Page 15

Dakota

G entle fingers threaded through my hair, rousing me slowly from my sleep. I sighed and nuzzled into the familiar warm palm.

‘Good morning, my love,’ Blake whispered against my lips before pressing a soft kiss to them.

‘Mm, good morning,’ I mumbled sleepily, but then my hand landed on the space beside me on the cot, only to find it cool to the touch, and the previous night came rushing back to me. I’d meant to stay awake while I waiting for him to return. I remembered the first rays of light peeking through the trees, so I must have fallen asleep around dawn. Still, had he been out all night?

‘You just got back,’ I accused.

His gaze fell, suddenly more interested in a random spot on the blanket than me, and he bit his lip nervously. ‘I’m sorry, honey. It’s just, the whole thing with Rhodes finding that girl…’

Immediately, my annoyance fled only to be replaced by guilt and concern. And perhaps a dash of jealousy, but I was only human, and it was hard to compete with a ghost. Especially when all I had learned about said ghost made her sound like a genuinely wonderful human being.

‘It reminded you of her.’

He released a heavy sigh, his loss something that I had long since accepted he would never truly get over, no matter if he had moved on. I didn’t doubt his love for me, but I went into this relationship fully aware that his heart would always belong to another, even when he had somehow made room for me. I was okay with it, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t sting sometimes when his grief pushed forward again. It felt like I was in a relationship with her as well, though that feeling was more often found when I tried to talk to Chance. I was glad he was coming around to the idea of me, though this business with Rhode’s mystery girl had certainly put a damper on that progress. He’d been MIA ever since I’d given him and his team the girl’s description.

And so had my husband.

His entire demeanour softened when he looked up. There must have been some sort of expression on my face that showed my true feelings, and he jumped to reassure me. ‘I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to make you feel like my past was more important. I love you, and I’m so happy with you. I swear, I was just caught off guard and needed to process, but I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.’

I relaxed at his words. I hated that I still needed that reassurance, but it felt nice that he was so willing to give it. Not many men would have been patient enough with my insecurities. I loved him with all my heart, and the gaping chasm that Kali had left behind with her disappearance had been a huge block at the beginning of our relationship, and I could admit that there were some residual feelings about that.

Blake was my husband, however. He had married me and tied our lives together irrevocably. There was something to be said about actions speaking louder than words, and he proved to me every single day that our love was real and most definitely worth it.

When my eyes darted down to his lips, then travelled further until my gaze landed on the bulge beneath his zipper, he smirked at me knowingly. ‘Does my wife need a reminder that her husband finds her beautiful?’ he asked, leaning in to brush his lips against the corner of my mouth in an almost kiss. ‘That I find her sexy?’ His lips pressed every so gently against my jaw. ‘That I love her so fucking much?’

I released a shuddering breath, and that seemed to be the catalyst for the moment he lost control. His hand, still tangled in my hair, gripped my head to pull me to him, and his lips landed on mine in a bruising kiss. His tongue parted my lips and plunged into my mouth, tangling with mine as we tasted one another. I moaned into his mouth, and he groaned right back, grinding his growing erection into my leg.

‘Fuck, baby. I need you. I need to prove to you how much you mean to me with my cock buried deep inside your warm heat. Let me show you how much I fucking love you.’

I whimpered at his words, my legs already parting for him as a surge of wetness trickled from my core. ‘Yes,’ I hissed. ‘Show me how much you love me with that big, fat cock of yours.’

Another groan tore from his chest at my words, the sound low and vibrating. ‘Fuck, I love that dirty mouth of yours. You’re such a whore for me, aren’t you baby?’

I tilted my head up and nipped at his chin. ‘Only for you, babe.’

‘That’s right. Only for me. You’re all mine .’

