Chapter 18

Grace

It's nearly midnight, and I'm emotionally exhausted.

I don't know what I thought I could achieve with Brad today. We stayed at Silver Spoon until it shut, and moved to The Golden Griffin tavern until we were the last customers and Nib had to politely kick us out. All that time, and still nothing was achieved.

Brad hasn't given me anything new, made no promises I believed, and only ever talked about Lucas when I made indications that I wanted to end the conversation, forcing me to stay to ‘figure things out'. Otherwise, he would eventually steer the topic back to himself. Where he would live. Why he would suffer without me. How he had changed.

I. Am. Exhausted.

This entire evening was a colossal waste of my time, and I regret being the better person and giving him this last chance to make a sliver of a difference.

He doesn't care about Lucas, at least not more than he cares about himself. And that's not enough for me, or for my boy. I told him Lucas and I never wanted to see him again. He cried, and literally fell to his knees before me on the sidewalk. I was so emotionally drained, the most I could muster in response was embarrassment as I was subjected to his public theatrics.

I have never been more done in my life. And on top of everything, now I'm angry.

I'm so sick and tired of his every problem being my

problem. It always boils back to him.

Brad and his joblessness, Brad and his homelessness, Brad and his childish, useless, selfishness with no regard to any outcome other than his own. I'm starting to wonder if he ever actually helped me at all, or only made a show of it while I was at my lowest, too exhausted to notice the difference. Which is why I'm so angry. At him, but also at myself for letting him play me for so long.

I arrive at Oli's apartment building with these thoughts rushing through my brain, and after a second he buzzes me in.

Why have I never let myself just take something for my own? Why do I put my partners before me, even when I shouldn't? It's always been the same, even with my ex-fiancé. And what good does it do, losing myself to men who don't also put me at the top of their priority lists? It gets me cheated on. It gets me abandoned while pregnant. It gets me nothing.

I take the elevator up, these thoughts still ratcheting through me as I knock on Oli's door. He answer's bleary-eyed, in dark sweatpants and a loose Tee, his normally perfectly styled hair ruffled, and his shirt crinkled and slightly askew. There's something so entirely kissable about him like this, all rumpled and sleepy, and something just snaps inside me.

When will it be my turn to take something for myself?

I step inside, shut the door, and grab Oli by the collar.

"I need you," I whisper, before tugging him down and kissing him.

He's immediately pliant to my desires, despite his obvious surprise. His lips feel soft against my own, and as I slip my tongue against his he lets out a low, rumbly groan and presses me into the door. Immediately my body is alight, sensitive and desperate for his touch, and our tongues dance with quickening desperation. He feeds off my energy and palms my backside, lifting me roughly into his embrace, and I wrap my legs around his hips and grind against his hard abdomen, since our size difference means I can't be lower while we kiss. His arms tighten around me, and bites at my bottom lip.

"Is everything alright, kitten?" His voice is low and deep and slightly rough from sleep as he pulls back to look at me, and it sends a shiver through my body, straight between my legs.

"Yes," I gasp, raking my nails up along the back of his head. "No. I just… please, Oli. Please."

He bends his neck and runs his lips along my throat, murmuring into my skin, "Please, what?"

Frustration, need, desire and a desperate wish to be closer to him, to connect our bodies and just feel good again

washes over me. I dip one hand down between our bodies, searching out the thick rod of his cock, and I squeeze my fingers around what I find, running my palm up and down as far as I can. "Give this to me, please."

He thickens further at my touch, at my words, and he groans again and bites lightly at my neck.

"Anything you want."

"Sit." I bring my hand back up to his face and force him to look at me. "On the couch. Now. I need to just…"

His arms shift around me, and he bounces us off the wall and strides across the room, dropping onto the couch so quickly it surprises a giggle out of me.

"At least I know you're keen," I mutter, biting my lip as I finally feel his knot pressing against my core. God, he feels so good.

"And why," he says as both hands squeeze tightly into my ass, "would I not be keen?"

