by Zoey Derrick
He smiles and kisses her forehead. “I know, but now you’ll never want to sleep.”
He carries her into the bedroom.
“Let me love you,” he says as lays her out on the bed.
The look in his eyes gives her hope that he speaks the truth, that he isn’t going to leave her again. She begins to let herself believe.
“Are you comfortable?”
She laughs through her tears. “No. She’s practically sitting on my lungs.”
He smiles wide and tears form in his eyes.
She slides her feet off of the bed and sits up. She reaches for his hand and tugs him down onto his knees in front of her. “Please, Mikah, don’t cry.”
He smirks at her. “Me, what about you?”
“You know this is real. I’m only starting to believe it.”
He leans forward, sliding his hands under Vivienne’s sweatshirt and placing them gently on her belly. His thumb grazes her belly button and she squirms. ”That’s like a hot button straight to my bladder. Be careful with that,” she laughs.
Her laughter is carefree and he loves the sound of it. He rubs his hands along the curve of her stomach, and underneath the surface he feels Madison move. His eyes dart to Vivienne’s and she nods.
“That’s her. That’s Madison.”
He leans forward and presses his ear to her belly, not really to listen, just to be closer. To Vivienne and to Madison.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I haven’t been here. I’m sorry I had to stay in Elysium and that I couldn’t tell you when I was going to be able to come home. I couldn’t bear it, to see it in your eyes every time you looked at me. To know that I was hurting you nearly killed me everyday. I knew I had to heal fully before I could be what you needed.” He lifts his head, and their eyes meet. “I love you so much it hurts.”
She takes his head in her hands. “As I love you.”
She urges him up, bringing her lips to his.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Mikah’s hands roam around her body as his lips meet hers. In an instant their breathing becomes heavy and sweat begins to bead across her skin.
Mikah senses her slight discomfort and reaches for the hem of his Boston College sweatshirt. He couldn’t help but notice it the minute she rounded the corner. She’d been wearing it that night, and when he caught her earlier tonight he felt the new stitching on the back where her wings had burst free.
He begins to lift it up over her belly, and she raises her arms. He pulls back from their kiss to pull the shirt off and takes a peek at the white tank top she’s wearing. It is stretched thin over her breasts and belly. He smiles. She looks amazing.
“Can I?” he says as he reaches for the hem of her tank top, and she nods.
She is wrapped up in the fact that he’s here, really here, and despite her fear, she knows he is here to stay.
He pulls up her tank top and her nipples harden. He reaches around to undo her bra at the same time she goes for the hem of his shirt. He unclasps each hook as she pulls his t-shirt up higher.
She waits patiently for him to finish before tugging, wordlessly hinting to him to lift his arms. He does. She removes his shirt and he immediately starts to kiss down her shoulder, slowly pulling her bra strap down.
He switches to the other side and her head falls back. His touch is so soft and warm. He urges her arms up and pulls her bra away from her body.
Her nipples are hard, dark brown peaks. “Do they hurt?” he asks, his hot breath caressing her skin.
“They’re tender, but no, they don’t hurt.”
He smiles and licks the tight bud.
Her head falls back again and she moans.
His erection strains against the zipper of his jeans, but she is more important in this moment. He sucks her nipple into his mouth and is rewarded with another delicious moan. He continues to kiss, lick and suck his way over to the other nipple, which is equally as big and hard as the first. He can’t help his tongue from licking softly against her skin.
Her hand is in his hair, holding him to her, encouraging him to continue what he’s doing. She squirms under him and he reaches for the waistband of her pants.
His silent command for her to lift her hips has her eager for so much more from him.
He slides her pants past her hips, down her legs, and leans back to allow room to free her.
“Stand up,” she whispers and he looks at her. “I haven’t been able to look at you for two months. I need to see you.”
The plea in her eyes has him rising to his feet.
She reaches for his belt buckle, undoes it quickly, then reaches for the button and zipper. Once they’re open, she places her thumbs in the waistband and slides his jeans down his legs to his knees.
When he realizes that she can’t bend over much further, he smiles and helps her by pushing them the rest of the way.
“Slide back,” he says, looking at her with a mountain of promise, and she slides back onto the bed. Pulling her legs up, she lies on her back.
“Here,” he says and climbs onto the bed, grabbing a couple of pillows. “Give me your hand.” He helps her sit up then lays the pillows down behind her and she lies back down on them. “Better?”
She smiles, overcome again by the care he is taking to make sure she’s comfortable. “Much.”
He crawls between her legs.
She needs him so bad, but he lies down and flicks his tongue across her clit. She moans, squirming under his touch, but he doesn’t stop.
She can’t see his head, which is disappointing, but she can touch it. She runs her fingers through his hair as he continues to lick and suck her clit, and then writhes beneath him as he slides one finger inside. She begins to grind against his tongue and finger. The feeling pooling deep in her core is a reminder of everything she’s missed these last couple of months.
Fireworks start to explode behind her eyes and her heart is pounding as she grinds harder, pushing his head downward and tighter against her sex.
