Redemption

by R. R. Banks

  I moved backwards to position over her and leaned down so that my chest brushed against the hardened tips of her nipples. She licked her lips and I touched them with mine, taking the moment to calm down slightly so that I could allow my excitement to slow and my body to cool so that I knew I wasn't going to come within seconds. When I felt like I had a grasp on my control again, I reached down to touch her thigh. I met her eyes and she stared back, the expression in her eyes open and unwavering. We didn’t need words and I knew that things had shifted, taking away the need for anything else. I eased her thigh up slightly and tilted my hips forward to touch her hot, wet opening with the tip of my erection. Snow was still dripping from the orgasm that I had felt around my fingers and tongue, and that had nearly sent me over the edge. I couldn't wait to feel her surrounding me. It wasn’t the first time that I would be inside of her, but this was different. I wanted to feel the hot wetness of her walls against my skin and let her feel my skin stroking her.

  Snow drew her leg up further and I knew that she wanted the same thing. The movement opened her further, allowing me to sink slightly into her. I drew in a breath at the feeling of her slick body embracing me and pushed forward, plunging fully into her as I kissed her passionately. She was incredibly hot and tight, making me feel fully enveloped by her, and I felt her link her leg over my hip to intensify the grip.

  We remained in that position, still for several seconds as we got accustomed to the feeling of our bodies melding with nothing between us. Our breath synchronized and the patterned flow of it was the only sound that I could hear in the room around us. I allowed my body to lower slightly so that my chest rested against hers. I could feel the beat of her heart against my ribcage and I took my mouth from hers to touch a kiss over her heart. I felt her body relax and I started to move. My hips rolled against hers allowing me to sink deeper and deeper into her. Snow whimpered and writhed as I stroked deep inside of her, and I watched her eyes close as she seemed to lose herself in the luxurious, indulgent feeling of our bodies worshipping one another.

  Snow's hands touched my back and glided along my skin. She pressed into my muscles with the tips of her fingers, drawing me down onto her so that my weight pressed her into the bed. Having her completely open and enjoying my body with abandon beneath me made me feel strong and powerful in a way that I had never known. Just as I had imagined that it would be, this was an experience unlike any that I had ever had. Rather than just me having fun with the willing body that was handed over to me, I was connected to Snow, linked to her as we experienced this together, and I craved giving her pleasure and showing her the love that I felt for her just as much as I craved my own satisfaction.

  In that moment, I stopped thinking about what I was feeling and experiencing, and instead just gave myself over to it. I closed my eyes and focused in on the nearly overwhelming sensation of being inside of her. Snow lifted her head and kissed my shoulder, grazing at my skin with her teeth, then brought her mouth to my ear. She traced it with the tip of her tongue.

  "Let go," she whispered.

  The words shot me to a new level of arousal and my pace became faster and more intense. She whimpered and moaned beneath me and she drew both of her knees up so that the tips of her toes were the only thing touching the mattress. The position gave me complete access to her and I thrust within her harder, pounding so deep I could feel that I couldn’t go any further. I could hear the sounds pouring from within her growing louder and deeper. I opened my eyes and looked down at her, finding her staring up at me with a look that was an erotic balance between vulnerability and wild abandon. Our eyes met and I couldn't control myself any longer.

  I roared as I rushed headlong into climax and felt it crash over me with blinding intensity. As soon as I gave my first hard throb within her, Snow let out a cry and I felt her body clench down around me as she tumbled into another orgasm. The contractions of her body around me met each of my pulses, drawing me in deeper as I spilled into her. I stayed in place, held as deep within her as I could push myself, until our bodies had quieted and deep relaxation began to settle through my muscles.

  Finally, I withdrew from her and slid over onto my side. She curled into my body, settling in against me as if crafted specifically to fit into that spot. I kissed the top of her head and her hand came up to rest on my chest. There was so much that I wanted to say, but before I could, the relaxation took over and I slipped away into sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  THE APPLE

  In this edition of our newsletter we are thrilled to acknowledge the upcoming wedding of our very own president to Miss Snow Whitman. After one year of courtship and a six-month engagement, the pair will finally exchange vows this weekend. After their honeymoon, they will return to lead the company together as we move forward with plans to acquire several other agencies in our continued efforts to build an advertising empire.

  Reception to follow the ceremony. Guests are invited to join the couple for a celebration Friday night at The Diamond Mine.

  I scanned the rest of the blurb, smiling at the playfulness that had returned to the newsletter now that Walter had come on as our official writer and co-advisor to Mr. Glass. Everyone knew that he didn’t in any way need the money that came from the position. It was more honorary, allowing him to remain a part of the company that he had built through his love, dedication, and sheer determination in times when things weren’t going as well as he wanted them to. Giving up the company had been incredibly difficult for him, even when he thought that he was doing it for a young, passionate new wife who was going to make it worth it with a life of adoration and excitement. Once Lucille was completely out of the picture, which was fairly easy, fortunately, thanks to the sheer amount of money that he had and the abundance of character witnesses willing to paint truly unflattering pictures of her and her behavior during their marriage, Walter had seemed a bit lost. He frequently showed up at the office just to roam the halls and check in on everyone. There was never the sense that he was trying to interfere, or even that he regretted his decision to retire and live a more leisurely lifestyle. Instead, it seemed that he was just lonely, missing the companionship and energy of the office where he had spent virtually every day of his life for decades.

