by Tia Louise
Tears spring into my eyes again. “Henri?” I grab the rail, and he yips again, his nails dance on the floor above. “Henri! I’m home!”
I don’t hesitate this time. I jog straight up the stairs and drop to sit on the top one. The little dog is in my lap licking the tears off my face, and my smile is so big. I can’t stop laughing, and of course, he gets me right in the mouth.
“Oh!” I spit, trying to catch his happy muzzle as it dances all around my face. “So French!”
This time when the door down the hall opens, a sharp command in French is not forthcoming. Instead heavy footsteps make their way to where I’m sitting, petting the ecstatic little dog.
“Bonjour, Cassandra,” Luc says. “I’m happy to see you home.”
“Merci, Luc.” I smile up at him.
He makes a grunting noise and with a shuffle, he turns and starts back to his apartment. A clucking sound, and Henri hops out of my lap to take off after him. I sit for a moment looking in their direction, trying to decide what to do now.
I don’t have my phone. I don’t have anything, but I always leave that spare key above my door. I’m about to stand and head inside when I hear a banging on the metal door below. My brow furrows, and I’m about to speak when I hear the buzzing release of the lock. It opens with a clatch, and I’m frozen on the spot.
Who…
“You left without telling me.”
The breath leaves my body at the sound of Logan’s voice. He’s here, and I can’t decide if I want to cry or laugh… or allow him to take me into custody.
“I’m sorry.” Is what I manage to say. “Cameron was there… H-he’s alive.” I’m still overwhelmed by the reality of that, and my eyes heat.
Heavy boots take my stairs two at a time, and I exhale What? just before I’m scooped up in two massively strong arms.
“You’re alive.” Logan’s deep voice is at my ear. He kisses my neck, my temple.
Leaning forward, I wrap my arms around his neck. My legs are around his waist, both his arms are around my lower back, and I bury my face in his collar. For several minutes, we only hold each other that way. Both of us are breathing fast, and it feels as though we’re melting into one another right here on the landing in front of my apartment.
At last he lifts his head. “I’m not letting you leave me again.”
Nodding quickly, I don’t even consider arguing. “Okay.”
“These last few days were a fucking nightmare.”
Lowering my face to his shoulder, I nod again. “What happens now?”
“Can you get in your apartment?”
With a sniff, I lower my legs. He releases me and waits while I reach along the top of my door until my fingers make contact with the small piece of metal. I unlock the door, and we step inside the tiny room.
“Let’s pack up and move everything to my place.”
But my stomach twists unexpectedly at his words. “Wait…”
He’s with me again, and in the bright interior of my tiny apartment, I can make out his dark form looming over me. He cups my face in one hand and slides his thumb over my cheek.
“What’s the matter, Sass?” His voice is melted sunshine in my chest, and I don’t really know the answer to his question. All I’ve ever wanted is him standing here saying these things. I want him, us, together. Yet, at the same time…
“It’s all happening so fast. I-I just woke up, and I don’t even know… Where is Ava? Is she okay?”
He sits on my bed and large hands circle my waist. “Come here.” With a gentle pull, I’m sitting on his lap in a straddle facing him, my hands resting on his shoulders. “Ava is fine. She got hit on the head pretty hard, but it wasn’t concussive. She’s back at the palace.”
“I’m so glad… But…” Another vision is in my mind, and I can’t tell if it’s real or a fantasy.
Long fingers trace the hair off my cheek. “What is it?”
“Blix.” Blinking fast, I remember Logan shouting in pain. I remember my insides filling with fear, anger, and adrenaline. I remember fighting through my own pain, calling on all the strength I had left in me to stop the madman. I remember the scraping of knife against bone.
“I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to—” I’m afraid to say what I hope I did. Will it make me as savage as Blix?
“What did you want, my love?”
So much warmth and safety is in his beautiful voice. I know I can tell him everything, even my darkest truths. I realize now I always could. “I wanted to kill him. But… not just kill him.” I have to whisper it. “I wanted to make him suffer.”
