Chapter Ten

 

It took three days before Willow felt like she was able to face the greenhouse again. She hadn’t gone to visit Nana again and when she didn’t hear from her, Willow figured that the older woman either didn’t know what had happened between her and Gannon, or that she was angry with her for the same thing that had driven Gannon from her arms. The last thing that she wanted to do was go into the greenhouse and face the space that she had come to associate with the time that she got to spend with him, but she knew that if she didn’t the plants that were in there would wither without her care. She needed to water them and ensure that they were healthy. Those plants were something that had always been a part of her and she couldn’t just start neglecting them now.

She walked into the greenhouse and immediately paused. She had expected silence among the flowers and fruit and vegetable plants. Instead she heard soft sounds coming from the far corner, behind a bank of fruit trees that were nearly ready for transplant in the small orchard she had been working on building. Willow walked toward the sound, curiously peeking through the trees and gasping when she saw Gannon standing at one of the high tables that she had placed there. He turned in response to the sound and she saw a glimmer in his eyes.

“Gannon,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you,” he said. “There’s something that I never got a chance to show you.”

“What is it?”

He turned and picked something up from the table, turning back to her and holding it out. Willow narrowed her eyes at it slightly and walked around the trees toward him, scrutinizing the plant that he held in his hands as she approached.

“Is that…” she started, not believing what she was seeing.

“I’ve been working on it as a surprise for you,” Gannon said.

Willow reached out and rested her fingertips to the gorgeous blooms on the tiny bush he was presenting her, feeling the softness of the petals and the strength of the stems. It was vibrant, immediately surrounding her with its unique scent.

“I thought that it was dead,” she said. “How did you do this?”

“I found it on the first day that we were working in here together. It was just kind of tossed in this corner, but the way that it was positioned, it still got a little bit of water from the off-spray of the sprinkler system for those trees. It wasn’t much, but it was enough that its roots hadn’t fully dried up. I thought that with a little bit of care I might be able to restore it.”

“I can’t believe it,” Willow said. “It has never been this beautiful.”

“It reminded me of myself,” he said. “I felt like I was nearly dead, but then you brought me back to life.”

Willow’s lips parted and she felt tears forming in her eyes.

“Gannon…”

“I am so sorry that I left you the way that I did,” he said. “It had nothing to do with you. I want you to understand that.”

“Then why did you go?” Willow asked.

“I was afraid,” Gannon admitted. “I haven’t been completely honest with you, and I was afraid that if you found out who I really am that you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.”

Willow felt panic squeeze at her heart. His words were frightening her, but she needed to hear what he had to say. She had to at least understand what had happened, no matter what that meant she needed to find out.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I know that Nana told you that I came to live in her house because I am a friend of Aubrey’s husband,” he said.

Willow nodded.

“She said that you weren’t able to continue living where you had been and that she had offered to let you stay in one of her guest rooms until you found your own place.”

“That is only somewhat true,” he said.

Willow nodded, reaching out to carefully place the flower back on the table.

“Alright,” she said. “So, what is the truth?”

Gannon drew in a breath and she could see that he was struggling with what he needed to tell her. The words seemed to be forming in his throat, but he wasn’t able to bring them forward. She stepped up to him and ran her fingertips along the side of his face so that he looked at her.

“You can tell me,” she said. “Anything. You can tell me anything.”

He nodded.

“It’s true that I came to live with Nana because I know Aubrey’s husband Jonah, but I wouldn’t exactly call us friends. At least, I wouldn’t have then. I suppose that we’ve come to be friends now, but when I first met Nana I had only just met Jonah a few days before.”

“Where did you meet?” she asked.

Gannon swallowed hard and stared into her eyes for several long seconds, seeming to want to extend the moment before he told her whatever it was that he was holding inside of him.

“He was one of the people who rescued me,” he said.