  It had been a few months after everything exploded that Noah and I agreed we should ask if Walter wanted to help us out by rejoining the company. He was delighted, more, even, than I thought that he was going to be, and soon the office felt like home again.

  Speaking of home, I looked around the living room of the house I was now sharing with Noah and tried to figure out what I could do to make it feel more like home. It was several times larger than the little house that I had purchased for myself, which left me with many more cavernous rooms to fill with details and décor that would hopefully transform the space into something that reflected us. I hadn’t sold my house. I didn’t know if I was ever going to. Not that I wanted to hang onto it so that I had a place to run away to, but more so that I could occasionally go visit it and remind myself that I was more than just the girlfriend of a wealthy executive, that I had worked hard and achieved success on my own.

  The soon-to-be wife of a wealthy executive.

  An executive’s wife.

  Whoa.

  My wedding gown was hanging in the closet of an empty bedroom upstairs, my veil beside it and my shoes on the floor beneath. Another room was filled with other gowns, shoes, and accessories, waiting for my bridesmaids to arrive later that morning to get ready for the wedding. Noah had gone to spend the last few days at his parent’s house so that we could preserve some of the excitement of the first time we would see each other at the ceremony, and I was already feeling lonely for him. It was strange to miss him so much even though I had seen him at the beginning of the week, but it was also thrilling. I couldn’t wait to see him. I couldn’t wait to say those vows and link us together.

  The doorbell rang and an instant later Robin swept into the room carrying
a bottle of champagne in one hand and a pair of flutes in the other. He poured me a glass, settled onto the couch beside me, and poured himself a glass. We sat together, sipping the bubbly drink in silence with our heads leaned in to rest on each other. We didn’t need to say anything. It felt like it had all been said, and anything else that might need to be said was expressed just through the touch of our heads and the sound of each sip. It was enough. I just needed him there with me. His presence was calming, taking the edge off the nervousness that I was feeling thinking about the ceremony ahead. He had been there with me always, seen me through everything. It was because of him, even though there was a time that I resented him for it, that I had found Noah when I did. Even if I had stayed around the office long enough to be there for the buyout and met Noah anyway, I doubt that I would have had the confidence to even consider approaching him, especially considering he would be my boss.

  Now he was going to be my husband.

  Noah held my hands tightly between us as we gazed into each other’s eyes. I was so lost in the green expanse of his gaze that I barely heard the officiant as he started our ceremony. We had spent many long nights planning the ceremony, piecing together different traditions and integrating some of our own favorite readings and quotes to make a wedding that was exactingly ours. We had carried that theme throughout the entirety of our wedding weekend. Friday night’s party at The Diamond Mine had initially struck Robin as strange, considering my very close, personal knowledge of both the owner and the back room, but it had felt completely natural to choose the club as our party venue. Not only had Damien’s account with the agency funded a large portion of the wedding through my commissions and bonuses, but it seemed right to include places and people that had proven significant to the building of our relationship. The weekend before our wedding our bridesmaids and groomsmen had faced off in a fierce baseball game umpired by Lee and had a lunch catered by Grey, whose hidden talent as a barbecue master had recently resulted in him and two of the other bikers in his gang teaming up to buy a food truck. A large, whimsically wrapped wedding gift had arrived at the house the week before and I could only imagine that it was a painting from Michael. Shane had sent a congratulatory letter and an offer for us to join him on the ranch for a weekend anytime and another envelope that had arrived the same day contained a thumb drive that held a song Sam had recorded during his latest performance, a cover of my favorite song.

  I knew the real names of these men now, but I rarely thought of them with those names. To me, they would always be their aliases, integral elements of my journey to self-discovery and to the altar where I now stood with the man of my dreams, the only man who had ever been able to look into my soul and see who I really was and could be.

  “Do you, Snow Whitman…”

  I drew in a breath as I heard the officiant starting my vows. My heart was trembling in my chest and I felt tears slipping out to rest on my cheeks.

  “I do,” I said when the moment came.

  I didn’t know if I had managed to get my voice loud enough, but Noah smiled and I knew that he had heard me. I tried to focus as much on the rest of the ceremony as I could, wanting to remember every moment and how I felt. Suddenly the officiant was declaring us husband and wife and I felt a surge of pure joy through my heart.

  “You may kiss the bride,” he said.

  Noah reached forward and took my waist. He drew me close to him, gazing into my eyes as he slowly lowered his mouth to mine. The kiss was tender and sweet, but passionate in a deep, unexplainable way that went beyond just the public expression of our union to something within us that was now fully linked to one another.

