by Lindsey Hart
“I love you, Thomas,” she whispered. There was no stopping the words. “I love you so, so much.”
His eyes snapped back to her face and his lips parted a fraction, as though he couldn’t quite believe her words were directed at him.
“I love you too-Evie,” he stammered.
She nodded. “Yes. Now come here. I want you to show me. Show me how you want me to love you. Tell me what to do.”
The muscles in his throat jerked as he swallowed hard. “I… you know what to do.”
She raised a brow even though her palms began to sweat. “Do I? Even if I do, I want to hear you say it. I want you to tell me what you want.”
It finally registered with him exactly what it was she wanted. He took a step back. “Are you sure, Evie? Are you sure you want to do this?”
She stepped forward boldly, hardly able to control herself any longer. She stopped, so close they were almost touching. She could feel the heat of his skin radiating against her body and a delicious, heady heat pooled in her stomach and unfurled in her pelvis, her thighs, her sex.
“I’m sure.” She slowly sunk to her knees in front of him and Thomas groaned. She boldly reached up and cupped the bulge in his boxers with her hand. “Take these off and tell me what you want,” she commanded gently, her voice like silk.
“God, Evie.” Thomas’ hand came down and buried itself in the thick mass of her hair. He slid his boxers down with his other hand, kicked them away then brought her face back.
Her hand slowly closed over his shaft. It was fully erect and thick and throbbing with need. So large she could barely wrap her hand all the way around it. She closed her eyes and even though everything inside of her screamed with the need to do everything at once, to move quickly and sate the horrible ache inside, she went slow. So very slow.
She suckled him gently, taking his cock right to the back of her throat before moving her head away. Thomas’ body jerked as she circled the top of the head with her tongue, lapping at the salty droplets of arousal. She wrapped her lips around his shaft and took him deeper again. She kept at the rhythm, drawing back, suckling him, circling him with her tongue, teasing and caressing and tasting, until he wrapped a hand in her hair and pulled her face away.
She slowly wrapped her hand around his shaft and continued to work him slowly, with a flick of her wrist, stroking him from tip to base. His entire body trembled and his breathing grew harsh and raspy.
“If you keep doing that,” he said hoarsely, “This is going to be over in a few minutes.”
His words gave her a heady sense of power. This was the man she had spent so many years longing for. The one she wanted to please and take pleasure from.
“I’m pretty sure it won’t be,” she said coyly as she glanced up.
Thomas groaned. He took charge so swiftly, turned the tables on her that Della almost didn’t have time to register his swift movement. One minute he was holding a fist of her hair, the next he’d pulled her up to standing, wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his hips automatically, on pure instinct.
His cock throbbed into her belly, so very hard. Her body ached to take him inside, to ease the ache that was always with her, that pounded so furiously in her entire body.
Thomas bent his head. She thought he was going to kiss her, but he didn’t. Instead, his lips grazed hers and he nipped her, just hard enough to create a heady sting on her mouth. He continued down her jawline, over to the tender skin of her neck, down, to her chest.
Della gasped and whimpered. She thrust her breasts against his chest, cursing the chafe of her lace bra over her sensitive nipples.
Thomas knew what she wanted. He knew what she needed. She wasn’t Evie at all. He’d never pleasured her, but somehow, he knew exactly what she desired.
He steered them over to the bed and they fell heavily, him over top of her. He thrust himself up, supported himself on one arm and all but tore away the offending bra. Luckily it did up in the front and the clasp gave without complaint.
He bent his head again, claiming one of her straining nipples in his mouth. He gave her a taste of her own medicine as he suckled her nipple, rolled it between her teeth, nipped her gently until she was mewling, her pelvis straining upwards, her hips grinding hard into his even though she still had her panties on.
“Tommy,” she panted, unable to say anything else.
Then, because he knew exactly what she needed, he released her nipple and trailed hot kisses over her chest. He moved lower, lower and when he stopped between her and his tongue flicked out to taste and caress her sex through the lace of her panties, she saw stars.
