Tully’s forehead falls to mine. “I promise you, Tullz. I’m not going anywhere. I’m in this for the long haul, but I get it. I’ve shut you out one too many times and pushed you away and now you need to learn how to trust me again and that’s ok. I’ll give you all the time in the world.”
I raise my head and press a kiss to her forehead. “I told you right from the start that I’m going to make this right. You’re my life and my future and I’m not going to do anything to screw that up again.” I press a hand over her heart. “This is where I belong now. My past is buried in the past and I’ve got you to thank for that. You, Noah, and Henley, you all fought for me when I’d given up. I should have had more faith, but I was scared. You all did what I couldn’t do and because of that, you’ve given me a chance to open myself up and move on.”
“I don’t want to push you away anymore,” she whispers.
“You’re ready for this?”
“How could I not be? I’ve been in love with you since I was eleven years old. Having you in my life is what makes me happy.”
Relief settles into me. I’ve heard her say those words over and over again, but hearing them while knowing that she’s finally letting me back is the best fucking feeling in the world. I’ve got my girl back and after four long years of pain, she’s finally letting me come home.
My hand curls around the back of her neck and I hold her close while looking into those eyes that have always lived in my dreams. “I love you, Tully.”
Her eyes close and then finally, her lips are on mine. Tully’s arms curl around my neck as she pulls herself impossibly closer. Her tears continue falling down her face as she kisses me, but they quickly begin to dry up.
Tully pulls back ever so slightly before looking me in the eye and slowly peeling her shirt up over her toned body. My hands instantly take her waist and the second my fingers brush against her bear skin, warmth spreads through me like wildfire.
Tully reaches around herself and unclasps her bra before allowing the red fabric to slide down her arms. She bares herself to me as she silently watches me and I’ve never seen anything so fucking beautiful.
I pull her back in and my lips find the sensitive skin of her neck as her fingers weave into my hair. I trail my lips down over her collarbone and down to the curve of her breast. Her skin is so soft, just as I’ve always remembered.
My lips run over her nipple before I suck it into my mouth and tease my tongue over it. Tully’s back arches and her head falls back as a breath escapes her. Her fingers fist into my hair and I find my own digging into the skin of her waist, holding her tight as she rocks her hips forward, grinding herself over me.
How did I get so lucky?
My head is telling me to slow things down and make this moment last all night long, but my body is desperate for her touch. I’ve been starved of her for way too long and if I don’t get a taste soon, I might not make it.
I find her lips and pull her body harder against mine, loving the feel of her bare tits pressed up against me which is when I realize that it can’t happen like this. This is the moment that’s going to kickstart the rest of our lives together and something tells me that starting it on my best friend’s couch where he naps during the day probably isn’t the way to go about it.
My hands curl under her ass and I lift us both up before walking down the hallway. “What are you doing?” Tully questions, tightening her legs around my waist.
“You’re not some cheap screw, Tullz. If we’re doing this, then we’re doing it right.”
She melts into me as I push my way through the door of the spare bedroom and before I’ve even finished placing her down on the dresser, her hands are already pulling at my shirt.
My shirt is tossed across the room and she grabs the front of my jeans and yanks me forward, holding me close while locking her legs around me. I kiss her as she releases the button on my jeans and pushes them down my hips.
My erection springs free and she doesn’t waste a second wrapping her tight fist around me, pumping up and down while running her thumb over the tip.
I’m seeing fucking stars.
I can’t physically go any longer without touching her.
Making quick work of her jeans, she pushes up off the dresser and I tear them down her legs, dropping them to the ground somewhere near the rest of our clothes. Tully’s legs instantly wrap around my waist, pulling me in once again while taking hold of what’s hers and getting back to work.
My fingers trail up her thigh and I grin as I leave a wake of goosebumps behind. I cup her pussy before sliding my fingers between her folds and running my fingers over her clit.
Tully’s whole body flinches with the touch and she groans, needing more. Not one to disappoint, I press down on her clit and start rubbing slow circles before sliding two fingers deep inside her.
Tully’s head falls to my shoulder and despite how badly we both want to make this last, I doubt neither of us has what it takes to hold back. Besides, I have the rest of my life to make her feel all kinds of incredible, right now, I just need to be inside her, claiming her, and showing her exactly what she means to me.
Using my free hand, I slide her forward on the dresser until she’s right at the edge and as if reading my mind, she pulls her legs in tighter, dragging me along with it. I slide my fingers out as she lines me up with her entrance and with one slow thrust into her, everything is finally fucking perfect in the world.
Tully bites down on her lip and curls her arms around me until her hands are at the back of my shoulders and her nails are digging in while I slip an arm around her back, holding her close as the other claims her hip.
I begin moving and despite being deep inside of her, it’s still not enough, so with her lips on my neck, I lift her off the dresser and take her to the bed where I continue to make love to the woman I’ve been craving for more than half of my life.
I give her exactly what she needs and in doing that, she does the same for me.
