EIGHT
River
The memories of that night pummeled the inside of my head. A throbbing took permanent root before I watched, as if in slow motion, as Sienna’s eyes shuttered closed, hand covering her mouth as pain seemed to rocket through her system.
“Sienna.” I wrapped my arms around her as tears burned at my eyelids.
“What are you talking about? What do you mean, that man was your father?”
My heart split into a million shards, shredding my insides as it fell in pieces at my feet. I’d never wanted to tell this story again. I’d tried to bury the memory of it, of him, along with his body under the ground. “My dad was a drunk. From the day I was born, he was a no-good drunk. He could hardly hold a job, unemployed and passed out on the couch more than he was doing anything else. My mom worked two jobs, even three at one point, to pay the bills. We were evicted from house after house. It was a bad way to grow up. But it was all his fault, he loved that bottle more than he did us.
“When my mom died when I was sixteen, I think it was stress—or a broken heart. She loved my dad. I swear she was the only one who could see through to the good in him. I never did find it.” This part hurt to tell. If I’d thought my life was bad before Mom passed, shit only got worse. “I thought he’d change, maybe losing her would turn him around. But I was a dumb kid. Should have known people don’t change.” I glanced at her.
She nodded, fingers clutching mine a little tighter, encouraging me.
“I wasn’t surprised when CPS showed up at the house. Passed out in the middle of the road, hit by a car. He stumbled out of the bar to walk home and never quite made it.” I shook my head, still bitter about the life he’d lived. “But I never knew what happened to the family. I was young, days away from eighteen, and suddenly my dad was gone. I was angry, I had rage, but then one day, this check came in the mail. Apparently, my mom had out taken a life insurance policy on him because she knew something like that would happen. It wasn’t worth much, but it was enough to get the shop open, hire a few employees. That shop saved my life. In some fucked-up way, that night was a blessing because it set me on this path. I didn’t have a dime to my name, but all I wanted to do was draw and tattoo people. When I lost him, my life changed for the better. But your life, Sienna… Fuck, I’m so sorry he ruined your life.”
Her sad face crumpled, and I crushed her to me, trying to soothe away the ache left in her heart from the night my father had taken her sister. “My parents always blamed him. If he hadn’t passed out right there… But even then, I knew it was their fault. They were fighting, River, raging mad and screaming at each other. They weren’t paying attention to the road. If they’d been paying attention, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“Sienna, Christ, we can’t think like that.” I pushed a palm into her hair and held her to me. Our hearts beat in the same rhythm, raw emotion pulsing with every beat. “There’s no changing the past, all we’ve got is this moment. I’ve got you, doll face.”
Her shoulders drooped as soft sobs racked her body, and I moved my lips across her neck, kissing away the hurt with my touch. All I had to give her was my love, and she had it. She owned every bit of it.
“You’re not ever going back to that man, ya got me?” I finally muttered at her ear.
She nodded, sniffling once before her eyes turned up to me, a slow smile curving her lips. “Think you can put up with me?”
I swiped at a stray tear, vowing to keep all her tears away from now on. I’d take the grenade myself if I had to, but seeing this woman cry caused utter devastation to my heart. “I look forward to putting up with you every day.”
“I’m a handful. I’m terrible at putting away laundry, I can’t cook to save my life, I'd rather lie in the middle of a railroad track than clean a toilet—”
I covered her mouth with my palm. “Sounds like I need Martha Stewart to move in.”
She pulled my hand away and fought with me. “She’d take care of you better than I will. Seriously, you went out on a limb hiring me. You don’t need to move me in too.”
“You’re wrong on that. I do need you to move in—for me, Sienna. Won’t be able to sleep at night without you beside me, knowin' you’re safe.”
She didn’t reply, but I saw the doubts in her eyes.
“Plus, I bet Martha Stewart gives terrible head.”
She burst into laughter, a sound I would never get enough of. I ran my hands up her thighs, anxious to start our future together. “I can’t wait to spend every night with you.”
She climbed into my lap then, hands wrapping around my neck as my arms locked around her waist.
“Mmm, I want to feel you, River.” Her words ricocheted through my veins, lust chugging along every nerve.
I covered her lips in a kiss, slow and probing, taking my time tasting her. Slipping together, falling under, being taken away in a current of lust, I pulled her against me on the couch. Her hands worked up my back, fingernails digging when I dragged the ridge of my cock across her cotton-covered pussy. She sighed, eyes shuttering closed before I snagged her chin.
