by C. M. Owens
My stomach flutters when it sinks in that he’s definitely serious. This isn’t a joke, and I can’t believe I’m actually considering it. It’s too reckless with Angel—
“Before you start worrying about how this will affect Angel, also think of how this could be good for her,” he says, reading my damn mind. “I’ll help you make a pro/con list.”
His lips twitch when my face turns red, and I roll my eyes as he carries me through the house. I’ve only been here a couple of times, and that was just so we could be alone for a little while before joining Bella and Angel. Well, I’d been here to pick her up before, but I’m not counting those times.
“What are you thinking?” he asks, still holding me.
“Inner ramble,” I grumble, which elicits a laugh from him.
“Are you adding up the pro list? Because I’m not listening to the con list.”
He grins down at me, and I can’t stifle the stupid smile that comes across my face. “You’re serious about this? This is a big deal, Wren. I can’t move Angel into your house, then turn around and move her out. We moved here to be closer to Bella and to give her a chance to get to know you. Then we moved into a house because it took a while to find something we liked. Now we’ll be moving here. It’s the least stability she’s ever had, and I don’t want to hurt her with this.”
His expression sobers, and he bends his head to brush his lips against mine. He doesn’t deepen the kiss the way I suddenly crave, but he lets his lips linger there for a moment.
“I spent years with Erica and never felt anything like this, Allie. I’m more than sure that I want you here—both of you. And I really will tie you to the bed until you say yes. So don’t make me resort to a felony, please.”
He smirks at me as my eyes water, and I lean up, pushing my lips against his as he carries me toward the bedroom.
“Angel will—”
“Will be fine. I’ll take care of her today. You need to rest. And for the record, I had someone buy some bananas just for you.”
My face turns red, and his laughter gently rumbles as he finally takes me into the massive bedroom that belongs in a palace. Everything matches as though an interior decorator came in and did everything for him.
When he puts me on the enormous bed, his lips brush mine again, and he sits on the edge, hovering over me as his eyes hold mine.
“Rest. We’ll talk about this later. I’ll take care of Angel, and we’ll talk when you feel up to it.”
I can’t help myself when I finally break. He said that video was true, so that means he loves me. My lips move, and the words try to come out.
“Wren, this isn’t the best time to say this, but I—”
“Don’t,” he says softly, brushing his lips over mine. “Think on it for a little while. Let me prove this is a good idea before you try to say no.”
He grins down at me, and my chest tightens. That’s not what I was going to say.
“But I—”
“Later,” he interrupts, standing. He walks out, and I let my eyes search around the room. My bags are piled up at the side, and my mind runs wild.
He loves Angel. He loves me. Stupid as it is, I’m moving in with Wren Prize.
***
WREN
All of Allie’s stuff is hanging in the closet or resting in the drawers. No way am I letting her leave no matter how hard she tries. If she tries packing anything back up, I’ll just unpack it as she goes.
She stayed in the room for a couple of hours, but finally got up to hang out with Angel and me as we made everything she owns even more girly with some weird jewel thing my mother bought her. There’s also a glitter and glue kit we should have never opened—lesson learned. I’ve got glitter all over me, I swear there are little jewels everywhere on my body—how? I don’t know—and somehow I also managed to glue my fingers together… twice.
Allie had to help out with that. She got my fingers undone both times, and that’s about as much as we’ve touched. Her eyes have been on me, though. Studying me, perhaps?
Allie was quiet, possibly pensive, at dinner. Our eyes met several times, but Angel monopolized the conversation. I was grateful for that. I don’t get nervous very often, but I feel like a teenager that just got caught having sex with a General’s daughter right now.
Night descends, and Angel yawns. I watch as Allie stands, ushering her to go to bed.
“Are you tucking me in or is Daddy?” Angel asks, looking over at me.
“Both,” I say, a small smile playing on my lips when Allie stops breathing for a second. Her eyes close briefly, but she opens them and smiles down at Angel as I stand.
