by Elle Keating
His first instinct was to run. As he had so many times when life got too hard. In the past, he would just jump in his truck and drive to Eden and get lost for a few hours. Just the thought of doing that now, having meaningless sex with a woman who would never know his name, who was only with him to fulfill her own needs, sickened him.
He needed to calm down. Luke carried the gift basket over to the table and withdrew one of the three bottles of wine, a corkscrew, and the wine glasses his aunt had packed for him. He had just poured himself a glass of wine and set the bottle on the table when he heard the turn of a doorknob. He turned and faced her but was not prepared for what he encountered. Standing in the doorway barefoot with tears streaming down her face, Peyton looked completely devastated, like she had just received the most tragic news of her young life. “What’s wrong, Peyton? What happened?”
His questions were met with silence, which only caused his worry to soar. Her hands were shaking at her sides and those tears, they wouldn’t stop flowing. “Please tell me. What is it?” he begged.
“Is what you said to Gianna true?” she asked, her bottom lip trembling.
All he wanted to do was hold her, to make her stop falling apart before him. He couldn’t think straight. What had he said? “What did I say, baby?” he asked.
“Lei è la mia altra metà, la pace che cerco.”
She knew. And it had brought her to tears? His words had caused her pain? Or was she crying for another reason? As before, he put his fear aside and answered her truthfully.
“Yes. You are my other half and the peace I’ve been seeking my entire life.”
Peyton closed her eyes, but more tears escaped. It physically hurt him not to run to her and hold her…and demand to know why she was sobbing. And then the crying stopped. He watched her swipe away the residual moisture with her sleeve and walk over to him. He didn’t dare move out of fear of doing something wrong and upsetting her further.
She looked up at him and said, “You told me that you wouldn’t touch me unless I asked you to.” As if in slow motion she reached up, took his hands and placed them on her hips. The feel of her curves beneath his fingertips, the heat that shot through him shattered him and he bit his lip until he groaned from the pain. “This is me asking you to touch me, Luke.” Without breaking eye contact she trailed her fingers along his abs and over his pecs. He shuddered at her feather touch and he gripped her waist. She was killing him, his restraint draining out of him. To make it worse she leaned in, close enough to be flush against his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut. He could feel her taut nipples through their clothes and he imagined taking a hard peak into his mouth and sucking on it until she screamed. Those roaming fingers landed at the base of his neck. He had no idea how he was hanging on, how she wasn’t on her back with her legs spread wide while he slammed into her. He felt her breath first tickle, then sear his skin. Her lips barely touched his neck, but he felt the burn. His balls tightened, his cock throbbed. Then with a breathless whisper she unraveled him completely. “And this is me begging for it.”
He kissed her so hard that he knew he bruised her lips against her teeth. But she didn’t seem to care, because she also took him by force and pulled him closer. He lifted her up and she obediently wrapped her legs around his waist. “I want to take you slow, Peyton. But I…I…can’t. You feel too good.”
“I don’t want slow. Not this time. I want to sweat and moan as you pound into me…as you take me any way you want.”
The gentleman who had entered their room just minutes ago morphed into the animal she craved. He rushed her over to the bed and laid her down as gently as he could in his manic state and disrobed completely. She helped things along by removing everything except her bra and panties, but they too would need to go, and they did easily with just a swipe of his determined fingers. Naked and panting for him, for him to give it to her, he swore he had died and gone to heaven. He didn’t deserve her. But hell if he wasn’t going to spend the rest of his days doing whatever was necessary to make himself worthy in her eyes.
“Take me, Luke,” she said, her chest heaving, her sculpted body writhing for him.
His erection ached and dripped with pre-cum. She stared at his cock and licked her lips. The animal within him roared and he pounced. Supporting his weight with his elbows, he parted her legs with his knees and looked into her eyes. “I never thought I would love so deeply. I never thought I would find you,” he said through staggered breaths. And in one quick motion he gave her what she demanded of him. He took her hard. He stroked every hot inch of her pussy as he slammed into her, only to pull out and thrust again and again. In and out. In and out. She cursed, she screamed, she begged for more as her muscles tightened and squeezed his cock. It was agony, the most beautiful pain he had ever experienced, as he tried to hold out and prolong the connection. But then he felt and saw the first wave of her orgasm take her under. Her back bowed, her fingers dug into his ass, but he continued to pound into her.
“Open your eyes. I want to look at you as I fill you with all that I am.” Her eyes shot open. As always, those blue-green orbs entranced him and he lost himself. With one final thrust he spilled deep inside her. Every splash, every spurt that he emptied into her heat made her body quake beneath him until she was all-out shaking and clawing at him. Her release was not sweet; she didn’t whimper or sigh with a contented smile. No, she thrashed and begged while her body demanded every last drop from him, as she should. Because his body now belonged to her. She owned him and he didn’t care if she knew it.
Her body twitched as the aftershocks of her climax took hold. She released the death grip she had on his ass and fisted his hair. Her body still trembled as she looked at him and uttered the words he had longed to hear, that he had prayed she would say and mean with her whole beautiful heart.