An edge of anger is in Logan’s voice. “That bastard is no longer a threat to you or anyone else.”
I slide my fingers along his collar thinking about those final seconds. “How did he die?” I’m quietly hoping…
“When we got there, he was sitting on the floor. He’d nearly bled out from a knife wound to the neck—under his jaw.”
“But… that didn’t kill him?”
“It probably would have. I had to cut the ropes holding you, and that bastard stabbed my leg.”
“I remember that part.” My fingers tighten on his shoulders. “You were in pain. I heard you, and I didn’t know how bad it was.”
A grin is in his voice now. “I couldn’t believe it. You stabbed him in the fucking face, Kass. You’re a fucking badass.”
I’m going to hell, and I don’t even care. Pride surges through my chest. “Did that kill him?”
“It probably would have. I wasn’t patient enough to wait.”
I lean forward, wrapping my arms around my guy. “You killed him?”
“I finished him off.”
Turning my face, I kiss his neck as I slide my fingers along his beard. “So it really is over.”
Strong arms surround me, and he leans down to find my mouth. I lift my head and cup my hands on each side of his square jaw, kissing him deeply. Our mouths move faster. His lips chase mine, mine chase his, and heat roars to life low in my pelvis.
I thread my fingers in his soft hair. My hips are moving, rocking against his waist, and his hands slide up my thighs and under the filmy skirt I’m wearing. When he reaches the center, my mouth breaks away.
“Oh, god…” I gasp.
Warm lips cover the skin on my neck, but it’s his long fingers tracing a path along the seam of my panties that has me falling apart. They circle, moving closer until…
“Oh, yes!” I moan.
My thighs jump in ecstasy as his fingers glide over my clit, massaging and taunting. He lifts me and turns us so I fall on my back on the bed.
“I’ve missed this so much,” he groans, sliding down my legs and flipping my skirt over my stomach. “I want to taste you.”
He’s on his knees, grasping the sides of my panties and pulling them down and off. Just as fast he spreads my thighs apart, wrapping his arms around them and dragging me across the bed to his mouth.
“Ahh!” I wail as his beard teases my sensitive skin. I’m burning up from the orgasm smoldering in my bloodstream.
His warm tongue makes a slow pass over my clit before moving down and tasting me deeply. My body shivers and tingling heat floods my pelvis.
“Logan! Logan…” I’m on the edge, and he gives me one more slow pass before leaning back to unfasten his jeans.
I hear them slide down, and I’m so wet and ready for his fullness. I lift my hands to reach for him. His hands meet mine, and our fingers entwine just as he leans forward, bracing on his elbows. One hand leaves mine, and he reaches between us, lining his cock up at the entrance to my core.
“Jesus, Sass. You’re so beautiful.” And with a firm thrust, he sinks deep inside, stretching and massaging me in the most erotic way.
I cry out from the delicious feel of him moving faster, hitting my clit as my insides twist and pull together into one irresistible ball. Until with another thrust, and another…
I explode with a loud cry, my back arching off the bed. The pleasure is so
intense, I feel like I’ve left my body. Only his strong arms carry me through the flood of pleasure ravaging my insides.
My hands clutch his broad shoulders. He groans and grinds out my name like a prayer. He’s so close. I lean up and plant my lips on the top of his chest, slipping out my tongue to taste the salt of his sweat. I stretch up to kiss the base of his neck, and when I bite his skin, he erupts.
“Fuck,” he growls holding my body flush against him. He’s in me, filling me, balls deep, and I feel every pulse of his cock as his orgasm jerks him repeatedly.
His head is against my shoulder and with every pulse, he exhales the most amazing low groan. It causes my pussy to clench around him again as if I can’t get enough.
“Fuck me, you feel so good.” He finds my mouth and kisses me deeply. Our mouths seal together, and salt is on both our tongues as they entwine.
