CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Draven took the keys from Indy, but before he could put them into the lock, the door opened and Lizz stuck her head around it. “Oh. Crap, I didn’t know you’d be back yet. I was just leaving.”
“Hell no.” If she thought she was going anywhere until he knew the bomb threat was over, then his sister had lost her mind. “Get your ass back in the house, there is shit going on at the corner and I do not want either of you getting hurt.”
“But…”
“Nope.” He’d pick her up and carry her back in the door if he had to. “Tell her, Indy.”
“You know how much I hate to admit any man is right, even this one.” Indy winked at him where his sister couldn’t see. “In this instance, he is right. It’s dangerous in town tonight. It’s safer for all of us to stay behind closed doors.”
Lizz glanced from one to the other and back again before she huffed in annoyance and led them back into the apartment. “Fine. I’ll be the third wheel.”
“Ah, fuck.” The last thing he wanted to do was make Lizz feel that way. This new dynamic between all three of them was going to take a little time to figure out. “You aren’t the third wheel.” He caught his baby sister by the arm. “I still love you just the same as before…”
“I know that, you idiot.” Lizz slapped at his arm. “Why would you think that you and Indy being together doesn’t thrill me to bits? I get her as my sister for realsies. That’s the best gift on the planet.”
“Ah, Drave,” Indy called from the kitchen doorway. “You’ve gotta see this.”
“Do not leave the apartment,” he warned Lizz. “It’s not safe. Please stay.” He went to the kitchen, where Indy waited at the door.
“Don’t be mad at her,” Indy whispered. “Look what she did for us.” She stepped out of the way and he scanned the kitchen, skimming over the counters and onto the breakfast nook which was set up for dinner for two. Candles and a centerpiece were in the middle of the table.
“I made stuffed pork chops, gratin potatoes, and veggies,” Lizz said from behind him. “I wanted tonight to be special for you two without me in the way.”
“We love you!” Draven drew his sister into his arms and hugged her. He glanced at Indy over Lizz’s head, and she must have read his mind as she nodded and went to grab another chair and put it next to the table. “Family is important,” he reminded Lizz. “We are your family, and you are ours. Please stay.”
She nodded and sniffed. “I only made dinner for two.”
“Then it’s just like old times,” Indy said. “When your momma made food stretch to make sure I was taken care of, too.” She blew out the match in her fingers and lit a second one for the other candle. “Family.”
“Family.” Draven smiled when Lizz spoke in time with him. “Jinx.” The old teasing from when they were kids snuck in, and everything was back on track. They added more salad and a side of veggies, then split the meat and potatoes between them. They laughed, they reminisced, and they enjoyed the simple pleasure of sharing a meal with family who mattered.
By the time he and Indy made it to her bedroom, his heart was full and it had begun to sink in that Indy was his, and he was hers.
Wow. Just wow.
Indy stood in front of him and cupped his face, her eyes shining with emotions which tugged at his heart.
“You're an extraordinary woman, Indy.”
My woman! My world!
“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t want there to ever be a time where I forget my best friend just because I’m in love with you. Or for either of us to make her feel less because we are a part of something she isn’t.”
If he hadn’t loved her already, that would have done it. He lowered his head to scan her face and placed a delicate kiss on her lips, kissing her slowly and tasting her. As they kissed, he could feel the urgency, the desire to lose himself in her, but he refused to allow it to take over. Tonight he wanted to savor, to devour, and to love Indy until she felt it in her soul.
He leaned down and scooped her into his arms. She buried her face into his neck as he crossed the room to the bed, where he carefully put her back on the floor.
He smiled as the moonlight from the window seemed to light her up, reminding him of an angel. His angel. His bright spot in the darkness when the world went to hell and back. He stripped off his shirt and dropped it on the floor.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” She traced the muscles of his chest with one finger, leaving a trail of goose bumps in her wake. He helped her undress and she wriggled to help him get her jeans over her hips. “God, I need to touch you so bad.”
She smiled softly at him, slid her hands up his arms to his neck, and wrapped around him. Standing on her tiptoes, she pressed against him.
