Many times, I’ve considered moving out of this flat, but I’ve never been able to give it up. Leaving it would feel too much like letting go of our memories. And now we get to make new memories.
I lead her to my bed. “Sit here and don’t get up. I need a minute.”
I open my closet door and reach for a box on the top shelf. I lift the lid and dig through its contents: ten thousand pounds in cash, my father’s favorite handgun, the diamond ring that my grandfather was given by Thane’s father when he thwarted the kidnapping of Thane’s mother.
And the wedding ring I bought for Lorna four years ago.
I crack open the box and look at the diamond ring and matching band. Damn, I thought that this ring set would forever stay in this box and never be worn on a woman’s finger.
Lorna watches me come toward her, and I hide the ring box behind my back when her eyes move to my hand. Shite, this isn’t the way that I wanted to do this. I wanted better for her. Something romantic.
I hold out the still-closed ring box so she can see it. She needs a moment to absorb what’s happening. Her eyes look at it and then they dart up to meet mine. Her mouth parts, but no words come out.
“I love you, Lorna. I have for a long time and this ring proves it. I bought it for you four years ago, long before Maddock Hendry came along. This proposal has nothing to do with him. I want you to be my wife. I’ve wanted that for years, but I’ve been stupid and allowed things to stand in the way of it. But I’m done being apart from you. You are mine and I am yours.”
I lower myself to one knee and crack the box. Removing the ring, I hold it out for her to see. “Marry me, Lorna. Be my wife. Be the mother of my children.”
She blinks and large tears spill down her cheeks. “Yes, Leith. A thousand times yes.”
I take her left hand and slide the diamond engagement ring onto her finger. It’s a perfect fit.
“It’s beautiful, Leith.”
“You’re beautiful.”
She draws air in through her nose to stop it from running.
“Please don’t cry, baby.” I stand and reach for her face, cradling the sides, and pull her forward. Her mouth presses against mine, and my thumbs catch the tears running down her cheeks. “I swore to myself that I would never be the reason behind your tears again.”
She smiles and sniffles again. “It’s okay to be the reason behind these. They’re the best kind—happy ones.”
She leans forward and presses her forehead to mine. “I’ve dreamed of this moment so many times, but I thought it would never happen. I can’t believe it’s real.”
“It is real, Lorna, and it’s not the only thing that’s happening tonight.” I push her hair away from her face and place a kiss against her lips. “It’s time to claim what’s mine.”
“Yes.” She nods. “Finally make me yours.”
I was ten years old when my father explained sex to me. Immediately following that lesson, he went on to describe the claiming ritual between a Fellowship man and his beloved. He said that I would fall in love with a girl and want to keep her as mine forever. When I found the one, I would say four sacred words to her: into me you see.
Not every brother reserves those words for his wife, but I have. Lorna is the only woman that I will ever say those words to.
I move my hands from her face to her waist and tug upward on her shirt. When the bottom is freed from being tucked inside the waistband of her skirt, she lifts her arms and lets me pull it up and over her head. And there it is—that wee sparkly jewel between her tits. Fuck, it’s sexy.
She reaches back and unfastens the clasp of her bra, letting it fall to her waist. I can no longer keep my twitchy hands to myself. They move to her round, perky breasts, cupping them from below and pushing them together. My thumbs circle her nipples over and over, making them hard pebbles.
God, I’ve always loved Lorna’s tits and rosy pink nipples. They’re still round and perky and fit inside my hands perfectly, just the way I remember.
The tip of her tongue peeps out through the part between her lips and slides across her upper and lower lips as she watches the reunion happening between her breasts and me. Her breath is audible and increasing by the second, causing her breasts to rise and fall rapidly beneath my grasp.
Her reaction makes me rock-hard and my restraint dwindles. My need to claim her spirals until I can barely remain in control. I fight the urge to push her knickers aside and bury my cock in her because I want this claiming to be special. I want her to think back on it years from now and remember it as one of the best days of her life.
I release my hold on her breasts and move my hands down to dip my fingers into the waistband of her skirt and knickers, pulling both down her legs when she places her feet on the bed and lifts her bum. I slip off her heels and her body is completely bare—with the exception of the diamond ring on her left hand, an outward symbol telling every other man on earth that she’s taken.
Mine.
Reaching behind my neck, I grasp the back of my T-shirt and pull it up and over my head. Lorna’s eyes roam my bare chest for a moment, but then they follow my hands to the waistband of my jeans, and she watches as I push them down my hips and legs.
After kicking my jeans and boxers away, I lower myself to the bed. Crawling over Lorna’s body, I feather kisses along her hips and stomach and chest while on my way up and allow my bare skin to ever so gently brush against hers.
Once we’re face-to-face, I let my body down to press against hers and we’re heart-to-heart. Despite my weight pushing down against her, she’s trembling beneath me when her eyes connect with mine. And then I realize that it’s both of us trembling.
With my elbows pressing into the mattress on each side of her head, her arms drape around my midsection. Being with her this way feels familiar yet new at the same time. The anticipation of what is about to happen is eating me alive, and I’m barely able to keep my breathing under control.