My hands fumble to his cheeks, and I pull his face closer, kissing him harder. Another pulse deep inside me, and I whimper. It’s so good. Our mouths break apart, and he lifts his chin.
“I think I made it to heaven that time,” he laughs, and I can’t resist touching the tip of my tongue to the hollow between his collarbones.
“You brought me with you.” I smile, savoring the feel of his massive body in my arms, between my legs, deep inside me.
This is exactly right. This is how it’s supposed to be. His face drops down, and he kisses my temple, my cheek, the side of my jaw. We roll to the side, and he slips out, pulling me against his chest. Strong arms surround me with love and warmth and safety.
“You’re coming with me now, to my place.” It’s not a question, and I don’t argue. Still, he touches my chin with his thumb. “I want to hear you say it.”
That makes me grin. “I’m going home with you now.”
Both his arms go back around me, and I’m rewarded with another lingering kiss. “I love hearing those words together.”
“Home?” I ask.
“With you.”
I nestle into his embrace. “You’ve always been my home since that first day on the beach. I saw you and something inside me changed.”
His fingers trace down the line of my back making me shiver. “That summer was so perfect it was hard to believe.” He kisses my head. “We were so young, and I’d found you. I never got over you, Sass. I kept looking for you everywhere.”
“When I think of love and happiness, you’re the only face I see.”
He leans back to cup my chin, lifting my lips to his. “It will always be that way, from now until the end of our days.”
Warm lips cover mine, and the world fades away. I’m safe in his loving arms, and I never plan to leave. We lost each other. I made mistakes. I was dirty, and I couldn’t imagine ever being clean enough or good enough for my wonderful man.
Now through a miracle of fate, I’ve been given a second chance, and it’s a gift I won’t take for granted.
His lips move to my cheek, and he speaks directly in my ear. “I love you, Sass.”
Joy expands so rapidly in my chest, my eyes heat. “I love you, Logan Hunt.”
It’s a promise from the depths of my soul. He’s the home I’ve longed for, he’s my euphoric desire, and he’s my enduring future. I see our love as clear as a painting. Not a blurry Monet, but a Renoir—detailed and precise lines.
I fell in love and my eyes were closed, so I stayed there. Now my heart’s eyes have been opened, and I see everything worth seeing. I don’t need unique or extravagant words. What we’ve found is quite simple. It’s forever.
Our happily ever after.
* * *
The end.
Epilogue: After
Logan
Brilliant white light floods my enormous studio apartment. Since Kass moved in six months ago, we’ve done all we can to maximize the amount of natural light filtering into the space. I was resistant at first, until I realized how much it helps her see objects… in particular me. Once I got it, she had to stop me from picking up a can of reflective paint at the store.
The memory makes me laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Her voice is lazy this morning.
It’s ten, and we’ve just spent the last half hour making love. Now she’s sitting up in bed, and I’m lying on my back in her arms. My head rests on a pillow beside her breast, and she still has a leg tossed over my stomach. I reach up to cup the back of her shoulder.
“I was thinking about reflective paint.” Turning on my side, my mouth is right at her growing midsection. “We might decide to rethink all this light once the baby comes.”
“Hmm… or he’ll learn to sleep even when it’s not completely dark?”
“So it’s a boy now?” I reach up to move a lock of pale blonde hair off her face.
“He kicks so much. I’ve decided it must be a boy.” Her chin drops, and she slides both palms over her cute baby bump. “A girl would be more relaxed in there.”
“Based on what scientific evidence, Mrs. Hunt?” I confess, I love calling her that.
She giggles and leans straight into my face to kiss me. “Absolutely none, Mr. Hunt.”
Her full breasts slide over my chest, and my cock twitches. I’m feeling my second wind rising, and I cup her breast, rolling her hardening nipple between my fingers. Reaching behind her neck, I pull her closer for a deeper kiss. She moans opening her mouth to let our tongues curl together, but with a groan, she pulls back.
“I have to go.” Her leg untwines from around my waist, and she tries to get up.
