by Jamie Knight
I can see his face fall as he reads the terms of Savannah’s and my marriage. I know it doesn’t look so good in black and white – I mean, I participated in getting the thing written.
“Is this real?” Joseph asks me, holding up the contract. “I mean, is the marriage really – is it fake? Were you guys going to get divorced in a year?”
I really didn’t want to ever have this conversation… ever… and I really don’t want to have it here or now but looks like I don’t have a choice.
“At the start, yeah, we made this contract, and it was like what’s written there,” I admit.
I don’t know where to look. My eyes move from Joseph to Landon to Savannah. Landon still has the gun out, but now there’s a smug look on his face. Of course, he’s going to feel superior about this shit. Outing Savannah and me to her father like it’s some kind of competition.
“Did you ever really love her?” Joseph asks.
He sounds so depressed. I thought I’d never really care what Joseph thought about me. Even though we kind of made up last night, when it came to how he had shut down the auto-parts factory, I wasn’t about to start caring about his opinion. But, like my feelings for Savannah, apparently, it just kind of happened, without me having much of an option.
I turn to Savannah and look right into her eyes. This isn’t something I’m just realizing now, but it would be the first time I said it out loud and one hundred percent meant it.
“I do love her, now and all my life, ever since I met her.”
It almost catches in my throat, but I manage to get it out. Savannah’s eyes go wide. I wish I could have said this just to her, but, the next time, I’ll make sure it’s just the two of us.
“Our marriage may have started out as fake, but, now, I never want to be apart from her,” I confess.
It feels kind of good to get that off my chest, even if there is a gun still pointed at me.
I hear Landon scoff, but I don’t even look at him. I keep looking at my wife. Then, I notice that Savannah is trying to show me that she’s gotten her hands loose from the ropes. I know what I have to do.
“Do you think I’m lying, Landon?” I ask him.
“Of course, you are. You’re just trying to save face for whatever reason. It’s so dumb,” Landon says.
He takes his hand with the gun in it and rubs his forehead.
“You know what, I don’t care. If you want to live in your fantasy world, be my guest. I don’t even need her like that anymore,” he says.
I’m assuming he means the marriage he wanted with her. But I don’t like the way he’s talking about her.
“What do you mean?” I ask him.
“Obviously, this whole marriage plan didn’t work, you told me that,” he says.
I did, but it was clear to anyone – except Joseph for almost seven years – that Savannah had no intention of marrying Landon.
“So, I’ve made another plan to get what I want.”
He repoints the gun at me.
“And here’s what we’re going to do. Joseph is going to sign over all controlling interests in King Enterprises to me and I so mean every last one. If he doesn’t, I’m going to shoot both his daughter and his daughter’s husband. In what order, I don’t know and, honestly, I don’t care, but it will happen.”
“Are you insane?” Joseph asks Landon.
“No, I already told you, I’m ambitious. I’ve already set a lot of the groundwork, so if you just sign the paperwork, everything will be fine,” Landon responds.
I’m watching this happen, mainly to make sure that Landon doesn’t see Savannah getting herself out of her ties, but, also, I’m thinking that this man is very delusional. I don’t know a lot about business, but I’m sure a contract signed under duress isn’t valid.
“It’s the company or your daughter. Simple choice.”
Landon shrugs.
“But why? I still don’t understand why it had to come to this,” Joseph says, with a confused tinge in his voice.
“Because she wouldn’t marry me. It would have been so much easier. But Savannah had to be difficult. Which is, whatever, now, I guess. This whole charade is kind of funny, you know. But I have to look after myself. I’d made my whole life plan based off of taking over King Enterprises, so I’m just here to keep that plan in motion.”
Just when I think that Landon’s about to shut up, he inhales, as if to let me know that in fact he’s about to keep talking.
“I mean,” he says, “everything’s about to just fall into place beautifully. I’m sure your employees will react quite nicely to me being their new boss. If you’re nice enough, I’ll let you come in and say goodbye to everyone, but only if you’re nice. Ugh, I’m so ready to just redo your entire office. I’ve always liked that office.”
This motherfucker won’t shut up. He’s just going on and on, but it works for us because Savannah is able to get out of the chair and, just as Landon is continuing his god-awful monologue, Savannah brings the chair down on his head, knocking him out cold.
“Holy shit!”
I hear Brent say the first thing he’s said since he got here. I look at my wife, and she looks so fucking bad ass right now. She hobbles over to me and falls into my arms. She clutches the front of my shirt, balling it into her fists.
“Robert,” she says.
She pushes her cheek into my chest, and I kiss the top of her head.
“Guys,” I say to Brent and Joseph, motioning with my chin at Landon.
The two of them go over to Landon, who’s still on the floor unconscious. They use the rope to tie him up.
Brent takes out his phone to call the police. I let him take care of that and put all my attention on Savannah.
“Are you okay?” I ask her.
She looks up at me and I put a hand on either side of her head.
“Yeah, he didn’t hurt me, not really.”
