“Don’t you dare take those off,” he demands. “I want you to see every little thing I’m about to do to you.”
I let go of them, bringing my hands to my side. As much as it’s in my nature to be a brat, Ireallywant to come.
“Good girl,” he praises, shoving his jeans and boxer briefs down his legs and kicking them away. He fists his hard length, smearing some precum that’s gathered at the tip, then leans forward, bracing himself with a hand next to my head while hisother one cups my breast. His thumb brushes over my nipple and I shudder, my eyes rolling back, earning me another smirk. He loves my reactions. I’m pretty sure it’s the noises I make when I come that get him off.
He cups my chin, gently forcing my eyes back up to his.
“What am I?” he asks, his tone softer now.
I look into those caramel eyes, dripping with lust and love and everything in between. “Mine,” I whisper.
I feel the crown of his cock nudge my opening.
So close.
“And what are you?”
“Yours.” It isn’t a question or even an admission. It’s the bare naked truth. One that has always existed in the universe, even before we ever locked eyes. I was always meant to be his.
With that one word, Ashton’s pupils bleed out, black engulfing any remaining amber like an eclipse. His first thrust is necessary. It’s fresh rain on dry, scorched earth. His second is healing, and I cry out, tears pricking my eyes. As he lifts my hips, draping my legs over his shoulders to go even deeper, the tears fall freely, staining my cheeks and salting my lips.
Seeing my tears, he freezes, raising an eyebrow, as if to ask a silent question. I nod and push up to encourage him to keep going. And he does, rocking his hips as he brings his thumb down to rub my swollen clit where we’re connected.
He keeps going until I’m screaming, and he follows shortly after, pulsing deep inside me. We both fall onto the bed, panting as he pulls me into him, wrapping his arms around me from behind. He doesn’t let go, and I don’t attempt to get up. Not when our breathing evens out. Not when I feel his cum sliding down my leg. Not when my eyelids grow heavy and sink past my stinging irises. I’ve spent too much time running away from love.
I won’t ever leave him sleeping alone in the sand again.
EPILOGUE
ASHTON
6 Months Later…
“How many times do I have to tell you? Grains go on the bottom shelf.”
I watch as my girlfriend stands tapping her foot, hands on her hips, her crisp white chef uniform hugging her in all the right places. This is the third time she’s put it on today. The first time, I ripped it off her in the dry storage closet after she bent over to put something away one too many times. The second time, I ended up in the walk-in fridge on my knees while she ordered me around and made me respond with “Yes, Chef.”
It doesn’t matter who bosses who around in the bedroom. She’ll always have the power. I’ve been her willing submissive since the day I saw her across the crowded bar, and I will continue to be as long as she lets me.
This is the longest she’s kept her outfit on today, though, so I’m hoping we got it all out of our system. I remind myself that I have to be on my best behavior. We only have two more hours until the dining room is filled with our closest friends and family. This is the day Allie has worked tirelessly for. She’s planned, designed, and obsessed over turning her dream into a reality forthe last five months, and she deserves for this night to be as damn close to perfect as it can get.
A few weeks after Allie’s dad came back into town, Theo came to me with an idea. I ended up telling him most of what happened prior to my leaving the paper, including how I found the kind of love he and my grandmother had. He was pleasantly surprised to find out it was Allie Montgomery who had stolen my heart. He said he saw something in her during their interview. Said she had the heart of a true chef. I told him about her dream of owning a restaurant one day, and a couple of weeks later, he made me a proposition. If I boughtThe Emberfield Lantern,he would invest in a restaurant for Allie. By “buying” The Lantern, he meant paying him what he paid for the building back in the seventies, which in today’s world is next to nothing. What he really wanted was to leave it to someone who he could trust to take care of it. While he was mostly recovered from his stroke, he took it as a wake-up call that he needed to step back. He also knew it wasn’t my choice to leave, and that over time, being editor-in-chief had started to feel less like a favor and more like what I was supposed to be doing with my life. Of course, the rat bastard knows the only way to get me to do something is to involve my beautifully grumpy girlfriend.
Needless to say, I made the deal. I called my dad the next day and told him he could keep my trust fund. Have it transferred to his name. It’s what he’s always held over my head. I thanked him for helping Allie but told him I had to go back on my word. I’ll never lie to her or keep anything from her again, and I’ll always choose her, even if it means losing my integrity with everyone else. He was angry, to say the least, but he’ll get over it. Or he won’t. I honestly don’t care either way.
Convincing Allie, on the other hand, was a whole different story. It took a while for her to accept the money, but when she met with Theo and he told her she could think of it as a loan that she could pay back when and if she wanted to, she finallyagreed. The next week, we started renovating the space where Willow & Thyme had been. Craig’s old restaurant had also had a similar farm-to-table concept, so not much had to be done. There was even already an outdoor garden space. Allie still wanted to put her own touches on it, so I split my time between the paper and coming to help out with the restaurant preparations.
Everything was finalized a few days ago, and tonight is the soft opening for Daffodil Provisions—a name we came up with together. Despite my attempt atrelaxingher earlier today, Allie is a complete ball of nerves. Which is most likely why she just snapped at a well-meaning Luke for accidentally putting a bag of rice on the middle shelf.
I clap him on the back and gently shake my head when he looks like he’s going to yell right back at her. “Why don’t you take five? I’ve got this.” He sighs and walks out, giving me a sympathetic smile. Allie huffs and leaves the dry storage to go back to the kitchen.
“Tonight is going to be amazing,” I tell her as she angrily chops herbs at her station.
“You don’t know that,” she fires back. “The halibut…and then the napkins weren’t the color I ordered…”
“Allie. Look at me.” I place my hand over hers, halting her movements, and she releases the knife, her baby blues flicking up to me. “You’regoing to be amazing.”
She nods, looking down at the pile of herbs. “What if I fail?”