“Hang on.” I catch her by the waist and roll her onto her back underneath me. “Why do you have to go?”
“Logan!” she laughs, pushing against my shoulder. “Ava is having a tea for us today. You know this! I can’t be late!”
My lips twist into a frown. “A tea?”
“She’s being so sweet. You’d think we were related by how excited she is about the baby.”
I bend down and plant a kiss just above her navel. “Kid, you are about to be so spoiled.” That gets me another laugh, and I move to the side so she can get out of the bed.
“Where is this tea happening?” I lean against the pillows watching her skip over to the dresser and go through her system of selecting what to wear.
“Occitan. Have you listened to anything I’ve said?” She’s my adorable, naked little pregnant lady. My wife. My badass, blind wife, who won’t back down from cutting out the eyes of a monster.
When Ava told me what they’d done, their plan to kill Blix, I wavered between admiration and total, absolute fury.
They went after that fucking madman. They actually allowed themselves to be kidnapped by him on the slim chance the two of them could outsmart him. The thought of it provokes a fist of rage so hot in my chest, even now with the bastard dead and in the ground I have to distract myself. Still, it is amazing he’s dead in part because my gorgeous wife stuck a push dagger in his throat and a Bowie knife in his eye.
Admiration mixed with anger mixed with anxiety is a curious emotion… I’m calling it Adanxety in honor of my wife’s obsession with unique words.
I’m getting pretty familiar with how it feels.
Rowan’s response was somewhere in the vicinity of nuclear fury. He doubled the watch on Ava and lectured her in front of Freddie and me on the level of freedom he allows her and what will happen if she abuses it again.
Naturally she was livid at his response. Her sapphire eyes blazed like a gas fire, and I worried for a few minutes she would leave for Tortola. Kass had only just moved in with me, and I wasn’t confident she would uproot and go with me after her. Still, I knew Rowan would order us to follow his wife.
It was a tense hour and a half waiting for the king to calm down enough to find his wife and smooth her ruffled, independent feathers. Help came from an unexpected source when the grand duke gently reminded his nephew the Wilder sisters did not come from a royal background. He went even further to remind him exactly how Ava and Zelda did grow up—on
the streets hustling for food and shelter.
That crisis had been averted, and to my knowledge Kass is none the wiser. She and Ava are inseparable, and Ava even secured Kass the job as chief diplomatic interpreter for the king in all his meetings of state. In return, Rowan appointed me as guard to his chief diplomatic interpreter, and I couldn’t have been happier with the assignment.
Kass’s need for autonomy frustrates me, but I respect it. She doesn’t want to be dependent on anyone. After the years she spent as a slave to Blix and his orders, she needs to feel like she’s in control of her life. That much I understand, and she’s found a powerful ally in the queen regent.
The two are fiercely loyal since their victory over the forces of evil. I focus on the fact that we did find them in time, and neither was seriously injured… and not on what might have happened.
Ava has only been angry with my wife once as far as I know—when we ran straight from the doctor’s office to city hall to get married after we confirmed we were pregnant. It had been an impulsive decision, but it had also been joyous and romantic. Neither of us have family—other than Kass’s little brother, and Cameron had been all too willing to meet us for the brief civil ceremony.
We’d been overflowing with love for each other, and the only thing that could have made it better would be to pledge ourselves officially to each other for all time. So we’d done it. Then we left immediately for Campania. We spent three sex-filled days in that beautiful little hamlet by the sea. We’d always said we’d go there, and I wanted nothing more than to watch the sun rise and set over my new wife’s naked body with the noise of the sea in the background.
When we finally returned, blissed out and glowing, Ava threw the most elaborate celebration for a non-royal family to date, and I’m pretty sure her ruffled feathers over missing the ceremony are now soothed.
Kass returns, filling the room with her scent of clean linen and jasmine. She’s so pretty wearing a loose, floral dress with her long hair flowing down her back.
“Are you heading over now?” I can’t keep the grin out of my voice as I watch her move around the room as easy as any sighted person would.
