Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

EMILY

"I can't believe he was in love with Piper," my friend Leah said. "I never thought they were that serious, but come to think of it, she was really torn up at the funeral."

My friend had come over to visit, and we'd been talking through the revelations from Jacob's lost journal. She, my mother, and I sat around the kitchen table, chatting over tea. I'd filled them in on what I'd learned, though I'd still not told Leah anything about what happened with Tristan and me. She only knew he was Jacob's father and I'd gone on the tour because of that.

Tristan had come by yesterday to drop off the journal. He'd flagged certain passages and stayed with me while I read them. We talked about it some, but he'd been mentally spent after reading it over numerous times and said he needed to be alone for a bit. That was just as well, because I'd wanted to read the entire thing in private.

"How did Tristan take the realization that he'd met Jacob?" my mother asked. "That's so beautiful, yet sad at the same time."

"He has mixed feelings. It upsets him that he doesn't remember it, that he didn't somehow recognize himself in Jacob that day. But it also brings him some peace to know Jacob's feelings about him changed after that encounter."

Leah took a sip of her tea. "Are you okay after learning Jacob was serious about Piper?"

"I am. I've lived with a lot of guilt about breaking up with him. To know that he was falling in love with someone else brings me peace."

"It doesn't make you the least bit jealous, though?" Leah asked.

"Not at all. I prayed he'd meet someone else. It's tragic that he didn't have a chance to see where things went with her, but I feel better than if he'd never experienced love with someone other than me."

"Okay." She took a bite of a sugar cookie my mom had made. "I get that."

"Speaking of love…" my mother interjected. "You do know that man is in love with you, right?"

Leah looked between my mother and me. "Who's in love with her? Are we still talking about Jacob?"

"I haven't explained the situation with Tristan to Leah, Mom," I scolded.

My mother's face reddened. "Shit. I'm sorry."

Leah's jaw dropped. "What's going on with Tristan?"

Up until now, I'd thought the fewer people who knew what I'd done, the better. But Leah was one of my oldest friends, and I knew I could trust her. Plus, there was no way out for me now. So I explained the whole mess-from my lie of omission on the tour that allowed us to get closer, to the money he'd given my mother to hold for me.

"Holy shit. I can't believe you kept this from me. I could never tell Stacia from work. She'd probably jump off a cliff."

"Or burn her jar of hair?" I laughed.

Leah's mouth was still hanging open. "I can't believe he gave you a million dollars. What are you gonna do with it?"

"Nothing." I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat. "It's gonna stay in the bank."

"That's crazy," she said.

"I'm determined not to use it. I want to earn my own way."

"Can I have it?" she teased. "Kidding."

"When he came to talk to me about holding the money for you, he mentioned wishing he could take away all of your pain from the past," my mother said. "I can tell you one thing: I've never had a man care about me the way he cares about you."

While that warmed my heart, I still felt very much in limbo when it came to Tristan and me. "Where does that leave me, though? Pining for the one living man who truly cares for me but won't allow anything more to happen because of my history with his son?"

"You don't think that the fact that Jacob seemed to move on from his heartbreak regarding you changes anything for Tristan?" my mother asked.

I shook my head. "I'm not sure. But Tristan has to get back to L.A. for work very soon, and I need to start getting used to not having him around."

"Have you actually ever made your feelings clear to him?" Leah asked. "Maybe part of his hesitation is that he doesn't realize how strong your feelings are. Maybe if you told him, that would make a difference."

She was right. Despite Tristan showing me how much he cared, I'd been holding back in reciprocating, mostly out of fear of rejection, and a little out of lingering guilt over Jacob.

I couldn't let Tristan go back to L.A. without telling him how I truly felt, even if he still believed we couldn't be together. It was a risk I'd have to take.

***

I didn't tell Tristan I was coming when I showed up at his rental home late that evening.

He beamed upon answering the door. "Hey. This is a surprise…"

"Is this a bad time?"

"No. Of course not. My door's always open for you."

"I was hoping we could go somewhere and talk, actually. Not here."

"Yeah. Of course. Anywhere you have in mind?"

"There's this restaurant I've been wanting to take you to. They're still open, I think."

