She smiles weakly. “I thought I was just a sex object to you.”
“Do you really think I would have sex with a woman without taking any precautions if she meant nothing to me? I was always secretly hoping you’d get pregnant.”
“I am on the pill,” she says softly. “But I don’t have to be.”
I smile slowly “Good. Because I would love to see you round with my child.”
She swallows hard. “Thorne … I … love you too,” she stammers suddenly, looking right into my eyes.
It is like being on a roller coaster. Today I have felt the gamut of human emotions. From hatred to rage to love to pure elation. I want to whoop with joy. “When did you know?” I ask with a wide grin.
“I was crazy about you from the day you interviewed me. I couldn’t even focus I was so freaking attracted to you.”
I grin. “Really?”
“Couldn’t you tell? I thought you were going to fire me. I kept looking at your mouth.”
I reach down and kiss her. “What, this mouth?”
“Mmmm … yeah, that mouth.”
“Tell me more,” I encourage.
“You were just such a powerhouse. So confident. So successful. So handsome. I mean, most of the women in the office were masturbating to fantasies of you.”
“Bullshit.”
“No, I’m serious.”
“Did you?”
She blushes. “I might have. Once or twice.”
I thought I wouldn’t get a hard on after what we’ve been through today, but just like that. I’m hard as a rock.
Chelsea
I look up at Thorne’s handsome face and I feel the air change between us. Suddenly the thing that is always swirling between us is here again, but I can see in his eyes that this time he won’t do anything unless I want him to.
An image of my grandfather touching my hair flashes into my mind, and how I froze, and couldn’t do a thing. Not a thing. His power over me makes me feel sick inside, but I straighten my spine. No, I won’t let him win. He won’t break me. I won’t let him spoil what I have here. Right now. With the most beautiful man in the world.
Fuck him!
This is my life.
He has ruined enough of it.
No more.
I reach out and touch Thorne’s mouth. With a muffled oath, he grabs me and lifts me up before claiming my mouth in a passionate kiss. It is the kiss of a starving man. I claw at his clothes, pulling at his shirt, hearing buttons pop.
I still can’t believe he loves me. He loves me! It seems too incredible to believe. These last two days are like a dream. So many things have happened and now … this. This amazing man. Mine? I need more time before I will truly believe it, but this is a good start.
Thorne pulls his mouth away from mine, and disrobes me. My nipples are hard. He lays me on the bed. His hands pin me to the bed while his mouth plunders my pussy.
“Oh God,” I groan.
My hands fist the sheets when he seals his mouth over my clit and sucks hard, swirling his tongue around it. My hips rise off the bed, and he pushes them back down. His mouth is relentless, his tongue dipping down to my ass and returning to my clit to flick and suck, never slowing, never stopping.
Voracious man.
Already I can feel an orgasm building deep within me. As if he feels it too, he plunges his tongue into me. My breath comes in gasps as he brings me to the edge. My body writhes on the bed. I’m so close I feel as if I’m drowning.
“Thorne,” I beg.
When I am one touch away from exploding, he flicks his tongue over my clit. I go blind with pleasure as the orgasm travels down my spine. I arch off the bed, pressing my pussy against his mouth. I feel a flood of wetness leave my pussy as I come all over his mouth. He licks me through my orgasm until I am limp and spent.
With a final lick, he crawls up my body and hovers over me.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers.
He just drank my juices, but for some weird reason I suddenly feel shy and exposed. He watches the heat spread across my chest and neck, then he swoops down on my open mouth. His kiss is possessive and fierce and I feel his complete ownership of me. Using the same sucking action he did while eating my pussy.
I can taste myself on his tongue.
“I love how wet you always are for me,” he murmurs, as he dips a finger into me.
I arch into him, loving the feeling of his thick finger. I squeeze onto his finger, and it feels good. Real good. I can already imagine what it is going to feel like when Thorne is inside me again, jammed deep inside me. He slides two fingers into me and moves them back and forth, while my body becomes used to the sensation. He pulls out and I whimper in protest. He pushes into me again, and there are more fingers now. He has three fingers inside me. The idea of so much of him inside me excites me.
My eyes widen and he pauses to let me adjust.
The feeling of being impaled on his hand, of just being held down on the bed overwhelms me. I know that I can ask him to stop, but I don’t want him to. It feels so different from his cock. Full, but in an entirely different way. He slides out a little while watching me, and I moan restlessly. He pushes back in again.
“You like this?” he asks.
“It feels amazing,” I breathe.
He starts a slow rhythm and my eyes close. I hear myself saying yes, yes, yes. Over and over while his fingers move faster and faster inside me. Suddenly he twists his hand, and my whole world goes white. I scream. I know I do, because I hear myself as I float inside a cloud of white bliss. My orgasm doesn’t just come once. No, it comes again, because he continues to fuck me. I splash all over his hands and soak the bedclothes. Everything is pleasure.
The high fades and I return to my body. Small spasms rock my body.
“That was beautiful,” I whisper.
“And you’re fucking perfect.”