His spare hand traced circles on my hip, then my waist, my ribs, until eventually he cupped my breast, flicking his thumb over my nipple. It perked up, poking through the flimsy fabric of my nightdress. He smirked at my breathy sigh, then bent his head to suck on my other nipple through the material. The sensation of his hot, wet mouth over the fibres on my sensitive bud had me arching my back to get closer to him, eagerly chasing the pleasure that he was withholding from me. He was teasing me, giving me just enough to soak through my panties, but not enough that I was quickly becoming frustrated.

I pulled away, tugging frantically at his clothes. ‘Off. Take them off. I need to feel you, baby.’

He complied, moving away from me to strip until he was naked before me, his thick cock jutting out, the head red and angry as it seeped precum from the tip. It twitched beneath my scrutiny, seeking what we both wanted.

‘Soon, baby,’ he promised. ‘But first, let’s get you out of your dress so I can make you feel good.’

He peeled my nightdress over my head and tossed it haphazardly to the side. I didn’t see where it landed, nor did I care when I had my husband’s beautiful, toned, naked body in front of me, his weeping cock just begging to be devoured.

‘I need to taste you,’ I whispered, unwilling to break the tension between us by being too loud. ‘I want to choke on you cock, baby.’

He smirked down at me, then adjusted himself so he was on his knees, leaning back, hips thrust forward for easier access. ‘Well, what kind of husband would I be if I denied you? Especially when you ask so prettily.’

I grinned, the expression more feral than the demure mask I donned in public. That was one of the things I loved the most about my relationship with Blake: that we could act like boring, upstanding members of society in public, then become animals behind closed doors. It was freeing. Intoxicating. Our sexy little secret.

I licked the bead of clear liquid that had gathered at his tip, tasting his salty, musky, manly taste, and moaned. I loved his flavour on my tongue.

‘Come on, baby. Don’t make me wait. Take me deep,’ he all but demanded, thrusting his hips up so his cock poked at my lips. I obliged, just as eager as he was, and wrapped my lips around his mushroomed head. I sucked and swirled my tongue around his tip, teasing him before the main show. I watched carefully for every twitch, shudder, gasp, and moan, taking him deeper into my mouth each time I made him make one of those delectable sounds.

‘Fuck, baby. Yes. Just like that,’ he praised as my tongue flicked around the underside of his shaft while I took him to the back of my throat. He moaned when he hit resistance, his hips jutting forward of their own accord until I was choking and gagging on his thick length. My eyes welled with tears, but he didn’t let up, and I didn’t want him to. Instead, I breathed through my nose, relaxed my throat, and let him slide all the way down until my nose brushed against his pelvis.

‘Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck, wait. Stop, baby. I’m gonna blow if you keep doing that,’ he panted as he pulled out of my mouth.

I’m squirming as he gazes at me from beneath eyes half-lidded with lust, but it’s like neither of us can wait a moment longer. He pounces, pushing me until I’m on my back beneath him as he hovers over me, his hot shaft rubbing deliciously against my clit. My pussy clenched around nothing, the ache becoming painful with need.

‘Please, baby, fuck me. I need you inside me,’ I begged

‘The hell if I’ll say no to that,’ he joked, but my smile disappeared in favour of a gasp when he pushed inside, taking me to the hilt in one long stroke. He stayed put, letting me acclimate to the sudden intrusion, but I didn’t want to wait. I wanted him to fucking move.

I shifted my hips, twirling them so his cock was brushing those little spots of pleasure deep inside me and I released a wanton moan, hoping to spur him to move. It worked. With a half chuckle-half groan, he pulled out, the slow drag of him lighting up my nerve endings perfectly, but when he thrust back in, it was hard and fast. Our skin slapped as he drilled into me, each pump of his hips hitting me just right as his balls smacked against that small sliver of skin between my pussy and my ass. If he didn’t feel so damn incredible in my pussy right now, I might have asked him to take me back there instead.

‘I’m gonna come soon, baby,’ he panted above me, then proceeded to grunt as he held back. He always made sure I came first, so when his hand snaked between us and he started thumbing my clit, I knew I wasn’t going to last much longer, either.