“Make love to me, Draven,” she whispered against his lips.
He kissed her as they moved backward until her calves bumped against the bed. He laid her gently down onto the covers.
“You make me feel positively tiny, yet you fill my heart so full I think it might explode,” she whispered. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”
“You’re so beautiful, baby, and it blows my mind that you don’t see it.” He lowered himself over her, and she wrapped around him, pressing a kiss to his throat. This moment, that kiss, was the one which he knew would be etched in his memory forever. This moment mattered more than anything ever had before or would again. This was the moment he heard the sound of her heart welcoming him home.
Indy moaned without restraint as his hands explored her body. She gasped with pleasure, arching under him when he found sensitive spots.
“Your reaction to my touch drives me crazy.” He pressed his erection against her, letting her feel what she did to him. She ran her nails down his back as he blew across one of her nipples.
“Please don’t make me wait.” She pressed kisses to the skin she could reach and shifted her hips, opening herself wider, offering herself to him. “Please, Drave, I need you inside me.”
“Me too.” He grasped his cock and lined it up with her opening, pushing in deep. Her gasp and smile urged him to take her hard and fast. But tonight, he wanted more, he needed the connection. Leaning on his forearms, he took her slowly while watching her eyes. It was so easy to get lost in the magic which seemed to weave around them. He took his time, building up the ecstasy, savoring every breath, every touch between them.
Indy sighed. “So good.”
He smiled at her, bending down to capture her lips and kiss her passionately until both needed air. The need to say the words pushed at him, begging him to tell her. But before he could, she pushed at his side. “Roll over, babe.”
Babe?
I love that she called me that.
He lay back against the pillows as she positioned herself over the head of his cock. He stayed still as she slid down until her tight pussy opening pulsed around the base of his cock. He groaned, a low animalistic sound which wracked through him.
Her hair fell over her shoulders, brushing off his chest and adding to the sensations. His hands curved around her hips, flexing and squeezing as she took him deep inside her. She placed her hands on his shoulders as she rolled her hips back and forth, making them both moan.
Draven moved one hand from her hip and ran one finger down the side of her neck. When she tilted her head to one side, he wrapped that hand around her throat.
“Yes, love it.” She sped up, her pussy caressing his cock with each stroke. Jesus, he’d never felt the fire of an orgasm building like this before. She was the spark, and he was the firework waiting for her touch. “My Indy,” he murmured softly.
“Yours,” she agreed.
The more she rolled her hips, the closer he needed to be to her. He sat up and pressed his chest against hers, kissing her slow and deep in time with the rocking of their hips. This connection was everything and more. He leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too. So much.” She kissed him again, her arms around his neck, keeping their bodies flush together. Somehow while they were kissing, they shifted positions again with Indy under him, and Draven couldn’t resist the control she offered him. He moved harder and deeper, long slow strokes alternating with some faster shallow ones. He called on every ounce of discipline he’d gained over the years to get her to the point where he could feel she was right on the edge. He forced himself to keep his rhythm steady, and her moans turned to a scream as she arched under him, climaxing and taking him with her.
Drave exploded inside her, every pulse of his cock shuddering through his whole body as he emptied himself deep inside her. His forehead pressed gently against hers and her fingers stroked through the hair at the back of his neck until they rolled onto their sides and he could keep her in his arms as they reveled in the bliss of afterglow.
“I love you.” He wanted her to know this wasn’t just something he’d say during sex. “I love you, baby.”
“Love you.” Her words were sleepy as she blinked up at him. “Love you too.”
“I know.” He did know. The knowledge wrapped around him, soothing the harsh edges life had given him. Knowing she loved him was the bandage his heart hadn’t known it needed.
“We are doing this again, right?” She winced when his cock slid free of her body.
“Yeah, baby, every time you want until forever comes.”
“Forever.”
She rolled away from him and he let her go, knowing she’d want to clean up. It killed him that she wouldn’t let him do it for her. But if that was her line, he’d respect it. He watched the sway of her butt as she walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
Forever is never going to be long enough .