“I love you so much Thorne,” I whisper.
“I love you even more, Chelsea,” he replies.
Then he grabs my legs and presses them towards my chest. I am totally open for him. He kisses my wet thighs.
Then he enters me.
“Oh, God,” I cry. It sounds almost like a prayer. And it is. A prayer of thanks. After everything I’ve been through, I’ve finally come home.
Thorne
“No problem. Always a pleasure to work with you, Nick,” I say.
It has been a week since Chelsea’s grandmother’s funeral, and it’s time to put my plan into action. I haven’t told Chelsea what I’m going to do, and I won’t until I get the results I want.
“Always,” Nick says and hangs up.
My goal is to ensure her grandfather goes away for a long time; somewhere where he can’t hurt anybody else. I’d love to take her mother down as well, but Chelsea still seems to need her mother’s love. It’s some kind of twisted sense of loyalty and love. I am reluctant to test that bond. Let it be. One day, with time and help, she will grow out of it.
I will respect Chelsea’s wishes. For now, she is off limits. I will be content that she has already spent some time in jail, and she has the rest of her life to think about what she did to her own daughter, the man she loved, and how she aided in her father’s sickness.
She is not my problem. I have no time for anyone else but my Chelsea. Yesterday, I finally managed to find the grave of Uncle Dave. It was a hell of a search, but I spared no expense. We went together, Chelsea clutching a bunch of flowers. I stood back while she went to fall by the grave. I had to stop myself from going to her. She had reverted back to a child. She spoke to him for some time, but when she began to cry I could no longer bear it. I went to her and took her away.
It took her all day to get back to some semblance of normality, but while we were in the bath, she suddenly put her mouth close to my mine and whispered, “I want to go and see Uncle Dave once a month. I owe him that much.”
I sigh.
“Where are you?” a soft voice coos.
I turn my head and watch Chelsea walk towards me. She is in a better mood, or so it seems. She has been wearing a mask for most of her life, and I keep reminding her she doesn’t need to do that with me.
“Right here,” I laugh even though I know it’s a terrible joke.
“I know. I just meant that I’ve been watching you for a few minutes, and you seem so far away,” she says. She plops down on a chair that is near to me.
“Just been doing some thinking.”
“So what are you up to?” she asks. There is curiosity in her voice.
“I’m actually waiting on a phone call.” I don’t want to lie to her, but if she asks for more details I will come clean.
“Right. Business stuff,” she says standing and comes over to me to give me a soft kiss. When she pulls away, it feels as if her warm mouth is still on my lips. She is so beautiful, and I’m so in love with her. I want for her to have peace. Soon, I hope, she will have it.
“Definitely something that needs to be taken care of.”
The three days that it takes for me to hear back from Nick feel like the three longest days of my life. He calls me just as I’m about to doze off. Chelsea is fast asleep already. I like to watch her before I fall asleep myself. There is a strange comfort and pleasure in this. In knowing she is mine. Mine to look at whenever I want to.
I quickly pick up my cellphone vibrating on the bedside table near me. It’s after two in the morning, so I know it cannot be anyone but Nick. I told him that he can call me at any time with news.
I pick up the phone and quickly step into the bathroom so as to not disturb Chelsea while she’s sleeping.
“Mr. Blackmore, I have good news,” Nick says.
That makes me smile. A weight I didn’t even realize I’ve been carrying lifts from my shoulders.
“I got into Simon Gregory’s home and put keystroke loggers into his computer. I didn’t have to monitor him for long before he slipped onto the dark net. There is a special site he frequents. After that it was open and shut. We alerted the police who were only to happy to set up the sting. One of the officers took on a fake persona and communicated with him on another site he frequents. She basically lured him into a trap. He’s just as sick as you said he was. The way he was talking to what he thought was a little girl of ten made me sick. I’ll spare you the details. He agreed to meet with our decoy. He got there a few hours ago and he was immediately apprehended. Officers are searching his home and combing his computer as we speak. We’ve got him. I’ve seen some of the stuff on his history and it’s not pretty, but he could get out pretty quick considering his age. Even so, he will now be on the sex offenders list and that is something,” Nick said.
“Thank you. I really mean it. You’ve been the biggest help.” I’m so relieved my fingers are shaking.
“No worries. One less piece of shit to worry about in this shitty world?” Nick says.
I thank him again and hang up. I’m grateful he left out the gruesome details of Chelsea’s granddad’s conversations with the officer. I don’t want to know, or I will imagine him doing those things to Chelsea.
Fuck. I fucking hate that pervert.
A gentle tap on the door startles me. I try to forget the ugly thoughts in my head and open the door. She is wearing nothing but one of my shirts. Of course, it is too large for her. She looks so fucking innocent I want to cry.
“What’s going on?” she asks with a yawn.
“They got him, baby,” I say.
“Who?” she asks, but she knows. She is searching my eyes to see if it is really true.
“Your granddad.”
“They got him?” she repeats. Her voice is dazed.
“They’ve got him in custody. He’s going away for a very long time. A very long time.”