Willow felt like the words didn’t completely go into her mind, like she heard them but that they were still hovering somewhere in the air, unable to process through her mind but also irreversible.

“Rescued you?” she finally asked.

Gannon nodded and leaned back against the counter as he started to talk. She stood in front of him, listening, barely breathing, as he told her the horrible reality of how he had come to know Jonah. He told her of the inhumane experiments that were being performed at the University, experiments that created him but also turned him into a vicious soldier. He told her of the brutal treatment of not just the hybrid creatures that this man had made, but also of the women he had stolen from the world outside of his sickening facility to turn into human incubators for the hybrids. She listened, trying to withhold her emotion, as he described the battle that had waged in the building and how he had watched as one of the women, a woman who at the time had had no name, just as he didn’t, had broken strict regulations to reach out to one of the human women against whom they had fought to plead for her help, and then had been captured by people he called the Valdicians to be put through reprogramming.

Willow didn’t want to listen to it. She didn’t want to hear any more of the torture that he had gone through or the suffering that he had experienced throughout his life. At the same time, she knew that she had to listen to it. She had to give him the validation of having a voice and speaking to what he had gone through. Only by saying what he had seen and felt and survived could he truly take ownership not just of those moments, but of all of the moments that he had ahead of him. She had to give him that.

When he was finished, he looked weakened, tired as if pouring all of that out to her had taken all of his energy away from him. She felt relieved knowing that it wasn’t her that had caused him to run away, that she hadn’t hurt or upset him in some way that had pushed him away from her, but she also felt sad and had a deep longing to soothe him, to take away all of the pain that he had gone through and give him the new life that he deserved.

Willow walked up to Gannon and took his hands in hers. She looked down at them, admiring each callous, cut, and scar that stretched across his palms. She saw even greater beauty in those hands now. They were not just touched with a mastery of plants or the skill to care for animals. These talents may have been born into him, but every mark on his skin was earned through finding meaning and comfort through his toils. She brought his hands up to her mouth and gently touched her lips to each palm.

Gannon let out a long sigh as she repeated the kiss on the inside of each wrist. Bringing their hands down between them, she stepped up closer to him and looked into his eyes.

“Thank you for telling me,” she said. “I am so sorry that you had to go through any of that.”

“It brought me to you,” he said. “I would endure it a thousand times more if it still brought me right here to this moment.”

“You will never have to go through it again,” she said. “I love you. I want to show you what it is to love and to be loved.”

Willow guided Gannon back so that he sat fully on the counter and stepped up between his thighs. Resting both hands on the sides of his face, she rested her lips on his, recapturing the kiss that they had lost when he ran from her. Their mouths immediately sank into one another, melting into a deep, searching kiss that went so far beyond anything that she had ever experienced that she already felt nearly overwhelmed. She craved more of the sensation, more of the need for him, and she climbed up so that she straddled his hips again just as she had when they were in her living room.

The low wooden counter wasn’t as comfortable as the sofa, but it felt natural and soothing to be there in the space where they had built their connection. His chest felt warm and strong against hers and she could already feel the beginning of his erection hardening beneath her hips. She knew that he didn’t understand what he was feeling and that each touch, each kiss, was a new exploration for him. She wanted to give him the time to explore each feeling and to move at the pace that was right for him, but she also knew that a powerful instinct was within him. She had seen the beginning of it when he first swept her into his lap and she knew that if he could connect with it, it would drive him.

Moving her hands down to his shoulders, she rolled her hips subtly against his. Her fingers found the buttons along his shirt and she worked her way down them, gradually revealing his body. Their mouths parted and she pushed the shirt back off of his shoulders so that it fell away. As soon as she did she could see the stark reminders of the torture that he had endured. A long scar stretched down from one shoulder along his chest and onto his stomach. She could feel Gannon tense as she looked at it and knew that he felt embarrassed that she was seeing it. Refusing to allow the scar to be a source of pain for him any longer, Willow ducked her head and kissed his shoulder where the scar touched. She followed the scar with a trail of soft kisses until she reached as far down as she could, then let the tip of her tongue slip out so that she could lick her way back up to his shoulder.