If nothing else, I’ll just keep her here until I prove I can be good for the both of them. I’d never hurt either one.
Angel has become someone I can’t live without, and I want her with me as much as possible. Allie is an entirely different sort of love, but I’m equally lost without her. And I’m smart enough to realize that I don’t want to fuck this up.
“Come on, then,” Angel says around a yawn, and I smile over at Allie who is trying not to smile.
She leads the way, and Allie leans over after tucking her in, kissing her on the forehead. I don’t wait for her to back up as I go to lean in, putting my arm around Allie as I lean down and kiss Angel’s cheek.
She giggles for some reason, and I pull Allie to me as I straighten up, keeping my arm around her as I guide her to my room—our room.
“You’ve been quiet,” I tell her once the door is shut.
She slowly walks toward the bed, eyeing it as though she’s thinking. Shit.
“You wouldn’t let me talk earlier,” she says with her back turned.
Because you keep overthinking everything. Obviously I don’t say that aloud. I’m not stupid. Allie is cautious, but it’s not necessary with me.
“Well, when you’re ready to say what I want to hear, I’ll gladly let you talk,” I say instead, shrugging when she looks over her shoulder at me.
She laughs, which surprises me. I pull off my shirt, deciding to distract her before she starts listing all the reasons this would be a bad idea, and I smile when I hear her quiet intake of air.
I turn my back when I undo my jeans, and I say over my shoulder, “Your stuff is in the closet and the dressers, if you want to find something to sleep in.”
As I tug my jeans down, I take my time, mentally preparing myself for whatever she says. She surprises me again by not saying anything. I can’t feel her eyes on me, but I’m sure she’s watching since she’s not saying—
The hell?
I turn around to see Allie crawling across the bed in nothing but a pair of lacy underwear and no bra. Her clothes are nowhere to be found, and I’m wondering how she stripped so quickly. However, my brain shuts off when she peers over her shoulder, still on all fours, and looks at me with an arched eyebrow.
Her round, perky ass is barely covered by the lace, and peeks of flesh show through the material. Did she put that shit on just to torture me? We can’t have sex. She just got out of the hospital.
Her skin is lightly tanned, and her blonde hair falls over her shoulder, exposing more of her back. Her waist curves in, spreading at her hips, giving her that hourglass figure that has me biting my knuckle to keep from… Shit—did I just growl?
“Are you going to stare all day or join me?” she asks as she pulls the covers back and slips in between the sheets, covering her breasts before I can go dumber.
I don’t waste time before going to the bed, and she grins at me when I climb in on my side, which isn’t usually my side. She’s on my side, but I’ll let her have it.
She scoots closer, and I go tense. “Allie, you just got out of the hospital,” I remind her on a shaky breath when her soft fingers find my chest, sliding down in a slow exploration and tracing the lines of my muscles.
“Stitches on my head aren’t going to be a problem in bed,” she says, making it sound like a Dr. Seuss rhyme, and I can’t help bu
t laugh a little.
But my laughter dies when she pushes her skin against mine. I start to object again when her lips find mine, but I can’t find the fucking balls to push her away. Christ, she tastes so good.
Her tongue sweeps in, stealing my sanity, and I wrap an arm around her to tug her on top of me, needing to feel her as close as possible. Both my arms latch around her waist, and I try to keep my hands from straying to her scantily clad ass.
But then she grinds herself against me, and my hands reflexively move to her ass, gripping her and pushing her against me harder. When I hear her moan, my cock starts to ache, feeling tortured and punished when I don’t flip her under me and take her.
“What are you doing?” I ask on a rasp when her lips leave mine and start trailing down my body.
She grins against my abs as she continues sliding down, dragging her lips across my flesh in a way that has me fisting the sheet under me.
“You can’t make fun of me if I do this wrong,” she says, confusing me, but then she pulls my boxers down, freeing my aching cock, and I forget what the hell I was thinking.
