By His Vow: Chapter 77

Kingston looms over me like a vision.

I’m dreaming. I have to be.

Things like this don’t happen to me.

I don’t have men chasing me across the world, no matter how much I might have wished it would happen. I never believed it actually would.

He signed the divorce papers. The cottage has already been sold.

Why is he looking at me like I’m still his?

Like he’s still mine?

My heart pounds wildly in my chest, but I find it almost impossible to focus on everything I should be thinking about right now.

All I want is him.

More of him.

Every single thing he can give me. All the reminders of just how electric we were together.

Nothing else matters.

Only sating this deep-rooted loneliness that’s pulled me into its grip over the past two weeks.

He’s here.

He came for you.

“Kingston,” I whisper. It’s so quiet that if I didn’t know I said it, I wouldn’t have heard it. But despite that, his reaction to hearing his name is visceral.

His eyes widen, the already dark orbs darkening further, his full lips part, and a warm puff of air rushes over my face.

“Tatum, I⁠—”

“Please, King. I need you,” I whisper like a desperate whore who hasn’t seen any action in over two weeks.

“Shit, baby. I can’t resist you.”

Settling between my thighs, he wraps one giant hand around my hip, the other grips his cock, and in only moments, he rubs the head through my folds.

“Oh god,” I moan, my muscles clamping down in the hope of sucking him in.

“Never letting you go again,” he admits before thrusting his hips forward.

“Kingston,” I cry as he stretches me wide.

“It wasn’t meant to be like this,” he mutters absently as he stares at where we’re connected.

“W-what?” I stutter, my brain barely functioning as I watch him watch us with nothing but awe in his expression.

“I wasn’t meant to turn up here and just fuck you into oblivion. I had a plan,” he says, finally looking up at me.

I love the expression on his face. It’s so open, so honest. I want to bottle it and keep it forever, because I’m the one who caused it.

He’s here.

He came.

“Seems like the perfect plan to me,” I say, sliding my hands up his arms and gripping the back of his neck. “Did you say you missed me?” I ask teasingly. I can’t help it. He brings out the sass in me more than anyone else I’ve ever met.

“Yeah,” he agrees, a smirk spreading across his lips. “I missed you, baby.”

“Good. Then show me. Whatever else you had planned can come later.”

His hips punch forward with such force it knocks the wind clean from my lungs.

But it’s so good. So, so good.

Our bodies immediately fall into a rhythm. With every thrust, my hips lift to meet his.

My hands slide down his body, making his skin erupt with goosebumps and a violent shiver rip down his spine.

His visceral reaction to my touch alone makes me melt for him.

Gripping his ass, I pull, desperately trying to get more of him than I already have, although I fear that no matter how much I get, it’ll never be enough.

He fucks me deeper, hitting that magical spot inside me with every thrust.

His eyes bounce between mine, emotion and desire warring in them.

I could drown in that look alone.

But all too soon, he ducks down, severing our connection in favor of another.

His lips brush mine in a sweet kiss. It’s at total odds to what the bottom half of his body is doing.

It’s a head fuck of the best possible kind.

“More,” I whimper into his kiss.

“Everything, Tate. You can have everything.”

Then he seals his lips over mine, plunges his tongue into my mouth, and his hips pick up pace. He doesn’t relent until I’ve come twice on his magical dick. And only when I’m coming down from my second, does he allow himself to find his own release.

A low groan builds deep in his throat before his body stills for a beat before he lets go. His dick jerks violently inside me, filling me with ropes of hot cum, reminding me that even though it’s pointless now, I didn’t hesitate for a second to get him to sheath up.

Maybe all of this was just meant to be…

His movements slow, but he never pulls out of me. Instead, he drops to the side, pulling me with him and keeping my leg wrapped around his waist.

I attempt to swallow the messy ball of emotion that clogs my throat, but it’s impossible. I’m feeling too many emotions all at once to even attempt to battle them.

“King—”

“Shush, baby,” he soothes, clearly able to see the riot happening behind my eyes. And it only gets worse when he reaches out and gently brushes his knuckles down my cheek. “I missed you so fucking much,” he confesses quietly, making my heart seize in my chest. “I’m sorry,” he blurts suddenly. “Whatever it was I did, I’m so fucking sorry. I never wanted you to leave.”

A weird laugh full of fear, hope, relief, and desperation bubbles from my throat.

His brow wrinkles in confusion, but he patiently waits for me to speak.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, King. None of this was you. It was me.”

He stills. “You’re not pulling that ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ bullshit on me, Tatum. Don’t even fucking think about it.”

