Page 45 of The Autumn Leaf Bookshop (Everly Hollow #1)

Tell me a truth

Raene

“ I love you!” I shout, then cease walking about halfway between the fountain and his shop. I don’t look to see if people are watching. They probably are, but I don’t care.

I was able to plan this with the help of the girls and my grandmother. I had to come back home. This magical place was now home. My heart was here, instilled in my grandmother, new friendships, and a new and budding love. I didn’t want to give this up.

The drive here was nerve-racking, unsure if he would leave early, and we would pass another on the highway.

I am grateful to the girls and my grandma for stepping in as my bureau.

They made sure Sylas stayed put, and Poppy was incredible, baking fresh birthday cupcakes.

With their excitement and tears, I knew I had made the right choice.

I take a step forward, keeping my distance. I just need to get this all out. The words feel like a tumbleweed of chaos in my chest. My hands begin to fiddle with the zipper of my puffer vest .

Shit. Why do I get so nervous? I haven’t taken any further steps towards him, and he just stays there like a lord waiting. He’s patient. He’s listening.

The stare he gives me, with that look in his eye that tells me he is aware that a change has been made. It could be my nerves or my heart beginning to beat erratically. It could be my scent changing due to reminders of him.

“I love you, and I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to say it face to face, and that I had to say it over the phone. I thought I may never get the chance at the rate our luck was going.”

He chuckles.

“I love you like summer,” I say boldly. My heart is beginning to feel the heat of the words. “You are the warmth of the sun. The bright light that I want to stay close to. Summers make me feel safe. You make me feel safe.”

I take a step forward.

“I felt so alone when I went back home.” My gaze hits my feet as I gently kick at the cobblestone.

“I couldn’t write.” My eyes meet his. “I couldn’t think…

” my fingers begin to intersect and pull apart again, “and when I could think, I thought of you. I thought of this wonderful place of magic. I thought of my grandmother and all the people I met here. I wanted that and I wasn’t ready to let go of it yet. ”

I take another step forward.

“I didn’t want you to have to leave your life behind for me. I couldn’t let you sacrifice your magic in the name of loving me at a distance. It was breaking who you are. ”

Taking a final step forward, “So that is what I would have said to your face that day. So I could see the love reflecting back to me.”

He sets the cupcake box down beside him and takes a step forward towards me before stopping.

“I missed the fuck out of you, girl.”

I laugh, my teeth sinking into my lower lip as the wetness seeping into my eyes begins to blur my vision.

“I wouldn’t have lost my magic completely, you're just my kryptonite, so to speak.” He smirks.

“So it’s not pumpkin spice lattes?” I give him a wink.

His eyes playfully narrow in on me.

“Tell me another truth,” I say, my voice cracking softly as a tear runs down my cheek. I clasp my hands in front of my lips like a prayer. He’s just a few steps ahead of me.

“I hate it when you fucking cry, but I know right now it’s because you’re happy, you’re loved, and you’re safe.” He comes in and sweeps me off my feet—literally!

He’s holding me in his arms, grabbing my thighs to wrap them around his waist. My hair falls in a curtain around his face as I caress his jaw, pressing a soft kiss to his lips, running my hands through the back of his hair.

“I missed you, Ash.”

He kisses me again, nipping my lower lip. “I missed you too and this mouth, fuck baby .”

And then he turns to walk us inside .

We’re kissing before I pull back and remind him that we have a cupcake on the shop porch and cupcakes in my car. The laugh he gives me touches my soul.

“I’ll get them later, I promise. Leave the one on the porch for Nim.”

“Okay, I—” I stop. I’m speechless. A faint glow has caught my eye, I see it coming from the tree. The tree inside the bookshop is back…and bigger!

More branches have grown, the colors are more vibrant than before, and the tree is full. Full once again of beautiful leaves with the light breeze flowing through the branches.

It’s alive. I can feel the pulse of it.

I turn to look at Ash, and he just stands there in astonishment, and I’m still in his arms. Grateful that the shock didn’t have him drop me. Nim flutters around, diving in and out of the canopy. I guess he’s happy we can’t see his hoard anymore.

“How do you feel?” I ask, taking his chin in my hand, turning his face back to me.

“With you here? So much better.”

I fall onto the bed, lying on my back as he takes off my shoes, socks, and my leggings, panties still inside.

“Take off the rest,” he says, standing over me. “I want to see all of you.”

He really doesn’t have to ask me twice .

I sit up, slowly shrugging off my vest and hoodie. Letting the movements tease him, as my body puts on a show only for him. My shirt comes off next, tossing it to the ground with the vest, leaning back on my elbows, my legs straight out in front of me, with one slightly bent.

“Fuck, you are a sight to see.” He starts to take a step towards me, but quickly changes his mind. “Give me a moment, don’t move.”

He leaves the room, and I hear a cabinet door open and shut, followed by the refrigerator door. The floors creak with each step. He enters the room with a cinnamon stick between his teeth and a bowl.