“I love you, Luke.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Peyton
Seconds? Minutes? Hours?
How much time had passed since he was inside her, since he told her he loved her? Peyton wasn’t certain, but her internal clock told her that she needed him again. Nestled between her thighs, filling her completely as he claimed her as his. Now fully awake and starving for him, she rolled over only to find his side of the bed empty. For a moment her heart sank at the thought that he had slipped away after she had fallen asleep, but then she heard the shower running in the bathroom.
Her spirits and desire for him skyrocketed and she quietly tiptoed across the room and entered the bathroom. Standing beneath the cascading shower was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Naked, with his back to her, his head bowed, hands above his head as he propped himself up against the wall, he looked like one of those flawless, chiseled statues one would see in a Roman piazza.
But as she drew closer, she noticed that something was wrong. His skin glowed a feverish pink, yet there was no steam. A few steps more and she was able to get a better look. His skin wasn’t just pink but raw, as if he had scrubbed his body with a Brillo pad. How long had he been in here? But more importantly, why was he here and why did he feel it was necessary to scour his skin to the point where he had abrasions? Suddenly, Luke spun around and asked, “Did I wake you?”
His eyes were dark and he had difficulty maintaining eye contact. With the vacant look in his eyes, his voice lacking emotion, she hardly recognized him. This was not the man who had made love to her tonight. Panic gripped her by the throat as the flashbacks of that morning pummeled her. When he had kicked her out of his house just moments after fucking her on his living room chair. But then as if a switch had been flipped, the shadows in his eyes evaporated. “Join me?” he asked. He must have sensed her hesitation, because he followed it up with a please and a smile. He opened the door to the glass enclosed shower. Just as she suspected the water was freezing. “Just a second, I’ll turn the water to warm.”
Who voluntarily gets a cold shower? And what was with his lobster-colored skin?
Within seconds
, the room filled with steam and she snuggled against him. She was scared to broach the topic in fear of that distant, empty look in his eye returning, but something nagged at her. “Luke, do you normally take cold showers in the middle of the night?”
Enveloped in his arms, his body stiffened around her. But then she heard him sigh and his muscles relaxed somewhat. “Sometimes…after my nightmares.”
Don’t press him. Just listen. Let him go at his own pace.
That was what her wise inner voice was screaming at her to do, but her selfish curiosity won out and she asked, “Did you have one tonight?”
“Yes.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and was all set to plant a kiss on his full lips when his body grew rigid once more. She didn’t understand the source of his discomfort at first and then it registered. Beneath one of her fingertips lay a circular patch of raised puckered skin. She had felt it before and knew the reaction it had caused. She instinctively drew her hand back, but he caught her wrist in his tight grasp and looked at her. His expression was one of stone. “I’m sorry,” she barely choked out. His jaw clenched and he swallowed hard. “I didn’t mean to touch you…there.”
His eyes softened immediately. “Don’t ever apologize for touching me.” He released her wrist only to take her hand in his and turned so that she was staring directly at his scarred back. Luke placed her hand on the largest scar and dropped his own hands at his sides.
There were so many, too many scars to even count. Her eyes welled as she imagined the worst, the screams each one evoked. How did these happen? Who could have done such a thing?
“They were given to me…to make me comply,” he said.
A stream of sobs erupted from her chest and all she could think of was how much she loved him and every dark secret that he kept but wanted to reveal. She started with the largest, most angry looking scar and kissed it gently. The muscles in his back tensed, but she continued and trailed her lips down his torso, kissing each one of those horrific memories. She heard his breathing intensify as she went lower until she dropped to her knees behind him. “Turn around,” she commanded.
He obeyed, bringing her level with his rock-hard cock. Moisture beaded and she ached to taste him. She gripped his cock with both hands and slid her tongue along the crown. His guttural groan urged her on, made her want to give him everything she had. She stroked his cock and licked his smooth, velvety skin, trailing kisses from base to tip. All the blood in his body seemed to have rushed to his cock because the veins in his shaft throbbed with each swipe of her tongue. But it wasn’t enough. She needed him in her mouth, where she wanted him to fall apart. She looked up and watched him as she opened wide and took him deep. His eyes snapped shut and he threw his head back. His hands fisted her wet hair into a ponytail and he thrust his hips forward until his cock slammed against the back of her throat. She fought through the choking sensation by focusing on his heavy pants, the desperate sounds he was making, and the curse words that he couldn’t contain. She never let up. And she never wanted to stop worshiping him like this.
“I’m going to come,” he cried.
If she could have smiled she would have. So she showed her appreciation by sucking him harder, all the while humming and sending vibrations along his sensitive skin. But then he pulled out of her, yanked her to her feet and slammed her against the shower wall. With his hands cupping her ass, he lifted her up and positioned himself between her thighs. She wrapped her legs around him and placed her hands on his muscular shoulders. His forehead rested on hers.
