Page 61 of Easton’s Claim

Somehow she forced her heavy eyelids open and met his heated gaze. He was so thick and hot inside her, filling her completely, each ripple of her internal muscles around his cock sending streamers of fire along her nerve endings.

Holding his gaze for those breathless heartbeats, she felt her heart crack wide open. Her core clenched around him, desperate for him to ease the ache. She cried out as the sensation swelled, her eyes slamming shut, her hands digging into his back and hip, fighting to pump her hips and get the friction she craved.

Easton let out a rough groan, eased back, then surged forward, giving her exactly what she needed. His mouth covered hers in a hot, voracious kiss that stole what little breath she had left. He swallowed her sobs of pleasure as the world dissolved around her, his strength and weight the only things anchoring her as she tumbled into the abyss.

“Ah, God, Piper…” he moaned, then thrust deep and stiffened, his entire body shuddering as his release hit him. She clutched him to her like a woman clinging to the debris of a shipwreck.

In the aftermath, lying there trembling in his arms and her heartbeat galloping in her ears, she held him as close as she could. “I love you,” she whispered, her throat and chest clogged with emotion. There was no way she could leave him. But she also didn’t know where they went from here. “I love you and I need you.”

Easton lifted his head to gaze down at her, his expression so full of torment it made her chest ache. “Then don’t go to Minnesota. Come to Alexandria and move in with me instead.”

Letting out a deep breath, she gave him a tremulous smile and nodded. “Okay.”

His face went blank with surprise for a second, then a huge smile spread across his face. “You will?”

She traced a finger down the side of his scruffy cheek. “Yes. I can’t leave. I don’t want to lose you and I’m not leaving you over a job.” Even if it was her dream job, he still mattered a thousand times more. “Wherever you are is my home.” She had no idea what the future held for them, but she couldn’t give up this chance.

He groaned in relief and rested his forehead against hers. “You’re not gonna lose me, sweetness. Not ever.” Still joined with her, he shifted, propping himself up on one forearm to brush her hair back from her face with his free hand. “You still worried about my job?”

“A little,” she admitted. Seeing him in action tonight had been eye-opening, even if she was well aware of what he did for a living.

He sighed and ran his fingers through her hair. “I know what I do is dangerous. But whatever happens, you have to know I’ll do whatever it takes to come home to you. All the guys on my team are like Jamie. Dedicated, solid, dependable guys. We look out for each other, always. The most important thing for all of us is to make sure everyone comes home at the end of a mission or deployment.”

She nodded and managed a smile, even though she was still scared of what could happen to him. “It’s just…you’re everything to me,” she whispered, swallowing. She’d already lost so much, she couldn’t bear it if something happened to him.

Tenderness and understanding filled his eyes. “That goes both ways, sweetness. I know it won’t be easy and that I’ll be gone a lot and I won’t always be able to tell you where I am or where I’ve been, but you own me, body and soul. And you’re already part of my family. They’ll be here for you when I can’t be, so you won’t ever be alone. Not really.”

“I like the sound of that,” she murmured, filled with so much love she ached with it. Lifting her head to press a kiss to his lips, she wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him down into her embrace, holding him close as they drifted back to sleep.

Epilogue

Three months later

“You having a good Christmas so far?”

Piper smiled at Easton’s murmur against the top of her head, his arms around her as they stood by the entryway into the dining room and faced the beautifully set farmhouse table just waiting for the family to gather around it. The air smelled of roasted turkey and the sharp tang of evergreen boughs that decorated the house. “Best one ever.” As a child, Christmas had always been her favorite time of year.

“Good. Now go sit while we take it from here.” He released her and went to help his brothers carry the platters of food in from the kitchen.

Piper took her usual place along the far side of the table, and the sight of the beautifully laid out decorations and place settings before her set off a bittersweet pang in her chest. After her mother had left them, Piper and her father had made their own traditions together.

Christmas Eves had been spent in the kitchen, making treats to eat together while watching a holiday movie with the fireplace on. After moving here for her senior year of high school, they’d started coming to the Colebrooks’ place for carols and hot cider with cinnamon candies melted into it. Everyone sat in front of the fire beside the big, fresh Christmas tree twinkling in the corner of the family room, eating and drinking. Sometimes they played board games, and a few times when it had snowed the boys had hitched up an old sleigh and taken them all on a ride across the pastures.

“Okay, everyone to the table so we can eat this feast,” Mr. C called out, shuffling his way in from his study.

A warm glow filled her at the sight of him, the proud patriarch of this family. She loved that gruff old man to death.

After her dad died, Mr. C had continued to invite her over to spend Christmas with the family. She’d come over Christmas Eve and stay the night, and there were always a few gifts under the tree for her when the family gathered around it the next morning. They ate Christmas Day dinner early, at three o’clock, because that’s the way Mrs. C had always done it when she was alive, and Piper loved that they were carrying on that tradition.

“Shall we say grace?” Mr. C said when everyone was seated.

Seated next to Easton, Piper looked around the table at everyone. Brody and Trinity were at the far end. Wyatt and Austen opposite her. Charlie to her right and Mr. C at his customary place at the head of the long farmhouse table. Her family.

It might be December ninth instead of the twenty-fifth, but the date itself didn’t matter, and this was the only way they could accommodate everyone’s schedule. They were together, and time with family was what Christmas was all about.

Piper took Charlie’s left hand, then grasped Easton’s right. She loved having him here for this, it wouldn’t have been the same without him.

He’d been gone a lot these past few months, leaving her to settle into his place in Alexandria mostly alone. He was leaving for another stint in Afghanistan next week and she didn’t even want to think about how much she was going to miss him over the next four months. Every moment with him was precious, and she savored them all.

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