Fifteen

Vale

"You know this is cheating," I teased Dayton as he set out the food he'd picked up at the deli today.

"It's a classic, though. Build-your-own subs and salads. It gives us more time for a movie."

"A movie?" We hadn't talked about that.

"Oh dear God," Brennon said, passing by the bar that separated the kitchen from the living room and formal dining. Reaching across the countertop, he snagged one of the brownies I'd brought with me. "Day, if you suggest Netflix and Chill, I swear I will be so out or here and I will disown you forever."

Dayton leveled an annoyed glare at his little brother. "Go pick a movie—and ask Vale if the one you choose is okay with her."

"Vale wants Day After Tomorrow. It's her favorite," the teenager offered, naming the movie I'd often watched as a comfort film in the past. Heck when I needed a stress relief, it was still one of my go-to selections.

"It's in my top five," I replied. "I like San Andreas, too. Oh… and The Meg."

"Not a chick flick fan?" Dayton asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "The Rock and Jason Statham? It's girl-porn. Come on."

He smirked. "Porn, huh?"

"Red, red, red!" Brennan yelled from where he stood in front of the wall-mounted TV in the living room. "Back away! Innocent ears over here."

Dayton and I chuckled, though his was more of an annoyed groan, and I turned away to get the plates from the cupboard over the coffeemaker. When I opened it, I stared inside blinking at a jumble of basic spices and unopened condiments.

"Looking for something?" Day asked.

"Uh…I was going to grab the plates. I… For some reason, I thought they were in here. Sorry. Not being nosy."

He blinked at me, much as I must have blinked when I'd stared into the cupboard a moment earlier. Only…he looked a little more shell-shocked, and I knew I'd misstepped again.

"They…used to be there. Until… Well, I think I moved them sometime last year."

"Well…" I shrugged, playing it off. "Not sure why I assumed they were there. So direct me the right way, and I'll get them."

Dayton pointed, and I grabbed three ceramic plates with a swirled pattern that I'd bought from Pottery Barn, once upon a time. Then I snagged the matching cutlery from the metal silverware basket on the counter and took everything to the dining table that Dayton and I had saved nearly a year to buy after we were first married—after he and Melonie had married, anyway.

Get a grip, Vale. This is now, and that was then. Things are going well. Don't screw it up.

Blowing out a breath, I set the table while Dayton brought over the food.

"Next time, I'm cooking—for real," I told him, offering it as a challenge. We hadn't established there would be a next time, but we all seemed so easy with each other, so next time seemed possible.

He smirked. "Ah, my evil plan worked."

Rolling my eyes at his teasing, I grabbed the lemonade I'd brought from the fridge. "Glasses?"

"Same place as always," Brennan called.

Fuck. My sharp, inaudible breath hurt my chest.

"Which is where?" I asked with forced calm.

His wide eyes said everything. Brennan realized his mistake on this tightrope we walked. "Oh…ah, over by where the plates are."

"I'll get them," Dayton offered, not seeming to catch the interplay. "Vale, have a seat. Brennan, you actually eating with us?"

"Actually…" his little brother said, finishing his selection over at the TV. "Um…"

"Fine. Go do your thing. Promise you'll have dinner with us tomorrow, though. We're heading into Grand Haven." Day looked at me. "If that's okay?"

"Sounds perfect."

"I can get on board with that. Can I bring someone?" Brennan asked.

Day nodded. "As long as you eat with us before taking off on your own."

"Deal."

With a wave, the younger Windsor was gone and out the front door, and we were alone.

"Seems like he's always on the go," I observed, my chest tight as once again, I realized how much of Brennan's life I'd missed. He'd been at the beginning of seventh grade…then. And now, he was about to start his senior year. I'd missed some of his most crucial years, time I could never recover, even if I became a fixture in their lives as I hoped to.

"He is. More popular than I ever was; that's for sure. But he doesn't let it go to his head."