Tension is coiling through me at lightning speed, and I rip off my shirt and bra, grab his hand, and shove it over one of my breasts. He immediately squeezes, running a thumb lightly over my nipple, and it pebbles under his touch in no time.

"I mean, I'm sort of taking advantage of you…" I say as his lips once more drop to run along my skin, and then my movements slow as my words catch up to me. Oh, wait, that's a good point. He looks as if I've just woken him up, is this right? Does he even realize what's going on? "Actually, maybe I shouldn't…"

His palm snakes up and covers my lips, and he leans back to look at me, a half amused, half worried expression on his face. "For the love of the entire pantheon of gods, please, do not finish that sentence. Yes, you should. "

I look towards the hallway as he drops his hand and trails it along my collar bone, a new worry entering my thoughts. "Hold on, what about Lucas?"

He shakes his head with a small smile, his fingers stroking deftly along my skin. "He's asleep, safe and sound in my room. His door is shut, and so is the one to the living area. He won't hear a thing."

"But…" Now I'm beginning to question myself. "I'm being selfish—"

"Use me," he murmurs, voice low and smooth and smoky, as his warm brown eyes connect with mine. "Be selfish. Chew me up and spit me out, darling. I'm yours for the taking."

My lips part, and my pussy floods with desire at those words. How is that the hottest thing I've ever heard in my life?

I dive my hands immediately towards the soft band of his sweatpants, fingers curling over the edge, but to my surprise, he stops me.

"Wait," he whispers, drawing both my palms to lay flat over his hard pecks, as his second hand first unbuckles my jeans, and then dives down the back of my pants, one finger stroking down between my cheeks. "You're not ready for me yet."

My breath hitches as he reaches my pussy from behind and slides a finger through my already slick folds and up along the center of my clit. "Yes, I am."

I've never been so ready, so quickly. My body is flooded with arousal, my pussy wet and clenching over nothing, desperate and greedy for what I know he can give me.

He shudders beneath me, I feel the motion race along his body as his finger slips back towards my entrance and prods inside. I groan, and so does he.

"Fuck . " His voice is sin against my ear as he feels the evidence of my desire for him.

"I am ready," I whimper, rocking gently against the motion of his finger. "I need you to shove that knot of yours deep inside me, right now, Oli."

His hips buck up against me as he sucks in a sharp breath, his hand leaving my core and clutching tightly at my hips. "Fates, Grace. The things you do to me…"

I roll up onto my knees and push my jeans and panties down, dropping to his side as I wriggle out of them, and he watches the whole thing avidly, his gaze locked between my legs. He shifts forward, and with his eyes so intensely riveted to my core as I throw my clothes and shoes away, I have a pretty good idea what his intentions are, and I stop him with a foot on his chest.

"No," I say, pushing up into a kneel before I crawl back over to him, completely naked now. "You can lick my pussy later. I need your cock now, I can't wait."

He grabs the back of my head and pulls me in for a wet, hungry kiss, his tongue lashing against mine as he lets out a desperate sound from deep in his chest. My hands reach once more for his waistband, and this time he lets me. I pull it down just far enough for his big, bull cock to spring free, and I moan as I run both my hands up and down his length, feeling the way his knot is already swelling for me.

"Fates," he whispers, pulling away from my lips to watch me as I align our bodies. "Fates, have mercy."

"No mercy for the wicked," I whisper back, before I drop myself down on his enormous length, making it all the way the top of his swelling in one stroke. My eyes close at the delicious stretch of him, the feel of him filling me up. The flare of his cockhead is evident inside me, I can feel exactly where he ends deep in my body, and I moan, despite trying to stay quiet.

He feels so good, so good,

like nothing I've ever experienced. Thick and beautiful inside me, I long to suck him in deeper, to feel that flat head of his bottom out inside me as he stretches and stretches me with his knot.

His fingers are bands over my hips, he's clutching me so tight it's almost painful, but I love every second of it, and I bite my lips and try to wriggle further down.