CHAPTER 14
Thomas
Heaven. That’s where he was. Thomas knew it for a fact as his tongue tasted, caressed and teased the beautiful body of his fiancé.
She was so willing, so eager. She made him feel by the way her eyes darkened with desire when she looked at him, the way she touched him, tasted him, savored him, like it was the first and last time, like he was a whole man. She made him forget about the scars, the ugly ridges, and whorls and swirls of skin. To her, he was just a man. The man she wanted, and it was sexy as hell.
He raised a hand and caressed Evie’s sex through the lace of her panties. She was so warm, so wet, so ready. Her hips strained upwards at his touch, thrusting herself into his hand. She mewled prettily, low in her throat when he licked her over that lace. The taste of her was pure ambrosia, the sweetest nectar. His own body responded violently, his cock throbbing, his balls clenching hard.
God, he wanted her.
He made himself wait. He wanted to give her everything, bring her to a screaming climax more than just once. Which, if the whimpers torn from her throat were any indication, wasn’t going to take long. A few more caresses, a few more silky glides of his tongue, tasting her, flicking her clit through those thin panties, and she was going to find her peak.
He wanted her to come. To bury her hands in his hair and scream his name.
He lapped at her, tantalizing her, teasing her, flicking her clit harder with each pass until her hips bucked upward, her back arched off the bed and she did scream his name. Her cries of pleasure echoed off the walls, reverberated through the bedroom.
Thomas could hardly withstand the ache in his own body. He wanted to show some self-restraint, to go slow, to make it last and last and last, but he just couldn’t. Not after watching Evie come apart, after hearing her guttural moans and whimpers. He needed her. He needed to be inside her.
“Thomas,” she panted. “I need you.”
“I know,” he ground out. At least they were on the same page. He just hoped he could last more than a couple of seconds, but it was doubtful, given the way his heart raced, his pulse pounded in his neck and his body ached with need.
He arched up over her, guided his cock to her entrance right over her panties. He paused, letting her feel him there, so hard, throbbing, aching for her. She squirmed, her hips lifting, trying to fit their bodies together. She groaned at the barrier between them.
“Take them off,” she whimpered.
“I don’t need to.” Thomas moved her soaked panties aside and then he was there, tucked up against her tight heat. He closed his eyes, willing himself not to just thrust in. He had to be slow. Slow and gentle.
Evie had other ideas completely. Her hips swiveled upwards, urging him forward. Her legs wrapped around his waist. The motion shattered what little control he had left. He cursed, moved his hand around to cup the rounded swell of her bottom. He lifted her and thrust hard at the same time, sheathing himself inside of her.
It took all his willpower not to come right there. She was so tight, so tight and warm and so very slick. He ground his teeth together and slammed his eyes shut. If he looked at Evie at all he knew he’d lose it.
She whimpered and writhed against him, creating a raw friction that nearly sent him over the edge. He knew he didn’t have long. He needed her to come. To come at least once mo
re before he found his own pleasure. He knew it wouldn’t be over then. He would take her again and again, as many times as she wanted, until he’d sated the wild lust inside of them both.
To prove to her, and to himself, that he was still a man. That he was still hers.
Evie’s heel ground into his ass and her pelvis rose up again. He couldn’t stop his hard thrusts. He pulled out nearly all the way before he slammed back home, burying himself deeper than before. She whimpered and writhed, ground and bucked against him as he thrust harder and more frenzied than before. There was no rhythm. They both reacted on sheer animal instinct.
Eve’s pants filled the room, her broken little moans were torture in his ear. He knew she was close. He could already feel the spasms of her sex gripping him, together and tighter, pushing him closer and closer to the breaking point.
He lowered his head and claimed her nipple, suckling first then biting down hard. That was all it took to send her spiraling out of control. She screamed, her hips bucking wildly against him, her heels grinding into his ass and leg and her nails biting with delicious sharpness into his shoulders.
