by Zoey Derrick
She knows that his declaration is not just for her, but is for her daughter too. All the raw emotion boils over, and this time she can’t hold back the tears.
THIRTEEN
“I will always be here for you,” he breathes against her belly. “Never doubt that.” He can feel her emotion pouring into him. It is the emotion that he needs to feel in order to continue.
Vivienne is not just a girl in his bed; she is the woman who has his heart. Her emotions tell him that he has hers and lets him know that what he’s been fighting for for weeks is finally going to be his.
In agonizingly slow fashion, he begins to slide her pants down her legs. She doesn’t stop him. She needs this. She needs him. She fought for so long to prove to herself that she needed nothing and no one, but right now, she realizes that she was wrong. She needs him like she needs air to breathe.
As he’s freeing her legs, he can’t stop his eyes from wondering up her beautiful body. He slowly moves up her body, sliding his hands along her legs to her hips, and he watches as she closes her eyes to savor the sensations. He needs to worship her body, show her what she means to him.
She senses his need as he gets closer to her lips. He pauses to flick his tongue across one nipple, then the other, and she moans with each contact. Then finally he reaches her lips.
Throwing aside all resistance, he kisses her with more passion than he’s ever felt in his entire life.
She wraps her arms around him and pulls him against her as tight as she can, needing to feel his skin on hers.
Using her feet, she tries to push down his pants. He smiles, knowing that she wants what he wants just as badly. He pulls back from their kiss and rears up, which allows him to slide his pants down his legs. She surprises him by maintaining eye contact; he can’t pull his eyes away from hers.
He manages to liberate his raging erection from the constraint of his pants. Then he leans back down and kisses her once again.
She wraps her legs around him again, holding him to her. She can feel his erection pressed against her pelvic bone, so close, and her growing need for him can be felt in the warm wetness between her legs.
When his erection makes contact with that wetness, he cannot hold back anymore. “Are you sure?” he breathes against her lips, needing her reassurance.
“I’ve never been more ready for anything than I am right now.”
That’s all he needs to hear. He pulls his hips back, lining up the head of his erection with the warmth of her sex.
“Please,” she breathes, and slowly he pushes into her.
She can feel her body giving way to his sensual invasion, feel when the crown makes it past the tightness of her entrance. He’s bigger than anything she’s ever felt before.
He moves unhurriedly, not wanting to hurt her, knowing that he is larger than most men. Vivienne writhes beneath him as he pushes himself inside.
Vivienne has never felt anything like this before. Her body is stretching and contracting in ways she’s never experienced. Just when she thinks she can’t take anymore, he pushes in a little deeper, filling her a little fuller.
He finally stops pushing when he feels significant resistance. He pauses, looking deep into her eyes, waiting patiently for her to adjust to him inside of her. When she starts to move, he takes it as his cue that she’s ready.
He pulls back and then slides in a little faster. The pleasure within her starts to fire through her veins like lightning. His hands roam her body from her hips to her belly to her breasts. Her eyes close, the better to feel his touch and savor the sensations flying through her body. She moans and runs her hands up his body from his hips up his sides to his neck, where she tugs on him, pulling him down toward her.
He gives in and follows her lead, arching his back so he doesn’t put his weight on her, and she kisses him, slow and sweet. He can’t help the moan that escapes his own lips as he feels her tighten and respond to the pleasure he’s providing her.
“I want to see you,” he says as he pulls back from her kiss.
Her eyelids are heavy, but she opens them to meet his eyes, vibrant and blue. Pleasure and desire pass between them at the same time she feels herself building, climbing toward something beyond anything she’s ever felt before. The intensity is too much and she moans again, her eyes rolling up and closing just as her sex clamps down hard.
He picks up his pace, moving inside of her faster and faster with each short breath they take. Sweat covers both of their bodies.
She opens her eyes again to see him: His eyes are closed, immense pleasure on his face. His hair is a mess and falling down over his forehead.
Just as she reaches up to brush his hair away, he opens his eyes, and that emotion, the one she couldn’t identify before, is there again, only this time she knows it for what it is. She can feel the same emotion building up inside of her. Love and adoration.
With each thrust of his hips, Vivienne’s pleasure builds and builds, climbing higher and higher. Then, just like that, the pleasure peaks. Her eyes close and she moans louder, arching her back to the pleasure she feels deep inside.
In a second they both come unraveled, lost in the climax, and Mikah pours himself into her.
FOURTEEN
They are both breathing heavily, and neither one says anything for some time. Staring deep into each other’s eyes, they know nothing needs to be said. It’s there, between them, everything they’ve been fighting emotionally since they met.
Vivienne’s never experienced anything like this before, has never known what real, raw desire and love truly feel like. Somewhere along their journey, she’s fought it, fought to embrace it, to accept the fact that she could be deserving of more, but he makes it clearer to her now; it’s in his eyes.
Destiny. That’s what this feels like to Mikah. And the look in her eyes now is all he needs. He will do anything for her, anything to protect her, no matter what the cost.
Once their breathing finally returns to normal, Mikah slowly slides out of Vivienne. She winces and shivers at the loss.
