Page 27 of Room 710 (The Scarlet Hotel #15)
Ziggy
The world had been flipped upside down while I was in the Lonely Alpha house.
Only a handful of weeks had passed, just a drop in the bucket in relation to life, but I was a changed man.
Seriously, I barely recognized myself anymore.
When I’d first applied to Lonely Alpha , I’d been single and lonely, living with my mom, and now… I was somehow engaged!
From my spot in the passenger seat, I leaned forward as far as the seatbelt would let me to stare through the windshield in awe as Eli pressed a button on his key fob.
The automatic gate slowly opened, and we pulled into the driveway of a sprawling bungalow.
The gray stucco was broken up by floor-ceiling windows, and the front door was a vibrant red, giving the otherwise plain house a pop of color.
The lawn and garden were immaculate, no doubt maintained by a professional.
“This is where you live?” I gushed. It was a step up from the trailer parked out front of the house.
“Where we live,” he corrected, bringing our joined hands up to his mouth and kissing my knuckles softly.
“If you think I will go another night of sleeping without you, you’re mistaken.
We can swing by your mom’s house tomorrow and pick up your stuff.
Until then, I’m afraid you’re fresh out of clothes.
Oh shucks…” He winked at me, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, and I found myself watching him in profile as he parked the car one-handed, refusing to let go of me for even a second.
Was this man for real? He was so much more… transparent than Grayson was. He just said exactly what was on his mind, no confusion or indecision, leaving no guesswork on my part. Could our future together really be this easy?
As soon as the car came to a stop, I unbuckled my seatbelt, but he said, “Stay right there,” then got out and jogged around the hood to open my door for me with a flourish. “Shall we?” He offered me a hand, and my fingers were shaking as I put my hand in his.
Eli eagerly tugged me down the gray bricked walkway, but as soon as he had the door unlocked, he bent down and swept me straight off my feet. I squealed and wrapped my arms around his neck to keep from falling. “What are you doing?!”
“I’m carrying you over the threshold, obviously.” It had not been obvious to me.
“But we’re not married,” I said, confused. I was still having a hard time keeping up with the changes to my life.
“ Yet , but trust me, I will be rectifying that as soon as I can walk you down the aisle. Welcome to your new home, Ziggy.” He stepped into the foyer, and while I probably should’ve been taking in my surroundings, I was instead fixated on this incredible man. How did I get so lucky?
“Sorry, the air is a little stale. I haven’t been home in… a while.” He turned and caught me looking at him, and I could only imagine the expression I had on my face, because his pupils dilated and he dragged his tongue along his lower lip, bringing my attention to his mouth.
Instead of putting me down, Eli shifted me in his arms so I could wrap my legs around his waist, trapping my length between our bodies. “I would really love the grand tour,” I purred, tilting up to nibble on his chin. “Why don’t you start with the master bedroom?”
“It would be my pleasure.” He meant that literally, of course, though I had a good feeling there would be enough pleasure to go around.
We couldn’t get enough of each other, after being mostly apart for so long, which was probably why we didn’t make it more than three steps before he had to pause, pressing me into the wall so he could kiss me, licking through my mouth so thoroughly that my toes curled.
After a minute, he groaned and tried for the bedroom again.
It took us several more failed attempts to get there, stumbling down the hall. I was aching and dripping, beyond desperate, and if he didn’t hurry, I would demand he take me right here and now.
At long last, we practically fell into the bedroom, and Eli tipped forward onto the bed, pressing me into the mattress with his weight. “Clothes…” I managed to mumble between kisses.
He jumped off the bed so fast, I was left gasping.
Grabbing my waistband, he peeled off my pants and underwear with such force that I slid halfway across the mattress toward him.
I laughed, feeling lighter than I had in a long time.
I’d never known that sex could be fun like this, and not just hot and heavy.
Eli’s hands were shaking so badly that he had trouble getting his own clothes off, and he ended up hopping on one foot, struggling to untie a shoe.
I watched with amusement, stroking myself slowly.
When he was finally naked and turned back to the bed, he paused, his eyes catching on the lazy movement of my hand over my shaft.
My dick twitched under his gaze, a drip of precum glistening on the tip.
“Do you miss watching me?” I asked, jacking myself, careful not to get myself too close to coming; I wanted him to be the one to push me over the edge. “If you want, I could put on a little show just for you.”
He growled, teeth bared. “No, I am so done with watching.” He literally pounced on me, whipping my hand away so he could do it himself.
There was no grace or caution between us.
Our movements were frenzied, desperate. Eli spread my legs with his knees and reached back to spear me with his fingers, stretching hurriedly.
Luckily, I was still nice and relaxed from this morning’s round.
“I promise we’ll take our time later, but right now, I just want to be buried inside you. ”
“Uh-huh,” I agreed, nodding, as I grappled with his hips, trying to guide him to my entrance.
My skin flushed hot, sweat prickling along my hairline.
“Enough prep, I’m good.” That was only partly true.
It would probably sting a little, but I saw nothing wrong with that.
Pleasure and pain lived in the same neighborhood, after all.