"Alright," he said. "Let's jump in my car and go."

Tristan drove as I directed him to the restaurant, and when he saw what it was, he cracked up.

"McDonald's." He laughed. "Good one." Tristan pulled his hood up and put on sunglasses so he wouldn't be recognized.

As we entered the McDonald's, I asked the cashier, "Are you closing soon?"

"Yeah, in fifteen minutes."

I winked at Tristan. "Perfect."

We ordered our food and sat down at a table by the window that offered a view of the dark and nearly desolate parking lot.

"I can't believe this." He chuckled.

"Well, you said you wanted to eat a burger alone at a McDonald's at closing time. Except you're not alone. I'm here. Hope that's okay."

"That's more than okay, beautiful." Tristan grinned.

"Needless to say, we have to eat fast." I popped a fry into my mouth.

A woman mopped the floor around us.

Tristan spoke in a low voice. "Did you arrange for her to be mopping the floor, too? Because that's a really nice touch to the whole closing-time thing."

"Pure luck. Can you believe it?"

He bit into his burger and spoke with his mouth full. "You're adorable."

"Do you feel normal right now?"

"You know?" He wiped his mouth. "It's not what it's cracked up to be. The only thing I really love about this moment is the person sitting across from me. I don't think I would've been happy here alone, despite my previous, depressing fantasy."

I smiled.

"I'm glad you came by tonight, Emily. I've been sort of stuck in a rut, not sure what to do. I have to get back to L.A., but I don't want to leave you. It feels like an impossible situation."

"I don't want you to leave, either. That's one of the reasons I came to see you tonight. I need to tell you how I feel before it's too late, Tristan."

Before I could say anything else, the woman who'd been mopping the floor interrupted my pivotal moment.

"I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to ask you guys to leave," she said. "We're closed."

"Sorry…" Tristan said. "We'll go."

We promptly threw our trash away and headed out the door. "Are you satisfied now? You've nearly been kicked out of a McDonald's."

"Not sure anything can top that." He put his arm around me as we walked to his car. "Let's finish this conversation back at the house, though. Okay?"

The ride to Tristan's was quiet as I attempted to gather my thoughts. He took my hand in his and held it the entire way there.

Something shifted between us. He held my hand with confidence. He'd asked me without hesitation to come back to his house. Something told me I wasn't going back home tonight.

After Tristan parked, I followed him inside, but we barely got a few feet into the place before he put his hand at my hip, gently rubbing my side.

"Finish what you were about to tell me at McDonald's."

I took a deep breath. "There's only one thing to say. And that's that I'm crazy about you, Tristan. I don't know where to begin explaining why because there are so many reasons. You make me feel like I'm the most special person in the world. Watching how you've shown your love for Jacob these past weeks has only made my feelings grow. You're a damn good man."

He moved in closer. "A good man wouldn't want to fuck the shit out of you right now, Emily."

"I don't want to go home tonight," I blurted. "In fact, I don't want to leave you ever." I held his stare. "And I don't want to live another day without knowing what it's like to have you inside of me. If that makes me a bad person, I'll have to live with that."

Tristan gritted his teeth. "I've never been so fucking hard for someone in my life."

I took his hand and placed it under my skirt so he could feel how wet I was.

"Fuck…" he muttered before taking my mouth into his.

Goose bumps covered my body as his tongue found mine. His fingers threaded in my hair as he bent my head back to deepen our kiss, practically stealing my breath.

He spoke over my lips. "You think you can do that to me and not make me lose it?"

The next thing I knew, Tristan wrapped my legs around him and carried me over to the wall. My back slammed against it, and he pushed my panties to the side. The vague sound of his zipper lowering registered before I felt the burn of his thick cock entering me. I whimpered at the unexpected surprise-no warning, just intense, instantaneous pleasure. Thankfully, I was more than ready for it. The silky-smooth feel of his hard shaft moving in and out of me, the slick wetness of our mutual arousal was almost too much to take.

He stopped the kiss just long enough to murmur, "I should use something..."

"It's okay. I'm on the pill. You're good."

"I don't normally do this, Emily. I want you to know that. I always use protection. I-"

"It's okay. You feel good like this," I said, moving my hips over him. "I trust you. I'm okay with it if you are."