When her fingers curl around me, pumping me once, my entire body jerks like there’s a live wire she just set free.
“Allie,” I hoarsely whisper, clearing my throat. “What are you—oh fuck me.”
Her lips—her perfect, lush, soft, fucking incredible lips—go around the crown, and she flicks that teasing damn tongue against the tip, as though she’s testing my taste. I damn near come then and there.
“I’ll fuck you later,” she says, a smile in her voice, apparently teasing me for what flew out of my mouth when she took me into her mouth.
She flicks her tongue again, swirling it around the tip, and then she sucks the crown into her mouth, and I fight really damn hard not to thrust. Her unpracticed motions are more exploratory, as though she’s learning and testing things out. It’s heavenly torture. My balls tighten as air hisses between my teeth when she sucks a little harder.
It doesn’t matter how unpracticed she is, just knowing her lips are on me right now, tasting, sucking, hungrily taking me in deeper each time, is enough for me to lose it. I have to fight off the early release, trying not to embarrass myself.
Her hair falls down to my hips, feeling like silk against my skin, and her knees are tucked under her. It’s honestly the sexiest fucking thing ever, and her hard nipples taunt me.
She sucks me in deeper, finding a rhythm as her hand fists at my base, and my eyes fucking cross when I try to watch. There’s no way I can fight it off any longer, and my entire body goes rigid, warning me, as my stomach muscles ripple and tighten.
“Allie,” I warn, but I barely get out the choked whisper. So I tug at her hair when words decide to fail me.
She doesn’t stop. In fact, she fucking moans and quickens her rhythm, and black dots speckle my vision when my orgasm detonates—yes, detonates like a motherfucking bomb exploding. I pulse into her mouth, but she never stops, continuing her rhythm until every last drop is spilled out of me.
I don’t see her expression, but I hear her swallow loudly, as if she’s struggling to do so. I’d laugh or speak if I could get my lips to move. She finally peers up at me, a shy smile on her face, and I lazily gesture for her to come to me.
She slowly climbs up my body, and I pull her down to me, kissing her in appreciation as she runs her hands up my body.
“Fuck,” I whisper, and she laughs against my lips.
“Now that I have you subdued and a little less defensive, I have something to say,” she whispers.
My brain and mouth don’t communicate, and I can’t speak real sentences. She seizes that opportunity to continue.
“I love you, too, Wren Prize,” she says, smiling as she takes my lips, and my strength returns with vigor as I tighten my hold around her waist. My chest squeezes almost painfully, and something hot washes over my body.
I want to kiss her, fuck her, hug her, take her out, celebrate, announce it to the world—and I want to do them all at once. Which probably wouldn’t be a good idea.
“Thank God,” I finally manage to say, enjoying the way she laughs again. “So you’ll stay?”
“I’ll stay,” she says, leaning up, and my eyes dart down to her bare breasts. “As long as you’re serious about this.”
It takes a concentrated amount of effort to look back up to her face instead of starting the celebration right now. She’s not smiling anymore. Her eyes have lost the humor, and now those green beauties are studying me intently.
“I’m very serious. I love you. I love Angel. And I love the way it feels when we’re all together. I also really love it when you and I get to have moments like this, just the two of us. I want it all, Allie. And I want it all the time.”
A tear falls from her eye, and she sniffles and laughs at the same time before leaning down and kissing me again.
I’m careful when I flip her under me so I can devour her properly, slipping myself between her legs. The lace on her underwear tears easily enough, and I toss them aside. I’ll put them with the pair I ripped at the Christmas party.
She grins against my lips as I settle myself closer, already hard as a fucking rock and ready to be inside her. I’ve never been sex-crazed, but I swear I could spend all day in bed with her—every day.
She spreads her legs, ready for me, but I turn her over, wanting her back on her hands and knees the way she was when she crawled across the bed and teased the fuck out of me. She chuckles softly, but the laughter fades quickly when I lean forward, kissing her shoulder and dusting her hair over to the other side so I can get at her neck.