She steps into my open arms and embraces me. “Thank you,” she whispers over and over. She isn’t crying. She is too overcome with relief.
“I promised I would protect you. You don’t ever have to be afraid again,” I say.
“Thank you for keeping your promise, my love.” Chelsea draws away and looks into my eyes. Her eyes are such a mystical blue I get lost in them whenever she looks at me this deeply.
“I will always keep my promises to you, Chelsea. I love you.” I kiss her soft lips and pull her close to me. Our kiss is tender and without lust. Then it changes. As it always does. We consume one another. Every fucking time.
“I love you too, Thorne. I love you. I love you so much.”
I don’t tell her the most important thing of all. That I have already arranged and paid for a terrible ending in prison for her granddad.
Yes, that would make me a criminal.
A beast.
Epilogue
Chelsea
“I can’t believe it’s been a year already,” Thorne says, massaging my shoulders.
“I can,” I say, looking out to the turquoise sea, the gentle waves lapping against the shore. A few people walk by and smile at us. I smile back. Everyone seems to be so nice on this lovely Jamaican island. I always say, I would happily live on a rubbish dump if it means I will be with Thorne, but heck am I glad he brought me to this paradise.
Thorne’s hands move down the front of my body and onto my stomach. Though it’s not really visible in the white cotton dress I’m wearing, I’m pregnant. Thorne has developed the delicious habit of touching or rubbing my stomach any chance he gets.
I wonder how big I will become, especially since I am carrying twins. I put my hand on his hand and caress his knuckles.
“Hang on a second, darling,” Thorne says. He leans away from me and picks up his tropical drink from the arm rest of his beach chair and takes a sip.
“It’s not fair that you can drink and I can’t,” I grumble.
“You can always take a little sip. It’s mostly just fruit.” He brings the glass closer to me, but I smack his hand away with a laugh.
“Ah, I get it. You’re spoiling for a spanking?”
I giggle. Any talk of spanking always brings back the memory of that first time in his limousine. We were completely different people then.
“I checked. Pregnant women can be spanked,” he whispers in my ear.
When he kisses my ear, I shiver even though we’re in the hot sun. We have come a long way from how we started. There is no fear, or rage, or pain. Thorne still suffers from bouts of possessiveness, but I know his hot buttons now. Basically, just avoid engaging in any meaningful conversations with any male between the ages of fourteen and ninety. As for me, I am learning to trust and not shut out Thorne for fear of being hurt.
Of course, I see Melody, her new husband, and their young son quite often, but Thorne is the only family I have now. Thorne made up with his parents and they invited me over to their huge mansion in New York. It was a little bit strained, but I could see they were trying. They want to be part of their grandchildren’s lives so I went out of my way to be nice to them. I have no feelings for them, I did it for Thorne and our children.
It was very difficult for me to give up my mother. I’d clung to her for so long, it felt as if I was cutting away an arm or a leg. Not too long after my grandfather was knifed to death in prison by some of the inmates she moved away and did not bother to give me her new address. I’m no longer curious to know. I don’t wish her harm. She is out of my life, and it will stay that way. I thought about telling her about the twins, then I realized that she would not enrich their lives. There would be no point.
I don’t need her.
I have Thorne. Being with him has opened my eyes to so many experiences. We travel often, and with each new destination we learn something new about each other.
The sound of the sea, the warm sand, and salty air and Thorne’s large hands moving in circles on my back and shoulders, make me feel as if I am in a trance. There are few people on the beach. It feels like we are in our own little paradise.
The sounds of the gentle waves coming onto the shore, and the occasional kisses on my back and shoulders from Thorne make me want to fall asleep in his arms. I am about to when I hear music. It sounds like a guitar and a ukulele. It’s soothing and beautiful.
“I wanna love ya, and treat you right …” someone begins to sing.
I open my eyes then. There are a few men walking along the beach and singing. I smile at them. I love this song. It is probably my favorite Bob Marley song. They stop and start serenading us.
“Dance with me?” Thorne whispers into my ear.
I nod and he helps me up from the chair. He kisses my stomach before bringing me close and wrapping his arms around my waist. We dance to the beautiful music.
“Is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling?” the men harmonize. Thorne takes me by the hand, spins me, and catching me pulls me against his body.
I am so incredibly happy that I don’t think there is anything that can make this day any better. Then I look around, and everybody on the beach is walking towards us. They all know the words and they’re all singing. I shoot a confused look at Thorne. How is everyone singing? And how is it possible that it all sounds so beautiful?
Thorne smiles down at me while I am still bewitched and confused by the music that is coming from all around us. He releases his hold on my waist and takes me by both of my hands. My heart stops then. Thorne is still smiling even after he brings my hands to his lips and kisses both of them. I watch his eyes, crinkled in corners, so in love and suddenly my eyes fill with tears.
“Oh, Thorne,” I gasp.
I cover my mouth and nose and watch him lower himself onto one knee. Tears pour down my face. I can’t believe that this is actually happening.