Chapter 28

28

NIALL

I t took everything I had in me, but I finally managed to tear myself away from Tallulah. My cock hated me for it, weeping as it strained against my fly, but I was insatiable when it came to her. This would have to wait until we had more time or else I was afraid we’d miss the festivities entirely.

Which was okay by me.

I’d seen how it’d turned out and I’d attended every festival since I’d taken it over, but this was Tallulah’s first and she’d put her heart and soul into it. I didn’t want to be the reason she didn’t get to enjoy it at all.

As I wrenched my mouth away from hers, she took one look at my face and then started shaking her head, pulling me closer to her as she widened her eyes. “No. No. No. No. No. We’re not stopping now, mister. I know what you’re about to say and my answer is no.”

I groaned and pressed a kiss to each of her eyes, staring down at her beautiful face and honestly not believing that I was fighting her on this. “Trust me, if it was up to me, I’d tear your clothes off right now and keep you here until Sunday, but it’s not up to me.”

“Yes, it is,” she argued, arching her hips to grind against the iron rod in my pants and whimpering as her lids fluttered closed. “We don’t have to go right away.”

“We do, my love. If we don’t, we’ll miss the whole opening and I know you don’t want that.”

“What I want right now, is you,” she said, her voice soft and her tone pleading. “We can hear the bands. Why do we need to be able to see them, too?”

“It’s not the bands we want to see,” I murmured, easing myself off her before I gave in. “It’s the people. I know you want to see them enjoying what you’ve put together.”

She let out a groan of protest and closed her eyes, covering her face with her hands and drawing in a deep breath. I sat up on the couch, running a hand lazily up and down the length of her shin before I turned to look at her again.

Her hair was tousled from rolling around with me and her cheeks were flushed, her chest rising and falling fast as she tried to catch her breath. Meanwhile, my cock was still trying to punch its way out of my dark blue jeans and my heart was racing.

It was weird to be so torn between my emotions and my libido. Before Tallulah, those two things hadn’t coincided very often, but in this case, as much as I wanted to take her to bed, in my heart, I knew it was more important for us to go out there.

I leaned over and gently wrapped my fingers around her wrists, lifting her hands off her face. “Look at me, love.”

She finally blinked open her eyes, smiling when she saw me hovering less than half a foot away. “Hi.”

“Hi.” I slid my fingers between hers and held her gaze firmly. “As soon as we’ve had our fill of the festival, I’m going to bring you back here and I’m going to make love to you all night long. We’ll make up for this and then some, okay?”

Twinkling lights went on behind her eyes. “That sounds really good. Will you stay?”

“Wild horses couldn’t drag me away,” I promised as I stood, keeping hold of her hands and pulling her up with me. “I love you.”

She grinned, falling into my arms and humming as she wrapped hers around my neck. “I love you. Now let’s go before I change my mind.”

I laughed when she grabbed my hand again and started dragging me toward the door. “Before you change your mind? Who was the one who didn’t even want to leave?”

“Yeah, but you know you’d never have gone through with it if I started taking my clothes off.” She winked as she glanced at me over her shoulder. “Would you like to test my theory?”

“No, thank you.” I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to block out the sudden thoughts of her naked body flooding my mind. “I’m willing to just admit that you’re right and move on. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say we should just call it a given that whenever you take your clothes off, we’re both canceling the rest of our days.”

“My boss might not like that,” she teased as she opened her front door.

I shrugged. “He’s an asshole anyway. Who cares about him? Let his company burn.”

She laughed. I slid my arm across her shoulders once we started making our way to the festival. When we drew closer though, she glanced up at me with uncertainty shimmering in those gorgeous hazel eyes. “If anyone sees us like this, they’ll know that we’re together.”

“Do you care?” I asked carefully. “I’ve already told Jake, though I meant to talk to you about it before I did. Sayra obviously knows. Would you prefer to keep it quiet outside of those two?”

She stared up at me for another beat. “Are you okay with people finding out?”

I frowned. “I’m not sure I understand the question.”

She pursed her lips, amusement suddenly taking the place of the uncertainty in her eyes. “Forgive me for caring if you’re willing to tell the world that you’re seeing your projects manager.”

“Fuck telling them that I’m just seeing her. I love her and I don’t care who knows. As far as I’m concerned, I’m officially off the market. Unless I’m not.”

Both of her eyebrows arched. She suddenly spun and looped her arms around my neck. Then she pushed up on her toes to press a hard kiss to my lips. “You’re definitely off the market, Mr. Morrison. Someone should alert the media.”

