by Lisa Shelby
"Well, a few days ago, I was at my parents'. Patrick was there as well, and I was telling them about London's blackmail and how I have had enough of it and was going to come back to you and beg you to take me back. I wanted to give them a heads up in case she followed through on her threats. I also needed to let them know about Dickey and the security breaches we’re sure point back to him.”
Sadness and guilt replace the interested look that had been on her face. I take her hand in mine so she knows it's still her and I. Together we can take on my crazy family and her dangerous past.
"My dad lost it and started raging about all he had done for me. How ungrateful I was and that I was going to ruin his good name and that of EVC. He was in such a state that he started pointing between my mother and my uncle and screaming how it was all their fault. If it wasn't for them they wouldn’t have me around to disgrace the family. I asked him what he was talking about, and he was all too happy to inform me that even though my mother was meant to marry my father, she had apparently been having an affair with my uncle. So, when I was born seven and a half months after my parents married, at a whopping nine pounds, two ounces, and clearly not premature it was all too clear that I wasn't my father's child. It turns out, my parents had never been together until their wedding night."
"So, your uncle knew all this time?"
"He did. Turns out Ava did too."
Olivia gasps and I know exactly how she feels.
"What do you mean she knew?"
"Well, she had been there since the day I was born. She knows all the family secrets. I trusted her. She was the only person I thought I could trust, and she knew all along. She knew the real reason my father hated me. The reason my mother wasn't allowed to show me affection. The reason that explained everything that made my childhood what it was."
"Have you talked to her about it?"
"Nope, I'm not ready to go there just yet."
"I'm so sorry, Ronan." She squeezes my hand. "How are you taking it? It couldn't have been an easy thing to find out."
"Well, I was pretty angry. At all of them. Angry at my mother for not loving me more than the lifestyle being married to my father provided her. I was angry at my uncle for letting me live an unhappy life, and although he was there for me, he still let me live a life of feeling unwanted in my own home. My father, or the man I thought was my father...well, I had a lifetime of anger built up toward him, and it was finally my time to let it all out. I told them all they could go fuck themselves, and I left to come here."
"I am so sorry, baby. I know I can't make up for a lifetime of feeling unloved but..." She pauses and repeats my move from earlier on the floor, and once my pinky finger wraps around hers, she kisses me tenderly. "I promise to love you, and I don't care who knows it."
I take her face in my hands and kiss her madly.
I have never heard anything so beautiful.
There is a kaleidoscope of color all around us.
We make love again, and I couldn’t care less whom my father is and who didn't tell me the truth growing up. All that matters is the woman beneath me and how I can spend the rest of my life making her the happiest woman on the planet.
Once we've come back down to earth, she brings reality back to the here and now. "What are you going to do?"
"About what?"
"Your family. Work. Ava."
"I don't love working at EVC, and in the end, it doesn't really change anything. I wanted to leave before my life turned into a day time soap opera, and I still want to leave now that it has. But I do love the team I've built with Gloria and everyone else. I've thought about putting Gloria in charge and picking up where I left off with Luna, but there was no way I would want to do it without you. I mean that was my plan just a couple of months back, and I was hoping if you had mercy on me and took me back, we could carry on together?"
My heart swells at the prospect of her saying yes, we’ll carry on, but it also stutters in fear that she’ll say no, so I keep talking before she can answer.
"I hate working at that place and with that man. I don't want his God-damned company or his legacy. I've got enough of my own money, from my own investments. I don't need EVC. You didn't like the private plane anyway,” I say, finally mustering a smile.
She gasps in mock horror. "No private plane?"
"Less is more, baby." I kiss her and feel her smile on her lips.
"Damn straight."
This time she kisses me.
"So, are you telling me you canceled all the events for Luna, and we haven't kept up with the local artists we had contracted with?" When I don't answer, she knows, in fact, I did cancel everything we had on the books. "They must feel as though their dreams were shattered. Ronan, you need to, at the very least, rebook their events."
I love this about her. She's always thinking of others. Other people’s dreams.
"Come back to Luna Enterprises. Let's do this. We'll lie low for a bit until we take care of this Dickey shit, but let's do it."
"One condition."
"You and your conditions. Name it."
"Take back the severance pay you gave me."
"Not going to happen."
"I don't want it."
"It's yours."
"Then put it back into Luna. That kind of money could get things back on track in a big way."
Beaming. I am beaming with pride at the woman next to me. "God, I love you."
"I love you too, but Ronan..."
"For now, keep the money, keep your apartment—even though you're moving in with me, no exception—no HR, not even Evelyn will be involved. We will lay low until we get Dickey under control. If you move the money now, it can be tracked. We can't risk it."
I can only hope this will be enough to get her to agree to keep the money for now and to come back to work with me. Not for me but with me.
"It would be a dream to work here at Eclipse every day. I’ve missed it, you know."
"I've missed you being here too. We can start here for now, but eventually we will have to go home and back to reality. We'll figure it out as we go, but your safety is key."
Her stomach growls and she blushes.
