36. Dalton

THIRTY-SIX

I siton the couch in the new house, immediately standing again because I can't stay still. I check my phone to see that it's six-fifty. I continue pacing, practically wearing a hole in the area rug as I shuffle my feet across it. I'm anxious as fuck. My hands won't stop shaking and I've gone over every possible scenario in my head since I got here an hour ago.

I look over to the coffee table, the divorce papers staring at me like a giant monster waiting to jump out and get me. When Dia asked me to bring them, my fucking heart sank to my stomach. I don't know what I'll do if she asks me to sign them tonight. I may as well take the still-beating organ out of my chest and hand it over to her if she leaves me, because I'll never love anyone this way again. If it's not her, it's nobody.

I try to block out the negative thoughts just as I look out the window, watching the gate swing open slowly and the headlights of my Audi come into view. I take some deep breaths, trying to calm myself now that she's here.

I walk to the door, pulling it open as she makes her way up the steps. My instinct is to reach for her. To pull her in and inhale her scent. To kiss her so thoroughly that she feels my love flowing out of me and into her. But I don't know where she's at, so I just step out of the way, letting her in.

"Hey," I say. My body shivers with nervous energy. Fuck, this sucks. I feel like we've become strangers over the past few days.

"Hi," she replies. I shouldn't, but I take a little comfort in the way she looks so tired. Has she been unable to sleep through the night like me? She's wearing makeup, but dark circles peek out from under her eyes.

"Want to go sit?" I ask, motioning toward the living room. She gives a small nod and I follow her, trying my best not to get caught while I breathe deeply, searching for any hint of her minty shampoo. She sits on the couch, so I mirror her, keeping enough space between us so that I'm not tempted to pull her into my arms. But fuck. It's hard being here with her and not touching her. She looks fucking beautiful in her simple gray crewneck and black leggings. Her long, black hair frames her flawless face as she looks at me, and I wish I could read her mind.

"Dalton, I?—"

"Hold on," I blurt, cutting her off. "Before you say anything, I just have to get some things out. I might not be able to say them if I don't do it now. Is that okay?"

She nods her head, allowing me to start. "I'm sorry, Dia. I pushed you so hard, even when you kept telling me you weren't ready. I wanted so badly to gain your trust, not realizing that I was dismissing your feelings and wishes in the process." I look up, seeing her beautiful brown eyes staring back at me, giving me the strength to continue. "I was selfish. But I swear it came from a good place. I just wanted to show you that I was here, no matter what. That you could fall with me and I would catch you every time. And if you decide you don't want me anymore, I'll still be here, loving you from afar until my last breath. I just want you to be happy." I do my best to steel my expression as I reach into my pocket, pulling out the small blue box and opening it before handing it to her.

Her brows furrow in confusion as she locks her eyes on the large diamond. "I thought you sold it," she whispers.

"I did," I tell her. "I got halfway home that night and turned back around. It felt so wrong. That ring belongs to you. Even if you don't wear it and it sits in your jewelry box forever, you'll always have something to remind you of the time you were loved so fiercely by a man who would choose you a hundred times over, even knowing it would break him in the end." I hope she doesn't ask about the check I left on the counter that night. After I left the jeweler the second time, I stopped by the bank and had a hundred grand put on a traveler's check so she wouldn't know that it came from my account. I knew she needed the money to feel like she had the freedom to take care of herself here in Boston.

A single tear slips down her cheek as she sets the box on the table and picks up the divorce papers. My heart rate speeds up, and it takes everything in me not to get on my knees and beg her to stay. But I don't want to stop her from whatever decision she's about to make, so I fist my hands in my lap, waiting for her to speak.

But she doesn't. She doesn't take her eyes off of me as she holds the paper between us, tearing it down the middle. I'm frozen in place, unsure of how to react. Before I can ask her what this means, she puts me out of my misery.

"Since that very first night, you've only ever wanted to show me what being loved felt like. And I'll admit that it was foreign…and scary. I was terrified that I'd never be able to give you the life that you deserved. To be a wife that you could be proud of. That one day, you'd wake up and realize I wasn't enough, and you'd leave me. And I wouldn't know how to go back to the way I was before. I've had a lot of people come and go from my life. But I know I couldn't survive loving you and losing you, Dalton." Her tears flow freely as I reach out for her, unable to stay away any longer.

