“No, I swear,” I told the truth. “I forced myself to stay away from you. I didn't even know you'd moved to Edinburgh. By the time I broke down and looked you up, you'd already started interning at Callahan and Spence.”
“Okay.” She brought her hand up to her heart, seeming relieved. “I mean, you're so generous and thoughtful. I don't want to seem ungrateful—”
“Annie, I get it,” I assured her. “You got that job all on your own. But I do have to admit, I requested you on our account. And on this business trip.” I tensed, waiting to see if it would make her angry. Instead, she shined up at me, beaming.
“I'm so glad you did.”
We swayed together, my hands at her waist, wanting to travel lower but knowing we were on a dance floor surrounded by people we knew, including my parents. I'd been surprised to see them here. When we were kids, they hadn't exactly approved of Jax as my friend. His mother was a maid, his father a construction worker, and my parents had not deemed him appropriate friend material. But I guess now that my older sister Margot had straightened out, Sophie was happily married, and I was back on my feet again, literally and figuratively, they felt all was good in the world. I glanced around and saw them dancing the night away, looking years younger than when I'd seen them last. But with them around, I couldn’t exactly grope my girl the way I wanted.
“Do you want to sneak away?” I whispered in Annie's ear.
“Yes,” she instantly replied but she squeezed my hand. “Don't you want to make a toast, though?”
“We’ll get back in time.” I wasn't sure that was the case, but I couldn't keep my hands off her for another second. Outside of the tents, in the dark I took her hand and led her up the path to the main house.
“Do you know where you're going?” she asked, excited as we snuck out.
“I practically grew up at Liam's house. I could probably navigate it with my eyes closed.”
She giggled and I shushed her, like we were teenagers up to no good as we entered in the side door into a den. We couldn't see anyone inside, so we wasted no time, falling into each other. Cupping her ass, I dug my fingers into her cheeks and ground her against me. She moaned into my mouth, wrapping a leg around my hips, rocking right back. I pushed up her dress and drew my fingers along her panties. There were many things I liked about Annie. The way she was always wet when I touched her was definitely one of them.
“Ian, what if someone walks in?”
Without taking my mouth from hers, I scooped her up in my arms, carrying her with her legs locked around me. We made it into the hallway around the corner. I intended to bring her all the way to a bedroom, but that was at least 10 feet too far away. Pushing her up against the wall, I pulled down her panties and stroked her, so wet for me.
“Fuck, me, Ian,” she groaned, apparently feeling exactly the same way about the distance to the bedroom.
I hastily unbuttoned and unzipped, grabbed a condom from my pocket and rolled it on. She dug her fingers into my shoulders, kissing my throat, bringing her hands down to my shaft to guide me directly where she wanted. I couldn't wait and go slow this time. I thrust into her, pinning her against the wall, and her mouth opened wide into an O as she cried out.
“Does that hurt?” I grunted, forcing myself to stand still.
“It's so—” She groaned, tilting her head back and knocking against the wall. “So good! Don't stop!”
With a growl, I pushed into her again, picking up the pace, fucking her hard as I'd wanted to from the day I’d met her. She was so tight, her pussy squeezing my cock. I could feel her trembling as she clung to me. I pulled down the top of her strapless dress, exposing one of her perfect breasts. Mouth down, I feasted on her, sucking and biting her tips.
“Ian!” She screamed. Neither of us were going to last long. Pistoning in and out of her, I wasn't gentle. I knew I probably should've gone slow, made it more loving, but last night I’d held back as much as I could. Today, I drove into her, ruthless and demanding.
“I want to see you cum,” I growled, fucking her hard up against the wall.
“Yes!” She screamed, giving me what I wanted, cumming around my cock as she cried and whimpered, bucking and thrusting her hips against mine. Groaning deep, I spasmed inside of her, cumming hard.
“Oh, my God.” She sank her forehead into my shoulder. “That was crazy,” she panted. “Is it always this good?”
I chuckled, easing her down so she could stand on her feet. I'd recovered a lot from my injuries, but now I had more incentive to grow even stronger. I was going to have to build up more stamina so I could fuck Annie as hard as she needed all day and all night.
“It's never felt this good for me before,” I admitted. I'd always been a sexual beast, but nothing got to me the way Annie did.
“I think I might be addicted,” she admitted, smiling up at me as she rearranged her dress.
“I hope you are,” I heartily agreed.
* * *
§
* * *
Annie and I decided to take a full week on Naugatuck before we flew back to Edinburgh. She barely even worried about the impact it would have on her job.
“Do you think they’ll mind my taking an unplanned week of vacation?” she asked when I suggested it. We were lying on the bed together with no plans of moving anytime soon.
“Probably,” I agreed.
“Do you think people will gossip? Realizing both you and I are taking the same week off?”
“Definitely.”
She shrugged. “Let them talk. Speaking of.” She propped herself up on her elbows, looking me straight in the eye. “Start talking. And don’t leave anything out. I want to know every little thing that happened between the morning I walked out of your family’s estate to when I saw you in Edinburgh. I have way too many questions.”
I chuckled, familiar with my love’s tendency to ask questions. “I’ll answer every question you have. And I’ll give you as many orgasms as you want, too.”
“It’s a bargain,” she agreed.
We talked into the wee hours of the night, sharing everything we’d been through in the intervening months. It felt almost surreal, reliving it all with her, telling her about all the treatments and the surgery, the rehab and therapy. I hadn’t felt particularly brave about any of it, but leave it to Annie to see the best side in anything I did. She swooned against me, telling me how inspiring she found me, how amazing I was to go through all that, especially after all I’d been through. Enough time around her and my ego would swell to the siz
e of Texas. It was a side effect I was willing to risk.
After the wedding, my parents headed back to the Boston area, leaving our family’s summer home to me and Annie. The large, well-decorated house had always seemed haunted to me, every memory, good and bad, tainted with the accident. Having Annie with me let in the sunshine, brightening up even the darkest shadows in every room of the house.
Liam and my sister came over for a meal, and we did the same over at their house. Jax and Sky were off on their honeymoon, and Chase and Emma had flown back down to Florida. It was crazy good seeing all of them again, especially being in the right frame of mind. I was blown away by how open-hearted they all were, still willing to be friends and have me in their lives even after I'd spent a good 15 years in a deep depression.
“So you spent all that time in New York, having surgery, doing rehab, without Annie?” Sophie asked. She'd visited me while I was there, but I realized now that the way I’d talked about Annie it had seemed as if we'd been a couple all along.
“I wanted to show her I could do it,” I explained. “When I met Annie, I wasn't always at my best.”
Liam snorted. “Dude, when we saw you over New Year's? You were a train wreck.”
“Liam.” Sophie lightly batted her husband’s shoulder, clearly wanting him to soften his tone. “What? Liam asked. “You know I'm right.” Sophie nodded.
“He’s right.” I defended Liam. “I had to prove to Annie that I could clean myself up.”
Later that night, after they’d left, Annie brought up the subject again. “All that time apart.” She shook her head. “You know you didn’t need to impress me.”
“I don't know that I was trying to impress you,” I began to protest. But I realized that had been part of it. Maybe pride had gotten a bit in my way.
“I fell for you when you were at rock bottom,” she reminded me.