Page 49 of Betrayal & New Beginnings

“You sure?” he asked, cupping my face.

I nodded and moved my body into his, so we were touching from chest to thigh.Wrappingmy arms around his torso,Ihugged him closer.

“I am,”Isaid asItilted my head back a little and looked into his eyes. “Wedon’t need to talk about it.Ireally am okay.I’mpeeved about the note and angry thatRandallwon’t leave me alone, but there’s nothingIcan do about it right this moment, so no sense worrying or focusing all my time on it.Thereare other thingsI’drather do instead.”

I moved my hands from around him back to the front of his chest and slid them slowly up and down.Icould see in his eyes he was unsure of what to do.So,Ileaned forward and kissed him, making the decision for both of us.

It was just a soft kiss, and at first, he just let me take control.Iopened my mouth and put my tongue on his lips, and he opened for me.

That was when the kiss turned heated, and his hands, once gently cupping my cheeks, slid down to my neck.Hetilted my head to intensify the connection, butIcould sense he was holding back.Hebroke the kiss briefly, resting his forehead against mine.Heprobably thoughtIshould be an emotional wreck after the letter and didn’t want to push me.ButIwasn’t.Beingin his arms made me feel safer thanIever had.Ifhe was going to hold back, though,Idecided to take control and do whatIwanted.

I pulled back slightly, meeting his gaze for a moment before dropping to my knees in front of him.Myhands found his belt, andIbegan unfastening it.

“Babe,” he uttered, trying to stop my hands from undoing the button on his jeans.

“No,Wade,Ineed this, andIwant to do this,”Iexplained to him in the most stern, no-nonsense voiceIcould muster while lowering the zipper on his pants and continuing on with my mission.

He let out a low, calm protest, gripping my wrists to stop me. “NotsureIwant my dick in your mouth while you’re angry and upset.”

BeforeIcould respond, he growled, “Later,” and pulled me back to my feet.

He kissed me again, harder this time.Thekiss was fierce, almost primal, as though we were channeling the adrenaline from everything that had just happened into this moment.Hewalked me backward toward the bed, breaking the kiss only whenIfelt it against the back of my knees.

Dazed,Iheard the faint rustling sound and glanced down to see him rolling on a condom.Secondslater, he was inside me.

“You feel so damn good,” he muttered, his voice low and gravelly.

He was pumping in and out of me frantically, as though he couldn’t control himself.Heleaned down and sucked hard on my left nipple, while simultaneously rolling my right nipple between his fingers.

My first orgasm was barely a memory as my next one began to crash over me.Icried out his name again as pure bliss rolled through my entire body.

“Ellie,” he groaned as his body jerked through his release.

We lay there for what seemed like a long time, but undoubtably was likely just minutes.Wewere both still breathing heavy, and he rolled to the side.Hekissed my forehead as he got up to go dispose of the condom.Whenhe came back, he curled me so thatIwas laying half on top of him while he was on his back.Almostinstantly,Iwas asleep, completely forgetting everything that happened earlier in the evening and forgetting thatIwanted to talk with him.

18

WADE

Ellie’s brotherJackwas finally stateside.Hemessaged us all a few days ago to let us know he was back onU.S. soil and currently on base, finishing his debriefing and paperwork to officially transition out of military life.Ifeverything went smoothly, he would be flying home toAtlantatomorrow, and would arrive around dinnertime.

Most of our communication with him up to that point had been through quick texts here and there, but today, we planned to talk with him on a group call withArcherandVinceto get him up to speed aboutEllie’sstalker.Dueto the incident last night,Archer,Vince, andIhad decided to move up the timeline for our plan.

The three of us, along withDiego, were sitting inVince’soffice up on the second floor of our building.Thefour of us had just finalized our plans to deal withEllie’sex and were waiting forJackto call.

Vince’s phone rang, and he put it on speaker as he answered.

“Vinnie!”Jack’svoice bellowed.

“Hey man, good to hear your voice back onU.S. soil for a change,”Vincesaid.

“Same, andI’mhappy tonotbe eatingMREsday in and day out, that’s for damn sure,”Jackjoked.

Vince,Diego, andIgrunted in agreement, knowing how much a real meal could mean after those pre-packaged military rations for so long.

“Well, just don’t do the cooking yourself,”Vinceteased. “Wedon’t need you dying as soon as you’re back because you poisoned yourself with your own cooking.”

None of us were great cooks by any means, butJackwas by far the worst.Thatman couldn’t make a piece of toast to save his life.

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