Within the Realm (The Gifted Realm Book 1)

by Jillian Neal

  “Rainer, please,” she pled in a demanding whisper. “Just strip me; just take me. Make me feel you. I want it so bad,” she begged as his body seized from her pleas. Unable to argue with what she wanted, he pulled his hand away, and noted that she was swollen and throbbing. She was dripping wet for him. Her body already hungry for his fullness.

  He lifted the tiny top over her head, and watched as her breasts spilled out of it. He didn’t waste any time as he pulled the shorts off of her. He stifled a hungry groan as best as he could manage.

  She was beautiful, and he wanted so badly to take her here, in her bed. It was a fantasy he’d been adding to since he was fourteen years old. He desperately wanted to live out his lurid dreams, but the reality of her asking him to give it to her, to give her release lying in the bed of her childhood, was so much better than anything he’d ever dreamed. He dispensed with his boxers quickly, and she wrapped her hand around his straining length.

  Every muscle in his body pulled taut in an effort not to release the thunderous growl building in his chest, and throw her underneath him as he pounded into her. He couldn’t wait; he wanted her too badly. He pushed his fingers back into her to make certain she could take him.

  “You ready, baby?” He panted and prayed that she wanted him as badly as he wanted her.

  “Please,” she pled. “I’ll be quiet. I set the cast while you were in the bathroom. Just take me.”

  He throbbed in her hand. Rainer clenched his jaw, and tried not to lose it before he’d even begun. He grasped her upper thighs and massaged them apart.

  Her breath quickened, and he could feel her heart race as he lay against her. Her energy arced feverishly. It matched the thrumming of her rapid heartbeat. He forced himself to remember where they were, and who was very nearby. He drew a steadying breath.

  “I’m gonna take it nice and slow, baby. Just feel it,” he ordered and brushed his thumb over her lips to keep them both quiet.

  He braced for half of a second and then gently prodded her lips with his head. She panted, and he slipped inside of her, plunging her depths. He kissed her forcefully, and matched the pulse of his slow rhythmic thrusts with his tongue to keep both of them quiet.

  He hated to quiet her. He loved the sounds she made when they were together. The loud, all-encompassing moans that echoed from her every time he opened her for him drove him wild. He pulled his mouth away long enough to gasp for breath as he began grinding against her with more force.

  “Yes,” hissed from her deliciously. She let her eyes close in the ecstasy of what he was doing to her. He felt her swell around him. Her release was just moments away, and he fought a war in his own mind. He wanted so badly to hear her come undone, to hear her call his name. He thrust harder, pushing and pulling in a rhythm that had her flying. Her swollen breasts melded into his hardened flesh as he pounded.

  “You feel so damn good, baby.” He was simply unable to remain silent; he needed her to know what she did to him.

  Terror played in her eyes suddenly as they flashed opened and pled with him. The climax began to consume her, and she needed him. He kissed her again, capturing her cries in his mouth as he pounded into her. He buried himself deep as he exploded inside of her. He forced himself beyond his hilt, deeper than he’d ever been. She convulsed, and shook her head back and forth as she grasped the sheets in her fists.

  Her energy spiraled wildly. She’d fought it for so long. When he finally forced her surrender, it had been stronger than she’d ever felt it before. She couldn’t catch her breath. The orgasm shattered through her in explosive waves of pent-up need and desire. He’d finally opened the floodgates.

  They hadn’t been together for over a week. They’d been terrified her parents would hear them. She’d needed it for some time, it appeared. She shook violently in his arms as he withdrew and held her tightly. He kissed her, and held her as she calmed and her breath began to steady.

  “Rainer,” she hushed in a stuttered whisper.

  “What baby?”

  “We need to move soon,” she sounded both shocked and embarrassed. He nodded reassuringly, and wanted her to know that she hadn’t been the only one who had needed the soothing pulse of release.

  “I know, baby. I promise I’ll work night and day until we finish it. We need our own place. We can’t keep doing this,” he gestured his hand out slightly, then moved it to her back to continue to massage away what little tension remained after what they’d just shared.

