Chapter 31

Talia

My breath came in gasps as I came to after that incredible orgasm. Gazing down at Fox, a smile flickered over my lips. I truly couldn’t believe he was back, that his head was between my thighs, that his lips were tracing the soft skin along my thighs, kissing them. I reached forward quickly, gripping his shirt and lifting it over his head. His muscles shone beneath, slightly sweaty, from the heat of the forest cabin. My fingers danced over his pecs, feeling the hard nipples, and then counting the six-pack abs. I traced down to his belt, slowly unbuckling it and allowing the girth of him free. His rock-hard cock pulsed from beneath his jeans, dribbling with a bit of cum. It was red, angry. And as Fox watched me staring at it, something came over him. A dominance. He couldn’t control himself.

He thrust his cock toward my lips. On command, I opened my mouth wide. His dick shoved as far back into my throat as possible. My eyes closed, and my tongue raced around the tip, loving the way he suddenly bent to my every twitch, my every move. He let out a wild gasp, a cry, and his hips began to move back and forth. I tasted his cum dripping down my throat. His hands reached forward and eased over my tits, gripping at the nipples. I began to move over his thigh, wrapping my cunt over it and sliding up and down. This brought my pussy to life once more. His fingers found my clit and began to match the movement of my lips, pulsing up and down. I moaned softly, with his cock deep-throating me. God, I almost couldn’t take how fucking hot he was, how dominant he looked as he stared down at me. His mouth opened and he let out a strange, guttural sound. It was as if he couldn’t take it either.

Suddenly, he brought his cock from between my lips and flipped my frame over. He brought his tongue to my asshole, keeping his hand over my pussy. He drew a line along my ass with his tongue before moving up and thrusting his cock into me, fucking me doggy-style. My tits bounced as he shoved forward, and the pleasure was immeasurable. I felt electricity dancing through my brain. Helping him, I pressed my finger against my clit. His cock, deep against my G-spot, and the pressure on my clit were mindblowing; I could no longer remember my name.

Hours, minutes, seconds later – I really don’t know – Fox fucked me from above, gazing into my eyes. These were tender moments, where words would never have been enough. He whispered into my ear, holding onto my body as tightly as he could.

“I don’t want to lose you again,” he said. “I know I fucked up. I fucked everything up, for years. But you were always the one, Talia. And thank you. Thank you for taking me back.”

We fucked until we came in one another’s arms, each of us completely falling into feeling and gasping, crying each other’s names. We fell asleep in his bed that night, stretched out in one another’s naked arms. And in the morning, when the sunlight streamed in, we awoke and made pancakes, simmering in joy and laughter. Lily-Rose awoke and ate more than either of us, her face growing sticky with syrup. And as I cleaned the plates, Lily-Rose and Fox took to the piano bench, with Fox filling in the gaps of Lily-Rose’s absent one.

My heart had never felt so full.

Over the next months, Fox proved himself to be every much the man he said he wanted to be. He donated the rest of the funds for the community center, as promised, and began to teach more music lessons to the community’s kids. People began to speak of him as “Uncle Fox,” the town “master of music,” with kids aching to get a spot on his roster. Suddenly, the town of Bilkington – normally a basketball place, only – was enamored with music.

Lily-Rose began school at the end of August, third grade, which terrified me. And for this reason, Fox built a large cabin closer to the center of town, where Lily-Rose could easily ride her bike. We moved into it in last October, as the leaves began to change from greens to vibrant reds and oranges and yellows, burning across the sky.

Jessica had her baby in early November. Her sister came to stay from another town to help care for her, and I was a frequent visitor, bringing food, laughter, and little sweaters and hats and mittens. I’d begun to strain with the desire to have a baby of my own, and holding Jessica’s sweet thing, Margaret, in my arms made me ache. Jessica saw it in me, her eyes twinkling. “When do you think it’ll happen, Talia?” she asked me, chuckling. “Will Fox be ready to have a baby of his own?”

Andrew had left town, sensing a distrust from the community. I’d never told anyone about his assault on me, but, turns out, he’d done similar things to other women in town. “Who knew you were the good brother?” I heard someone tell Fox once at a hardware store, shrugging. “You really can’t tell a book by its cover, can you? Damn straight.”

To my surprise, Evelyn became a bi-monthly visitor, coming and staying in her traditional spot at the hotel and taking Lily-Rose for dinners, museum-visits, ice creams. She thanked me for allowing her to be in Lily-Rose’s life, and even brought her a little photo book which included pictures of Chris, Lily-Rose’s father. Although Lily-Rose feigned interest in Chris, it was clear that she was truly enamored with Fox.

It wasn’t until Christmas that Fox asked me to marry him. He got down on his knee and slipped the diamond over my finger. But immediately after, he turned to Lily-Rose. He spoke with a serious, deep tone, one that respected her fully.

“Lily-Rose, I know we haven’t known each other very long. But I would love the opportunity to adopt you and become your father, if you’d like that,” he said. “It would be my greatest privilege.”

Lily-Rose flung her arms around him, sobbing. “I never thought I’d have a daddy,” she cried, sounding much younger than her eight-year-old self. For at least a few more years, she was allowed to be young, to be bright-eyed. She was allowed to feel just as sharply and as heavily as she could now.

I knew Fox and I would be good parents together. We’d been doing it for months—trying to patch together what we knew and didn’t know about rearing a child, especially one with such specific anger issues. But as we settled into life together, it seemed that Lily-Rose’s fits had begun to dissipate. She seemed to want to please us—her Talia and her Fox. And every night, my heart strained, listening to her coo “I love you,” just for us.

When my belly eventually did swell with Fox’s baby, Lily-Rose was nearly eleven years old. She no longer wore her hair in pigtails, and no longer threw plates across the room. She told me, in the voice of a girl who would someday be a woman, that she would help me through every aspect of raising her “little sister,” until she went to college. “I owe you my life,” she told me. “And I know my mother would be so proud of you.”

Fox said something similar in bed that night, after we got the test back. He pressed his lips against my stomach. This man who I’d first fallen in love with as a teenager. This gruff, tattooed “bad boy,” who seemed to glow with tenderness.

“You, this baby, and Lily-Rose. You all save my life, every damn day. I don’t know what I did to deserve it. But I love you, Talia. I love you, and I will never let you go.”