"I'm not going anywhere, baby. Ever," I say, wrapping her tightly in my arms as she sobs. I breathe a sigh of relief at the feel of her, back where she belongs. I'm never letting her go again.

She pulls back, looking up at me. "I love you. More than I ever thought I was capable of."

"I love you so much, Diamond Davis. And I'll spend the rest of my life reminding you so you never forget how perfect you are."

I cup her face in my hand, lowering my lips to hers. The kiss starts tentatively, like we've been away from each other for years instead of days. I explore her mouth, dragging my tongue along her plump lower lip as she opens, inviting me to lick inside. I can't hold myself back any longer, feeling like I'll die if I don't kiss and touch her in a way that tells her exactly how I've felt since she ran away from me.

"Baby," I whisper against her lips. "I love you so fucking much, but I need to show you what it was like. I need you to understand. Can I?" I'm practically begging her, but the urge to do this is overwhelming. She nods her head, and this is normally where I'd ask for her to say it out loud, but I don't want any more words. We can say everything with our actions.

I lay her back on the couch, covering her body with mine as I place unhurried kisses all over her jaw and neck. My hands, that can't seem to decide on one single part of her body, slide up her shirt, stopping to squeeze her hips before skating over her stomach and up to her tits. My lips move back to her mouth and the pressure on every part of her increases. I'm kissing her harder, grinding into her harder, and when I pull the cup of her bra down, exposing one hard peak, I give it a firm pinch that elicits a groan from deep in her throat.

"I missed this fucking body so much," I whisper as I pull her shirt over her head and throw it over the back of the couch. I don't even bother taking the time to unclasp her black lace bra. Instead, I grab firmly between the cups and pull until it tears away from her. She gasps in surprise, staring at me with wide eyes, but I don't give her a chance to speak before sucking one perfect, pink nipple into my mouth. Her satisfied moans fill the room as I move back and forth between them, laving her tits with slow strokes of my tongue. Her hips push up into me, telling me she needs more, but she's not getting it yet. I pin her down with my body, just barely grinding my cock, that's probably leaking through my jeans at this point, against her core.

"Is your little pussy aching, baby?" I coo. "Do you want me?"

She squeezes her eyes shut, clearly being overtaken by need. "Y-yes," she stutters. "Dalton, please."

Her begging spurs me on as I sit up, pulling her pants and thong down in one fluid motion. She spreads her legs as far as the couch will allow and I just about abandon my plan all together. Her pussy glistens with her arousal, and I start to feel lightheaded with the need to bury my nose between her legs and inhale her scent.

I reach back, pulling my shirt over my head and tossing it onto the floor. I feel like a god when her breathing becomes more rapid at the sight of my bare chest and abs. She reaches out to touch me, but I grab her wrists, pinning them both to the armrest above her head. "No," I tell her. Her eyebrows furrow in confusion, but she keeps her arms in place like a good girl while I stand to pull off my pants, boxer briefs, and socks at an agonizingly slow pace.

Instead of laying back over her, I move her legs, sitting on the other end of the couch. "Straddle me," I tell her. She scrambles up, thinking I'm finally giving her what she wants, but she's so far from any semblance of pleasure, it's not even funny. She throws one smooth leg over my thighs and settles her knees on each side of my hips. When she lowers, pressing her dripping heat against my hard shaft, I almost cave and slide in right there. It would be so easy, but she needs to feel this. We need to feel this.

I let her grind down on me for a bit, her juices coating my cock as she does. I can feel the muscles tightening in her body as pleasure starts to gather in her core, but every time she tries to pick up speed, I grip onto her hips. I'm only allowing her to move enough so that her orgasm feels like it's building miles away, far from her reach.

"I need you," she breathes. "I—I can't…please fuck me." She's already barely making sense, doing whatever she can to get me to give in.

I lift her up, grabbing the base of my cock and slowly lowering her down. She sighs in relief as I fill her, her cunt stretching around me. She's so tight, I feel like it's been forever since I've been inside her.

"Fuck," I choke out. "You're strangling me." My vision starts to blur, but when she lifts her hips to ride me, I hold her down so she can't move.

"Dalton, please," she whines. "I need to move."

