran my fingers through her wet slit and heard her moan softly, I knew there was no way I was going to last once I was in her.
I’d come within five minutes.
“Tell me what you want.”
“You.”
“You want my big cock in your tight little pussy, baby?”
She nodded. “God, yes.” She was breathless when she said that.
“This is going to be fast and hard, and I won’t last.”
“Good, because I’m already right there, Dillon.”
I groaned low.
I gripped her ass and spread it wide, taking a long look at the pink, soaking center of her cunt.
My cock jerked again, and my balls drew up tight. I needed this like I needed to breathe.
Taking my cock in hand, I led the head to her pussy hole.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Fuck me.”
I grabbed her hair, yanked her head back, baring her throat, and plunged my cock into her in one hard, thorough thrust. She arched her back and opened her mouth on a silent cry. I felt her cunt stretch around me. She made a deep noise in the back of her throat.
“Fuck yes.” And then I became a fucking beast with her.
I pulled out, and when the tip was at the entrance, I shoved back in hard. Her upper body slid on the table from the force. Her pussy was so tight, so wet and hot.
The sound of my flesh slapping hers filled my head.
“Damn, I’m not going to last,” I grunted. I grabbed her hips, digging my fingers into her flesh.
“I’m so close.” She all but moaned those words out.
Christ.
I reached around and found her clit with my finger. I teased that little bundle, knowing she’d get off for me. I plunged my cock in and out of her at the same time I rubbed her clit back and forth. I needed her to come for me more than once. I needed to feel her pussy clamping down on my shaft. She cried my name softly right before she finally got off for me.
That’s all I needed to follow suit.
I buried my dick in her and came so damn hard I saw stars.
“Take all of me, Lexi baby.”
“Yes,” she cried out softly, mindful of the baby sleeping.
I leaned forward, took hold of her chin with my thumb and forefinger, and turned her head more to the side. Her lips were parted, and her eyes were heavy-lidded. I leaned down and slammed my mouth onto hers, claiming it as mine, plunging my tongue in the warm, wet depth, and fucking her there like I was between her thighs.
My orgasm was fierce and strong, and I filled her up with my cum.
The pleasure started to soft
en as my peak lowered. Long moments passed where neither of us moved. Then again I liked being buried in her, my cock softening, her warmth surrounding me.
I forced myself to pull out of her, not because I wanted to but because the position had to be uncomfortable for her. I had her turned around and in my arms just a second later. She rested her head on my shoulder.
“I love you,” I said against the side of her head and inhaled the sweet scent of her hair. “You love me too?” I teased.
“So much it hurts.”
Yeah, she was exactly where she was meant to be.
With me.
Always.
The End
Felix
Six years old
The first time I saw you I knew you were mine.
When she walked into the room, everything around me disappeared. It felt as if was just the two of us.
She was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, even though her clothes seemed a little too baggy, had stains on them, and holes, too”
Yeah, she was the prettiest girl in the whole world.
I didn’t even know her name because the teacher hadn’t introduced her to the class yet, but I didn’t care.
I knew I wanted to be her friend.
I knew I wanted her to always be near me.
“Class, this is Maggie. She’s come all the way to Ohio from Colorado.” The teacher touched Maggie’s shoulder and smiled at us. “I want you all to make Maggie feel welcome.”
I followed Maggie with my gaze as she went to the other side of the room, and finally sat down behind an empty desk. The other kids ignored her, busy working on their paintings.
Her hair was the color of the sun, in two pigtails. I couldn’t stop staring at her. I didn’t want to. She glanced up at me then, her eyes so big, so blue, they reminded me of the ocean we had just learned about. I hated that she looked sad, that no one was sitting beside her, talking to her.
I had to fix that.
Grabbing my paper and watercolors, I walked over to where she sat. The other kids looked up at me, but I was only focusing on Maggie.