And the time has come to claim her. Bind us together as one. “Into me you see.”
Lorna blinks slowly and the tears collecting in the outer corners of her eyes roll down into her hairline.
“Into me…” Her voice breaks and a sob escapes her chest. “You see.”
It’s done and no one can ever tear us apart. She’s mine and always will be. The relief and resolution bubbling inside of me is indescribable.
I press a kiss to her forehead. “You have no idea how much I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I kiss her and then drag my mouth across her jawline until it reaches the side of her neck just below her ear. I love the way she wiggles beneath me when I press my mouth against that tender spot.
She widens the part in her legs, and my body settles between her thighs with the length side of my erection pressing against her folds. I pull back and slide my length up and down the slick liquid oozing from her center.
“Leith,” she whispers against my ear.
“Yes?”
“I’m not on birth control.”
I stop moving and push my upper body away from her so I can look at her face. “Why not?”
“I quit taking the pill because I wasn’t having sex. I didn’t see the need in taking it anymore.”
Lorna and I haven’t discussed the sex partners that we had while we were apart. It’s a conversation that I’ve not wanted to have. I don’t want to hear which of the brothers she’s been with.
“How long ago did you stop taking it?”
“When things ended between us.”
Wait, what? “You haven’t been on birth control in four years?”
“No.”
“You didn’t sleep with anyone after we parted?”
“How could I be with someone else when I loved you?”
Fuck.
Just fuck.
I wasn’t expecting her to say this. Not at all.
This girl is amazing. In spite of being apart for so long, she remained true to me for fo
ur years. And I was disloyal to her. I’m such a motherfucking bastard.
“I can see a doctor this week and start birth control.”
“That’s probably a good idea.”
I push her thighs apart with my body and position the tip of my cock at her entrance.
“I could get pregnant.”
She may have gone the entire four years without having sex, but I’ve been celibate for the last year. Clearly, I wasn’t expecting this to happen tonight. “I don’t have condoms. Do you want to wait?”
I guess we could do other stuff to get off. We used to be really good at that.
“I don’t want to wait. I want you to make me yours.”
“If a baby happens then it was meant to be?”
She nods. “Meant to be.”
I rub the head of my cock through her juices and push it against her narrow slit, immediately meeting resistance. She shifts her hips beneath me and when she stills, I thrust my full length into her in one fluid motion until I’m buried balls deep. And fuck, I think that she feels tighter than she did when I took her virginity.
She pants against my ear and her fingertips dig into the flesh on my back. “Ohh… fuck.”
I go still inside her. “Am I hurting you?”
“God, no. Don’t stop.”
Pulling back, I thrust again, this time my cock getting a full coating of her lubrication. Her hips lift from the bed and together we find the perfect rhythm. We do it over and over and over until our bodies are covered in a thin sheen of sweat.
I reposition, pushing myself up so I can see more of her. Hard nipples. Jostling tits every time I thrust. Hair sprawled across the bed. On her back, legs spread wide. She’s absolutely stunning. Pure perfection lying underneath me.
And those eyes… I see such love and adoration in them.
It’s too much. I don’t deserve this. I’m not worthy of her. At least tonight I’m not but I will be. I swear that I will become a man who is worthy of her love and deep loyalty.
She stretches upward and kisses my mouth. “Make me come. Please, Leith. It’s been so long.”
Soon, I will make her orgasm, and the thought of her cum covering my dick arouses me even more. Another rush of blood floods my cock, heightening my arousal and firing up my body even more. Because I now know that she held out for me—for this—for four years. All of this time, no other man has been inside her because she wanted me. That confirms in the most significant way that even before we said those four words to each other tonight, she already belonged to me.
I fill her body with my own, sheathing myself inside her tight opening. I stretch her inner walls to limits they’ve not experienced in years. And it feels so fucking good.
Like home.
While remaining buried deep inside her, I reach between us and place my thumb on top of her clit. I start out slowly, rubbing in a circular motion. “Is that what my girl wants?”
“Oh yes.”
I adjust my angle and move in and out of her a few times. “Am I hitting it?”
I don’t have to explain what I’m talking about; she knows the exact sensitive spot inside her pussy that I’m referring to.
She closes her eyes and lifts her arms over her head, grasping the sheets. “You’re hitting it perfectly.”
Her back arches off of the bed, and I feel like a fucking sex god. There’s something so damn satisfying about making the woman that you love and adore writhe with pleasure. Seeing her like this makes me want to get off so hard.
“I’ve missed this so much—watching you come, hearing you moan.”
“Not more than I’ve missed it.”
My thumb circles her taut little nub while her hips rock with mine. And I swear that I’ve never been with a woman who feels as good as Lorna. Every inch of her is heaven. The fit between us is extraordinary. Her body was made for mine.
Damn, I need to focus. I want this to last. It would suck to blow too soon and ruin this moment.