"I need to feed you. If we're hiding out here, we're going to need to stock up on supplies. Sounds like a trip to the store is in our future and since you weren't followed and nobody knows we're here, it should be safe to go out."
"I love the sound of that. Hiding out. Here with you. Just the two of us. Sign me up, handsome." She smiles and my heart is full.
Opening and closing the cupboards in the kitchen, she looks sheepish when she wrinkles up her nose and asks, "Would you mind terribly if I reorganized things a little bit? No offense, but it's kinda obvious a man, who doesn't cook, set things up in here."
"Baby, what's mine is yours, and you can change whatever you want. If you want to paint the walls red, go right ahead."
Blushing, she thanks me quietly and starts her kitchen reorganization. I'm pretty sure I could sit here all day, watching her unpack groceries and setting the kitchen up just how she wants it. Going to the store and grocery shopping with her was perfection. I'll admit I've not spent much time at the grocery store, cooking, or doing much cleaning in my life, but I would rather do those things with her than spend my time at a gala, on a private jet, or in my penthouse in San Francisco.
Less really is so much more.
I knew deep down I would be with her again. There was no going through life without her, but after the weeks I spent without her, to hear her humming in my kitchen while she makes my house her home is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard or seen. She knows I'm watching her; it would be hard to miss since my elbow is on the kitchen table and my chin is resting in my hand as I blatantly follow her every move. Every now and then she glances at me and shakes her head or sticks her tongue out in my direction.
I see her reaching up to a high shelf, and she's struggling. I know I should get up and help her, but the view is too good.
Her ass has me transfixed, and I can't force myself to get up and assist her. Finally, she stops and rests her hands on her hips.
"Are you gonna just sit there and look pretty or are you going to get up and help me?"
"Gorgeous, I thought you didn't need help from a man. You can do it all on your own, remember? Besides, I'm enjoying the view."
She saunters over to me and sits on my lap, like I love, and runs her fingers through my hair right before her words change my mood from lustful and horny as hell to one of love and dedication. "I don't need your help, Ronan, but for the first time in my life, I want someone's help. I want to work with you, side by side, and I'm not gonna let my pride get in the way anymore." She kisses me ever so gently.
God, this woman is everything.
"So, you gonna sit there and watch me struggle, or are you gonna help me reorganize your kitchen?"
"Our."
This time I'm the one who kisses her. I need her to know. Eclipse is hers too.
"What's that, baby?" she asks confused.
"Our kitchen. Not my kitchen. I don't have anything anymore but we do."
Tears were not my intention, but the smile that comes along with them lets me know they’re the kind of tears I want to bring to her for the rest of her life. The only kind I hope to ever bring to her.
"I don't need anything but you."
I wipe away her tears with my thumb and give her one of her favorite forehead kisses. "Right back atcha, sweetheart. MTB and all that."
The sweet sound of her giggle is every color of the rainbow to me, and I love that my simple reference to the two of us being meant to be was all it took to elicit such a response.
"So, you gonna help me or what?" she asks, unfortunately removing herself from my lap after her short bout of laughter.
We spend the next couple of hours working in tandem. We put the groceries away, cook dinner, do the dishes, and when we've finished, we sit side by side on the patio working on our laptops. The night has been perfect, and I would give anything for this to be our reality. But I know this won't last forever. At some point, I will have to face my family again.
"How about some wine? Do you mind if I open that bottle of red we picked up today?" She's already walking back inside before I get a chance to reply.
I save the spreadsheet I'm working on and set my computer aside so I can go help her. To say these last few hours I haven't been secretly thanking the architect of this building for the open great room space would be a lie. Being able to see her in the kitchen, the living room, or the patio from just about anywhere equals the best design layout imaginable.
But to see her the moment I walk into the room, with that bottle of wine between her legs as she attempts to uncork the bottle in a way I have never seen done before, is magnificent. The kitchen is dark except for the small light on above the sink. She’s standing right under it, and once again she looks like a God-damned angel. She is adorable, but seeing her working that bottle by squeezing her thighs so tightly around it has me growing hard in an instant.
"What exactly are you trying to do to that bottle?"
"I've never been good at this," she huffs, holding the bottle out to me. "I'm not a quitter, but maybe I can learn a thing or two from you and figure out how to do it correctly, for next time."
"Oh, sweetness..." I say, stalking her like my prey, until I reach her and use my body to press her back against the kitchen island. "I would love to show you a thing or two, but what I have in mind doesn't really involve this bottle."
"Is that so?"
I set the bottle off to the side and then lift her onto the counter so she’s sitting in front of me. Her legs naturally part and make room for me to step inside them and closer to her.
"The first thing I want to show you is this," I say, placing her hand on the outside of my jeans and wrapping her fingers around my swollen cock. "This is what you do to me. I will never get enough of you. I will never get my fill of being inside of you. Never."
With her bottom lip between her teeth she runs her hand up and down my cock. "Never?"
"Never," I reply without hesitation and without a doubt in my mind.
Her voice is sultry and seductive when she whispers, "Good." And then she nibbles on my ear. I can feel my cock jump at the attention and as usual, I am putty in her hands.