That's when I finally hear him make a noise. "Grace."

His voice is strangled and hoarse, and I open my eyes to see him. His face is slack with desire, lips parted as if in shock, eyes soft, heated, darting all along my face and body.

"Grace, I c—" He snatches a breath, and he almost looks lost as his gaze connects with mine. "I—"

I smile lazily, wondering if he's ever looked more handsome, his expression so open and raw. I squeeze my pussy over his shaft, and kiss his cute, flat nose. "I've got you, baby."

And then I begin to rock my hips gently, feeling that his knot is more swollen than it was last time and needing the friction to slowly work myself over him.

He drops his head against the couch, eyes rolling back and breath falling in pants, as his fingers begin to knead my flesh. "Oh, Grace," he murmurs. "Oh, fuck."

His cock twitches inside me, and he curls his hips, shifting our angle as I continue my small, teasing pulses and try desperately to get myself over his knot. I whimper as I feel him sliding a little further in, but I can't seem to get past his widest point, and I curl my nails into his soft down of fur, scratching and trying to get a good grip so I can shove

myself down where I want— no, need— to be.

That's when his arms suddenly band around me tightly, one wrapped firm around my waist while the other grips the back of my neck, and he sits he sits up into me, cheek to cheek.

"I'm sorry, princess," he groans into my ear. "I'm sorry."

What? But I don't have the breath to say a word, because he suddenly flicks his hips beneath me and uses the strength of his arms to pushes me down into his cock, pressing my body tightly to his chest as he pushes his way in.

Oh god, oh god, oh god—nothing has ever felt—so good…

I gasp in pure ecstasy as he finally gets inside, filling me up like no one else ever has—but it's nothing to the sound he makes against me. Deep, desperate and wild, he presses his face into my neck as he moans, and he starts fucking me from beneath, hips pistoning into me in a way I didn't expect from this position.

"Oh," I cry, my head tipping back as he begins to bite and lick at my throat. "Oli . "

I can feel his knot inside me, bouncing up and down, stretching me fuller than I've ever been stretched before. It's incredible, and I know he has so much more to give me. I know what's coming, and I shove him back into the couch and take control again.

His jaw clenches as his head hits the padded backrest, eyes dropping to where we connect with messy, slapping noises as I begin to bounce on his lap.

"Fates, Grace," he groans, as he grips my hips tightly. "You are… the most incredible…" I watch his throat bob with a swallow, his horns pressing into the padding behind him. He looks up at the ceiling suddenly, as if he'll come undone if he keeps looking at me. "So wet." He pants. "So tight. So gods-blessed beautiful."

He slides one hand to press over my abdomen, dropping a thumb down to my clit, which sends a spark of electricity racing along my spine, and I seize up at the contact.

"Oh god, yes, keep your hand there!" I cry, rolling my hips towards his thumbs as I bounce. "Right there!"

"Yes," he groans. "I'm yours, darling. Take what you need."

I whine as he begins to tap his thumb lightly, vibrating it against me and allowing me to curl and bounce and move myself into him however I need. I lean back, holding onto his knees for dear life as I spread my legs wider and start to grind, pushing into his thumb, pushing onto his cock, concentrating solely on chasing my high and letting my body take charge. His thick, flat head is bouncing into my cervix, filling me up in every way I've ever needed, and then I feel it.

As I moan with abandon and writhe on him, his knot begins its final pulsing swell inside me, and my eyes fly open as my pleasure coils and tightens to a head.

I throw myself forward, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I'm going to… come…" I whimper, scratching at his back, trying to get closer to him, and he moans low and deep, pressing his face into my neck again.

"Oh, Grace," he chants, almost like a prayer. "Oh, fuck, so am I."

We grab at each other with raw, untamed, unrefined movements, clutching and pushing and moaning until my body can't take it any longer. I'm somehow caught on the edge, unable to tumble over, until his arms clamp tight around me once more and he lets out a desperate cry, followed by one final pulse of his knot, which hits me right in the deepest, most sensitive places.