The tight spasms her climax caused gripped him hard, finally sending him over the edge. He shut his eyes and lost control. It occurred to him at the last second that he hadn’t even asked if she was still on birth control. He didn’t want to take chances. Not when they were finally getting everything figured out.
He pulled out and a guttural moan was torn from his throat. He burst, in hot jets, over Evie’s stomach, her thighs, her breasts.
When he finally stopped shaking enough open his eyes he realized what he’d done and he was a little embarrassed.
Eve just smiled up at him, such sated adoration in her eyes that it chased away any lingering doubt or feeling other than the love that swelled inside his heart. He knew it then, as he claimed her mouth again, started the dance of fire and hard want inside both of them, that he was lost. Lost to her. Lost to the woman that he loved.
CHAPTER 15
Thomas
Evie stretched languidly on the bed beside Thomas. She unfurled her limbs and slowly, boneless, like a woman well and truly sated, climbed out of the bed.
“I’m starved.” She winked at Thomas. Her eyes, ever expressive, spoke of love and promise. They darkened, fractionally, as he stared into them and she glanced away quickly, but not quickly enough to hide the flash of guilt. “I bet you are too. We’ve been in here for hours. I-uh- I’ll make us something to eat.”
Thomas froze. Was she regretting what they’d done already? The blinds were drawn, but light still streamed through the cracks, into the room. She’d seen every part of him, touched and caressed, kissed and loved every single scar. Did she regret it now, after it was all over and the passion that blinded her faded?
His eyes traced her every movement. She bent over and picked her dress off the floor. He almost envied those long, pure limbs. Pale, flawless skin that was untouched and unmarred by the passage of time or life. Evie, his Evie, was still beautiful, whereas he was forever changed.
At least she was his. At long last, she was truly his again.
He sat up, the sheets falling away. Evie straightened, her dress in her hands. She turned and he got a good look at her flawless back, sleek muscles and petite bones shifting under her skin as she pulled her dress over her head.
That back. Flawless. Far too flawless.
“Don’t move.” Thomas choked the words out past his closed-up throat. The air rushed out of his lungs.
No. It can’t be. It can’t be this. Please, anything but this.
He forced his stunned limbs into action. Propelled himself forward through sheer force of will. He grabbed up his underwear first then his jeans and slammed into them. Evie froze. Her eyes flicked to his face and her lips parted. He knew the truth even before he reached her, before he tugged the back of her dress down to reveal the expanse of creamy, porcelain skin that should have had at least one flaw. Her birthmark. A tiny brown spot right below her shoulders, in the middle of her back.
“Della?” Thomas hissed. Please don’t let it be true. Please.
Her frightened gasp gave it all away. She whirled and his hands dropped uselessly to his sides. Stunned silence fell over the room that had been alive only a short while ago. God, he’d just made love to her. To a woman who wasn’t his fiancé. To Evie’s sister.
“Why?” Rage battled with fear inside his chest, which felt completely hollowed out. His heart sank and a feeling of utter hopelessness washed over him.
Della turned. She blinked hard but tears spilled down her cheeks. He hated the sight of them. Hated what they meant and that a small part of him still wanted to take her into his arms and give her comfort.
I should have known. I should have known this whole time she wasn’t Evie. There were so many clues. So many differences, changes in behavior. Changes in the way she looked at him as though she still loved him.
“My god, Della, why?” Thomas ground out. “Why?” His voice thundered through the bedroom.
Della shrank away, wincing as though he’d physically struck her. She stumbled back a pace, putting a small amount of distance between them. He didn’t like the fear on her face. Didn’t like that it was fear of him. Was this what the rest of his life looked like? People shrinking back in fear? Loneliness and silence closing in, strangling him?
She had been his last hope. Evie. Her love meant everything… everything.
