He shifted and dropped his thumb to my clit. “You never stopped caring.”
I gasped as I fought uselessly to stand up. My heart hammered in my chest, a combination of exhilarated and terrified. I couldn’t face the worst thing I’d ever done to him while he made me orgasm. “Ian!”
“You didn’t let yourself come because you didn’t think you deserved it. Because you knew what you were doing. You knew you were going to leave.” He worked his fingers harder. “The thing about us, though, baby, is that you don’t get to keep your orgasms from me. You owe me for that day. You owe me for a lot of days. I went and found you, you know? You didn’t deserve what you did to yourself then. And I won’t let you do it again.” He sank his teeth into my ass, marking me, and I slammed into oblivion.
26.
***Ian***
Ihadn’tmeanttoreveal that I’d found her after she left me. I knew how it sounded. I’d been fucking devastated, and if I couldn’t use my skills to help myself, they weren’t that great. I’d found her at an artist retreat in Vermont. I’d slipped in during the night and found her fucking yurt. I’d sat outside and listened to her sobbing for hours. It’d gone on for three nights before I made myself leave. She left me for a reason, even though it’d clearly hurt her. I knew that she loved me. I could feel it. If she wasn’t willing to work through whatever shit she was going through, I couldn’t save what we had.
I’d gone back home and tried like hell to move on. A part of me knew, though, that it would never be over for us. I couldn’t move on. She’d stolen so many parts of me that I wasn’t a complete man without her. I was a fucking shell.
I pulled Violet off the table and into my lap, slowly sinking my length into her. I wrapped my arms around her and just held her. She shook in my arms, her core pulsed around me, and I could feel moisture on my chest from the tears I’d seen in her eyes. She locked her arms around my neck and held me tight.
“I didn’t know how to help you, or even if you needed my help, back then. I watched you blow us up and run away, I watched you cry yourself to sleep over and over again on a fucking mattress made of hay, and I watched the light in your eyes dim. If you think I’d go through that again, you’re wrong. If you decide you don’t want me, it better be because you don’t want me, baby. One fucking hint that you’re hurting yourself and being some martyr, or whatever it was you called yourself last time, and I’ll handcuff you to my arm and force you to deal with whatever the fuck is going on.
“I haven’t had the time to say that, but it needed to be said. You didn’t fool me last time, Vi. You won’t this time, either.” I stroked her back, desperate for her to understand how much I cared about her. “Got it?”
She slowly lifted her head and met my gaze, her eyes wide and red-rimmed. “You found me?”
I nodded once. “I had to.”
She bit her lip and held onto the back of my neck hard enough that her fingernails bit into my skin. “I’m sorry.”
Grunting, I gripped her chin and shook my head. “I don’t want to hear it. That’s behind us. I just want you to know going forward that I won’t walk away this time. Not unless I know you’re done with me.”
Her fingers tightened even more and I could feel her desperation. She was scared, and I didn’t understand it, but I wanted to help fix it. With her bottom lip trembling, she held my gaze. “What if you’re done with me? Not now, but later, I mean. What if you wake up and realize that you’re with…me?”
I laughed until I realized how serious she was. Narrowing my eyes, I searched her face and finally swore. “What the hell did those people do to you, baby?”
Violet leaned into me again and rested her head on my shoulder. “I was promised a morning of sex. This is not the same.”
I kissed the side of her head. “It’s not over. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m still rock hard inside of you.”
“I’ve noticed.” She sat back again and looked down. “Oh, no.”
I looked down and saw that both of our chests were covered in syrup. Glancing behind her, I saw I’d shoved her down right into her plate of pancakes. She was still in her shirt, but I could see it sticking to her skin. “Change of plans. We shower first.”
When I stood up and walked her down to her bathroom, she groaned. “Promise that we don’t have to talk more until after sex?”
I put her down in the bathroom and adjusted the shower. I was too tall for it, but it worked in a pinch. “If you promise that we’ll talk about this sometime after sex.”
She stretched up on her toes and kissed me, running her tongue over my lips and slipping it into my mouth. She was sweet on my tongue and spicy everywhere else. Wrapping her hand around my dick, she stroked me. “Thank you.”
“For?” I walked her under the water and tipped her head back so I could kiss her throat and drink the water that ran down it.
“Not giving up.”
I lifted my head and held her gaze. “Never going to happen.”
We kissed like we never had before as we clumsily washed each other. I felt closer to her as I dried her off and then pinned her to the bed. Spread out under me, Violet opened her thighs to welcome me inside. She arched her back and moaned when I thrust inside her, holding my gaze all the while.
I locked my fingers through hers and held them over her head, stretching her body out under mine. Thrusting slowly, I fucked her like I had a lifetime. I rubbed myself against her clit with every stroke. Her breasts pressed into my chest, and she cried out into my mouth as she came hard, shaking around me.
Gritting my teeth and holding my breath, I barely managed to stop myself from coming. Her second orgasm was too much for me, though. She threw her head back and screamed my name as her core sucked my orgasm from me. While I filled her with my come, I growled out her name like a caveman and pressed my forehead to hers.
“Ian.”