Chapter 56

56

Edward

I kick my hips forward and in one sweet thrust I’m home. Inside her soft melting pussy which embraces me like it’s missed me.

"I missed this," I confess.

"I missed you, too." She cups my cheek. "Missed you so much."

Her soft words are like balm on my wounds. Her eyes glisten with empathy, with tenderness, with love. She wears her heart in her eyes; she has nothing to hide, unlike me. I urge her to lock her ankles about my waist, then plunge into her and bury myself, again, to the hilt. She gasps; her mouth opens, and I stay there, pushing forward with my knees until I’m fitted into her. I stay there, and she flutters around me. "That’s it, baby," I croon.

"Eddie," she gasps. She winds her arms about my neck, digging her fingernails into my back. I want her to mark me. I want to replace the scars of my past with blemishes she’s bestowed on me.

"I’m here." I begin to pump my hips forward and fuck her in earnest. Her body moves forward with the force of impact, and the headboard cracks against the wall. Something falls to the ground behind me, but I ignore it. I’m too focused on the expressions that flit across her face; the heightened blush that climbs up her chest and neck; her whines and whimpers as I rut into her, over and over again. Looking into her eyes as I fuck her is the most intimate experience of my life.

"I love you," she whispers.

"I…" love you. I want to say it. I do. But the words stick in my throat. Instead, I tilt my hips, and sink into her with enough impact, my balls hit her inner thighs. I hit the space deep inside her, then push in further. That familiar shuddering sweeps up her hips, her back arches, and when she begins to cry out, I close my mouth over hers and absorb the sounds. She shatters around my cock, and I grunt as I come inside her. When she begins to slump, I lean back, taking in her freshly fucked features. Then, because I can’t help myself, I press a kiss to her forehead before I pull out and throw myself on the bed next to her. She curls into my side, and I wrap my arm around her and pull her closer.

"I first saw you in Brooklyn a year ago."

"A year ago?" She doesn’t react. Maybe my idea of fucking her until she’s so filled with endorphins she won’t be able to react to my revelations is what’s keeping her calm? Now you know how morally grey I am. And yes, I’m a bastard. But you know that already.

"I was there for a work meeting. I was in my car, saw you walking home from the subway. I followed you to your townhouse."

"My father’s townhouse," she corrects me. So, she doesn’t think of it as her home, interesting.

"Over the next week, I trailed you to your part time job at the preschool, to meet your friends in Manhattan."

"O-k-a-y?"

"I also got access to your devices."

"What do you mean?" There’s a thread of curiosity in her voice. But her muscles are still relaxed. I draw circles over her hip, and she shivers. And when I lean in and kiss her lips, she melts into me further. "I had an investigator break into your room and put hidden cameras and listening devices there.”

“You put hidden cameras and listening devices in my room?” She asks slowly.

“Also, in your phone and on your Kindle."

"Why my Kindle?" She frowns.

"It’s the device you spend most of your time on; more than your phone."

"And how did you find that out?"

"I saw you reading on your Kindle in the coffee shop, and on the subway, and even while walking to and from the subway, something which was so dangerous, I ended up following you to make sure you reached home safely."

"You followed me home from the subway to make sure I reached home safely?" Her brow furrows.

"It was either that or reveal myself to you, and I wasn’t ready for that."

Something of what I’m saying seems to infiltrate through her subconscious, for her gaze widens. "You’re saying you saw me before we met at Gio’s wedding?"

I nod slowly.

"And you first saw me in Brooklyn?"

I stay quiet, letting her read the assent in my gaze.

She rubs at her temple. "And you bugged my room in my father’s home?"

I nod.

“How did you do that?” The wrinkle between her eyebrows deepens. “My father’s home has security.”

“Nothing my team couldn’t bypass. I also had eyes and ears on your apartment in London."

This time, she pushes away from me, and I don’t want to let her go. I don’t want there to be any distance between us, but I release her… For now.

"In my a-a-apartment?" she stutters.

I reach for her, but she pulls away. A hot stab of pain squeezes my chest; I rub at it. I knew it was going to hurt when I finally told her. But I had to tell her. Even though everything in me warned me if I did, I could lose her.

And what if I didn’t tell her? I’ve managed not to, so far. But now, when I’m so close to her, when it feels like so many walls have come down between us, when I’m beginning to show her who I am, when she knows my darkest desires and hasn’t run yet, I know it’s now or never. And it has to be while we're here, when she can’t run and leave me. While we’re still snowbound. But it won’t last forever. It’s stopped snowing, and the sun has started to shine, and once it thaws, we’ll have to return. And then… I won’t be able to stop her from leaving. But for now, I can keep her here, even if she hates me.

"I had to make sure I knew where you were at all times."

"I don’t understand. You had cameras on me and listening devices. You were tracking me; you knew where I always was?" Color fades from her cheeks.

"I had to make sure you were safe at all times."

"There was no threat to me," she protests.

"And this was the only way to be sure." I rub the back of my neck. "I know this is a lot for you to take in but?—"

"So when you offered me a job?—"

"I knew you needed it. I knew your preschool had gone out of business, and you were running out of options."

She pales further. "You used that to your advantage."

"I saw the opportunity and took it."

She shakes her head. "So, you already knew everything about me. You knew?—"

"That I wanted you to be my wife? Yes."

"Fake wife." She swallows. "You wanted me to marry you to satisfy G-Pa’s terms, so you could confirm your role as CEO of the company."

"And you still believe that? After everything that's happened between us the last few days, you still think that?" I look between her eyes.

She holds my gaze for a second, another, then looks away. "What other explanation is there?"