“Did I hurt you?” he whispers.
“No,” she says back to him as he rolls to her side.
He snakes his arm in under her head and she snuggles into him. He pulls the covers up to cover them and brings one hand to rest on her belly.
She smiles.
“Are you feeling okay?”
She blushes. “I feel great,” she says and kisses his chest. She puts her hand over his.
He smiles at her. “Good.” He kisses the top of her forehead and settles in with her. He knows now what all of this emotion has been building toward.
That first night, in the diner, he found a woman who wasn’t helpless but who maybe needed a little bit of help to get through. There was something special about her; he felt it in places that he’d long since forgotten. When his mother died, he built up walls of determination that made loving another woman nearly impossible. He’d tried, but there’d been nothing like what he feels right now.
He’d gone back the next night with no prompting from his wings. He’d just wanted to see her again. He kept going back because the wanting became needing. He knew it then – that she was something special - and now...now she’s here, in his arms and in his bed. He meant what he said: He will stop at nothing to protect her, to make her safe, and no matter what, he will always be here for her, for both of them.
Vivienne tilts her head toward him. His eyes are closed, but his hand rubs lightly along her belly, sending goose bumps across her skin and a warmth into her heart. Her life has changed so much in such a short time; she can’t imagine going through all of this with anyone but him. To have him here to help her, to protect her and to guide her is exactly what she needed.
She pulls her hand away from Mikah’s and begins to trace the lines of his chest. Doing so reminds her of his chest in their dreams, the tattoo that runs over his right shoulder. She wonders where it comes from.
She hears his breathing hitch a little w
ith some of her strokes, but she doesn’t stop, and when she looks up at him he’s smiling.
He begins to do the same, trailing his fingers along her belly, down over her hips, across her pelvic bone and up the other side. His fingers are light against her skin, and her nipples harden.
He continues tracing the lines of her body, carefully avoiding all of those spots that would send her over the edge. Her caresses have stirred his erection once again, but he’s not sure how she’d feel about a round two. He’s content to touch her in any way he can.
She writhes beneath the slow, sensual patterns he is making along her skin, which has been made even more sensitive by the explosive orgasm she experienced not all that long ago. The desire she feels for him is building once again, and she can feel his erection pressed against her thigh between them, but since he hasn’t made a move to intensify the contact between them, she’s not entirely sure what to make of it.
She can’t see his body and he can’t see hers, but their touching continues until the pleasure closes their eyes one last time and they fall asleep in each other’s arms.
FIFTEEN
Around noon, Vivienne begins to stir in Mikah’s arms. One of his legs is draped over her, and his arms are both wrapped around her. She takes a deep breath, breathing in his scent: sweet and heady and simply Mikah.
She fights the urge to squirm. She really needs to go to the bathroom, but he’s sleeping so peacefully – something she’s never seen before because he always manages to wake up before her - that the idea of waking him nearly breaks her heart. He looks so innocent. The beautifully tanned skin of his bare chest begs her to touch it.
Last night feels like a dream and miles away from right now. She’d come home from the spa trip with Celeste to find her apartment lined with candles, the pictures, the bracelet, and then the clothes, that dress, the one she always seems to be wearing in Elysium. Then taking her to the charity gala. Did she really tell him that she’d go back to school and eventually work for him? She smiles at the memory of the evening and where it had been going...at least until Red had interrupted them.
Going to Elysium and having Mikah find out about nearly everything makes her a little anxious. She knows that she still needs to tell him about the shifter.
She also knows that at some point she wants to speak with Elizabeth about talking to her mother in private. This, Vivienne knows, will not be an easy thing, but it is important. Vivienne would never have gotten to talk with her mother while she was still alive, at least not with any real conversation or comprehension. Maybe this is her chance to tell her mother how she feels, at the very least.
Her bladder finally overcomes her desire to let Mikah sleep, and Vivienne squirms involuntarily.
Mikah stirs. His blue eyes meet hers and a smile spreads across his lips. Vivienne swallows the thoughts of her mother and smiles back at him.
“Good morning, beautiful.” he whispers, his voice groggy from sleep.
She smiles wider at his vulnerability. “Good morning,” she says back.
“How’d you sleep?” he says as he slowly peels himself off of her.
There is both joy at being free so she can use the bathroom and sadness at the loss of their connection.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
She blushes. “I have to use the bathroom.”
“Oh,” he says, and he pulls back to free her completely. “Sorry.” He smiles sheepishly.
She runs her finger along the bridge of his nose. “Don’t be.” She climbs out of bed and heads for the bathroom.
Weeks ago, when Vivienne crawled onto Mikah’s cot in the hospital room that night, he savored it, afraid it was a momentary weakness on her part and that it would never happen again. But this morning outshines anything he felt that night.
Her bright blue eyes, messy, bright red hair and beautiful smile stop his heart. He’d tried so hard to control himself, to not rush through being with her the first time, but being with her was exquisite in the most delicious way he could’ve ever imagined. After last night he was worried about how she’d feel toward him this morning, but she is here with him.