Gannon growled and lifted her off of his lap, positioning her on the edge of the counter so that he could stand in front of her. He looked at her for a long moment before grasping the hem of her shirt and pulling it off over her head. He looked briefly nervous and Willow took his hands in hers again, guiding them around her back to the clasp of her bra. When he released it, she moved her arms forward to let the white satin slip off and drop to the floor. Gannon’s eyes fell to her bare flesh and roved across it hungrily, yet reverently. Finally, his mouth touched her breast and Willow moaned, arching into the touch. As he continued to kiss her breasts, Gannon slid his hands over her hips and grasped the sides of her pants and panties. He stepped back and eased them down her legs and off so that she was suddenly completely naked in front of him. His eyes moved across her body as if worshipping her and she felt her need for him spiraling up. She wanted him to be there with her, to feel everything, to experience what he had been missing for so long. He started to reach for her again, but she tenderly eased his hand away and brought hers to his belt.

Gannon met her eyes and she held them unwaveringly as she unfastened his pants and carefully undressed him. She let his pants and trunks fall to his feet so that he could kick them aside and finally there was nothing between them. Fully vulnerable and open to one another, she had never felt so confident and beautiful. Parting her legs on either side of him, she wrapped her hands around the backs of his thighs and gently pulled him forward so he stepped between her knees.

Willow slowed to let her hands explore his body. She stroked them across his strong, hard shoulders and down over his chest and onto the rippling plane of his stomach. She let her fingertips follow each muscle, not wanting a single one to go untouched. When her hands reached his hips, she let them follow the deep V of muscles on either side of his stomach, culminating in the trail of coarse hair that led down his belly and into the apex of his thighs. She could see Gannon’s face changing, a blend of emotion filling his eyes as he allowed her to touch him. Willow finally looked down to take in the entirety of his body and saw his beautiful cock standing so hard and strong it made Willow's mouth water. She indulged her craving for him by leaning forward and running the tip of her tongue slowly up the underside of his cock, feeling each ridge and vein as she went. Gannon's erection jumped slightly in response to her touch and he gasped.

Pleased and emboldened by his response, Willow parted her lips further and drew his erection in along her tongue until she held him completely within her mouth. She heard Gannon struggling to control his breath and felt one of his hands rest on her back and the other come against the back of her head. He groaned loudly and she took a moment to focus just on the sensitive tip of his erection, wrapping her hand firmly around the base of his shaft so she could withdraw him nearly all the way and suck just on the head before taking him in fully again. She concentrated on relaxing her mouth so that he could enter even further, letting him dip into her throat.

Gannon tensed at first, seeming to not know how to process the intensity of this new, intimate touch, but then relaxed into it. She felt him offering himself over to the instincts within him and being to gently thrust into her mouth. He guided her into a smooth rhythm with the hand on the back of her head and Willow delighted in the feeling of his discovery as she returned his worship. Suddenly he stopped her and withdrew from her mouth. She was instantly nervous, afraid that he was rethinking this all again and that he was going to run out of the greenhouse and away from her. Instead, though, he rested his hands to her hips and guided her around so that she lay on her back on the wooden counter. She watched as he climbed up onto the counter with her and rested himself over her, allowing their bodies to press against each other from their chests down to the tangle of their feet.

His skin felt luscious against hers as he stretched himself over her. Gannon looked at her with rich, velvety eyes that held unshakable desire, but he also seemed to hesitate, as nervous as he was enthralled by her. Willow knew this was her moment to show him how much she loved him and that nothing in his past, or hers, would change that. She wanted him to have no questions in his mind and no more space between them.