He loves every minute of it as he feels her unraveling around him. Her legs begin to shake and then stiffen, and she moans, harder and louder than she ever has before. With her orgasm comes tears – tears of joy, tears of love.
He kisses his way up her belly, careful to avoid her belly button, to her nipples, and then to her neck, jaw and lips. He arcs his body over hers so that he’s not pressing on her at all.
When their mouths meet, she tastes her own arousal on his lips and tongue, and she does what she can to kiss it off of him.
After a few more flicks of his tongue against hers he pulls back to sit on his heels. He urges her to lift her leg and she does, though unsure of what he’s doing. He brings it around him so that she rolls onto her side. The pressure on her lungs and back eases immediately.
“Better?”
“Much.”
He lies down behind her, kisses her shoulder and reaches down to lift her leg.
“What are you...? Oh.”
She can feel his erection lying against her thigh. She reaches down to hold her leg up for him, and he positions the head of his cock against the entrance of her sex. She scoots her butt back toward him, eager to feel him inside her once again.
He senses her desire and gently slides himself inside. His need to be in her takes over and he slides in and right back out, again and again.
She can feel every throbbing inch of him enter and leave her. Her eyes roll back in her head and she relaxes.
Mikah keeps ahold of her hip as he slides himself in and out from behind.
The full feeling is so amazing that Vivienne starts to cry, and although he can’t see her face, he somehow knows and he can’t stop the tears that form in his own eyes.
Having Vivienne back in his arms means so much to him that he realize he loves her even more.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Mikah and Vivienne stay spooned on the bed for some time after they’ve finished, he still resting inside her. They let their breathing return to no
rmal and he wraps his arms tight around her, holding her close.
After a while she rolls onto her back, dislodging him from her sex, and he groans at the loss.
She smiles at him and moves the hair from his eyes so she can look into them. Her fingers trace the black lines on his right shoulder, down his arm and across his chest to where the scorch marks were originally.
“I’d often wondered where this came from. I wish I’d known beforehand,” he whispers.
“Me too. I’m so happy you’re home.”
“Me too. Have I missed anything?” He smiles at her. “Well, besides you?”
“No, I managed to keep you pretty well up to date. I do have an appointment with Dr. A tomorrow. It’s the third of our weekly check ups until she—“ She places her hand on her belly. “—decides it’s time to show up.”
Mikah’s hand covers hers. “I’d like to go with you.”
“Please? Those were always the hardest days. I knew that you wanted to be there.”
“I did, and in a way I was.” His hand moves up to rest against her chest, against her heart.
“Why did you have to stay in Elysium for so long?”
“I had to heal. It was unclear what would happen if I crossed back over if I wasn’t completely healed. I didn’t want to take the chance. Better to be locked in Elysium than never to come back at all. At least that was the way I saw it. But every day that I was away from you was harder than the day before. By the end, I was driving Seraphina crazy.”
“I haven’t heard anything from Zirah since before that night.”
“You won’t. You’ve learned all you need to know. And Zirah is not the best with secrets. Elizabeth was afraid she’d let it out that I’d be coming home. A part of me was scared, when I crossed the threshold, that I’d be kicked back into Elysium. I didn’t want to get your hopes up if I couldn’t come back.”
Vivienne thinks about that. “If I’d known that you were going to come back and then suddenly you couldn’t, I think that would’ve been worse. I guess I had more hope than I thought that you’d return.”
He brushes a strand of hair out of her face.
“I know you were only trying to protect me,” she says.
He kisses her forehead. “You give me more credit than I deserve. You were left here to suffer alone, just so that I didn’t have to see and feel your heartbreak.”
“But didn’t you have your own heartbreak to deal with? You had to watch me vanish when I woke up.”
His face falls and his eyes glaze with tears.
“It killed me every day.”
She reaches up to cup his face, her thumb wiping away a stray tear. “See, we both suffered in our own way. But it’s over now. You’re home, and in my arms.”
She stretches up to kiss him and he meets her halfway. Their kiss is passionate and heartfelt, all the anguish over the last two months pouring into this one kiss.
THIRTY-NINE
“What time is it?” she asks him.
“It’s ten minutes to one.”
“Crap. Aubrey will be here soon.”
Mikah cocks his head at her.
“She’s my yoga instructor. At Dr. A’s urging, Celeste found a personal trainer for me. She comes three times a week. Ironically, Celeste wanted me to cancel today and go shopping with her. Did they know?”
He shakes his head. “No, no one did. Let me call downstairs, have them tell Aubrey that you’ve had to cancel. I want to spend today with you.”
She smiles at him. “You can’t hide in here from everyone all day, you know that, right? Besides, I have a couple of things to show you.”
“Sounds great to me. Let’s take a shower, then we can get dressed.”
She nods her agreement and he sits up.
While Vivienne crawls off the bed he reaches for the bedside phone and calls the front desk. Now that she mentioned the yoga classes, he can see it in her arms. Though she’s gained weight since the last time he saw her in person, it’s good weight and he likes it very much.
Vivienne heads toward the bathroom and turns on the shower. After a minute more Mikah joins her.