I kiss her until she can’t breathe, touch her until her back is arching high off the bed, and fuck her until she’s screaming out my name and forgetting the world around her.
And just when she falls to the bed, utterly spent, we start all over again.
An hour passes before we see the headlights pull up outside the spare bedroom window and realize it’s probably best we get out of here. After all, Tully set Noah and Henley a dare that nobody should be unlucky enough to overhear. But seeing as though they’ve been gone for so long, I’d dare say that the bet has already been completed.
Tully and I roll out of bed and do our best to dress before Noah and Henley make their way inside, but luck seems to be on our side tonight as they’re taking their sweet time.
Remembering Tully’s shirt and bra is on the living room floor, I dash out and grab them as I finish doing my jeans. Tully practically rips her bra from my fingers and I smirk as she rushes to put it on while listening to Henley’s laughing from outside.
We emerge from the spare bedroom just as the front door is opened and we meet in the living room to find a bag hanging from Henley’s fingers and an anxious look marring Noah’s face.
Tully laughs as she throws herself towards the bag and plucks it from Henley’s fingers. “Did you get five things?” she questions as she goes to look inside the bag.
Noah snatches it right back. “Yes, there are five things and that’s all your messed up little self needs to know.”
“Come on,” Tully laughs. “Stop being such a chicken. What’s in the bag.”
“None of your goddamn business.”
Tully rolls her eyes and looks to Henley with a raised, questioning brow. “Well?”
Henley grins right back at her while nudging her husband with her elbow. “I swear, if he makes it through the night, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.”
Noah throws his arms over Henley’s shoulder and pulls her into his side. “You’ll do no such thing,” he warns before looking to me and
Tully. “What are you guys still doing here anyway? I thought you’d have left ages ago.”
I can’t help but look down at my girl to find her eyes already sparkling with joy before I glance back at Noah. “We had some things to talk about.”
“And?” Henley prompts, not missing the look in her best friend’s eyes.
Tully leans back into me and without even thinking about it, my hand circles her waist, holding her that bit closer. “And…we’re working things out,” Tully explains.
Henley’s eyes bulge out of her head and she starts jumping up and down while an ear-shattering squeal rips out of her. Noah though, looks as though he could be sick. “You screwed my twin sister in my spare bed, didn’t you?”
My hand clenches on Tully’s waist and she places her hand over it, lacing her fingers through mine. “Just be thankful it wasn’t on the couch,” I tell him, for the first time admitting something like that without the fear of getting knocked out.
Tully grins wide as a soft chuckle slips from between her lips. “Well…it nearly was.”
Noah hangs his head. “Fuck. Now I have to buy a new one.”
“Calm down,” Tully laughs. “We didn’t have sex on your couch.”
“I know, but now I won’t be able to sit on it without thinking about the fact that you ‘nearly’ did.”
“Yeah,” she says, stepping out of my arms and grabbing her phone and keys off the coffee table and then dragging me towards the door. “I’m not even going to pretend to be sorry about it. It was fucking incredible and I plan to take him home and do it all over again.”
I can’t help the wide grin that spreads across my face as my girl looks back up at me. I know she’s only trying to stir her brother, but something tells me that she means every fucking word and I can’t wait. Hell, she has a whole apartment full of furniture that I intend to bend her over.
Tully pushes through the door and comes to a stop as she takes in the black dodge RAM sitting right behind her car, making it look like some sort of clown car. “What the hell is that?” she questions, scrunching up her face.
“It’s my new truck,” I explain, looking over it with pride as Tully begins to gawk. “What?”
“That’s yours?”
“Yep.”
“It’s huge.”
“Uh-huh.”
She shakes her head as Henley’s phone screeches to life behind us. “Speaking of huge things,” Tully murmurs looking up at me with a sparkle in her eye. “We need to discuss your piercing.”
“What piercing?” I laugh as the screeching phone is finally answered. “I had to get rid of it when I joined the Military.”
She nods. “Exactly my problem.”
With my hand in hers, Tully starts leading me out to my new truck, bypassing her little black car so she can check out my new ride. I start digging for my keys when Henley’s voice has me spinning back around. “Rivers,” she calls out. “That was Mom.”
“What?” I demand with wide eyes. “Is she alright?”
“Yeah,” she says as a smile slowly spreads across her face. “More than alright. All the paperwork went through and the judge signed everything off. She’s free. Mom’s coming home.”
Chapter 15
Tully
The past two weeks with Rivers have been incredible. It’s so much more than I could have imagined. With Spencer, I was barely getting by, but this…this is as though I’m finally alive for the first time in my life.
He lifts me up, he makes me feel things no other man has ever made me feel, and the sex…well, that’s on another whole playing field. It’s simply mind-blowing.
Though I always knew it would be, it’s part of the reason I fell in love with him in the first place. But I’m not going to lie, despite how incredible it’s been, I can’t help that nagging feeling that one day he’s going to leave.
