Razor sharp bliss ripples through me and I don’t need to be told twice to scream. I couldn’t stop it if I tried. My head falls back, my mouth drops open, and I’m screaming my release in the private depths of this room as his hot seed lashes in me and our bodies convulse in bliss.
“Fucking perfect,” he grates, still thrusting. His fingertips are so tight on my hips he’ll leave marks, but he told me he’d mark me, and mark me he did. His bite marks, his come, his handprint across my arse but so much more. He’s left grooves in my heart. Indelible. Permanent.
As the spasms of pleasure slow, we hit turbulence. The jet dips downward, and he pulls himself out of me. We’re tangled in the sheets, still panting. He pulls me to his chest so fiercely I can hardly breathe, as if trying to keep me safe from the tumult.
“You okay?” he asks.
No, I’m not okay, I want to respond. Physically, I’m fine. We haven’t crashed, and I know this is only temporary. But my heart… God, my heart is rent in two. I thought I could detach myself from him and still enjoy the moment. I was wrong. So fucking wrong. I’m no more capable of remaining detached from Lachlan than I am from jumping out a window and flying back to Ballyhock by flapping my arms.
Is everything ruined between us? The words I’ve said, my inconsistency and fear. Only a fool would continue to stay with a girl like me and deal with me. I know it.
We hit turbulence again, this time rocketing to the side, and I scream involuntarily.
“You’re alright, love,” he says softly, holding me tightly against his chest. “I’ve got you.”
I know he does. I know it. It dawns on me that he isn’t talking about protecting me from the uncertainty in the sky but so much more.
Finally, the jet settles down. I clean up and so does he, and wordlessly we lie in bed. I’m asleep within minutes.
When I wake, we’re only minutes from landing.
“Have to get ready to land, Fiona,” Lachlan says. There’s a firmness to his jaw and a hardness in his eyes that sets me on edge.
“Oh?”
His gaze swings swiftly to mine. “Yeah. We’ll be near Ballyhock momentarily.”
My heart soars with hope and the promise of the joy that I lost. I want to see my friends and family. I want to be back home.
I don’t know what we’ll do when we get back. I don’t know who I even am anymore. But I long to be home.
The jet lands without much ado. He gets my bags, and I don’t bother to fight him. I exit the plane, and to my joy, I see Sheena and Nolan, waiting for me. Sheena looks pale and wan, but she manages a smile when I exit, and Sam grins at me. I run to them, and Lachlan trails behind me.
“You alright?” Nolan asks, kissing my cheek.
“I’m fine,” I lie. “I’m fine.”Chapter 18LachlanI let her go. I let her run to Sheena and Nolan, and I carry her bags to her. Sheena wraps her up in her arms, and when Nolan finally gets a chance to hug her, he lifts her straight up in the air. She squeals like a little girl. Adorable.
“Got her bags,” I say quietly, not wanting to interrupt the family reunion.
“Thanks for that,” he says. “Everything alright, Lach?”
“Fine,” I say. “How’s Sheena?”
His face falls, and he shrugs a casual shoulder. But his voice is hoarse and affected when he responds. “She’s alright. Reckon it’ll take a bit of time to recover.”
“Absolutely.”
“Glad to have you two back home.”
“It was bigger than we could handle, Nolan.” I fill him in. “And why does it make sense for Tiernan to stay? We need him home, too.”
His brows draw together. Fiona’s somewhere between a sister and a daughter to him, and Tiernan’s somewhere between a brother and a son.
“I hate that for him,” Nolan says, helping me carry the bags to the waiting car. “But Keenan’s already sent back up.”
“He has?” I look at Nolan incredulously. “Keenan pulled me, though. Why the hell didn’t he leave me?”
Nolan rolls his eyes. “Seriously, you couldn’t figure it out?”
I only frown.
“He wanted you near Fiona, of course,” Nolan says. “And moreover, he wants you home.”
I look wistfully at Fiona with her sister ahead of us.
Not sure she wants me, though. Nolan looks from me to her and then back again.
“You two alright?”
“I don’t know,” I answer truthfully. I swallow hard. “I’ve claimed her, Nolan.”
Nolan drops the bags on the ground right where he is. “You fucking what?”
“Claimed her,” I say with conviction, meeting his flinty gaze.
Nolan’s eyes go heavenward. “No need for me to kick yer arse,” he says. “Sheena will do it for me.”