  The kiss hadn’t ended when our guests burst into applause and cheers and Noah and I laughed, causing our mouths to part, but our foreheads to touch. The officiant presented us and we turned to our guests briefly before running down off of the altar and up the aisle toward the waiting horse drawn carriage that would bring us through the sprawling, beautiful grounds and to the reception venue.

  The next hour was a blur of pictures before it was finally time for us to enter the party that was already in full swing. When we stepped inside I gasped at the sight of the tables arranged throughout the space, each one arranged abundantly with decadent desserts. The center of the room held an elevated table featuring a towering cake decorated in sparkling sugar flowers and ribbons crafted out of fondant in pale, pearlized shades of lavender and blue.

  I turned to Noah who smiled back at me.

  “Do you like it?” he asked.

  “You did this?” I asked breathlessly.

  “I knew that you wanted a reception with only desserts. I’ve been planning the menu for months and baking for the last two weeks. It’s killed me to keep it a secret.”

  I was mesmerized by the elaborate display of desserts and I started to walk around the edge of the room so that I could look at each table. I had seen three sweets-laden tables when my eyes widened at the sight of the table ahead of me. I gathered the gauzy layers of my skirt and rushed toward the table, turning to stare open-mouthed at Noah, who laughed back.

  “Doughnuts!” I gasped.

  My new husband nodded and came to my side, wrapping his arm around my waist to cuddle me up against him.

  “I know that we have your doughnuts back in the breakroom now, but I figured that you could never get enough.”

  “Never,” I said, tilting my head to look up at him.

  Noah pressed a quick kiss to my smiling lips, looked at me for a moment, and then captured my mouth again. The pressure of his lips parted mine and our tongues lightly massaged each other. Both of his hands wrapped around my waist and he turned so that I pressed to the front of his body. My hand slipped away from my skirt and I felt it swirl around my legs then pool at my feet as I ran my hands up Noah’s chest and settled them at the back of his neck to hold myself into the kiss. This was everything and I couldn’t wait to share forever with Noah.

  And a doughnut.

  THE END

  P.S - Next Page is Hunter’s Story!

  Her Hunk

  I'll risk everything to save her...

  Hunter

  She's sexy as hell, and everything I'm looking for.

  She's prim and proper, and she intimidates the f*ck out of me.

  I let her go once, but I won't make that same mistake twice.

  Especially, now that she's in danger.

  I'm falling for Eleanor, and I'll do everything to protect her...

  Eleanor

  Hunter was the perfect distraction.

  A night with him was supposed to be filled with pleasure.

  Hunter with his crystal green eyes, and his sex-pack abs.

  I thought I would never see him again.

  But then he saved my life.

  Now, if we can get out of this alive.

  I can tell him who I really am...

  Chapter One

  Eleanor

  “Why now? Why fucking now?”

  The gold and red carpet felt rough beneath my feet, making them sting as I ran down the narrow hallway. There was nothing like the corridors of the lower levels of a cruise ship to make me regret that extra serving of cheesecake. I had removed the heels that I had so carefully chosen for the night after I started running and they were dangling from my fingers now. No way in hell I was going to let them go. The terrifying-looking goomba behind me might be getting closer, but I wasn’t about to drop those shoes. That didn’t mean that I was going to twist my ankle on them and go out like one of those simpering blondes in a 50’s horror movie though, so I would just keep holding them from their straps and contemplate all of the ways that I could use them as a weapon if the need came along. As I ran, my heart pumped fear through my veins, causing the blood to rush in my ears and blur all sound around me. I tried to listen for the sound of the man chasing me, but I couldn’t hear it. Was it possible that I had actually gotten away from him?

  I knew those three months I spent cruising wou
ld have some actual real-world benefit at some point. Using my extensive knowledge of the layout of most ships in this cruise line wasn’t exactly the benefit I was hoping for, but at that moment, I would take it.

  There was no one else in the seemingly endless hallway, but I couldn't decide if that was helping me or if it was making my frantic run more terrifying. If there was someone else there, they might help me, or could act as a deterrent for the man chasing me, even if they didn’t realize that they were doing anything. I could just pause sort of near them and hope that their presence would spook the man and make him go away. Kind of like those tiny home security system signs that people stick in their front yards even if they don’t actually have an active system. Of course, considering the luck that I was having that night, I would run right into the protective arms of the man’s partner.

  I finally came to a curve in the hallway and took a moment to orient myself as I followed it. I wasn’t sure how long I had been running and was starting to lose track of how far I had gone and where in the enormous cruise ship my haphazard course had brought me. Had I run past the hairdresser three floors up, or four? Were there more levels of interior rooms below me or had I gotten all the way down to the bottom of the guest portion of the ship? The thought of being this far down always unnerved me. Even though I knew in the logical part of my mind that it wasn’t the case, whenever I roamed this far into the lowest passenger levels I felt like I was going underwater. There was a reason that I had always avoided the submarine rides onshore. And at amusement parks. Or sticking my head under the surface to rinse my hair in the bath.