By the time I left Sapphire a few hours later, I was sober enough to drive to Deacon’s house. Unfortunately, that also meant I was sober enough to recall—in humiliating detail—my public outburst.

When I pulled my car into Deacon’s driveway, I was on pins and needles. I had no clue how he’d react, and while that made me nervous, I held firm to everything I’d said to him over the phone.

Just as I shifted into Park and shut off the engine, Deacon’s front door opened. My heart rate kicked up at the sight of him standing in the doorway. He wore a pair of jeans that hung on his body like they’d been tailor-made to perfectly show off the strength on his frame. His shirt was untucked, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, highlighting his impressive forearms. Deacon’s hands were shoved into his front pockets, and his bare feet were crossed at the ankle. Damn, he was a sight to see. Despite everything that had happened hours earlier, just seeing him standing there set my body on fire.

Blowing out a breath, I grabbed my overnight bag from the passenger seat and pushed my door open. Deacon’s eyes were like penetrating lasers as I slowly made my way up the front walk.

He didn’t move when I hit the front door, so I was forced to stop and look up. I couldn’t read his mood from his expression, so feeling frazzled and still slightly embarrassed, I blurted the first thing that came to mind.

“You shouldn’t be standing in the doorway with bare feet when it’s this cold outside. You could get sick.”

A weight lifted off my shoulders when his face cracked with a smile and he pulled his hands from his pockets in order to wrap me in a hug.

The embrace was short, but no less warm and comforting. Stepping from the doorway, Deacon led me into the house with an arm around my waist, using his free hand to take my bag and toss it onto the floor of the entryway.

Kicking the door closed behind us, he guided me into the living room, taking a seat on the couch and pulling me down next to him. He situated me so I was resting against one of the tall, squishy couch arms, then pulled my feet into his lap, plucking my heels off and dropping them to the floor.

I let out a contented sigh when Deacon’s thumbs pressed into the bottom of my right foot and began massaging.

“Do you want to start or should I?”

Laying my head back against the arm, I closed my eyes and let myself feel the tension melt away. “You start. I’m too comfortable right now to pick another fight.”

“Who said we’re going to fight?”

I lifted my head just long enough to shoot him a sarcastic look before relaxing once more.

He chuckled. “That wasn’t a fight. That was… a meeting of the minds.”

Letting out an indelicate snort, I replied with a mature “Whatever.”

“Baby, look at me,” Deacon commanded in a gentle tone. When I lifted my head and opened my eyes, I saw his expression had gone from humorous to serious in a blink. “I want to talk about what you said on the phone.”

My gut knew exactly what he was talking about. “I said a lot of things,” I told him with a shrug.

One of his eyebrows quirked knowingly. “You know,” he stated simply. With a sigh, I pushed up to sitting, pulling my legs from his lap as he continued. “Deanna had no business confronting you like that. It was fucked up. Especially considering she didn’t know what the hell she was talking about.”

A lump began to form in my throat, making it difficult to speak. “She seemed pretty well-informed to me, Deac.”

“And I knew that was where your head was. That’s why I pushed you on the phone to tell me what was wrong.”

My face scrunched in a deep frown. “No, you pushed on the phone because that’s what you do.”

A muscle in his cheek began to tick, a telling sign of Deacon getting frustrated. But as if determined not to fight, he kept a tenuous hold on his anger. “Did you ever stop to think that I get like that with you because I know you so goddamn well? I knew you’d hold on to something like that until it tangled you up inside. What you consider pushy, I consider necessary. It’s the only way I know I’ll be able to get your head straight about us when you start twisting shit up again.”

“Stop accusing me of twisting shit up in my head!” I snapped. I was really getting sick and tired of him throwing that back in my face.

“Then stop doing it!” he barked back. “You took what Deanna said and internalized it, making yourself feel guilty about something that wasn’t yours to feel guilty about.”

“How can you say that?” I cried. “It’s spreading all over Seattle that you’ll never settle down because you’ve had your heart broken!”