“Deep inside you, that is where I find my peace,” he whispered harshly, his voice ragged. And with one thrust of his hips, he filled her to the hilt. The sudden impalement made her slide up the slippery wall, but he held firm and brought her back down on his cock. The world went black. A moan tore through her throat as he sank into her and propelled forward. She gripped him by the neck and squeezed her thighs around him even tighter, forcing him inside, where she never wanted him to leave. “You’re everything to me, Peyton,” he said, his hot breath tickling her ear.
She had been chasing her release, feeling pleasure with every brutal thrust, every stretch, when his words sent her clear over the edge and she detonated. “More! More!” she screamed. “Don’t stop!”
“I’ll never stop…never stop loving you.” He pounded. He grunted. He took what was his.
Chapter Thirty
Peyton
Her jumpy phone woke her several hours later and just like that, the dream world she had been living in with Luke went up in smoke. Reality could really be a cruel bitch when it wanted to be.
“Walt, what’s the matter? Is Lainey okay?” Peyton asked, trying to keep her voice low. Luke was still asleep on his stomach, a white sheet barely covering an ass so hard you could bounce a quarter off it.
“Lainey’s fine. I promise. But I wanted you to know that Shelby called.”
Peyton gripped her cell phone so tight she wouldn’t be surprised if spider cracks had formed in the glass beneath her thumb and middle finger. “That fucking bitch!”
“Listen, Lainey is fine. More than fine, actually.”
“She’s not upset?” Peyton asked.
“I wouldn’t say upset. Pissed off is more like it. I’ve never seen her so angry…and the way she told Shelby off, well, you would have been so proud of her. Because I know I was.” The pride in Walt’s voice as he spoke about his fiancée was endearing as hell and again she thanked God that He had sent Walt to be at Lainey’s side for the rest of her life.
“Lainey has changed so much, Walt. She’s so much stronger. And I know I have you to thank for that.”
A brief silence ensued and then he said, “You kept my girl safe all those years ago. I’ll never be able to thank you enough for what you did.” Peyton wasn’t embarrassed that he knew the abuse she had suffered, that she had endured to protect Lainey, but was overwhelmed at the genuine appreciation in his voice.
She choked back the tears and attempted to focus on the issue at hand, which unfortunately was Shelby’s phone call. “What did Shelby want?”
“Money, of course. When Shelby finally got the hint that Lainey wasn’t going to give her a dime, she hung up. We then went straight to the police, but they couldn’t trace the call. They said she must be using a burner phone.”
“Anything else? Did the police have any new leads? Any idea where Shelby could be hiding out?”
“The police received a few reports that she may be holed up somewhere in Atlantic City, but nothing has been confirmed.”
More than anything, she wanted that horrific woman off the streets and back in prison where she belonged.
“Okay, I’m coming home. I’ll take the next flight out,” she said, slipping out of bed. Wearing only a t-shirt, she went over to the closet and retrieved her carry-on bag. She fished through it until she found her last set of clean clothes, which just so happened to be her favorite pair of tomboy jeans and a worn, paper-thin cotton shirt she had owned for over a decade. At least she would be comfortable for the eight-and-a-half-hour flight home.
“Peyton, you don’t have to come home. The police have been notified and they will continue to search for Shelby. Really, there’s nothing more you can do.”
“Lainey doesn’t know that you’re calling me right now, does she?”
“No way. She didn’t want you to worry, not while you’re supposed to be getting back together with a man who flew halfway across the world to see you,” he said with a chuckle. “So did it work? Are you and the winery owner officially back on?”
“You can say that.” Peyton looked over at the bed she and her winery owner had shared the past two nights and caught Luke shifting beneath the sheets. Thanks to his restlessness, the sheet slipped and revealed his perfectly sculpted ass. He then rolled over onto his back and her eyes immediately went to his massive morning wood.
“So when do I get to meet him? You know, to ensure that he’s good enough for my f
uture sister-in-law?”
Peyton tossed her clothes on top of her carry-on and walked over to the bed. “Soon, I promise.” With one hand, she yanked off her t-shirt and threw it to the floor. “Tell Lainey I’ll text her when I land, okay?”
“It really isn’t necessary for you to leave Italy. We got it under control.”
Walt sounded so sure of himself, and maybe things were handled and there was nothing she could do, but she didn’t feel right being halfway across the world while her mother was lurking around waiting for a handout from Lainey in New Jersey. It was time to go home. “I’m sure you do, but I need to get back anyway. Your fiancée and I have a wedding to plan, remember?”
“How could I forget? I’m counting the days.”
Peyton chuckled. He was being ridiculously cute. “Alright, I’ll see you both soon.”
Peyton ended the call, placed her phone on the table, and eyed the man she was about to make love to.
***
Luke
“Good morning.”
Luke was just about to say those words back to her when she sat back, causing him to lose his ability to speak or have coherent thoughts. Completely naked, straddled on top of him, Peyton rolled her hips and impaled herself on his cock. Never had he been awoken to something so beautiful in his life. Everything, from the way she bit her lip as she rode him to how she cupped her tits and pinched her nipples between her determined fingers, told him that he wasn’t going to last long. She felt too good, so hot and slick against his raging shaft. Her strangled cries and moans told him that she was right there with him.