“Why?” He asked again, this time hoarse, like a child who questions the parent who abandoned them. “Why, Della? How could you do it?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered brokenly. Her voice was thick and choked with tears. Twin silver streams flowed down her alabaster cheeks. “I never meant to hurt you. She wanted to leave you, but she was afraid it would destroy you if she did. She was all you had left. She came to me and said she couldn’t take it any longer. I… I didn’t want her to hurt you after everything you’d lived through. I knew she was right. That her leaving would break you. I thought, maybe, if I came here and fixed it, helped you somehow, helped you be strong and realize that life can still be beautiful, and broke it off slowly, that it would be better. That you might-survive it then.”
“And instead you came here and you… what? Slept with me? Made me fall in love with you? How the hell was that supposed to help anyone?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know, Tommy!”
She reached for him, but he pulled away. He couldn’t bear to let her touch him. The magnitude of what he’d just done filtered through him. That horrible, sick dread seeped through the shock that was quickly wearing off. It twisted his stomach into a knot that he doubted would ever come undone.
“Get out!” He pled as he reached for the footboard to support himself. “Get out of my house!”
Della didn’t move. Her eyes locked on his face and there was such infinite sorrow there it broke his heart in a way that was completely raw and unexpected. What she’d done, it didn’t feel like a betrayal. It was worse, so much worse, because he could see the true, honest love shining in her eyes. She’d tried to save him, but instead, she’d broken him in ways she couldn’t imagine.
“Send Evie here. Go and get her. She can tell me herself, to my face, that she’s leaving.”
Della’s hands went slowly to her hips. “I’m not sending my sister back here, by herself, unless you get yourself in control. She can’t walk into a scene like I did in that kitchen. Do you understand?” Her eyes shone with a wild fierceness, a protectiveness, a battle, warrior instinct that Evie had never possessed.
Thomas was actually almost proud of her. This woman who had such hidden strength. How could he have missed it? Evie never had fortitude like that.
“I’ll keep it together. If you don’t know that I would never hurt her, then you don’t know me at all. You’ve both already done far more damage than I ever could. If you fear anyone, it should be yourself.”
He watched the pain shimmer in her eyes
and he felt the answering echo deep inside his chest. Every single wound he inflicted on her, this woman who had shown him kindness and compassion, hope and love and made him start to believe that a future was possible, was a wound inflicted on himself.
“Just get out,” he ground out. He couldn’t think about that now. Couldn’t think of anything. Not with her standing mere feet away.
“I’m sorry,” Della whispered brokenly. “I’m so very sorry. I… I know this doesn’t help. I know it’s not going to make a difference, but I love you, Tommy. I truly wanted to help you. Even if it broke my own heart.” She turned, turned and fled before he could say another word.
Thomas backed up until he found the edge of the bed with his hand. Her words detonated yet another shock wave that spread through him, gripped his chest and made it impossible to move or think or function.
He meant to sink down to the edge of the bed, but he missed and instead slid to the floor. He hit the hardwood, while the bed frame scraped the small of his back. He felt nothing at all. He knew nothing, was sure of absolutely nothing except that he’d just pushed away the one good thing left in his life. Whether she was Evie or Della, he’d made her leave and now he was truly, truly alone.
CHAPTER 16
Thomas
Thomas paced the kitchen anxiously, his bare feet eating up futile miles that meant nothing at all. What did one say to their fiancé after she put her twin sister in place to do something she didn’t have the courage to do herself?
His head whipped around as the front door creaked open and closed just as gently. His pace faltered as he braced himself for the storm to end all storms. This was it. It was really over.
Evie appeared in the kitchen a minute later. Her normally pale skin was ashen. She stared at the floor, rather than meet his eye. Her hands, which he noticed were shaking, were soon tucked firmly in front of her, fingers woven together tightly. She wasn’t wearing her ring, the ring she’d taken off and put on the finger of her twin sister.