  “Go to sleep, baby. We’ll get started as soon as the sun is up, ok?” Rainer continued to caress her lovingly as she settled on his chest.

  She nodded. She was exhausted from the power of the orgasm that had rocked through her. He held her tightly. He never bothered to pull his boxers back on. He didn’t want to let go of her long enough for even that. He wanted to hold her tightly and never let go for the rest of their lives. That was all he’d ever wanted.

  He watched her sleep in the light of the half-moon outside her window. As he brushed one last kiss on her forehead, he fell asleep in the haze of their energy still mingling, rolling, and combining together all around them.

  There is No Way to Make this Better

  Rainer rubbed his eyes, yawning deeply. It took him a moment to determine what had awoken him. It was still pitch-black outside Emily’s window. He turned his head, and tried to see the clock without letting go of her. Three forty-five, he noted.

  He eased the arm that was underneath Emily away, as gently as he was able. As he extracted himself from the bed, he paused to make sure she wasn’t going to awaken. He stood and tugged on his boxers. He pulled the covers back over her, but she wriggled in her sleep and slung her right leg over the quilt and sheets. He paused to take in the sight of her naked and on display.

  “Come back,” she fussed without opening her eyes. He moved back to the bed quickly.

  “Shh, baby, I’m just going to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” He thought she was adorable. She nodded, but still refused to open her eyes as he kissed her cheek.

  As he moved away, he studied the way the dip in her back formed the most gorgeous curve of her backside and then down her leg. With another yawn, he shook himself slightly. Rainer eased her bedroom door open. He continued to ogle her body as he stepped into the hallway. He turned, and let everything he’d done to her a few hours before replay slowly in his mind, and walked right into her father.

  “Oh shit,” slipped from his mouth before he could stop it. This did nothing to help the situation. His eyes goggled as he took in the infuriated scowl on the Governor’s face.

  “Uh...” Rainer stammered, and tried desperately to think of some plausible reason that would explain why he was exiting Emily’s bedroom at four in the morning in nothing but a pair of boxers.

  “We weren’t...” he shook his head fervently as he pointed back to Emily’s bedroom. “I mean, we were sleeping,” he vowed as panic seized his entire being. “We weren’t...I mean earlier we did...no, wait, no....” he stammered stupidly as Governor Haydenshire’s face glowed crimson in his fury.

  “Your room is down there,” he fumed in a lethal hiss. Rainer nodded, but refused to say anything else. Every time he opened his mouth it just made it worse. “But, let me guess, Adeline is in Logan’s room.”

  Rainer let his eyes close. He wasn’t ratting out Logan and Adeline.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. Go sleep in Will and Garrett’s old room, and we will discuss this in the morning,” he ordered furiously as he pointed towards one of the other bedrooms. Then to rub vinegar in the gaping, oozing wound, Emily’s door began opening.

  “Rainer, what’s taking you so long? Come back to bed; I miss you,” she fussed sweetly until she stepped around the doorway, completely naked, to meet her father’s livid glare. Rainer turned away, and shut his eyes tightly as her father did the same.

  “Would you please put some clothes on, young lady?” Governor Haydenshire demanded. His hissing fury was more volatile th
an if he’d been shouting.

  “Sorry, Daddy,” Emily shut the door, grabbed her robe, and then reopened it as soon as she was covered.

  “Now!” Governor Haydenshire’s voice broke, and his rage spilled forth as he shoved Rainer towards Will and Garrett’s old room.

  “Yes, sir,” Rainer rushed towards the other room.

  “Do not go back in her room. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Daddy,” Emily huffed. “We are engaged. He can come in my room, and he can see me naked. We’re getting married,” she defied hotly, which did nothing to quell her father’s fury.

  “Emily Anne Haydenshire,” her father roared. “You will not speak to me that way, and you will act like a lady!”

  Rainer heard one of the twins begin to cry as Mrs. Haydenshire carried Keaton into the hallway, bleary-eyed.