I have to learn to trust him again and that’s going to be one of the hardest battles I’ll ever face. I want to trust him so damn bad. I want to believe that this is what it’s going to be like until the end of time, but I’m terrified of allowing myself to believe it. If I’m right and he does leave, I don’t know how I’ll ever survive.
I hate being that weak girl who revolves my life around a man’s decisions. I should be stronger. I should be able to stand on my own two feet and tell him exactly how it’s going to be, but when it comes to Rivers, I’m putty in his hands. And what’s more; I like it that way.
Over the past two weeks, he’s let me take things slow despite the fact that we already know exactly where this relationship is heading. I don’t want to rush this. I want to rediscover him in the way that I didn’t get the chance to do the first time around.
He’s been my guy since I was eleven, but the past two weeks it’s as though he’s completely new. He’s my same old Rivers, but now with so much more to give and I wouldn’t have it any other way. He encourages me, he supports me, he lifts me up, and lets me believe that the world is in my hands, and I absolutely adore him for it.
How did I go four years without him in my life? I feel as though we’ve missed all this time together, but had we not, would it still be the same? If Rivers didn’t join the military and learn to forgive himself, would he be the man he is today? Would he have ever found the courage to open up to me and share his world? Something tells me that the answer is ‘no’ and that the past four years were a necessity that I need to move on from.
Those four years are what brought Rivers back to me and I need to learn to be grateful for them rather than hating it for how I fell apart while he was gone.
Is it selfish for me not to trust him now? Apart from leaving without telling me, he has never done a thing that wasn’t in my best interest.
Shit. Why does this have to be so hard?
I kick my jeans off and pull my shirt over my head before I feel Rivers hands at my back, helping me to unhook my bra before his arms circle my waist and he pulls me in hard against his bare chest.
My head falls against him and I raise my chin to kiss his jaw. “How are you feeling?” I question as his thumb trails back and forth over my hip.
“Alright,” he murmurs. “I don’t know. I keep feeling as though I’ve forgotten something.”
“You haven’t,” I promise him. “Your mom has everything she could possibly need at home. You made sure of that.”
His face scrunches up as he gently shakes his head. “Maybe I should go back. I don’t think she should be alone tonight.”
I turn in his arms and look up into those dark, intense eyes that have completely captured me. “Your mom has gone eleven years without a shred of privacy. Trust me, she probably needs to be alone more than you could possibly know.”
“Yeah, but…”
“No,” I tell him. “She has your number if she needs anything and something tells me Henley is going to be stalking her for the next few weeks. You’ve done everything you could have possibly done to make sure she’s comfortable. She has somewhere nice to sleep, she has food, and electricity, and you even made sure she has a car and a job. She has the world at her feet and now it’s time for you to step back and let her live her life the way she wants.”
Rivers lets out a deep breath. "I just worry about her. I have so much to make up for.”
“I know,” I tell him, resting my hands against his chest. “And you will, but it’s not going to happen overnight. You’ve already spent all day with her. We can go back in the morning, cook her a nice breakfast, then take her shopping for a new wardrobe. Trust me, with you as a son, she’s never going to go without, but she needs tonight to just…take it all in.”
Rivers' head falls to mine as he let out a deep breath. “I really hate it when you’re right.”
“You better get used to it,” I laugh. “Something tells me you’re going to spend the rest of your life hating on me for being right.”
He rolls his eyes as a devilish grin rips across his face. “You wish. If anything, I’m just telling you
that you’re right because I’ve got a lot to make up for, and from the looks of it,” he says, running his fingers down my waist and watching as goosebumps rise on my skin, “my plan is working.”
“You’re an ass,” I laugh, pulling myself out of his arms and finding my sleep shirt. I pull it over my head before trudging to my bed and sliding in between the sheets.
It’s been a huge day. We were up at the crack of dawn. I had to go into ‘Read my Tulips’ this morning to complete a huge order and had all hands on deck. Henley and Rivers both came along to help Candice and I get it done so we could all be there when Gina was released at 9 am. Since then, it’s been all about helping her settle in.
We took her grocery shopping to get the things she liked in the house and took her to find some home décor so she could make her space her own.
It’s just past eight at night and we’ve been with Gina all day. It’s been such a long road getting to this point. Four years ago when Henley first put her mind to getting Gina out, I thought it was a lost cause, but she stuck to her guns, and we finally made it. Though we wouldn’t have gotten where we are without Anton’s confession.
Apparently, he’s all about righting his wrongs now, but I can guarantee that there’s no way in hell he’d be able to right them all. After all, he’s murdered countless of people in cold blood. I think Rivers has done the right thing by avoiding that trainwreck. I won’t allow him to get caught up in his webs ever again. We’ve all come so far since high school and it’d be a tragedy to end up there again.
Rivers walks over to his side of the bed and digs his keys, phone, and wallet out of his jeans before letting the weight of his undone belt buckle pull his jeans to the floor. The buckle clatters against my floorboards and he steps out of his jeans before sliding in beside me.
Unstoppable: Haven Falls (Book 7) Page 16