"He seems like a good kid. Work good today?" I asked, turning my gaze back to Day and finding him watching me with the hungry eyes that had lit up all my pleasure centers last night.

"Thought about you the whole time," he murmured. His hands flexed slightly on either side of his plate, clearly fighting the urge to reach for me, and it reminded me of the time when he'd come home from that assignment all scruffy and rough. The same intensity. Same hunger.

Before any conscious agreement was made, he reached for me, and I shifted from my chair and onto his lap, straddling him. Immediately, he pulled my mouth to his, devouring, commanding. His hand fisted in my hair while his other arm was a vise around my waist and pulled me tighter to him and against the hard ridge that pressed into my center.

Unable to help myself, I rocked into him, and Day groaned, his hand moving to splay over my ass and control the movement back and forth against him.

"You're so fucking hot," he muttered. He glanced between us, and I followed the look. My flowy dress had hiked up to leave most of my thighs bare, as well as part of my panties where I pressed against him. "Fuck…" he breathed. "Such a perfect good girl. Keep rocking just like that."

"Oh, God," I gasped, tossing back my head while long-dormant pleasure burned through me, remaking me for this moment. Dayton pressed his lips to my exposed throat, unerringly finding my pulse point. I shuddered, and when his thumb rubbed over my clit through the damp cotton, I moaned from the electric thrill of it. "Yes, like that."

"You keep moving those little hips like a good girl, and I'll give you anything you want," he promised against my neck where he nibbled and sucked, taking advantage of the opening I'd given him.

"Just you. I just want you," I breathed.

"Wrap your arms around me," he muttered, already standing. My hands skimmed around his neck, but he was already standing, moving, and I knew he was heading for the bedroom that had once been ours. When my back hit the mattress, I stared up at him wondering how I looked to him spread out beneath him. My hair was dark compared to Melonie's strawberry blonde, my figure short and compact to her taller, curvier one. She hadn't borne the scars I wore from the accident.

The heat in Dayton's eyes said he liked what he saw, though. So I stopped worrying and just sank into the moment.

I wanted him. I'd missed him. So much.

Some nights, after the murder and the accident, I'd lain in bed alone and all I could think of was wanting him there with me, taking away the pain. I didn't dwell on that time, but switching into this body hadn't been easy. The accident had mangled the limbs, broken bones and done internal damage to some organs. I was all good now, save for scars, but it hadn't been an easy road.

And I wasn't dead. Every step of recovery has led me right here—Dayton crawling over me and propping himself up on his arms while he leaned in and kissed me.

His knees wedged between mine while he devoured my mouth, a man starved, and I kissed him with matching fervor, equally famished.

One of his hands reached down to fist the skirt of my dress, and I lifted my hips to urge him on. The fabric dragged up my thighs, tickling my skin and raising goosebumps to join those already there from my arousal.

I put my arms up, and he swept the sundress off me, leaving me in only my panties. Immediately, my nipples tightened in the room's cool air. I reached for his shirt, but he stretched his arm back and yanked the tee over head then tossed it to join my dress on the floor. Immediately, my hands splayed on his pecs, exploring the hardness of the plates of muscle there. Dayton had been well-built, though lean, ever since he'd been part of the weight club in high school, but not like this. This was more.

He didn't give me time to admire as he dipped in and wrapped his lips around one pearled tip of my breast. The draw pulled a cry from me while it tugged a taut line down to my core. Fire lit through my body. I clutched at his shoulders arching closer while he dominated my body, playing me as easily as ever. The veils fell away, and we were just a man and a woman loving each other as we would for all eternity.

"I need you," he growled.

"Take me. I'm yours. All of me."

His hands skimmed over me then along my arms, trapping them to either side of my head as he pinned down my wrists. His teeth grazed my shoulder. The wild man I craved was right there, just below the surface. "Maybe, you don't know what you're saying…"

My back bowed, pushing up toward him, the over-sensitive tips grazing his chest. My breath sucked in, pleasure sizzling along my limbs.

