Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

ARCHIE

Once Tank showed up and Orion vanished, things focused more on the work and less on the team. It was strange to watch them dance around the topics I could sense them all thinking of incessantly.

Avoidance was the name of the game, I guess. And they were all top-level players.

“Do you want to go over a few signs?” I asked Takeshi during a quiet moment when it was obvious we weren’t going to be helpful.

Most of the work was on Memphis’s end since he needed to create the fake children to be sold. Ronan had gone off after Tank to speak about something, which left Godric and Cohen, neither of which were all that talkative. Or rather, they weren’t talkative to me. They seemed to be having their own private conversation at the main table.

Takeshi bobbed his head, then turned our chairs to face one another.

“Ok,” I said with a laugh. “What should we learn first. Oh! I know. Your name. There will be two ways to say it. You can either finger spell it to people or use a name sign. Name signs are only given by people in the deaf community, so we’ll work on finger spelling for now.”

He scrunched his brow, the question of ‘why’ hinting at the surface.

“There are certain pieces of the culture that should stay intact. This is one of them. I would never think of stepping in as someone on the fringe. My only goal is to show people a wider world through communication.”

At my explanation, his frown smoothed out. I then went through the process of explaining each letter of his name to him. It was a tedious experience, despite him picking it up fairly easy.

Right as I was about to praise him for a job well done, Cohen shouted, “Go back a bit. I got lost.”

I turned to see him and Godric attempting to move their hands in the right direction. Takeshi shook his head at them, his smile fond as he waved them over.

Soon, I was surrounded by three large men in rolling chairs waiting for me to teach them sign language. I grinned as I reviewed what Takeshi had mastered so the other two could catch up.

It took a few more minutes, though they caught on fairly quickly too. I then went through a few basics to show them how they’d introduce their name, much like some might say, “hi, my name is” when meeting someone new. I also did ‘thank you’, ‘please’, and ‘nice to meet you’ to give them some variety in the motion.

“How do you say, ‘I love you’ to someone?” Godric asked once I suggested we wrap things up.

I smiled at them, then lifted my hands in the movement. “This is it.”

Cohen giggled. “That’s the sign for rock on. I know that one.”

Shaking my head, I went on to explain. “It’s more than that. It’s the combination of the fingerspelled letters I, L, and Y. It’s a shortened form of I love you that just so happens to mean something different if you don’t know ASL.”

“Ohhhhhh. That’s so cool, and it makes sense,” Cohen agreed. His hand went into the motion, then he waved it in front of Godric. “Look what I can do!”

Godric smiled, then planted a soft kiss on Cohen’s lips. “I’m proud of you. Soon we’ll be the best signing team out there. Might add a new level of awesome to our resume.”

“There are plenty of people out there in the world who would benefit from ASL knowledgeable protection details. I think it’s great you want to learn for your friend.”

“He’d do the same for us,” Cohen said far more seriously than I expected.

Takeshi dipped his head to agree, then tugged me to stand. I laughed, linking our fingers together so he wouldn’t let go.

“This must mean it’s time for us to go.” My joke had the effect of making the others laugh. Meanwhile, Takeshi simply pulled me from the room.

We didn’t pass anyone else on our way out. A blessing if you asked me. I was far too worked up after having to watch Takeshi’s hands bend and flex for the last couple of hours. All I could do was think of what they’d feel like against me. Or better yet, inside me.

Jared was on a call as we passed. He waved at us, motioning to me that he’d text when he got a second. We’d exchanged numbers when I’d left to grab some food earlier in the day. I figured it wouldn’t hurt being in touch with my husband’s coworkers. Especially the ones he saw daily, and who I would now see often.

Getting home took forever. The traffic this time of day was worse than it had been, no thanks to a stalled car and a faulty stoplight at a busy intersection.

Even with the inconvenience, I couldn’t help but smile as we pulled in. This place had grown on me so much in the short time since I’d arrived.

While I’d always thought it was beautiful, I could admit I didn’t feel all that welcome or knew where my place would be in the business version of my marriage. It only took one kiss to change everything.