The second she moans, I can’t hold off any longer. I lean up, grab both of her hips as I line myself up with her, and thrust in, burying myself deep in one perfect stroke that I feel all the way down to my toes.
She cries out softly, pushing back on me as though she’s as greedy as I am, and I grin as I start the rhythm, feeling her squeezing me like a fitted glove designed just for me.
Our bodies move together, grinding, fucking, loving… Each thrust gets harder, and Allie only seems to enjoy it more. Our skin is soon slapping, and my grip is tighter as I dig my fingers into her hipbones to keep from slamming her up against the headboard.
A sheen of sweat starts forming, and when her walls clamp around me, squeezing me tighter, my name tears through her lips. I hold her up when she goes limp, and my stomach muscles clench as I stare at our connection, watching myself slide in and out of her until it’s too much. I explode inside her, almost biting my lip hard enough to bring blood in an effort to keep myself from getting loud.
I sink to the bed with Allie, too sated to try and pretend otherwise, and a lazy grin spreads over her lips when she comes to rest on top of me, her eyes seeming heavy as they continue to close for longer and longer intervals between blinks.
“Best. Redo. Ever,” she says softly, and I laugh while tucking her against me.
Epilogue
2 weeks later…
WREN
Angel squeals as I throw her over my shoulder, and she tries to wriggle against my grip as I carry her.
“No fair! You’re bigger and stronger!” she laughs.
“And I win,” I announce, putting her down on the patio chair. Most everyone is here today, and they’re all laughing and smiling enjoying the day.
Ethan couldn’t make it, since he’s still in Chicago, but everyone else is here, including Bella. I never have cookouts at my house, but things are changing more and more every day.
Angel finally starts eating, since I managed to get her in the chair, and Allie smiles over at me from her corner seat next to Bella. Now I wish we hadn’t done this here. I’m ready to carry her out and hold her to me.
“You two seem to be adjusting well to the new living arrangements,” Mom muses while joining me at my side.
“It’s effortless,” I say honestly. “We found a rhythm on the first day, and we’ve stuck to it,” I add, grinning
at the innuendo she misses. Then I get serious. “I was worried you’d be pissed.”
She snorts under her breath. “I was at first, because I was worried. I figured it out close to Christmas that you had feelings for each other, which is why I pointed out the mistletoe. I needed to see you react. Honestly, I wasn’t prepared for you to react quite that fiercely. Then I was pissed because you were hiding it from me, not because you wanted to be with her.”
She gives me a pointed look that makes me feel ten-years-old again—scolding me without words.
“Why were you worried?” I ask in deflection.
“You haven’t been divorced too long. The only dates you have gone on since Erica were the horrible blind dates Ash set you up on. Well, Brin wasn’t horrible, but you know what I mean. I was worried you were rushing in. But I guess some things are just… meant to be. I sound cheesy, don’t I?”
I laugh while nodding, but I kiss her forehead, understanding her meaning.
“Speaking of cheesy, how are you and Ray?”
She swats my chest, and I feign pain. “Ray and I are… meant to be,” she says wistfully, and I immaturely mock gagging with a finger in my mouth.
She grins before walking over to where Ray has taken the seat next to Angel. Is he seriously teaching my daughter how to cheat at cards right now?
My eyes travel over to where Billy is sitting down next to Bella, probably trying to hit on her, but she politely excuses herself and eyes me like she wants me dead. Yeah… I might have told the banana story to everyone here.
“Ass,” she mumbles on her way by, and I laugh, moving my eyes toward Allie as she leaves Billy and moves to my side.
The second she’s close enough, I pull her to me, and tilt her head back until I can kiss her. I don’t care who sees or who groans, and I ignore the whistling going on.
She grins against my lips before wrapping her hands around my neck. “I love you,” she says softly, and I step in closer, pulling her flush against my body. I’ll never get tired of hearing those words out of her mouth.