“Eyes open, doll face. I need your eyes on mine.”
She nodded without words, hand working at the button of my jeans. In a swift move, I kicked off the restrictive denim, freeing my cock to the cool air. “You sure you don't want to take it easy?”
“I don’t like easy. I like you. All of you.”
With her last word, I sheathed myself in her hot cunt, feeling it tighten around me in a vise grip. I pumped slow and steady, careful not to harm her, careful to show her how much I fucking loved her.
“Can’t get enough of this beautiful fucking body, Sienna.” I plucked at her nipple. “Of this sassy mouth.” I kissed her, hips riding a slow rhythm, hands crawling up skin and covering every inch.
“More… More, River.”
“Fuck, your gorgeous pussy is soaked for me. Love how my fat cock feels buried deep inside you, pretty girl?” I grunted, sliding my thumb across the elegant arch of her top lip. My other hand slipped down her ass, a finger probing at her back entrance as soft little pants fell from those pretty lips.
“Beg for me, Sienna. Tell me where you want me. I need to hear you say it.”
“My ass. Take my ass, please.”
A growl slipped past my lips when her eyes flickered open and captured mine. Like the world careening off its axis, my heart shuddered to a complete stop then seemed to start again at a new, fast rhythm. One that pumped adrenaline and lust and need from me to her.
“Fuck, love you all needy, begging. You don’t know what it does to me. Makes me so hard I think I could pound nails. You feel how fucking hard you make me?” I pumped, grinding into her, filling her up, and hitting the end of her hot channel. When I pushed the tip of my finger into her ass, she squealed, arching up, but I held her tighter against me, fucking her with my cock and sliding one finger past the tight ring of muscle at her ass.
“Deep breaths, I’m here. Never letting you go again. You're moving in here, sharing my bed. I’ll take you to work in the morning, and we’ll leave together at night. I’ll have you for breakfast every morning and give you spankings when you deserve them.”
“And piercings?” she whispered, the words coming out a little breathlessly as I pushed up to my first knuckle into her ass.
“And piercings. Going to cover this creamy flesh in tattoos. You’re my fucking canvas. My beautiful muse.” I placed a kiss on her nose. “What took you so long to get here?”
“What took you so long to find me?” she countered.
I didn’t answer as my words were replaced with groans. “I can’t wait to take this ass.”
“Do it, please, River.”
“Mmm, tempting.” I sucked at the hollow of her neck. “But not tonight. You’re not ready for me yet. But soon.”
“I can’t take it anymore,” she moaned.
“Sure, you can. Feel it. Feel me, taking you. Owning this sweet body. This pussy, this ass.” I punctuated each word with a thrust. “It’s mine. No one’s been here but me.”
She groaned when I slipped a second finger into her ass, stretching her slowly, easing her into me as she rode my hand. Within seconds, an orgasm shattered and split through her. Her legs shook around my waist, her teeth clamped down on her pretty lips as she came in a torrent. “That’s it, baby. Cream all over my dick. Show me how hot this makes you. All soft and open, letting me fill you. Tell me how thick and full it feels.”
“I’m going to lose my mind,” she gasped. “So full, so amazing.” I pushed one hand into her hair and tugged. I slipped my other hand around her head and pulled her to me, covering her face in kisses as my fingers laced in her hair and tightened.
“I already lost my head the minute you walked into my shop.” I pumped, her pussy still quivering, my own orgasm burning through my balls and finally releasing in waves of pleasure. I came in long, hot jets, coating the inside of her gorgeous body. “I want to knock up this beautiful cunt. Make you full with my baby. I’ll take care of you both, Sienna. Forever. You’re mine now, and I take care of what’s mine. I don’t have anyone else in life—”
“Now you have me. You always have me, River.” She cupped my face, eyes searching mine. With my cock still buried inside her, I sank down on her body, nosing into her neck and sucking in deep breaths.
“Tempted to tie you to my bed and have my way with you every minute for the next week.”
“I wouldn’t be able to walk!” She giggled.
“That’s the point,” I laughed, gathering her in my arms.
“Are you gonna fall asleep with your dick inside me?”
“I was planning on it. Not ready to let go yet.”
“You don’t ever have to let go, River. Not ever, I promise.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“I may be a nasty gal, but I’m a nasty gal who keeps her word. You’re mine as much as I’m yours, River.”
I glanced up at her then, finally certain she was feeling all the same deep emotion I was. “Good. I like you needing me.”
“You saved me. I’m yours forever.”
“Forever sounds fucking perfect.”