He paused, his bare cockhead notched at my entrance, with just the barest pressure to make me whine. “Why are you stopping?”
Eli looked into my eyes. “Are you still sure?”
Last night at the hotel, he refused to ditch condoms until his test came back clean, but this morning, he got a call from his doctor giving him the all-clear. I was still technically covered by my suppressants, but that didn’t make this any less of a big step.
“ So sure,” I said, staring up into his stormy eyes.
We didn’t break eye contact as he surged forward, breaching my hole. I cried out, my thighs squeezing around his hips. He paused, probably to let me adjust, but I was already so close. “Don’t stop, please!” I begged.
Thank the gods he obliged, though as he filled me again and again, it was still somehow not enough. “I need—I need…” I stuttered, but when I reached for my cock, he took both wrists and pinned them over my head.
“I will take care of all your needs,” he vowed, before he licked his palm and wrapped his fingers around my length, his hand large enough to engulf it entirely.
The way he said it, I knew he would move heaven and earth to give me whatever I wanted—in this case, his knot.
“You’re so perfect, like you’re made for me,” he praised, and as he stroked me firmly in time with his thrusts, there was nothing I could do to hold back my climax.
Heat and pressure built inside me until I thought I would explode. “Come with me,” I whimpered. “I want to feel you come inside me.”
“Fuck,” he grunted as my back arched with mind-blowing pleasure, taking him impossibly deeper.
As I hit my peak, unloading my cum across my stomach, he bit down on my shoulder and buried himself to the hilt, spasming as he painted the walls of my channel with his cum.
My ass clamped down around him, milking every last drop…
and then came his knot, expanding to lock his seed inside my womb.
With a final shudder, I sighed in absolute bliss. Love didn’t get any better than this.
I must’ve fallen asleep after that, because when I blinked my eyes open, it was to the aroma of bacon. “Breakfast?” I asked, sitting up in bed. “Please tell me I didn’t sleep the entire day and night away.”
Eli laughed as he set the tray of food down on the dresser. “No, just half an hour, but I’ve always wanted to feed you breakfast in bed. So what if it’s for dinner? It still counts.”
“Fair,” I said, because who could argue with that logic?
I moved to prop myself up against the headboard so I could make room for the food across my lap, and Eli joined me in bed.
He picked up a strip of bacon, so crispy it was just this side of Hellscape, exactly the way I liked it, and held it to my lips for me to take a bite.
“You don’t need to take ‘feeding me’ to the literal extreme, you know. I have two hands.”
“Shh, just let me enjoy this.” And he did seem to be enjoying it, so I did as he asked and just opened my mouth, accepting each mouthful.
“So, what’s the news?” I asked him nervously.
“Have you checked the forums to see what people thought of the finale?” Not that I cared all that much about what people thought, besides my mom and Levi, and they’d already given me their enthusiastic support.
But that didn’t mean that Eli’s livelihood didn’t depend on public opinion.
Eli sighed. “Yeah, I’ve looked…” He was frowning, and I braced myself for the worst, but then his sober expression cracked, his grin taking over like he couldn’t contain himself. “Check this out.”
He pulled out his phone and passed it over, and I scanned the top comments in the thread.
DripDrip69: EPIC! God-tier finale, dude
MuffinTop: Congrats, BananaSunday! You deserve your own HEA at last.
CreamyJoe: You’d better invite us to the wedding!
The words blurred as tears filled my eyes, and no amount of blinking could clear my vision.
Sure, he’d proposed, so it was likely people would expect us to get married, but…
most seasons, Lonely Alpha ’s proposal fell flat once the contestants returned to their old lives.
Reality paled in comparison to the fairy tale the show conducted.
I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand. “You know, just because you declared your love for me on national TV—”
“International. We’re quite popular in Australia,” he teased, setting the empty plate aside so he could turn toward me.
“Sure, on international TV, but… that doesn’t mean you have to go through with it, you know.
I won’t hold it against you if you say you’ve changed your mind.
” I felt too vulnerable to look him in the eye, so instead, I stared down at the ring he’d put on my finger.
The promise of a future that still felt out of reach.
He took my cheeks between his palms and tilted my face up, brushing my tears away with his thumbs.
“You were never about the ratings to me, Ziggy. I knew the moment I laid eyes on you that you were something special, but no matter how much I told myself that you weren’t meant for me, I simply couldn’t let you go. ”
I gave a wet laugh, sniffling. “I’m glad you didn’t. You were always the alpha I was meant to win.” My eyes were surely red, my nose snotty, but he looked at me as though I were the most handsome man he’d ever seen. “So… are we going to televise our wedding?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.
“What if I’m tired of sharing you with the world? Maybe I want to keep you all to myself.”
I nodded. “That sounds perfect to me.”
“Besides, I think Devon and Prairie’s wedding deserves the spotlight, after they gave us our proposal.” Because of course they’d been sneakily falling in love, right under our noses, this whole time. In the end, they were our biggest supporters. We couldn’t have had our finale without them.
When Eli deepened the kiss, we fell back into bed for another round, although there would be no rush this time. We had all the time in the world. An infinity of tomorrows.