‘Fuck, yes, right there,’ I moaned, my walls starting to flutter around his length until my pleasure crested and I clenched around him, locking him inside me. My mouth opened in a silent scream, but he covered it with his hand anyway, just in case a sound escaped. We may have been in a tent, but we weren’t truly alone.

He jerked inside of me, his hips stuttering as his own orgasm crested and I felt the first spurts of his cum streaking my inner walls. His arms gave out as he panted, and he collapsed on top of me. I didn’t mind, though. I liked how close we were, the sensation of our sweat-slick skin sliding against each other, his hot, harsh pants blowing into my ear and rustling my hair.

‘Fuck, I love you.’ He punctuated his declaration with a nip to my earlobe, and I shivered beneath him, winding my arms around his torso to keep him in place.

‘I love you, too, Blake. You’re my everything.’

His nose nuzzled into my neck as he kissed, licked, and nipped down to my shoulder and back up again, then he lifted himself onto his elbows so he could look me in the eye. His expression was tender, loving, and brimming with affection solely kept for me, and me alone.

I wondered briefly if he had looked at Kali that way, too, but cast the thought aside as quickly as it came. I wouldn’t allow her memory to tarnish the best thing that had ever happened to me, even if I did still feel that twinge of guilt deep in my stomach, like I was somehow stealing her man. I wasn’t, I knew that, but I couldn’t help but feel like he would also belong to her first.

It was a bittersweet moment as we held each other in the afterglow of our lovemaking. One filled with love, but was twisted by my insecurities that refused to budge, though I did my best to focus on the sweet over the bitter.

Sounds trickled in from outside. Birds chirping, trees rustling in the breeze, the shuffle of people rousing from sleep. The sun was fully up now, shining through the tent to bathe us in a green glow. When the first squawks of a displeased Mallory cut through the quiet peacefulness of the morning, both Blake and I sighed. He hefted himself off of me, rolling to sit on the edge of the cot and to gather our clothes. He picked up my nightdress and used it to clean me up, gently collecting evidence of our intimacy before folding it and putting it aside. It was sweet of him, but I wished he’d used one of the towels. I didn’t have any more nightwear.

‘Nothing like your mother’s voice to break through the moment, huh?’ he teased, and I sent him a thin-lipped smile in response. He noticed I was a little out of sorts and frowned, pausing in his quest to find some clothes to give me his full attention. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing. It’s… nothing. I’m just worried about you,’ I admitted.

His smile was soft, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘There’s no need for you to worry, honey. I’m fine, I promise.’ He pressed a quick kiss to my forehead, finished getting dressed, then told me he’d meet me in the café for breakfast once I was ready.

My smile vanished as soon as the tent’s flap fluttered closed behind him. Maybe I should join Rhode’s efforts to get the mystery of that girl solved so we could get some closure. Kali had been gone for seven years. She had been legally declared dead earlier this year, and she wasn’t coming back. I hated to see how her absence was still hurting the people I cared about all these years later, but there wasn’t anything to be done for it. Grief had no set rules, and all I could do was love and support them while they dealt with it.

But Rhodes’ description of her, closely followed by Blake’s reaction, not to mention Chance’s, sat heavy in my heart, taunting my persistent insecurities. What if it was her? What if she was in trouble, and we saved her, only for her to find me living her life in her place?

I couldn’t even begin to imagine how that would feel. Yet, I also couldn’t imagine doing what was necessary to bring her home. Blake was mine now, but that didn’t mean I had to be cruel about it. I wouldn’t let her suffer just because life had moved on without her. That was a torturous enough prospect in itself.

That settled it, then. I would talk to Rhodes and see if there was anything to do to help, because despite the part of me that acknowledged her return could destroy everything I had built for myself these past few years, I could not bring myself to sit back and do nothing just to keep it for myself.