by Penny Dee
“But it’s fact, you didn’t murder her. Or kidnap her. Or hold her for ransom.”
“No. But she died because I didn’t want to be with her.”
“That’s not true. She was unwell. It wasn’t your fault.”
I lean forward. “Regardless, I’m ready to clear my name.”
Again, her eyes go round like saucers. “How do you plan to do that?”
“I’m going to hand myself in.”
She looks alarmed.
“If you do that, you’ll go to prison,” she whispers.
I cup her jaw in the palm of my hand. “I didn’t care about clearing my name when it was just me. But now I have you, and the only thing I have to offer you is the very thing that is tarnished.”
The moment is very intimate and intense. And raw. Tears well in her eyes. “But I love you. I can’t live without you now.”
My thumb grazes her cheek. “It was okay for me to live in exile by myself. But I don’t want that for you. It’s not fair to you.”
“Axel—”
I cut her off with my mouth, and kiss her deeply. She whimpers and softens against me.
“Let’s not talk about this anymore tonight.” I look into her beautiful lavender eyes and know I have fallen so deeply for this woman—so deep I’m ready to do anything to make sure her future is nothing short of beautiful.
She nods and I kiss her again. Later I lead her to the bathroom and we sink into a tub full of bubbles, surrounded by lit candles and the sound of the heavy rain on the roof. She leans back into me and rests her head against my chest, and I wrap my arms around her in awe of her silky skin against mine.
Afterward I take her to our bed, and in the soft glow of the fire, I make love to her until we’re both too exhausted to worry about a future that might involve me going to prison for a very long time.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
LAUREN
Somewhere in the dead of night, my eyes open and I’m immediately hit with a sense of foreboding. Axel is asleep beside me, and the heat from his big body lying curled around me is comforting like a warm blanket.
But it’s not enough to thaw the chilly bite of fear as I think about him being taken away from me.
In the glow of the dying flames in the fireplace, my mind rolls over what he told me about Anastasia. About their affair. About her obsession. About her suicide. About him being convicted of her murder and then being given the death sentence. Fear tightens in my stomach. He says he didn’t kill her, and I believe him wholeheartedly. He is innocent. Which means, we have one hell of a fight ahead of us. Because Axel is insistent that he is going to turn himself in.
I’m scared it means he’ll go to prison and wait to be put to death.
And right then, I decide that I will follow him, wherever he goes. I will follow him and I will visit him every chance I can get, and I won’t ever give up fighting for his freedom.
Because Axel gave me mine.
When he took me from my bed the night before my wedding to Vince, he saved me. In so many ways. And the thought of not being able to do the same for him breaks my heart.
I’m in love with him.
With every cell in my body.
I want to stay here with him, cocooned in our bubble where only we exist. But it’s not going to end that way. A knot tightens in my chest. Because I can already feel my future with him slipping away.
With longing, I think about the moment he kidnapped me and brought me to his mountain hideaway. I think about the desire I felt for him, even before I knew him. How my body ached to feel his hands on me. How I wanted to feel his kiss. His cock.
I think about the days and nights spent in ecstasy with him. I think about the night I took him in my mouth and made him weak in the knees as I licked and sucked, and made him come on my tongue with his fingers tangled in my hair.
I think about his face buried between my thighs and the velvety pleasure of his tongue on my clit as he brought me to one orgasm after another.
And then I think about the first time he entered me, his beautiful cock so thick and big, slowly pushing into me, every hot inch filling me with so much man.
My heart aches. This can’t be the end for us.
I curl into him, wrapping my arms around his big body, and he stirs, but his long lashes remain on his cheeks, and his beautiful, full mouth remains slightly parted with gentle breaths as he sleeps deeply.
In a moment of optimism, I think he might wake up in the morning and decide not to hand himself in to the authorities. That the threat of losing me will be the deterrent he needs to reconsider. That maybe we can disappear into the misty mountain fog again, where no one can find us, and live the rest of our lives lost in one another.
But as I settle into the curve of his powerful body and let his heat engulf me, I know that isn’t going to happen. Axel is a man of his word and giving me his name is important to him. He is doing this for me, I realize, because he thinks it would be dishonorable not to, and the realization makes me feel loved and honored.
Somehow, I fall into a dreamless slumber, but am woken a few hours later by the tenderness of his tongue trailing down my belly. He covers me in his heat, his muscular body blanketing mine as he slowly makes his way lower. Instinctively, my legs part and I feel his lips curve into a smile against my hip. I shiver, and an ache takes up between my parted thighs as he continues to go lower. I’m wet with anticipation, needy for his tongue, and as soon as he brushes over the sensitive lips, my toes anchor to the mattress and I let out a breathy moan.
“I love the taste of your pussy,” he groans. His tongue swirls around my clit, making me tremble against his lips.
My climax is quick, and as I come down from the haze, I push him onto his back and climb aboard, sinking down on his cock. I’m so wet, he slides right in. I moan. I feel so full of him. And riding him like this hits every single button.
“I will never get tired of riding your cock,” I say, feeling the tension rising.
