Chapter 29

I lie out on the blanket, looking up at the billions of stars that fill the night sky. I hear footsteps behind me and turn to see a figure stalking toward me, but I know that gait.

“Easton?” I whisper, and he stops at the edge of the blanket, looking down at me. “You survived my brothers.”

“I did,” he says. “However, Chris might have a concussion.”

I shake my head. “What?”

He sits down next to me. The hint of a campfire and alcohol mixes with his cologne. “I told them I didn’t want to fight. They insisted.”

“Are you unscathed?”

“Other than my knuckles. I boxed professionally for over a decade. I explained it wasn’t a fair fight. Violence is never the answer, but if I’m fighting for you, for us … well, they gave me no other options.”

I fall back laughing. “This is too good. I’ve been telling them for years that they need to stop threatening people I go out with, that, one day, they’d get their asses kicked. I can’t wait to give my brothers a told ya so.”

Easton lies back and looks up at the stars with me. I grab his hand in mine, and our fingers interlock.

He turns his head toward me. “What are you doing out here, alone?”

The breeze blows slightly. It’s magical under the sea of stars as fireflies dance in the distance. An orchestra of crickets accompanies the fluttering of the butterflies inside my stomach.

I smile, keeping my eyes upward, recalling the summer constellations twinkling in the diamond sky. “My dad always told me that if I was lost, the stars would guide me.” I point up. “Polaris.”

“True north,” he says.

“Like the compass and star field on your arm and shoulder,” I tell him.

“Of course you paid attention.” He smiles, brushing his thumb over mine.

“Why that tattoo?”

“My true north is my intuition. It always leads me in the direction I should go. No matter what happens in my life, no one will ever be able to take that away from me. My fortunes and my position at the company might disappear, but I will always be me. It’s why I’m not scared, because if I lose it all, I’ll get it back.”

“You won’t lose it,” I confirm.

“No one knows what will happen.”

“All we have is now,” I whisper.

“When I’m with you, I just want to live in the right now, Lexi. Not tomorrow. Not six months from now. Not next year. Right now. It’s all we have. The future isn’t guaranteed, and your life can change in in instant.” He snaps his other fingers, and it rings out in the silence. “You’re fucking proof of that. Two weeks ago … I could’ve never predicted I’d be here with you right now.”

I think about everything that’s happened. Two weeks ago, I was sleeping on Carlee’s couch and scrubbing porcelain toilets, wishing for a callback on a show I’d auditioned for. Now, I’m jet-setting across the country with this man, lying on a blanket at the Horseshoe Creek Ranch, viewing the stars.

“I’ve never thought about it like that.”

“I never predicted you,” he says, but a silent conversation takes place as we stare up.

“I didn’t either,” I admit. “Two weeks ago, had you asked me where I’d be, I would’ve never guessed this. So, point taken.”

We don’t say anything for a few seconds. I sit up, reaching for the bottle of Fireball Remi gave me when I told her I was coming out here. I take a big swig of it, then offer the bottle to Easton.

He shakes his head. “Not that shit again.”

Laughter escapes me. “It’s never done me wrong. The Milky Way will rise around midnight; I was going to stay here and wait for it. If you’d like to join me,” I say.

“I’m not going anywhere. We’ll ring in the new year together.”

“Day fifteen,” I whisper, placing my arm under my head. “So, about that breakup text in the morning?”

Easton rolls over onto his side, props himself up on his elbow, and focuses on me. “Would you like me to send one so you can have the full experience?”

“If you didn’t need this marriage, would your decision be different?”

“You’re not my last resort, Lexi. You’re my first choice. Someone I’d marry and not divorce a year later.”

I reach up and run my fingers through my hair. “It’s the confidence for me.”

“Sometimes, when you know, you fucking know. I’m waiting for you to catch up.”

“I know.” I pull his mouth close to mine.

“I’ve already told you once that I’d wait a lifetime. I meant it.”

His hands run through my hair, and he tastes like spearmint and moonshine.

A whimper escapes me as his tongue massages against mine. We’re greedy and desperate.

“Don’t break my heart,” he says, and it’s more of a demand than a plea.

I lightly paint my lips against his. “I don’t want to. But broken people break people. I know that,” I whisper.

“I’ll glue your heart together, piece by piece.” He brushes his thumb across my cheek as he searches my face. “This is real for me.”

“It’s real for me too,” I say, knowing it’s just us. No cameras, no friends, no family, only the two of us, alone. And when it’s us like this, it’s when the line is blurred. “Please tell me you brought a condom,” I say.

His forehead leans against mine. “Fuck.”

I laugh against his lips and lift my hips, pulling one from my back pocket. He gives me a shit-eating grin.

“Prepared,” I say.

Our mouths gravitate toward one another and I run my hands up his black T-shirt, lifting it over his head.

“Or presumptuous,” he mutters.

“You can’t deny me,” I say as I guide him onto his back, kissing down his strong jaw and his neck, tasting the salty sweat from today on his tattooed skin.

“You’re right,” he admits with a strangled breath as I continue down his muscular stomach.

A sexy smirk touches my lips as I reach for the button of his jeans and unzip them. He’s bulging against the material, and I enjoy knowing I’m the reason.

I meet his eyes, capturing every second of his attention as he intensely watches me.

“You’re a fucking masterpiece,” he says, his hand on my jaw.

His thumb brushes across my bottom lip, and goosebumps trail across my body.

“Then, together, we’ll be a collection.” I hook my fingers in his jeans, tugging them down. After I rip open the condom, I slowly sheathe him, admiring the thick vein that trails up the side. “Mmm. Extra-large was a good guess.”