“Jesus Christ! It has nothing to do with me having a broken heart, Fee! I wouldn’t settle down with any of those women because they weren’t you! Hate to break it to you, but I didn’t spend my life as a goddamn monk. I’m a man. I like sex, and when the mood struck, I did something about it.” I flinched, unable to hide how much I hated hearing that even though it was unreasonable. “But those relationships didn’t end because of that bullshit Deanna fed you. They ended because I wasn’t in love with any of them. I’ve only ever loved you.”

My mouth opened to respond, but the words stuck in my throat when Deacon’s words finally penetrated. “You…. Did you just say…?” I couldn’t bring myself to finish the sentence for fear that I hadn’t heard right.

“Are you really surprised?” he finally asked, putting me out of my misery.

I suddenly felt like Lola, prone to tears at the drop of a hat. “Maybe you should spell this out for me too,” I giggled. “You know, just so I’m totally sure.”

Deacon’s face split in a huge smile, showing off his brilliant white teeth. “I love you, Fiona.”

Giddy at Deacon’s pronouncement of love, I launched myself across the couch and straddled his lap, peppering his face with kisses. Once my lips landed on his, he immediately wrapped one arm around my waist and tangled his other hand in my hair, holding me in place in order to deepen the kiss. When we finally broke apart, I was out of breath and unbelievably turned on.

“So I’m taking it that this means you love me too?” he joked.

“Around the world and back again,” I whispered, every bit of the love I felt for him pouring from those words.

His hand in my hair clenched uncontrollably. “Say it,” he insisted on a gruff whisper. “I need the words, baby.”

Cupping Deacon’s cheeks, I rested my forehead against his, looking him right in the eye. “I love you, Deacon.”

Deacon’s eyes slammed closed. It was like hearing me say that lifted a weight from him. “To Jupiter and back, sweetheart,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion.

* * *

A growl emitted from deep within Deacon’s chest, drawing my eyes up from what I was doing. The heat in his gaze as he watched me take his cock down my throat sent a rush of arousal between my legs.

“Oh fuck,” he gritted, dropping his head back against the headboard where he sat propped on the pillows as I worked between his spread legs. His jaw clenched and his fingers fisted in my hair as his hips began to pump up, shoving him deeper down my throat. “Yeah, baby. Just like that. Take me deep.”

I moaned at his dirty words, loving what they did to me, but loving what I was doing to him right then more even. The sheer power of pushing Deacon to the edge like I was currently doing was exhilarating. I couldn’t get enough. I was so close to coming simply from sucking him off.

One of my hands wrapped around the base of him while the other snaked between his thighs to cup his balls. I gave them a gentle squeeze at the same time I swallowed, pulling a grunt and a rumbly “Shit!” from his throat. Deacon’s defined abs tensed and convulsed beneath his skin, his cock swelled, and his balls tightened.

“Fee, climb on and ride me.”

That caused another gush of arousal, but I was too far gone with what I was doing to follow direction. I wanted to watch him blow, wanted to experience the thrill that came with having a front row seat to Deacon’s orgasm. My head started bobbing fast, my fingers on both hands squeezing to apply more pressure.

“Baby, now.”

He fell from my mouth with a pop, and I started jacking him as I looked up at his face. “I want to watch.”

“You can watch later. I want to come inside you. Get up here and ride me.”

“But—” My objection was cut off with a yelp as he grabbed my hips and yanked me up to straddle him. I felt the head of him press against my entrance just as he thrust up and pulled me down, filling me completely.

I had already been on the edge, so when he lifted me and shoved me down one more time, I started coming. Throwing my head back on a long moan, I started riding him with abandon as my release washed over me. “Oh God. Deacon, baby.” I moved faster and faster. My orgasm seemed to last forever as he pulled on my hair to lower my face to his.

“You wanted to watch, sweetheart.” Just as he finished speaking, every muscle in his body tightened. He pumped up once, twice, three times before planting me in place and letting out a long, loud roar as his head fell back.

Watching him come was absolutely spectacular, and the sight was so sexy it set me off again. My second climax had just begun to fade at the same time as Deacon’s.

When we finished, I collapsed against him in a heap, pressing my face to the crook of his neck.

Deacon’s fingertips skated along the skin of my back in soft, featherlight touches.

“I love you around the world and back again,” I whispered.

“And I love you to Jupiter and back.”