  “Stephen, what are you shouting about?” She demanded. It took her a half a second to determine just what had happened. She sighed dejectedly. “Rainer, Emily, go back to bed. We’ll discuss this in the morning.”

  Rainer wasn’t certain where he was supposed to go back to bed, but judging from the look on Governor Haydenshire’s face, he moved towards Will and Garrett’s room. Mrs. Haydenshire’s brow pulled into a deep furrow.

  “Did you tell him to sleep in there?”

  "Yes, I did!” he shot furiously.

  “Because that makes her have more clothes on, and means that they weren’t doing what you know perfectly well they were?” She paused briefly and rolled her eyes. “Go get your antacids, Stephen, and then come back to bed. I told you this would happen,” she bounced Keaton on her hip in an effort to soothe him back to sleep.

  Rainer lay on top of the quilts on Will’s bed, unable to sleep. There is no way to make this better pulsed constantly through his mind, like a hellish mantra he couldn’t escape.

  For the hundredth time, he reached for his phone to text Emily, but it was in the shorts he’d taken off in her room. He needed to talk to her, to make certain she was ok. He’d heard her crying earlier, and it had nearly killed him to force himself to stay put and not go to her.

  As the minutes ticked by agonizingly slowly, a plan began to formulate in his mind. As he sat up and strengthened his resolve, he clenched his jaw and marched to the door. He needed to be wearing more than boxers, he determined.

  As he slipped to Logan’s room, Rainer prayed that he and Adeline were asleep. He tapped lightly, but there was no answer. He eased the door open and leaned away to leave instantly, if Adeline wasn’t dressed. But she was in one of Logan’s t-shirts, and wrapped up around Logan, so he proceeded on.

  He pulled a pair of shorts from one of his drawers, and grabbed a t-shirt off of his bed. Not certain if it was either his or Logan’s, but not caring, he shrugged into it. He grabbed a pair of tennis shoes and socks before he marched back down the hallway.

  He spun at the steps and issued down them quickly. He made coffee, seated himself at the table, and waited determinedly. It was just after five. The Haydenshires would be getting up soon.

  He moved to the coffee-maker, and poured himself a cup as he rehearsed what he planned to say in his head. He poured cream and sugar in the mug and then returned to the table.

  He met Governor Haydenshire’s baleful glare as he entered with Mrs. Haydenshire right behind him, at a quarter to six.

  “Could I please talk to you?” Rainer requested calmly. He held Governor Haydenshire’s eyes and refused to drop his gaze.

  “Yes, certainly, Rainer, and thank you for making the coffee,” Mrs. Haydenshire soothed. She poured a mug for herself and one for her husband. She shot the Governor a look that said he’d better not make this any harder than it was going to be. As he drew a deep breath, Rainer studied his future in-laws as they seated themselves near him.

  “I’m sorry,” he began, but Governor Haydenshire interrupted him instantly.

  “You’re not sorry. You’re sorry you got caught!”

  “Stephen,” Mrs. Haydenshire interjected furiously.

  Rainer waited until they’d stopped. “I’m sorry that you saw what you saw last night.” He completed his sentiment. “And, I’m very sorry if you feel like I’m being disrespectful or defiant, but I’m not sorry for what happened, and I never will be.” He kept his voice low and smooth. “Governor Haydenshire, I cannot begin to tell you what you and this family mean to me, or how much I respect you, sir. I love Emily more than life itself, and I cannot wait to marry her. She is everything to me,” he went on, determined to make her father understand.

  “She’s my first thought when I wake up in the morning, and my very last thought as I drift off to sleep at night, holding on to her.” He wasn’t backing down. “And I understand that we’re young, and we may not know everything about what our lives are going to hold. But I do know that’s how I feel, and that the way I feel about her is never going to change. It certainly hasn’t in the last sixteen years or so.” He edged closer to the Governor. “I know she dared me to kiss her when I was eight, but I had a crush on her long before that, and I will do anything in my power to keep her safe, and give her every single thing she needs if I have to die trying.”

  The Haydenshires shared a glance as Mrs. Haydenshire dared her husband to object.