Lifting her hips just slightly, she let her body stroke against his. She was totally bare beneath him and she presented her body to him, completely open to his touch. Gannon growled and pulled back so that he could look down at her. He knelt over her hips and stroked his fingertips from the center of her chest down her stomach and onto her pubic bone.

Gannon used one knee to ease her thighs apart and then moved so that he was kneeling between them. She felt her leg slip off of the side of the counter, opening herself even more to him. His hand moved down her body again and finally he touched her. Willow was not expecting the intensity that shuddered through her when Gannon drew his finger up through her folds. He slowed then, taking several long moments to explore her body with his finger as he coaxed her into bright, sparkling awareness. She was wet and ready for him, the warmth spreading across her inner thighs as he traced the pad of his finger in slow, deep circles on her sensitive, swollen pearl that he had discovered.

Gannon sat up again, revealing an even harder erection that made her bite down on her bottom lip and whimper. She wanted to take his hands and guide them to her body again, ask him to touch her again, to let him make her come, and watch him lick the slickness from her body. But she didn’t want for this to just be about her. These moments were about both of them and she wanted to bring him with her, to show him, just as she had told him, what it was to give yourself fully to the person you love and accept that love from them in return.

Holding his gaze, she reached up and pressed one palm to the center of his chest so that she could feel his heart beating against it. The other hand slid down between her thighs and she let her fingers delve into her own body, mimicking the slow discovery he had performed on her moments before. She gathered her own hot silkiness onto her fingertips and sat up to touch him, wrapping her wet fingers around his shaft so she could glide her hand across it more easily. After a few moments, Willow leaned forward and opened her mouth to let the head of Gannon's cock slide onto her tongue as she stroked.

He was everything that she had always wanted, that she had craved with her mind and body, and she was ready to give into the intense emotions and need that she had felt from the first moment that she had seen him.

“I want more of you,” she whispered to him. “I want to hold you inside me.”

Gannon eased forward again so that he enveloped her and Willow felt the tip of his erection touch her opening. She pressed her thighs apart further, sweeping her leg up from where it dangled off the side of the counter so that she could wrap it over his hip. Gannon plunged forward, filling her suddenly and deliciously. He was thick and hard, and Willow cried out at the blissful intensity of their bodies melding into one. He fit within her with such perfection it was as if she was crafted specifically for him and finally she had discovered true completion.

There was incredible passion as his hips began to move, but no urgency. Instead, he moved within her in long, slow, intense strokes that allowed both of them to feel every inch of each other. His mouth found hers and they kissed languidly, unhurried and unconcerned with anything that was happening around them. The greenhouse offered them lush, beautiful privacy and the love between them made everything else inconsequential.

After some time, Gannon lifted up to prop on his hands, changing the angle that he was inside of her. The feeling intensified and he increased his speed, thrusting into her slightly harder and faster. Within seconds Willow’s walls contracted deliciously. The beautiful feeling only peaked further as Gannon began to grunt, his eyes closing as he gave himself over to the waves of pleasure that she knew were washing over him. He screamed out as he throbbed within her, spilling hot streams into her body that made her feel even more bonded to him, and trembled with the exertion of holding himself up through the powerful climax that had overtaken him. She struggled to catch her breath, sounds like small sobs gasping from her throat. As he regained control of himself, Gannon rolled his hips slowly, riding out the last waves of his orgasm with her final tremors.

She reached up and wrapped her arms around him, guiding him down to stretch over her again. She cradled him close, her body pressing against his as she kissed him slowly, trying to allow the deliciously sweet, sweaty moment to linger on for as long as possible. Gannon's hands stroked along her hips and into the dip of her waist, pulling her against him so he could return her kiss passionately.

"I love you," he said when their lips parted.

Willow sighed happily at the sound of the words coming back to her after she had already said them. They had come, exactly as they were meant to, when she gave herself over with unwavering trust and offered herself to his trust as well. They were both ready now. Ready to move forward away from everything that was behind them, and ready to do it together.

To be continued…