“You want to watch a movie?” I asked as we slipped off our shoes inside the door.

He shook his head.

“Ok. What about dinner? I could get started on something.”

Again, he told me no.

“Then what do you want to do, Takeshi? I’m all yours.”

At my words, his calm demeanor shifted into something more. He was a man on the edge, just waiting for permission to take what he wanted.

I was wrapped in his arms in the blink of an eye. Then his lips were on mine, his body pressing mine into something hard.

A wall? Yeah, it had to be a wall.

My brain had gone offline the second he touched me, taking away all my basic thoughts as pleasure descended on me.

“Takeshi,” I gasped as his mouth moved down the side of my neck.

Shifting my hips forward, I searched for some level of friction. I needed more from him. I needed our clothes off, and his body inside mine.

Right. This. Minute.

I begged, “Please!”

In the next second, I was lifted off the ground. My arms and legs wrapped around him, careful to hold on tight as he sped through the house toward the bedroom.

As soon as we crossed the threshold, he ripped his shirt away. My shirt followed, then we were panting as we tugged at the rest of our clothing. It flew around the space, landing in all different directions.

Neither of us cared. The only thing that mattered was our connection.

I groaned when his mouth latched onto my neck. He bit softly, then sucked on the skin there. I knew it would leave a mark, and I reveled in knowing others would see how taken I was.

Sure, I had a gold band on my finger that spoke of marriage. But people still cheated with wedding rings on.

A mark like this — a hickey — would prove I didn’t need the attention of any other man or woman. I had all the attention I needed right here.

Later, I’d have to think through how possessive I felt over his markings. I couldn’t focus on it when his cock was pressed against mine, when his body was wrapped around me like he couldn’t get close enough.

He moved me towards the bed, steps sure. His kisses were still frenzied, each one dragging me deeper into the depths of desire I felt sweeping through me.

“Need you,” I moaned when he lifted me onto the mattress.

I crawled backwards until I felt pillows behind me. Takeshi moved over me, his muscles rolling as he set his sights on getting to me.

Hands roamed and kisses intensified as he prepped me to take him. I whimpered and begged, pleading for him to “hurry up and fuck me, please or else.”

His shoulders shook from silent laughter. My threats didn’t scare him. If anything, they made him drag out the teasing longer. He edged me for what felt like an eternity.

By the time he slid inside me, I was a crying mess. The tears were from frustration, and my husband didn’t seem bothered by them at all. I would even have said he enjoyed knowing he could have such a strong effect on me.

I cried out in relief as soon as he bottomed out inside me. Clenching around him, I felt undeniably at peace.

This was perfect.

It was us.

He was home.

Nothing and no one had ever felt so right. And the man hadn’t even moved yet.

My emotions suffocated me as I tried not to think about my feelings. The only feeling I needed was pleasure. Love wasn’t on the table. Not now, anyway.

I needed more time. Needed to be around him more.

People didn’t fall in love in less than a month. I didn’t really believe in that nonsense.

Yet as Takeshi shifted his hips back and drove forward into me, I wondered if I was lying to myself. Did I really not believe in it, or was I going off something someone else had told me? Could my feelings for him be that far along? Was I in love, or maybe getting close?

Good sex was good sex. I knew this.

But even before he’d been inside me, I held great affection for my husband. We might not have met in the most traditional way, yet he and I had bonded with our endless time together.

“Faster,” I begged when he kept an agonizingly slow pace.

He shook his head, then gripped my hands in his, pinning me to the bed. I arched up against the restraints. Not because I wanted to be free or anything.

Fuck that.

He could hold me down forever.

But I needed more. I needed him to move faster or to thrust harder. Anything to get me over the edge. I was close. So damn close.

“Please, please, please…”

His hips thrust forward hard at my cries.

My gasp echoed through the room as my cock began to leak. As my gaze went to watch the mess I was making, Takeshi followed to see what had my attention.

At the sight of my weeping length, he let go of my hands and wrapped one around it. I yelped, shifting my hips like I could maybe get more from him.

More of his hands on me.

More of his dick inside me.

Anything. I just needed more.