Celeste returns to the condo to find the foyer and hallway lined with candles. She hears the shower kick on and she can feel that Vivienne is not alone. Remembering when she’d set up the candles for him back in November, she realizes quickly that Mikah has come home. She whips her phone out to call Red.
“Come on, pick up.”
“Hi, Celeste,” a woman’s voice answers.
“Kelly, is Red there?”
“He is, one second.”
There is a pause while Kelly gives the phone to Red. “Celeste, you just—”
“He’s alive. He’s here. In the apartment.”
“What? How?”
“I don’t know, but get your butt up here quick. Bring the boys, I need your help.”
“On my way.”
The phone clicks dead and Celeste goes about blowing out all the candles. She wants to clean them up before they come out. Dressed, she hopes silently.
Red, Andrew and Connor arrive in no time, having taken the stairs.
“Help me clean these up. They’re in the shower.”
“Have you seen him?”
She shakes her head as she continues blowing out candles.
“How do you know it’s him?” Connor says.
“You know, you can stop being a pessimist now. What is your deal anyway? You’re always so grumpy. You didn’t used to be like this.”
“Lay off of him, Celeste,” Red steps in.
“I just don’t understand it. You scare Vivienne sometimes and I don’t like it.”
“I don’t try to scare her intentionally. I just don’t like to get attached. Sometimes keeping my distance is the best way to avoid that.” That’s the easiest explanation he can come up with; the rest of that story is a lot harder to tell and not worth the effort. Suffice it to say, he could relate more to Vivienne these last two months than anyone else could.
“That’s a load of bullshit, Connor, and you know it. You ran up here just as fast as these two knuckleheads when I called Red,” Celeste bites back. “Now, help me.” She smiles at the three men just standing there.
About five minutes later they hear the water shut off in the shower and they scramble to finish picking up the candles.
When Celeste bends over to pick up the last of the candles, Andrew is quick to notice. This isn’t the first time he’s looked at her over the last couple of months. Before, he was too occupied with the task of protecting Mikah and Vivienne, but there’ve been no sightings of Riley or any of Link’s other minions since the night of the battle, and since things seem to have settled down, all the worry has settled too, allowing for other emotions to bloom and blossom.
After the battle, Celeste had become so emotionally closed off that her longtime boyfriend had broken up with her. It hadn’t helped that she couldn’t explain anything to him. She thought she would be destroyed by it, but in the end it had been the best thing for her.
“Now what?” Andrew whispers.
Celeste looks at him. He’s practically bouncing in his skin. She stops for a minute, just to look at him. She’s never really looked at him before. Such a professional relationship they’ve had, but something is different about him today. Maybe it’s the beard he’s grown over the last month or so. As she moves to put the candles in the hall closet, she smiles at him.
FORTY
“You know they’re all in the condo, right?” Vivienne whispers as they get dressed. Right before they’d stepped into the shower, she sense Celeste entering the condo, and while they were in there she felt the other three come in too. “All your candles were a dead giveaway to Celeste. She helped with them the last time, remember?”
He smiles. “I remember, and it’s okay. Like you said, I can’t hide from them all day, though I want to.”
“They’ve missed you too.”
“I missed you more.”
/> “Come on, let’s go say hi.” She smiles at him as she leads the way to the door.
“Let me get that.” Mikah comes around her and reaches for the knob. When he swings it open, standing near the breakfast bar are Celeste, Connor, Andrew and Red.
“The candles gave me away,” he teases, and Celeste comes running, bounding into him. Mikah hugs her back, though he refuses to let go of Vivienne’s hand, which makes for an awkward hug.
“Come now, lass, let the man out of his room.” Red smiles, but Mikah can see the tears in his eyes.
Next comes Connor, surprising both Vivienne and Mikah by giving him a hug. “Welcome home.” He backs off but then punches Mikah in the shoulder. “You could’ve given us a warning.” He steps aside.
“And ruin the opportunity to get a hug from you?” Mikah laughs.
Andrew comes up to him and hugs him next. “I never gave up hope that we’d see you here again. Welcome home.”
“Thanks, Andrew.”
“Anytime, sir,” Andrew replies.
“No more of that. Mikah is just fine.”
Vivienne can’t help the smile that spreads across her face at their exchange. Andrew has been like a big brother to her, especially these last few months. She also senses a change in Mikah’s demeanor. He’s happier than he ever was before. At least when it comes to these four. Maybe fighting Riley together changed the dynamic of their relationship. She smiles again at the idea.
Red comes a little more slowly, and Mikah meets him halfway. Finally releasing Vivienne’s hand, he takes Red into a big hug.
“Welcome home, lad. Things haven’t been the same since you left.”
“I know, but I had no choice.”
“I know. I always hoped, but as time went on and your mother got more and more insistent that you couldn’t be seen, it became harder.”
“I know, Red. I made her do that. I’d have never been able to live with myself if she or I made a promise we weren’t sure could be kept.”
“I understand. Glad you’re home.”
“I’m happy to be here. Let’s all have dinner tonight.” He turns to Celeste. “That okay with you?”