With her arms raised over her head, I’m able to get a better look at the intricate black ink on her skin below her breast. And I study it. Center all of my attention on it.
Saorsa. She had that word placed on her skin because she believes that she needs redeeming from the past. But she’s wrong. I’m the one who needs absolution.
Lorna Frazier is my redemption.
Her breath becomes louder. “Ohh… uhh… Leith.”
There’s nothing more beautiful than the sound of my name on her lips while she’s feeling intense pleasure.
Her hands release the bedsheets, and she reaches out for my biceps, gripping them tightly. “Yes, right there. Just like that.”
Her whole body is trembling, even her voice, and I know that her orgasm is on its way.
“That’s it, baby. Let me feel you come all over my dick.”
Her grip on my upper arms tightens and her body quivers. Once, twice, three times. One sharp jolt after another, and I stop counting after the eighth one because my body finds its own release.
“Oh fuuuck.” I grip her hips and plunge into her roughly. I hold that position and empty every drop of my hot cum inside of her.
Filling my obsession with her.
Possessing her completely.
Making her mine forever.
Her hold on my biceps relaxes and our eyes meet. She cups my cheeks, looking at me like I’m her whole universe. And fuck, she’s gorgeous.
“You are mine.” I have said those words to her before, but tonight they take on a different meaning. They aren’t empty words. She is my whole purpose in life now. Nothing else matters.
“I am yours.”
It’s official. She is a claimed woman. And she’ll soon be a married one. “Lorna Duncan. It has a nice ring to it, aye?”
“I love the way it sounds. It’s perfect.”
I pull out of her and press a quick kiss to her mouth before moving away to lie on my back beside her. But I can’t stand to not be touching, so I lace my fingers through hers and bring our hands to rest on top of my chest.
“When I woke up this morning, I knew that I would be spending the evening with Maddock Hendry. I dreaded it all day. I wanted time to slow down so I could put it off or to speed up so it would be behind me. I wasn’t sure which was the better option. Fast-forward fifteen hours and here I am tonight—claimed and engaged. I had no idea that today was going to turn into the best day of my life.”
“It’s the best day of my life too, but there are even better days to come for us.”
Lorna brings her hand up and looks at the ring on her finger. “I love this ring. I’m never going to take it off.”
“I think that is a wonderful idea.” I don’t want any man to ever question if she’s taken or not.
“We have a wedding to plan.”
“Correction—you have a wedding to plan.” Fellowship men don’t plan weddings.
She rolls to her stomach and folds her arms on my chest, propping her chin on top. “You don’t want a say about any part of it?”
I should never be allowed to make any decisions regarding a formal event. “I think we’re better off if you handle everything.”
“But it’s your wedding too.”
“Anything that you choose will be fine with me.” The only thing that I care about is that she becomes my wife.
She sighs. “Leith… I have something to tell you. And I should have told you when you proposed, but I swear that it didn’t come into my mind until right now.”
I have something to tell you. Fuck, those words scare the hell out of me. But I’m committed to this woman. Whatever the problem is, we’ll get through it.
“What is it, baby?”
“I know that most Fellowship women come into a marriage with some kind of endowment, but I’m broke. Poor as a church mouse.”
God, is that all? I thought she had something terrible to tell me. “I wasn’t under the impression that you were an heiress.”
“I guess it’s a good thin
g that I have a wonderful boss who will give me my old job back.”
“I’m not giving you your old job back.” That job offer expired when she said yes to my marriage proposal.
“Why not?”
“You’re going to be my wife. Not my employee.”
“Well, I was thinking something more like wife and business partner.”
“It’s not happening, Lorna.”
She pulls away and sits up. “You told me that I was the best barmaid that you ever had.”
“And you were. Duncan’s ran perfectly when you were in charge of the barmaids, but you’re going to be my wife now. I won’t let you serve the brothers.”
“Why does it matter? I worked there for years. They already have their opinions about me.”
Lorna doesn’t understand what it’s like for me to see how the brothers interact with her. “I barely tolerated their antics with you when you weren’t my wife. A single touch, a lingering look, a wrong word—that’s all it would take for me to jump over the bar and choke one of them.”
“Then what do you expect me to do for a job?”
“I won’t have my wife working.”
“I like working.”
“The brothers drink. A lot. You know that. I make more than enough money to support us and our family if that’s a worry on your mind.”
“I’m not worried about money. I just don’t want to feel like a leech because I’m not doing anything to help provide.”
Fellowship wives aren’t expected to provide. She knows this. “Name one Fellowship wife who works.”
“Ellison.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Jamie needs a nurse to help him. But trust me, Ellison won’t continue to work at the infirmary after she becomes pregnant. He’ll find someone else to help him.”
“Well, he’d better get to finding someone soon.”
“Ellison’s pregnant?” Jamie hasn’t said a word about it.
“She’s not pregnant yet but she will be any day now. They’re trying.”
Last one to marry. Last one to have a baby. I’m forever in last place but it’s okay. Because now I have Lorna and we have the rest of our lives to make up for lost time.
Complete Sin Box Set Page 121