He lifts a brow as I desperately wiggle out of my jeans and panties. Easton helps me with my T-shirt, and I reach behind me, removing my bra. I straddle him, not allowing him inside yet. He sits upright as I grab his face.

“I want you so fucking bad,” I whisper, searching his eyes, knowing there is only forward motion from here.

“You’re in control, Lexi,” he says. “You have been since the beginning.”

I lean my forehead against his. “No promises.”

“Just chances,” he confirms.

I realize we’re both searching for the same thing—a chance. I close my eyes, slowly inching down on him. He grabs my hips as I thread my fingers through his messy hair, kissing him as our worlds collide together. A sigh escapes me when he fills me full, like we were made for each other.

We stay connected, allowing my body to adjust to how big he is as I let out several ragged breaths.

“Fuck,” he hisses, cupping my ass with his strong palms as I gently rock my hips.

“It’s not supposed to feel like this,” I whisper, feeling as if Cupid struck me right in the heart with an arrow. Sex has never been like this; no, it’s a deeper connection, something I can’t explain.

“Maybe it is,” he desperately says.

Easton wraps his arms around me, and he traces my collarbone with his lips, sucking and kissing between my breasts.

My pants fill the space, and I sigh into his mouth. Our kisses are needy, and he growls against me as I take him from tip to base, pushing him onto his back. He’s thick and hard inside of me, and if we continue down this greedy path, I will spill over and lose myself with this man.

It’s never felt this way with anyone, and it scares me that it’s already this good. Perfect pleasure.

Every inch of my body aches for him when we’re as close as we can possibly be. I nearly beg for more of him. His thumb brushes against my needy clit, and my eyes squeeze tight as a whimper releases. With my hands on his chest, I pick up my pace.

“Shit,” I whisper, my muscles trembling.

“Take what you need,” he urges, pressing his thumbs against my hip bones, creating more friction, allowing him to go deeper than I thought was possible.

I hover above him, capturing his mouth.

“I want more,” I beg, already completely full, but not able to get enough.

A devious grin meets his lips as he tugs on my bottom lip with his teeth. “Lie down.”

“Mmm,” I say as he rolls me onto my back, pulling out, teasing me with the tip of his cock. I look up at him, smiling. “This is real?”

“I sure as fuck hope so.” He slowly slides inside of me, allowing me to readjust my thighs to take more of him.

“Are you okay?” he asks in my ear.

“I have a confession to make,” I tell him as he kisses the softness of my neck.

“No one, other than myself, has ever been able to make me …” I lift my brows.

His eyes narrow on me. “That ends tonight,” he confirms, trailing kisses between my breasts, above and below my belly button, until he has a front-row seat to my pussy.

I push up onto my elbows.

“Easton,” I whisper, his name like a prayer in the quiet night, knowing no man has ever gone down on me before, but he doesn’t hesitate. He wants this as much as I do.

His warm mouth is on my clit, sucking as his tongue flicks against the bundle of nerves. I gasp, falling back onto my back as he devours me like I’m his last meal. The scruff of his facial hair between my thighs drives me wild as it continues on.

An electrifying hum shoots through me, and I can’t help but rock against him as he slides one finger inside. Words … I know they exist, but I can’t seem to form a single one as the orgasm slowly builds.

“More,” I beg, nearly in a puddle for him as he smiles against my pussy.

“Enjoy it, darling,” he whispers, kissing my inner thigh.

I breathe heavily, knowing how fucking close I was. I sit up on my elbows. “I was close.”

A smirk meets his perfect lips. “I recall you saying you loved to be edged.”

My mouth falls open as I gasp for my release. “You’re an asshole.”

“I know,” he says, kissing my opposite leg, randomly giving my swollen clit a tease with his warm tongue.

I reach down, taking his hair in my hands, knowing this man is making me spiral from the inside out.

I don’t know how much of this I can take as he teases me to oblivion. I’m so fucking close, and I think if he breathed on me, I might come.

“Mmm, I can taste how close you are,” he says, sliding his tongue inside of me.

“Oh my God,” I say, my entire body trembling.

“You want it so fucking bad, don’t you?” Easton mutters.

“Yes,” I grit out between my teeth, my breasts rising and falling as I grab the blanket with my fists. “You’re driving me crazy.”

“How’s it feel?”

I give him an evil smile. “Payback will be a bitch.”

“I look forward to it, my little heartbreaker,” he says, his tongue back at my clit, a flick every few seconds.

I’m so damn close that my heart might burst out of my chest. Every muscle tenses as I hang by a thread with this beautiful man buried between my legs.

“Don’t make me beg,” I barely get out.

“A good girl would.”

I meet his eyes, fully willing to submit. “Now.”

“Deviant to the core,” he says, sliding his hands under my ass, lifting me to his mouth as he licks from my cunt to my clit.

Five seconds later, the orgasm crashes through me, and I scream out, my voice echoing through the surrounding trees.

Easton positions himself between me, his arms on either side of my head.

“I need you more than anything,” I whisper.

“Say it again,” he demands, giving me a little more of him as he kisses me.

I taste myself on him as his movement grows slow, more intense. I open my thighs as wide as I can.

“I need you more than anything,” I repeat, meaning it with every cell in my body. “My truth.”

Easton gives me every long inch of him, and I love how good he feels, buried deep inside me, like he belongs there and only there.

Is this how it was always supposed to be?

“I feel the same,” he whispers. “I’m addicted to you.”

I thread my fingers through his messy hair, and behind his head, I see a meteor skirt across the sky.

I gasp. “Shooting star.”

Easton looks over his shoulder, catching the tail end of it, before turning back to me.

“Make a wish,” I say.

“I already did,” he says, grinding deeper into me, and I feel the impossible—another orgasm building.