I wrapped my arms around her waist and lowered my forehead to hers, my eyes only for her as I smirked. “We’ll call a press conference. Whatever you want.”

She laughed and kissed me again before breaking away and leading me the rest of the way to the stage. In the time we’d been in her house, the plantation had filled to capacity, bodies packing every inch of the space as the first band put on their show.

“I suppose I should get back to work now,” she said as she scanned the area, smiling. Shrieks of laughter rang out from the mazes and lines started forming in front of the food trucks. “I’ll see you?—”

“Your job is done, baby. Everything is running smoothly. All that’s left now is for you to enjoy it.”

Our hands swung between us as we made it to the main tent, the atmosphere so lively and festive that it was impossible not to love it. Tallulah looked around as if she was trying to ascertain if anyone needed her help, and when no one suddenly started flapping their arms at her, she nodded.

“Alright, then. Let’s just enjoy it. Are you going to buy me a drink or what?”

I laughed as I led her toward the bar that had been set up along one side of the tent, and we grabbed a couple beers before we joined Sayra and Jake to watch the concert. Sayra smiled when she saw us holding hands as we joined them.

“I’m assuming you accepted his apology?” she said to Tallulah as we sat down.

My girlfriend shrugged and sent her friend a playful wink. “I thought it was better to put him out of his misery.”

Jake laughed. “Thanks for that. His misery would’ve become all our misery if you hadn’t shown mercy.”

“It was a public service,” she joked, stroking a hand along my thigh as we settled in to watch the band.

Sayra leaned forward to chat to Tallulah about the initial reactions to the haunted house—it sounded like a raging success so far—and Jake raised his glass toward me. “Here’s to the best festival yet.”

I clinked my plastic cup against his and nodded before I took a sip, glad that none of us had any official duties to perform now that the party was underway. The company had whole herds of people dedicated to working the festival only, and while I always stuck around just in case, I’d never had to step in before.

It turned out I didn’t have to step in for day one of this year’s festival either. As day turned into evening and later, into night, the festivities went off without a hitch. The family friendly fun became a giant party once the kids had gone home and we ended up staying out late, waiting until the last band had finished playing before I finally spoke into Tallulah’s ear.

“I think it’s safe to say we can go now.”

She grabbed my hand immediately, flashing me a flirtatious smile before she pressed herself up on her toes, sealing her front against mine where we were standing in front of the stage. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Jake grinned at me when I slung an arm around her shoulders and turned to say goodbye. “Have a good night, boss. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“See you.”

Tallulah reached out to hug Sayra, who eventually walked back to the guest house with us because she’d also parked behind it. Once she was gone though, I was more than ready to make good on my promise to Tallulah and then to curl up with her.

“Man, that was a busy day,” she said as we walked into her house. Covering a yawn with the back of her hand, she kicked off her shoes and drifted toward the kitchen. “Can I get you a glass of water?”

“Please.” I locked the door behind us and strode after her, sliding my arms around her waist from behind where she stood in front of the sink with a glass in each hand. I moved my mouth to the crook of her neck, pressing my lips to her warm, soft skin. “It was a busy day, but the only thing that could make it better is burying myself as deep inside you as I’m about to.”

She reached for me without turning, sliding her hand around the back of my neck and smiling as she rested her head against my shoulder. “Are you sure you’ve still got energy for that?”

I pressed my lower half firmly against her ass. “I’ve been waiting for hours and I said the L-word for the first time today. I’ve still got energy for it. If you do.”

Tallulah brought her glass to her lips, taking a long drink of her water before she put her glass down and turned in the circle of my arms. Running her palms down my sides, she held my gaze, then undid my belt and flicked open the button of my jeans.

“I’m always going to have energy for you.” As she said it, she unzipped me and I kicked off my shoes, letting my pants drop after she pushed them off and then reaching for her.

Sliding one arm behind her shoulders and hooking the other behind her knees, I picked her up in a bridal carry and took her upstairs to her bedroom. She squealed with laughter when I first lifted her off her feet, clinging to me as I strode out of the kitchen with her.

“Why is it that you’re always carrying me from a kitchen to a bedroom?” she teased. “I’m not saying I don’t like it, but it is uncanny.”

“You’re right,” I agreed as we ascended the stairs. “We should’ve just stayed in the kitchen. Those counters are a fun height.”

She let out a bark of breathless laughter. “We’ll have to try it sometime.”

“Oh, we will. We’ll try everywhere. Twice.”

She grinned, squealing again as I tossed her down on her bed and followed her onto the mattress, claiming her mouth for my own and relieved as hell that we didn’t have anywhere to go until morning.