I don’t know if she’s putting on a brave front, but I’m not going to push the issue. I just want to take her home, wherever that may be, and take care of her for as long as she’ll let me. But we have to wait for the police to arrive first.
I see Joseph eying us suspiciously. He’s probably still not sure about us, but that’s not my concern right now. My concern is my wife.
“How’s your leg?”
“It’s fine. I still hurts a little, but I think I’ll be okay.”
I want to kiss her right now, I want to kiss her until my face falls off, but she’s just been through a whole ordeal, and I don’t want to push her any further than she wants to be pushed.
The police finally arrive, and we all have to give statements. They arrest Landon, who comes to at some point during the questioning. He’s way too out of it to say much, but I’m sure he’ll fully wake up eventually, and the police will get everything they need.
The medics look at Savannah, and she doesn’t have any injuries, other than a few cuts and bruises. She’s cleared to go home; we’re all cleared to go home.
“I should go check on Lindsay. I’m sure she’s wondering where I am,” Brent says.
We’ve been out pretty long, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s been calling him. He came over for a morning run, and those never last this long.
“Yeah, go. I can take care of things from here,” I say.
Joseph comes up to us next.
“I’m sure you kids want to get home, but, um, I’d like to talk to both of you later. There are some things I’d like to apologize for.”
I wasn’t expecting that. I assumed he was about to tell us how disappointed he was.
Savannah goes over to her father and hugs him.
“Of course. We can come over tomorrow and talk about… everything.”
It looks like maybe Joseph has finally gotten over that roadblock in his mind that was Landon. Hopefully, everything will be better now. Especially since Landon is out of our lives.
Joseph leaves and gets into his car. We watch him drive away until his
car is out of sight.
It’s just Savannah and me now. I’d very much like to leave the warehouse now, but I’m not sure what she wants to do. She’s leaning into me, and I love the weight of her body on mine.
“Do you want me to take you home?” I ask her.
Until Brent and I had gone to her place, I hadn’t realized that she’d been away from her apartment for so long. She probably has things she wants to get back to, and it’s always nice to be in one’s own bed. I just don’t want to make her be alone if she doesn’t want to be.
She looks up at me and shakes her head. Maybe she is still a little miffed at me for getting into that argument with her father at dinner.
I should have been outside with her, not trying to solve whatever issues I had had since childhood. Maybe Landon wouldn’t have been able to take her like that, if I had gone out there with her. I won’t ever know, but there’s still that regret.
“Oh no,” she says.
She must see the crestfallen look on my face because her voice sounds apologetic.
“It’s not that I don’t want to spend the night with you. I’d just rather go back to your place. I think I’d like for that to be our home now.”
I’m surprised she’d be willing to give up her clearly superior and nicer apartment for mine. I think mine is nice – and while it’s small, there’s definitely enough room for two – but hers is probably way nicer.
“Really? You want to live with me in my place?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she nods. “If that’s okay with you?”
I nod very enthusiastically. I would live anywhere with her, to be honest, but it means so much to me that she considers my place our place. It is our place. Ever since we got married, that’s where we’ve been, so it really is perfect.
“Let’s go home,” I tell her.
I call a cab, and it takes us back to my place. I help Savannah get up the stairs and get the two of us inside. She closes the door behind her and leans against it.
“Robert?” she asks.
I nod.
Her eyes are swimming up and down my body. I want to grab on to her, but, tonight, it’s her lead.
“Come here,” she commands.
I walk over to her, standing just a breath away. Her hands go under my shirt, the pads of her fingers skimming up my skin.
“I missed you,” she tells me.
“I missed you, too.”
I missed her so much, it almost hurt. I never thought I’d get to this point with her, but I couldn’t be happier.
I couldn’t be happier because she’s here and she’s safe. I couldn’t be happier because I’ve finally come to terms with how I feel about her and I’m ready to embrace it all. I couldn’t be happier because I’m with the woman I love.
“Did you mean it?” she asks me, seemingly out of nowhere.
“What?”
“Do you love me? Do you really love me?”
I can understand why she’s not sure. The only two times I’ve said it was when I was in the spotlight. The first time I said it, I thought I hadn’t meant it. My excuse was that I was only saying it because I didn’t want her dad to think we were lying.
The second time I said it, I meant it and knew I did, but there was a gun on me, and I could have been trying to save face, but I wasn’t. Everything about our relationship has been unconventional, but that doesn’t make my feelings any less valid.
“I love you, Savannah King. I loved you that first week we became friends. I loved you when we met again, and you didn’t remember who I was. I loved you when I thought you were the reason I got kicked out of school. I loved you when I married you and I love you now. I loved you when I thought I hated you. In fact, the reason I tried to hate you was probably because I loved you.”
She puts a hand on either side of my cheek.
“I love you, too. It hasn’t been for as long as it was for you, since I couldn’t remember out whole history, but I love you, Robert Miller, and I never want to apart from you, either.”
And she kisses me. It’s soft, and her lips are like pillows on mine. It’s only been about a day, but it feels like she’s been gone for weeks. I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost her. In fact, I don’t even want to think about it.