He grabs my hips and takes command of my movements. His hands are big on my thighs, his fingers supplying a nice pressure into my skin. He is grinding me against him. He knows this friction will get me off quickly. He knows it builds my orgasm fast. Knows I’m going to come wildly if he keeps doing what he is doing. Because he knows me.
I feel the wave rise, and with a violent crash, it tumbles through me, bringing with it a shower of pure bliss. My hands fall to his rock-hard chest. My fingers splay across the smooth skin. I come hard. And it’s long and intense, and I never want it to stop.
I collapse onto his chest, my hair damp, my breath labored, my heart pounding like a drum. I feel his heartbeat against my cheek and it’s rapid. He flinches his cock inside me and I smile against his warm skin.
“That was fucking amazing,” I breathe.
In response, he pulls out and flips me onto my back so he is on top of me. With one hard thrust he is in me again. “Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
His eyes are full of heat as he thrusts into me again and again.
“Lauren….” he moans desperately when he’s close to coming. “When I clear my name…” He pants, fighting his body as it begs him to come. “…will you take it as yours?”
My pussy clenches tightly around his cock and he bites down on his lip.
He’s asking me to marry him.
“Of course,” I whisper in his ear. “Why do you think I came back?”
We come at the same time, our bodies possessed by mind-shattering orgasms. It’s dizzying and sexy, and so fucking wonderful, and he continues to thrust his glorious cock into me until he’s given me every last drop of cum.
We sink into the mattress, our slick bodies entwined, our hearts pounding.
When our breathing evens, I press my lips to the hard line of his jaw.
This man, he is my future. And no matter what that future holds, I will stand by him until the very end.
Chapter Thirty
AXEL
&nbs
p; “Well, I’ll be goddamned.” Sheriff Willard looks at me and shakes his head. “All this time you’ve been hiding away on my mountain.”
We’re sitting in his office and I’ve just told him everything.
“And you—” he looks at Lauren. “You’re telling me no crime has been committed here?”
“Only the one committed by my ex-fiancé,” she replies. “But unfortunately, I don’t have any proof, so it looks like he’ll get away with it.”
He won’t get away with it if he ever crosses my path again, that’s for sure. Lauren won’t let me go after him and dish out some justice, though. She even made me promise I won’t go looking for him, and after a lot of arguing, I agreed. But if for some reason he’s ever in reach of my fists, all bets are off and I’ll break the sonofabitch into a million pieces.
“Shame,” Willard relaxes into the back of his chair. “When he stormed into my office acting like a big-city asshole and suggested you had faked being kidnapped, the thought crossed my mind that you might actually be better off. But I digress. Since no crime was committed, I’ll consider the matter closed. Unless you’d like to lodge a complaint.”
“There’s no point,” Lauren says. “Plus, I think we have bigger battles to fight.”
Willard’s eyes dart to me. “Ah, yes. The warrant for your arrest.” He opens the laptop in front of him and I watch him, my heart hammering like a jackhammer, as he types something. “Calder Christofferson…” he says my name as he continues to read. I see his jaw tick and suspect he’s just gotten to the part that tells him I am a convicted murderer.
He reads in silence. But in my head my racing pulse is deafening. I glance at Lauren. She looks apprehensive. Nervous. But at the same time, her lavender eyes tell me that she has a lot of fight in her. She’s ready to take on whatever comes our way. My fierce mountain queen. My fingers tighten around hers. I’m so fucking in love with her, it’s all I am capable of feeling.
“That’s quite some story,” Willard says. He is relaxed. Calm. Weirdly so.
“I’m surprised you haven’t thrown the cuffs on me,” I reply, confused by his lack of interest in throwing me into a jail cell.
He shakes his head and chuckles. “Now why would I do that when you’re not wanted by the law?”
“What do you mean? I just told you. And even though I can’t see it, I’m pretty sure whatever you’re reading on your laptop backs up what I say.”
“It sure does, son. But what you didn’t tell me—and what it does tell me—is that you’re no longer a fugitive. Your conviction was overturned. Now it says that it was overturned posthumously, which tells me I can be sure there’s more of this story to come. But this is black and white, son. You’re no longer a wanted man.”
He turns his laptop to face me, and I stand so quick the chair almost topples.
My eyes roll over the computer screen and there they are, next to the mug shot of me taken more than ten years earlier, the words: Conviction overturned (posthumously).
“I don’t understand.” I frown. My mind scrambles to make sense of it. The information on the screen simply says my conviction was overturned because of new evidence. “Is there a chance it’s an error?”
“I doubt it. But there is always a chance, I suppose. Where there is human input, there is always a chance for human error.”
“It mentions new evidence?”
Sheriff Willard stands. “Give me some time to make a few calls.” He nods toward the waiting room behind the other side of his glass door. “Take a seat and let’s see if we can’t get to the bottom of this.”
Time ticks by slowly. So slowly it’s excruciating. I try not to get my hopes up. Try not to think that I might actually be a free man. Try not to think about a future with Lauren that doesn’t involve me trying to clear my name.