My body explodes with an orgasm as I feel him let loose inside me, and we both hold tight as we ride out the waves of out euphoria together.

"Oh, Grace," he whispers once we finally come down, and I feel him twitch inside me with one final pump before he collapses backwards against the couch. "Oh, fuck."

I grin as I settle down into him, my body listless and sated as his swelling remains wedged deep inside, plugging me up and sending little zips of after-glow through my sensitized body. "Agreed."

"Come to the opening night with me."

I scrunch my nose against his chest, running my fingers up and down his velvet, sculpted abs under his soft T-shirt, feeling too spent to move. It occurs to me in that moment that he's still fully dressed, while I sit completely naked on him. "Hmm?"

"Next week, we're hosting a marketing event for the lodge. A fancy dinner under the stars."

"Oh, yeah," I mumble, "the half-opening night. Rhokar was telling me about it."

His fingers begin to move up and down along my spine. "Let's not mention other males while I'm still deep inside you, my sweet," he rumbles, and I snort and lazily squeeze my pussy around him.

He makes a breathy little noise, and then his fingers are under my chin and tilting me up for a soft, lingering kiss. "Come with me. Be my date."

"But won't there be a ton of reporters taking pictures?" I ask, since this seems to be the exact opposite of what a perpetually single bachelor would want. You don't take a lover to an event like this, right? You take a partner. "The whole town will see us splashed across the news together. That's making quite a statement."

He smiles and runs his thumb over my bottom lip. "I know."

I settle my head back down against his shoulder so that he doesn't see me frown, as my heart immediately begins to thump with excitement at that proclamation. Excitement that I shouldn't

be feeling, since he isn't asking me to be his date like that. He just… knows that it will send the perfect message to our exes.

"I thought your problem with Sera was solved now?" I force myself to say. His fingers pause against my back.

"Let's not mention other females, either."

"But I suppose it might be the final push Brad needs," I continue, throwing myself headlong into my speech so that I don't have to think about the way my chest tightens or my stomach drops. "I turned him away for the last time today, so him seeing us at an official gathering like that should really seal the deal for him and make him understand that I'll never go back to him."

Oli remains silent and still, and a strange, uncomfortable energy courses through me, so I try to get off him. Which is a mistake, because his knot isn't quite ready to let me go yet.

He winces as I try to pull back and clamps his fingers to my hips again. "Wait."

"Right, sorry." My eyes dart around the room. "I was just wondering if Lucas was still asleep. Thanks again for looking after him for so long, by the way. I'd say I owe you one, but maybe tonight can be my repayment of the favor?" I laugh nervously as I gesture towards our still joined bodies, unable to meet his eyes.

"Grace," he says softly, "please don't do that. This isn't transactional."

I sigh, my shoulders drooping as I finally force my eyes to meet his worried gaze. "You're right, it's not. I'm sorry." I lean back down into him slowly, resting my cheek on his shoulder and letting out another breath. "It was actually just me being selfish, wasn't it? As was me foisting Lucas on you when you're a busy, working man with a life of your own. I took advantage of you this entire evening. I'm so sorry, Oli." I feel bad thinking about it now, but I'd trusted him so instinctively, calling on him for help without even thinking, as if somewhere deep in my heart I simply knew

that he would be there for me and my son when we needed it.

"You could never take advantage of me." His hand once more comes up to touch my back, but this time remains still. "I'm happy to help."

"That's what friends are for, right?" I force my voice to remain light, even as my chest tightens. Friends. Remember? "Yes, I'll attend the event with you next week. It's a great idea."

Stupid, stupid Grace. Why did you have to go and sleep with him again? You're going to get yourself in a tangle you can't get back out of.

He doesn't respond. But when his arms slips around my waist and presses me tightly into his chest, I could swear there's something possessive about his touch, and I have to fight with myself not to melt into it.