With that, he groaned and pushed deeper into me. "Do you know how long I've dreamed of fucking you? But bare like this? Nothing has ever felt so damn good."

I pulled his hair as the friction between my legs, the feel of his thick cock pushing in and out, overwhelmed me, nearly bringing me to orgasm several times. It was only the intentional tightening of my muscles that stopped me from losing control.

Tristan spun me around and carried me to his room, somehow managing to stay inside me as we toppled to the bed. "I've dreamed of fucking you from almost the moment I met you, Emily. But over time, I've come to want to make love to you. Make no mistake, that's what I'm about to do."

My body buzzed, so incredibly sensitized and ready for him.

He pulled out just long enough to help me remove my clothes as I ripped off his shirt. His belt buckle clanked as he lowered his pants and kicked them away.

As he pulled down his boxer briefs, I got my first actual glimpse of Tristan's massive cock. Though I'd felt him inside of me moments ago, I'd never had the pleasure of feasting my eyes on it. It was like a thick, veiny rod covered in silk. My mouth watered as I stared, a glistening bead of cum on his tip.

Hovering over me, he ran his calloused fingers down the length of my body. "I just want to look at you for a minute." His fingers landed between my legs as he glided them across my clit. "So damn gorgeous." He positioned himself on top of me. "Open your legs."

I spread for him, digging my nails into his back as he entered me again in one powerful thrust. I gasped.

"Is it too much?"

"No, I love it."

"Good girl."

He went balls deep, and I could feel him throbbing inside me as he gently slid in and out. Then he began to fuck me harder as the bed shook. I squeezed his back, hanging on for dear life as he took my body to places it had never been before. When I felt my orgasm rising to the surface, I continued to will it away, not wanting this to end.

"My cock is drenched from you, Emily. Fucking drenched. You feel so damn good."

My legs wrapped around his back as I lifted my hips to meet his thrusts.

"You feel better than I ever imagined," he hissed. "I'm already addicted. I'm not gonna be able to stop fucking you."

"I hope you never do."

A grunt escaped him with every movement in and out. The heat of our naked bodies molding together felt amazing. Any guilt I might have had was far superseded by the feeling that this man was made for me. And I was made for him. Yes, we'd met under the most salacious of circumstances, but it didn't change the fact that he completed me.

As I pulled his hair, I almost told him I loved him at least a dozen times, but I held back. Still, this was so much more than sex; I loved this man with all my heart and soul.

"You're so freaking tight," he breathed, "even with me stretching the hell out of your beautiful pussy." He tugged my earlobe with his teeth as he pumped harder. "I can't hold back anymore. Can I come inside you?"

"Please." I squeezed his ass.

With that, Tristan gave a guttural growl that echoed through the bedroom as he released his load. I tightened around him, receiving every drop of his hot cum. It was the most amazing feeling. Within seconds, I let myself go as well, releasing the climax that had been building. My vision blurred as every nerve ending in my body rejoiced with the ecstasy of my orgasm.

After he pulled out, he lay behind me, wrapping one hand around my side and placing the other between my legs. "I love feeling my cum drip out of you."

"Me, too," I panted.

He spoke into my ear. "Baby, you totally own me. I hope you know that. I don't want to do anything else for the rest of my life but this."

I turned to face him. "I'm good with that."

"Yeah?" He brushed a piece of hair off my forehead. "You mean that? Because I have a tendency to take things literally when I'm excited."

"Tristan, before you, I'd hardly been excited about anything. When you're around, I look forward to every day. You make me so happy."

"I think what you're trying to say is that…you love me?" He flashed a crooked smile.

Do I ever. "Well, how presumptuous of you. How do you know it's love?" I teased.

"If you look forward to every day now, that mirrors how I feel about you. And I happen to know for a fact that I love you, Emily Applewood. I've loved you from the moment you brought me wart remover. I think that was it for me."

"I love you so freaking much, Tristan." I kissed him long and hard. "What does this mean for us?"

"It means you're either coming to L.A. with me or I'm moving to Shady Hills, because I want you in my house, in my bed, and on my face."