The morning-after bliss clouds his memory of the other events of last evening. So much happened in Elysium, but it will be dealt with tomorrow. Today he wants to spend with Vivienne, whether in bed all day or out of it. Today is their day.
He rubs his eyes, getting rid of the crusty sleep, and stretches. He looks over at the nightstand. The clock says 12:33p.m. He smiles. It has been probably ten years since he’s slept until after noon.
Vivienne steps into his field of vision and he smiles at her. Her answering smile is warm.
“How are you feeling?” he asks.
“Good. Still tired, but I feel great.”
“You look amazing,” he says, his hungry eyes roam over her naked form standing at the foot of the bed. He laughs a little when she realizes that she’s naked.
“Jeez, thanks for reminding me.” She scurries into the bed and under the covers.
“Never cover yourself for me. I think you’re beautiful.” He kisses her on the forehead and pulls the covers back. “My turn.”
He quickly jumps out of bed, giving her a view of his beautiful, well-sculpted ass as he disappears into the bathroom. She blushes and buries herself under the covers.
Mikah emerges from the bathroom and leans on the doorjamb, watching to see if she’ll emerge from her hiding place under the covers. When she doesn’t stir, he decides to play with her. He creeps to the foot of the bed. When he lifts up the comforter, she giggles. The sheet is still between them, but looking up her body, he can see the swell of her belly. It’s one of the most beautiful things he’s ever seen.
He climbs onto the bed under the comforter and snakes his way up her body, kissing and breathing hotly through the sheet between them, and she giggles again. When he reaches her belly he kisses it, then reaches up to pull the sheet back. She helps him lower it.
Still underneath the comforter, she stares down into his beautiful blue eyes. He looks so sweet and boyish hiding under the covers, his hair all mussed up. The image is breathtaking, and the now-familiar ache from last night returns.
Mikah senses her shift in mood. He slides up a little further until his mouth is even with hers. His kiss is filled with passionate promises of what’s to come.
SIXTEEN
Sometime later they emerge from under the comforter, sweaty and breathing heavily. Neither one of them speaks until their heart rates calm down and their breathing returns to normal.
“Are you hungry?”
Vivienne laughs a little bit. “I’m starving,” she says, and he smiles back at her.
“We can’t have that. How about breakfast in bed?”
She laughs a little harder. “Breakfast? Mikah, it’s nearly two in the afternoon.”
He laughs with her. “You’re right, but it’s never too late for breakfast.”
He flings the covers aside, sits on the edge of the bed and looks around for his pants. “Hmm,” he says when he can’t find them. He gives up, deciding instead to give Vivienne another show. He stands and walks toward the closet. When she realizes that he’s walking around naked, she hides under the covers again, giggling.
Mikah grabs two pairs of pants, one for him and one for her. He also grabs one of his Boston College t-shirts for her to throw on.
“Here you go, sweetheart,” he says, emerging from the closet. “I’ll have Celeste and the boys bring your stuff up from the condo downstairs, but in the meantime, here’s a pair of my pants and a t-shirt for you.”
She peeks coquettishly out from under the covers and giggles again.
He laughs. “You silly girl.”
She smiles and he leans down to kiss her. She kisses him back, remembering all too clearly the last hour or so spent under the sheets.
But he doesn’t linger.
“Mind if I take a shower?” she asks.
“Never ask me, my home is your home. P
lease, make yourself comfortable. I’ll be back in a bit with food,” he says as he reaches the door.
As soon as he leaves the room Vivienne is desperate to see him again, but instead she climbs out of bed and takes the clothes Mikah’s laid out for her into the bathroom.
Mikah isn’t in the kitchen very long when he hears the running water of the shower. Smiling at the idea of Vivienne in his shower, he opens the fridge. He’s moving a few things around when Celeste comes around the corner.
“Can I help you, Mikah?”
He jumps at her voice and grazes his head on the door of the fridge in his haste to stand and turn around.
“Good morning, Celeste.”
“Afternoon, sir,” she says with a grin.
He laughs. “No, I think I can handle some bacon, eggs and toast.”
“Of course.” She hesitates a moment. “Mikah, I just wanted to apologize. For last night.”
He cocks his head at her.
“Neither Red nor I nor any of us had any intention of having to spring who and what we are on you like that. We wanted to wait until you were comfortable with being an angel before we sat down to discuss it with you.”
“Stop. Though I don’t appreciate being kept of out things and I’m not certain I’ve grasped all of this angel stuff yet, I’m not angry. But I am curious as to how Vivienne found out before I did.”
Celeste looks uncomfortable for a moment. “I suggest you ask Vivienne about that. It’s not my place to explain it.”
“Fair enough.”
“Do you need anything else?” she asks, changing the subject.
“Can you and the boys clean out the apartment downstairs? Bring up whatever you need from down there, plus all of Vivienne’s things?” he asks, his voice gentler than when they first started talking.
“It’s already been done. Her stuff is in the second bedroom. I will move it over to your room, if you’d like, when you’re not in the bedroom.”
“Please?”
She nods.
