An awakening masquerading as peace, until its true nature is revealed.
An awakening can be a walk through hell. That’s the chaos. The chaos of finding something I never knew I wanted…and knowing what it will cost.
Finding something that will destroy the walls I’ve come to depend on. The walls I’ve surrounded myself with for so long. The walls I only let topple when I’m alone in the vineyards, and even then, they’ve never tumbled all the way down.
Fuck.
A walk through hell.
That’s where my life is headed now.
Chapter Forty-Five
Ashley
He’s so huge, but he burns through me as though he was always meant to be there. He fucks me with his whole body.
He thrusts.
He thrusts.
He thrusts.
My back scrapes against the door, but I don’t care. I don’t care if he abrades my entire layer of skin, as long as he keeps fucking me.
Fucking me hard.
Fucking me fast.
He pants and grunts, sweat emerging on his brow. He grips my buttocks, holding me in place, and his corded muscles tense with each movement.
His pants and briefs are midway down his thighs, which should hamper his movement.
But not Dale.
He pushes all the way inside me until his huge cock is completely embedded in me.
I can’t think.
I’ve been with so many men, but never has one left me completely devoid of thought.
Only raw emotion courses through me—need, lust, pure aching want.
“Dale,” I moan softly. “Yes, Dale. Yes.”
He thrusts harder, harder, pushing against my clit and sending sparks hurtling through my body.
I’m close. So close, and—
“Dale! God!”
The climax explodes in my pussy and radiates out from my core to every nerve in my arms and legs, fingers and toes. My whole body tingles as I rise into a foggy high the color of Syrah wine.
The burgundy red envelops me, becomes almost visible as a bubble surrounding us.
And when he releases inside me, giving himself to me, the hue darkens, deepens, yet becomes even more vivid.
It’s a paradox of color and emotion.
And I’m in ecstasy.
Pure ecstasy.
A climax like never before.
A climax that seems almost impossible in its fierceness and strength.
A climax I know I’ll never forget.
A climax I’ll want again and again.
“Fuck, Ashley,” he groans. “Fuck!”
He stays embedded inside me, still holding me against the door, for a second or an hour. I’m not sure, as time seems suspended. Suspended in the garnet haze of our lust.
Breaths. Rapid huffs of air. Sweat. Drops of beaded sweat. His grasp so tight on my ass. Will he leave a mark? I don’t care.
That’s a lie. I do care. I want the mark. I want to be branded like one of the Steel cattle. Dale’s mark on me.
Still, he stays inside me.
Still, he pants, holding my hips and ass, until he lowers his head and takes my lips.
It’s not a gentle kiss. It’s not a kiss of release.
God, no.
It’s a kiss of what’s to come.
And I can’t wait.
I meet his tongue with my own, and we thrash and moan as we kiss each other hard, our lips sliding together.
He bites my lower lip, and then I bite his. He swirls his tongue over my chin and around my mouth before diving back in.
No turning back. I swear to God I’m going to use you up tonight. This is your last chance to say no. Getting in that car is your consent, and damn it, I will hold you to it.
His words—the words he hoped would scare me away but instead turned me on.
No. Turned me on is too tame.
His words inflamed me. Lit a fire in my loins like nothing I’ve ever known.
Gentle? Who the hell needs gentle?
I only need Dale Steel, and I’ll take him as he is.
He deepens the kiss. Our mouths are now fused together, our tongues banging against the inside of our mouths. I breathe as best I can through my nose, the whiffs of air from him like a mini-hurricane against my cheek.
He’s no longer inside me, and now we’re moving. Moving toward the bed in tiny steps because Dale still has his pants around his knees. He holds me in his strong arms, and I wrap my legs around his waist. Finally, he sets me—more gently than I expect—on the edge of the bed.
He pulls his boots off and then gets rid of his pants, underwear, and socks lightning fast. Then his shirt.
And I see him.
For the first time, I truly see him—naked and splendid and fucking majestic.
He’s a god.
I never doubted it, but to actually experience Dale Steel in all his glory takes my breath away.
Literally.
I gasp, sucking a balloon of air into my lungs.
He’s that resplendent.
“Take off your dress, Ashley.”
That voice. That gorgeous red-wine voice. The color surrounds me, infuses me, and I know, at that moment, that I’ll do whatever he asks. Whatever he wants.
My dress is still around my waist, so I lift it over my head and toss it onto the floor. My boobs wiggle free. No bra. My plan to hold the girls captive while here went with the wind the minute I decided on this dress.