She breaks the kiss and brings her mouth to my ear.
“I want you inside of me right now. I want you to fuck me, so I can forget about everything except for you. I want you to make love to me, Rob.”
A primal, low growl comes from my throat and I pick Savannah up at her waist. She wraps her legs around me and rains kisses all over my face. I push her back into the door and grind my pelvis against her.
“Oh, Robert,” she moans, throwing her head back.
I free one of my hands and tear off her shirt, letting the ripped garment fall to the floor. Savannah gasps at the sound.
“Are you okay?” I ask her.
I know she’s a little sore from the kidnapping, but, for a second, I lost myself. I don’t want to cause her any more pain.
“I’m fine, keep going.”
I pick her up off the wall and carry her in the direction of the bathroom.
“What are you doing?” she asks me.
“I think I remember making you a promise that the next time I shower, I’d let you watch,” I respond.
I put her down to sit on the sink and then I stand up straight. She’s watching me with intense curiosity on her face.
I take off my shirt, slowly peeling it off my body, to give Savannah a bit of a show. She makes a sound of appreciation. I let the shirt fall to the floor, but then my eyes fall back on Savannah. She looks so beautiful sitting there, and I don’t think I can just watch for too much longer.
“Maybe before we get to the water show, I should take care of you,” I suggest.
Her head tilts to the side, in a question. I get down on my knees right in front of her. I pull apart her legs, so I can situate myself between them.
I bring my hands up to the waistband of her pants, and slide my fingers underneath, so I can pull them off her legs. They come off easily and I discard them to focus on her. I caress her over her panties, softly easing her into the most intense pleasure I hope to give her tonight.
“Oh,” she sighs gently.
Her legs open wider and I remove her underwear next, so that there’s no barrier between us. I bring my mouth down on her folds, slowing licking her as I allow myself to get drunk off the scent of my wife.
She hums with the arousal, her legs starting to close due to the tension. I keep them open by placing my hand on one of her knees. I continue to swirl my tongue inside of her, feeling her wiggle under my hold.
“Robert, Robert.”
Her hand has found its way into my hair and she’s pulling with extreme intensity. I can see the tension in her face, and she screams my name once it breaks. Her body undulates, and I taste her orgasm on my lips.
When her body calms, I pick myself up and bring my face up to hers. I give her a lazy kiss and she softly cups my cheek.
Her hand moves from my face, down my chest, over to my pants. I can hear her fiddling with my belt. It comes undone and she pushes my pants down as far as she can.
“I want these off,” she says to me.
I smile at her enthusiasm. I push my pants off and step out of them. I take off my shirt as well, since I’m about to take a shower. I kiss Savannah one more time, liking the way her hands are all over me.
We break apart and I go over to the shower, turning it on. I get it to a temperature that I like and then I pull off my underwear before stepping inside.
Savannah’s watching me with a misty look in her eyes. I just start my usual routine, getting out my conditioner and rubbing it into my hair. Water is definitely getting everywhere, but I’ll just deal with that clean-up later.
I move to soaping up my body and turn my head to see that Savannah has brought one of her feet on to the edge of the sink and she’s touching herself. We l
ock eyes and I move my hand to my shaft, lightly stroking it.
I have to put my hand against the shower wall to keep myself from falling over. She has two fingers pumping in and out of her pussy and then she adds a third.
My body tightens as I watch Savannah get herself off. Her mouth is slightly open as her breathing rate increases. But then, all of a sudden, she stops.
She takes her fingers out of her pussy and jumps off the sink. I watch as she walks over to me, her eyes never leaving mine. Still in her bra, she steps into the shower and the water runs over her hair and down her body.
She brings her fingers up and pushes them into my mouth. I suck off every last trace of her arousal and, once I’ve licked her fingers clean, I take them out of my mouth and move to her lips.
While kissing her, I unhook her bra and throw the soaking garment on to the floor before finally closing the shower curtain.
Savannah looks up at me as she allows her fingers to trace along my body. I grab on to her and situate our bodies so that she’s leaning against the back shower wall. I lean down slightly so that I can lift up her leg.
She rests her foot on the edge of the shower for balance. I rest my forehead on hers and kiss her while I position the head of my cock at her entrance.
I break our kiss to look into her eyes and she looks up at me in a way that no one ever has. I know I don’t need words to know that Savannah loves it, though I really enjoy hearing her say it.
I push inside of her, slowly letting her folds engulf me. Savannah’s head falls back as our bodies join together. She brings her hands over my shoulders and holds on to her wrists behind my neck.
Our bodies move together as I pump in and out of her, her back slick with sweat and water as it slides up and down the shower. Her eyes flutter shut, and she bites her bottom lip.
It feels like every inch of me is touching every inch of her. I know we have moments like this to come for the rest of our lives, but I’m so wrapped up in this one that I don’t want it to end.
“Fuck,” she sighs.
I don’t even think I can string together a few words at this point. All the blood in my body is rushing through my veins as my muscles strain to keep from popping. Her walls start to pulse around me, further milking every ounce of desire from my body.