  “I will build her a house, because that’s what she wants and because you taught me to do that. Because everything that I know about how to love her and how to take care of her, sir, I learned watching you,” Rainer’s voice broke in the fervor of his plea.

  “Oh, Rainer,” Mrs. Haydenshire blinked back tears.

  “I have never been with anyone else, and I never will be. I left her,trying to keep her safe, but I will never leave her again. I love her, and I respect her. And if all of the hell that I lived through,” he didn’t care that Governor Haydenshire had bristled at the word, “if all of that was leading up to my getting to be with her for the rest of my life then, you know what, I think I’d do it all over again. She is all I’ve ever wanted. I would give everything I have to make certain that she’s happy and healthy, and that she knows every single day and every night when she falls asleep how much I love her,” Rainer drew a deep breath before concluding.

  “Now, if it’s all right with you, I will build that house for her, and we’ll move out because what happened last night was disrespectful, and that’s not something I ever want to be again. You both mean too much to me, and I owe you everything that I am. So, if you don’t want us to stay here on the farm, then I’ll find us a place to live today. I can’t choose between what you want and what she wants, and still show you both the respect that you deserve.”

  He finished his diatribe with a feeling of accomplishment, and the confession soothed his soul.

  “We want you and Emily to stay, Rainer, and we know how much you love her, sweetheart,” Mrs. Haydenshire assured. But it wasn’t Emily’s mother he needed to hear that from, so Rainer waited. Governor Haydenshire and Rainer sat and stared at one another in prolonged silence.

  “Stephen,” Mrs. Haydenshire finally demanded heatedly.

  “I know I’ve been an overbearing ass,” the Governor finally admitted.

  Rainer laughed as he shook his head. The statement stunned him.

  “I’m sorry, Rainer.” The words appeared to taste very bitter as they exited his lips. “I just couldn’t get the image out of my head since the night you two left for the beach house. I don’t, however, want to see what I saw last night ever again, so I think us getting you two set up here on the farm would be good for everyone involved. I still don’t like what you’re doing with my baby girl.”

  Rainer nodded his acceptance. “I know, sir.” He knew that only too well, and didn’t really see the point in trying to make Emily’s father feel any other way about it.

  “What are you talking about?” Emily demanded. She entered the kitchen, and moved sullenly to Rainer. She seated herself beside him, and clung to his arm.

  “You,
” Rainer smiled and kissed her forehead, “and the guesthouse.”

  Her eyes darted constantly between Rainer and her father as she studied them closely. The civilized conversation was clearly not what she was expecting to find when she awoke.

  Her mother stood and supplied Emily with a cup of coffee. After drawing a restorative breath, and smiling at Rainer and Emily, Mrs. Haydenshire began to soothe her family.

  “Why don’t Emily and Adeline and I go to the hardware store today and begin picking out all of the supplies for the guesthouse? I feel certain that all of our boys will be coming by to help out, so we should get a good start on everything.”

  Emily grinned, though her eyes were red and swollen from her tears in the middle of the night. Rainer held tightly to her hand.

  “So where do you think we should start in the guesthouse, Rainer?” Governor Haydenshire quizzed, and Rainer knew it was a test. He wanted Rainer to prove that he knew his salt. He wanted to make sure that Rainer had been listening all the years Governor Haydenshire had been teaching him.

  With a smile, Rainer began. “We need to demo the back deck and the front porch. Rip out the bathrooms, and all of the flooring. I think everything else can be salvaged,” Rainer stated confidently. He had been listening, and he wouldn’t let Emily or her father down.

  “But,” he added before he could be corrected, “we have to get everything out of the house and the shrubs cut back first.”

  With a wry smile and a nod, the Governor couldn’t quite hide the pride that colored his face.

  A knock on the side door revealed Levi and Garrett as Logan and Adeline appeared in the kitchen. Mrs. Haydenshire determined that everyone needed a large breakfast before the work began, and the Governor moved to help her.

  “You ok?” Rainer hushed as he pulled Emily to him and held her tightly.