I continue holding her still as her body tries to thrash against me. She's shaking her head rapidly, trying to tell me she can't handle it anymore. But she knows her safe word. She'll use it if she needs to. Until then, we're going to experience this together.

I bring my hand up, pushing my thumb into her mouth. "Suck," I order. She takes it between her plump lips, swirling her tongue around the tip before I pull it out with a pop. Without a word, I reach down and rub barely there circles around her clit. I'm applying almost no pressure, but I can feel how hard and swollen it is against the pad of my thumb. She cries out in frustration when I pull away for a moment, waiting for any buildup from her orgasm to subside. I still have one hand gripping her hips, preventing her from moving as I bring the other one back down and rub her again.

I build her up slowly, adding more pressure against her aching bundle of nerves. She's growing wetter by the second as I feel her inner walls start to clench around me. Pulling my thumb away again, I shove my hips up into her, feeling my head press against her G-spot, but still holding her tightly to me so she can't get the friction her body is begging for.

"W-what are you doing?" she asks, barely able to get the words out. There's anguish in her voice, and as much as I want to give her everything she wants, the sound of her pain right now spurs me on.

"Does it hurt?" I ask, trying my best to keep my voice even. I'm about two seconds away from fucking her into oblivion, and it's taking all of my self-control to keep her still on top of me. "Are you desperate right now?"

"Y-yes," she whimpers, her head lolling to the side as her body shakes in agony. She tries again to move her hips, but I dig my fingers in harder. There's no way I'm not leaving marks right now, but we need this in order to heal.

I run the pad of my thumb along the spot where we're joined, gathering her arousal, and returning to massage her clit that is swelling more and more every time I edge her. Her nails dig into my skin as I allow her to get even closer this time before pulling away once more, ruining the orgasm that she was almost able to grasp. Her head drops forward as small, involuntary tremors ripple through her body.

"Look at me, Dia," I order. She obeys, slowly bringing her hooded brown eyes to mine. She looks dejected and exhausted from trying to fight me. "Every time you leave, this is how it feels. When you shut me out instead of talking to me, it tortures us both. It kills us both. No more," I say, grabbing the back of her neck and pressing our foreheads together. "Tell me you won't run again."

Tears fall from her eyes as her body slumps forward onto my chest. "I promise. I won't run again."

The words are music to my ears as I pull out, flipping us over so I'm on top of her. One of her feet is on the floor, while I pull the other one over my shoulder and push back into her. The last string of my self-control snaps and I thrust wildly into her, fucking her like I need it to live. Because I do. I need every part of Dia Davis to be mine. Her hands shoot out to my abs, her nails digging half-moon shaped marks into my skin. I hope she does it hard enough to draw blood and scar me forever.

"I love you so much," I growl, fucking into her like a wild animal. I'm going so fast and hard, that the couch begins to move along the floor with every punch of my hips.

"I love you, too," she says on a gasp as I feel her walls start to close in tightly around me.

I pick up my pace, needing to feel her come more than I need my next breath. "That's it, baby. Choke my cock. Come for me," I tell her. It only takes one more thrust before she's soaking the cushion under us. She cries out, but I don't let up until I'm sure she's completely spent. It isn't until I know she's given me everything that I let myself go, emptying into her with a groan.

We lay there as I soften inside her, breathing heavy and dripping with sweat, but I can't leave her warmth yet. I could stay here forever if she'd let me. And the thought of her full of my cum makes my possessive side want to hold it in as long as I can. I know she's on birth control, but I want this woman carrying my children as soon as she'll allow it. I'm done waiting for forever with her. I want to start right now.

I bring my lips down to her, kissing her with all the love and passion I have. "I can't believe you're mine," I whisper against her mouth, feeling the corners of her lips turn up into a smile.

"Til' death do us part, hubby," she says. "You sure you can handle me that long?"

I roll my eyes. "I was made to handle you, Wifey," I say, dropping a kiss to the tip of her nose before reluctantly pulling out and watching as my cum leaks out of her and pools into the wet spot under her ass. I cringe. "We're going to need a new couch. We fucked this one up."

"Worth it," she says with a dick drunk smile as I pull her up, tossing her over my shoulder and walking toward the bathroom to shower while she laughs, half-heartedly punching my back, pretending to want me to put her down.

And she's right, it was definitely worth it.