“What’s that?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer. Walking towards the nightstand, Ash sets the bowl down and reaches for the buttons of his flannel shirt. He takes it off, standing in jeans and bare feet.

He’s stunning with his broad shoulders and lean body. A smirk touches his lips as he still holds that cinnamon stick in his mouth. He pulls it out and sticks it into the bowl, swirling it around.

“Open…” The command slips off his lips and onto the sheets.

My mouth opens for him, and he presses the cinnamon stick past my lips, coated in whipped cream.

“Now suck.”

Goddess , how can I do anything but listen? The way he talks to me when it’s just us, how it drops from handsome, proper fae bookstore owner to a gorgeous fae of the Autumn Realm who’s giving zaddy .

I suck the whipped cream off the stick. The intense flavor of cinnamon and creamy pumpkin spice hits my tongue.

He pulls the stick out of my mouth gently, sticking it back in the bowl.

“Now, lie back, and relax.” My head sinks into the pillows as he takes my wrists in one hand, guiding them above my head.

My eyes follow the movement of his hands and the concentration etched across his face as he blindfolds me with his shirt.

The sleeves form a knot over my wrists, and the large part of the shirt he folded enough to just cover my eyes.

“If this is the only way you’ll wear my flannel shirts, then we’ll do it this way.”

A laugh bubbles out of me. My legs shift, as my head tilts side to side, desperate to see what he has planned for me.

“You can move, but keep your arms above your head.”

I hear the spoon being stirred in the bowl, then suddenly a dollop of cold whipped cream drops in the middle of my breasts, pulling a gasp from my lips, and my back arches. I was not expecting that. I can feel my breath quickening.

The mattress dips with his weight as he begins to part my legs. I can feel a bit of the cream starting to drip down, and he catches it with his tongue. Another gasp escapes me before sinking into a low moan.

“You like that?” He whispers.

I nod my head. “Yes.”

Then the cold metal of the spoon glides from the middle of my breast to the sides, up and around the mound of them, around my nipples, and it makes me shiver.

It makes me moan, especially when he traces back the direction of where the spoon was.

Licking, flicking his tongue over my skin, like there are patterns he can trace showing which area is more sensitive than the other. Sucking my nipples, squeezing my tits.

Fuck. This alone will make me cum.

I cry out his name over and over. I move my hips against the space between us where he hovers over me, seeking friction.

The spoon moves down my belly, the cool cream flowing with it. He drags it down through the small curls of hair and right over my clit, moving it in circles. The feeling alone, the fact I have something to move against has me on the edge, and I’m sobbing his name. “Ash!”

“You’re so beautiful, Raene.” He says, moving the spoon away from me. I whine.

The smell of cinnamon hits the air, and I can feel him tracing it on my body. How the hell the whipped cream hasn’t fully melted is beyond me, but hey, magic.

My hands start to lift off the bed. He puts them back down, his hands gripping the knotted shirt. “Good listeners get rewarded,” he whispers.

“You know,” he says, lifting from the hold yet continuing to trace the cinnamon stick over my breasts and belly, flicking his tongue and sucking cream off me in places I never imagined it’d be.

He continues, the warmth of his breath between my legs. “I enchanted this cinnamon stick for your pleasure, but mostly mine. ”

“Always the giver…” the words slip from my lips.

“Cinnamon is an aphrodisiac. It has warming properties, and it can improve blood flow.”

I don’t know what is turning me on more. The excitement behind this make-shift blindfold or the sensation of his tongue licking me, fucking me, and teasing me.

Goddess. Who knew I would love cinnamon so much after all?

The cinnamon stick is rubbing in such beautiful circles on my clit as he fucks me deliciously with his fingers.

I can feel the spice of the enchantment working its way up my spine.

When I cum, it’s too much. His fingers are still moving, searching for every nerve as my pussy tightens around them, making my back arch as I cry out his name.

“Ash!”

He holds down my hips, replacing the cinnamon stick with his tongue. I buck against him as another orgasm ripples through me.

“Yes,” I moan, breathless. My body is shaking as he pulls away from me, slowly lifting the shirt from my eyes.

My eyes quickly adjust to see his beautiful face. That sharp jaw and beautiful gold eyes. His full lips and golden-tanned skin. The light dusting of freckles…and that hair.

“So what do you think?” He asks, licking his lips, and a cheesy grin is plastered on his face.

“I’m actually leaning heavily into the idea of flannels," I pant.

“Oh, you are.” He laughs, nodding his head, his lips curving into a smile .

“Uh-huh, even in the off-season.” I nod, lifting my chin slightly. I’m unable to control my teeth sinking into my lower lip as I watch him.

“What else?” He hums.

“I definitely like that version of pumpkin spice…a latte. ” I laugh at my joke, and instead of laughing with me, he kisses me.

“You are such a dork,” he murmurs on my lips, lowering himself on top of me, using his arms for support.

“But I’m your dork, right?” I ask.

He rolls his hips into me, taking my breath away, and sealing the thievery with a kiss on the corner of my lips.

Our noses touch. I fall into those eyes and smile. I drown in them, and I’ll never come back up for air.