Lauren sits stoically beside me, the warmth of her body calming me against the flood of anxiety coursing through me.
Finally, Willard reappears, some papers in his hands, and motions for us to rejoin him in his office.
“Well?” I ask, shifting nervously in my chair. I’m big. The chair isn’t. “Was it an error or not?”
“There was no error. Looks like someone in the Crawford family got an attack of conscience. Submitted the CCTV footage of the night in question. It clearly shows what happened.”
“Missing footage? The prosecution said the cameras weren’t on that night.”
“As they believed to be the case when they took it to trial. But it wasn’t accurate. The cameras were on and they were recording. Apparently, when the older brother watched the footage and saw what happened, he took it to his parents and asked them what they wanted to do about it. Anastasia’s parents were distraught. If I was a speculating man, I’d say they needed someone to blame, and in their moment of extreme grief, they fell prey to some seriously bad misjudgment.”
“They knew all along…”
I feel an overwhelming sense of disbelief wash over me, and Lauren’s fingers tighten around mine.
“I’m sorry this happened to you, son.”
“Me too…” Lauren whispers beside me.
I nod slowly. I could hate them for what they had put me through. But at the end of the day, who knew what you were capable of when you’re put in a situation of extreme emotional pain. Grief can topple the mighty. Break the most stoic. Darken the hearts of the purest of souls. They had lost their only daughter.
“The footage was handed over five years ago. I believe it was the mother. When they found those bones and thought they were yours, a flash drive containing the CCTV footage was sent anonymously to the police department. Eighteen months later, your murder conviction was overturned. Afterward, Mrs. Crawford sent a thank-you card to the detective in charge. The handwriting matched the envelope the flash drive was sent in.”
I try to absorb it all.
“So, what does this mean?”
“It means you’re a free man.”
For a decade I’ve been running from the conviction of a crime I never committed. I sank into the shadows of Mirror Lake Mountain and lived the lonely life of a man who had more than his fair share of things to hide.
Now, right here in this minute, I am being handed my freedom. No. I’m being given so much more than that. I glance at Lauren. I am being given the freedom to love this woman and give her my name.
My untarnished name.
Sheriff Willard offers me his hand. “On behalf of the US judicial system, I offer you my deepest apologies for the wrongful conviction of murder imparted upon you.”
I accept his hand.
“Now, there’ll be some further paperwork and legal matters we need to attend to in order to get this closed off properly. But in the meantime, I’m going to suggest you go home and let this sink in, son. My gut feeling is you won’t be going very far, and you might like to go and enjoy your first afternoon as a free man. My office will be in touch.”
“Thank you,” I manage to choke out.
You’re a free man.
I can hardly believe it.
I’m about to leave his office with Lauren when Willard stops me as an afterthought.
“You wouldn’t know anything about two low-life city suits who showed up on my doorstep yesterday afternoon? They were beat up pretty bad. Had to take them over to County Hospital, but they disappeared before I could take their statement. You know anything about that?”
Our eyes meet and I can see he believes I do.
But I shake my head. “No, I’m afraid I don’t.”
He shrugged. “Pity. Wouldn’t mind shaking the hand of the man who handed those two pricks their asses.”
We share a knowing nod before Lauren and I leave his office and step outside.
Once out on the front steps of the post office, I don’t waste another second, I lift the love of my life up in my arms and kiss her madly in the sunlight. She laughs and wraps her legs around me, and we stand there in the middle of Main Street, kissing like we’ve j
ust won the lottery.
Because we have.
Epilogue
AXEL
Four Years Later
My cock slides into the soft, dewy folds of her body and I release a drawn-out groan. It’s been four years since she came into my life, and I will never grow tired of waking up to this.
Her long legs wrap around me, pulling me deeper, and I sink my mouth to hers, lost in the ecstasy. Lost in my body driving hard and deep into her body.
But I’m not fucking her.
I’m making love to her.
My wife.
My mountain queen.
We come together, moaning into the soft morning light and panting as we drift down from our highs. Feeling relaxed, I pull her to my chest and press a kiss into her hair.
Nope.
I will never grow tired of waking up to this.
To her.
I sigh contently, engulfed in feelings of warmth and happiness. Then, hearing the sound of little feet running along the hallway, a smile breaks across my face.
But it’s not just one pair of little feet.
It’s two pairs.
Twins.
Our son and our daughter.
Three years old, and too adorable for words.
Conceived the night Lauren chose me over her old life.
They burst into our room and charge for our bed, two little munchkins dressed in onesies, giggling as they fall all over us before settling in between us among the pillows.
I sit back on my heels and kiss the swell of my queen’s round belly. In a matter of months, our mountain paradise will know the sound of another baby.
A girl.
And I hope she looks just like her mama.
I smile contently because I have everything. And I fiercely look after what I have.
I protect it.
Cherish it.
We live a good life. Simple but rich with love and peace and family. Our home is filled with warmth. With the cheeky giggles of our children. With the tender moans of lovers who never go to bed on an argument, or turn away from a kiss.