Removing her hand, I glide it up my torso and stop it once it’s over my heart. "The second thing I want to show you, is this. Do you feel how you bring me to life? How hard my heart beats for you, Olivia?"
"Ronan..." she breathes out, and her eyes begin to turn glossy like they did earlier in the evening.
"It's yours, gorgeous."
"I love you too, handsome."
She reaches for the hem of my shirt, and in one swift move, my arms go up and she pulls the material over my head, letting it fall to the floor. She leans forward and presses her lips to my chest. My heart is beating a new yet familiar rhythm I feel every time I'm near her. It's like a cadence to a song that brings me life.
She is my new favorite song.
In a lust fueled haze, we undress each other. She unzips my pants and pushes them off my hips, and I lay her down on the counter and slowly pull all her clothes from her until she lies naked before me on the kitchen island. With her vulnerable and on display in front of me like she is, I take my time and I worship every inch of her. I start at her hips and feel her flinch with anticipation when I drag my tongue over her pelvic bone. Her hands instinctively reach for my head to guide me to where she wants my tongue to taste her next.
"My pace, baby." I lay my upper body on top of her and lift her hands above her head. I use my fingers to curl hers around the edge of the island. "Keep your hands here and don't let go. Understood?"
Of course, she instantly lets go and reaches for me. "But I want to touch you," she says, panting with need.
Keeping my weight on her, I wrap her fingers around the edge of the island once again. "Let me worship you," I say, taking her in a kiss that has her purring as my hands slowly leave a trail down her arms that she has kept above her head this time around. I kiss, bite, and lick my way down her neck and to her sternum.
When I reach the spot just above her heart, I place a light kiss on her chest. "It's yours, Ronan." I look up at her angelic face and our eyes meet. "All of it. All of me."
Her words are my undoing. She has no idea that she's putting my life together piece by piece. My life which I never knew was broken and empty until she appeared out of nowhere. I put all of my love for her into my actions. I fervently show my love and appreciation as I take her nipples into my mouth while at a torturously slow pace, I drag my hands down her body. When they reach her thighs, her purring grows into an all-out growl for me to touch her. Her hands are still above her head, and she is holding on to the counter for dear life.
She gasps the minute I finally give her what she wants. She is wanton and wet and grinding her hot pussy on my hand, not afraid to take what she desires. Watching this classy, stubborn, proud woman lose herself with me is like an out-of-body experience that I want to burn into my memory. My love for her is real and soul–deep, but it doesn't mean that she isn't hot as fuck and that she doesn't turn me on in a way no woman has.
Her face and chest have a pink flush coating her olive skin. She's biting her lip to the point that it looks as though she may draw blood, but the moment I bend down and my tongue joins my fingers and licks her exactly where she needs it the most, she releases her lip, and her mouth hangs open in a gasp for air as she falls apart on my hand.
As her climax starts to fade, she eventually finds her breath, which turns to heavy panting when I pick up the pace to take her right back to the edge she hadn’t quite come down from yet. Her panting turns to mewling sobs, and finally she is screaming to God above.
Once I know she's settled from the rush of her orgasm, I climb over her limp body and join her on the island. Her hands are still above her head clutching the countertop, and her
e in the dark kitchen the moonlight from the window is reflecting in her eyes. She is flawless. When I put my fingers that are coated in her wetness into her mouth, she sucks them clean, and I nearly come right then and there.
"Gorgeous, I'm not going to last much longer if you keep doing things like that, and I would like to be inside you when I come." Brushing her hair out of her eyes, I stop for a beat and just stare at her and wonder how I got so lucky. How did she become mine? "I don't want anything between us. You still okay with that?"
"Nothing between us...ever."
The granite countertop is cold and hard, and my knees are going to hate me after we're done, but I couldn't care less. I hover over her and unlock her fingers from the edge she is desperately holding on to and interlace our fingers together. Our eyes never leave each other. Our hold on each other never breaks, while I take her over and over again in slow, steady thrusts. There's no need to rush the moment. No need to waste a second not fully in the moment. I don't want to miss a note of my favorite song, even though I plan on loving it as long as my soul is in existence.
The past two weeks has been about nothing but the two of us. We take early morning walks on the beach to watch the sunrise and then find our way to our favorite corner restaurant, Urth, for breakfast. We cook dinner together—well, she cooks and I help where I can—and we have champagne on the patio every night while we watch the sunset. We make love under our moon, and we either shower or take a bath by candlelight every night.
The day after Olivia found her way back to me, I called Evelyn to let her know I was okay and would eventually be back to work. I also called Baxter to let him know the rest of Olivia's story about her father's murder, the motorcycle drive-bys, that Bellinger had already updated him on, and that Olivia was fine and safe with me. He let me know that after reviewing the surveillance videos of her apartment building, they did see the black motorcycle do several drive-bys a day, but they had a feeling the presence of the security team had kept them from actually entering the building. Baxter actually agrees that staying hidden for a while is in fact a good idea.