"Maybe, I do. Dayton, please."

"What if I want you to call me sir?"

"Okay."

"What if I'd like to tie you up and have my way—"

"Okay." I knew he wouldn't hurt me.

"What if I…?"

"Like it rough? Okay. Please. I'm not oblivious to how intense you are."

His chin dipped in a nod, and he climbed off the bed. I couldn't help my moan of disappointment, but it was short-live as his hands went to his belt.

"I don't want to scare you our first time. Or ever, for that matter."

I licked my lips. "I'm not scared."

His brow raised. Holding his stare. I ran my hands along my body up to my breasts that were smaller in this body. My fingers grazed my nipples then pinched while I breathed hard. "I want all of you."

He jerked another single nod, and the predator I'd seen last night reemerged, fire igniting in his eyes, naked with promise. "Get those panties off then. Turn over onto your elbows and knees, ass in the air for me."

A fine tremble worked through me. My hands shook a little as I followed his command, stripping fully then getting into position. Dayton's fingers trailed down my spine from the small of my back to the space between my shoulder blades, pressing my shoulders down farther. I turned my cheek to the mattress, watching him until he moved out of my sight. Closing my eyes, I listened to the rasp of his zipper then the slide of his clothes before they fell heavily to the floor. A sense of being home fell just as heavily on me.

I grinned when he grasped my ankles, pulling them farther apart before his palms slid up my body to my hips. His heat enveloped me as he moved between my legs and leaned over me. His welcomed weight blanketed my body.

Day took my mouth from behind as his reached around to stroke over me. "You're so wet."

"I feel like I've wanted you forever. Just—"

His lips cut me off, but I whined into his mouth while his fingers raked over my clit, circling, flicking, winding the tension tighter and tighter in my middle. I knew I'd come before he even entered me with the thick rod that pressed against my ass.

"You like that?" he murmured against my lips. Slowly, two of his fingers curled into me, leisurely fucking in and out while my walls clung to the digits.

"Yes…"

The pinch to my sensitive nub jolted me.

"Sir!" I cried. "Yes, I like that, sir."

"Good girl. My good girl," he murmured, feeding my praise kink. I'd always liked to please while he thrived on touch—which manifested in sex. So much sex.

"Yes. Yours." Anyone else might wonder how they'd spiraled into this kink so fast. Not me. It was exactly what I wanted. What I needed. What I'd missed so deeply. I belonged to Dayton. Our souls were attached. Yin and Yang.

"I wanted to take my time…"

"Please. Don't. I need you. Please, Dayton. Sir. Please, sir."

His dark chuckle warned me, even as he hand pulled away and he adjusted his cock against my opening. "Topping from the bottom?" he chided. "You know that'll earn you a spanking, don't you?"

I couldn't help my full-body shudder. My walls clenched, and though he hadn't pushed inside, he felt it.

"You like that, do you?" he observed. "How are you so perfect?"

"I'm not," I gasped.

"But you are." His cock slid forward, forcing open the passage that had been empty longer than I knew. "Perfect inside and out," he groaned. "Fuck. So fucking perfect and right."

His fingers tightened on my hips, holding me still while he plowed into me, rough and deep, while I cried out my pleasure and approval. Each drive slapped into my clit and stars flew in front of my eyes, bright starbursts of heady bliss.

I screamed as I went over the edge, Dayton still driving relentlessly.

"So…fucking…tight…" he swore. "So fuck!"

Heat filled me as he followed me into ecstasy.

Still inside me, he tumbled to the side, pulling me with him while his hips continued a slow pulse in and out, feeding the electric sensations that still ebbed through me.

"So fucking perfect. How are you so fucking perfect and right?" he whispered into my hair, repeating what he'd said earlier.

My eyes closed, and I sighed, hugging my arms over where he held me. I couldn't tell him why I seemed so right for him. And I was beginning to think I never would, because how did you tell a person they might not recognize the body, but the soul was their dead wife? Yeah. You didn't.