“N-no, I’m not,” I assure him. “Things just…everything got on top of me. The past few weeks, they’ve…” I trail off, unsure of the right words. And even if I find them, I’m not sure he’d even understand.

“It’s been a lot. I know that. But all you had to do was say something. You didn’t need to run. To leave.”

Ripping my gaze from his, I stare down at his chest. I want to say that I regret running away like I did. But the truth is, I don’t.

I regret hurting those who care about me and disappearing without warning. But I don’t regret my decisions.

I needed this time away. While I never achieved what I hoped I would, I have managed to find some clarity, some answers.

And finding Kingston standing in the middle of the little courtyard outside not so long ago, cemented them.

It doesn’t matter how far I run or for how long, one thing is never going to change.

“King, I⁠—”

“I’m falling⁠—”

We both laugh when we attempt to start talking at the same time. His body moves and I gasp as his growing cock moves inside me.

“Sorry,” I say. “You go,” I whisper as my nerves return.

“Tatum,” he says softly, his eyes searching mine. “Finding you gone was one of the worst moments of my life.” My breath catches at the honesty in his tone. “Thinking you ran because of something I did…fuck, Tate, it fucking killed me.

“The apartment wasn’t a home without you. Walking into the Warner Group offices knowing that you weren’t there was just wrong.

“I missed you so fucking much. I had no idea what to do with myself. Where to put myself. I couldn’t focus on work, and I hated being at home. Fuck, I even missed Griz, baby. That’s how fucking bad it got.”

A loud, ugly sob erupts from my throat.

He called her Griz.

“I need you, baby,” he whispers, his fingers slipping into my hair at the nape of my neck and pulling me closer. “I…I love you.”

All the air rushes from my lungs as his confession lingers in the air between us.

“I know I wasn’t meant to. I know this is a business deal. I know all of that shit, Tate. But I couldn’t stop it. Fuck. I love you. I fucking love you,” he says looking borderline manic as he confesses it over and over as if he can’t believe he’s even saying the words.

“You want me to come back?” I ask, my mouth running away with itself.

He sobers, his expression turning serious.

“More than anything. I need you in my life, baby. It doesn’t make sense without it.”

“That’s crazy. It’s only been a few weeks,” I say as if I don’t understand what he’s saying.

The truth is, I do. I more than understand, because I feel the exact same way.

The second I saw those flowers sitting outside waiting for me, everything that had been wrong with me since leaving Chicago fell back into place. My world felt right again. And all because of him.

His hand moves, the warmth of his palm burning my cheek before his thumb slides over my bottom lip.

“Yeah,” he muses. “Crazy. That’s exactly how I fucking feel.”

Before I get a chance to come up with a response, his thumb is gone and it’s been replaced with his lips.

His kiss is slow, gentle, and full of passion and emotion.

Full of…love.

My heart swells as I think about the fact that this incredibly beautiful, powerful man has just confessed all those things to me.

I didn’t think he cared, and yet…

“Why did you wait so long?” I whisper into our kiss, unable to hold back the question.

He swallows, thinking for a moment as his warm breath rushes over my skin.

“Before you left, I had a conversation with Miles. He was frustrated because he wanted you to have an office on the top floor with us.”

“King, no. You know⁠—”

He silences me by pressing two fingers against my lips.

“I told him that you weren’t ready.” His eyes urge me to stay silent, not to argue with that statement. Instead, I settle for simply shaking my head. “I told him you needed time, that he needed to let you go to give you a chance to realize what you wanted.”

“T-that’s what you were doing? Giving me time to figure out what I wanted?”

“Yeah, and in turn, I’ve figured out that I don’t want to live another day of my life without you in it.” He pauses, rolling his lips between his teeth. “What…what have you figured out?” Nerves come off him in waves. “Is this where you really want to be, or…”

My heart fractures in my chest as he fully opens up to me. I can see all his fears in those electric green eyes.

“I love it here,” I whisper. “I always have, and I always will. A part of my heart will always belong here in this village.”

“But…” he hedges when I pause.

“But,” I continue, “it’s only a very small part. The rest of it, I left behind with you in Chicago.”

His breath catches and his eyes widen with hope.

“What are you saying, Tate?”

I stare at him. My chest heaves, my entire body trembles, and blood whooshes past my ears as I play the words I need to say to him over and over in my head.

It’s crazy. Only a few weeks ago, I hated him.

I literally thought he was the most irritating man on the planet. And now…

“I love you too, Kingston Callahan.”