Decipher (Declan Reede: The Untold Story #3) (29 page)

A pink tinge ran up the length of Alyssa’s body as she saw my eyes appraising her. Her hand stilled and her bottom lip was captured by her teeth.

I smiled at her, trying to make her see how fucking beautiful I thought she was. Then, reaching out, I grabbed her hand, pressing her fingers softly into my mouth and rolling my tongue around the tips. Without missing a beat, I replaced her fingers with my own, enjoying the warmth surrounding my fingertips as they entered her. She was so wet and ready. Moving my fingers in a slow circle, I grinned when Alyssa bucked her hips toward me. I leaned over her again and dipped my head to press my mouth against her skin again.

Her left hand grabbed my hair, pulling me even closer to her. I could feel the band of the ring there grazing against my skull and couldn’t help smiling. She’d agreed to be mine—I could think of nothing I wanted more in the world. The thought made me kiss her more deeply, wrapping my tongue around her clit until she cried out my name repeatedly in blissful elation.

As soon as her walls began to tighten around my fingers, I slid them out and stripped off my shorts. My cock crowed with delight as I positioned myself between Alyssa’s thighs. Her legs wrapped around me and guided me home. I slammed into her again and again, harder and harder, as she came around me. The rain had eased off and was little more than a light mist against the tent when I twisted us around so that Alyssa could ride me.

She turned her face up to the ceiling and cried out in delight.

My hands caught her breasts as they danced in time to her rhythm. My fingers grazed her nipples as I tried desperately to stop myself from coming too soon and ruining the little time we had together. I bit my lip and moved my hands to her hips, pulling them tightly against mine to still her movements, relishing the feel of my full length within her. I pulled myself upright, keeping Alyssa in position, and she wrapped her legs around me in response, mirroring the action with her arms around my neck. I softly kissed her neck before allowing my lips to slowly graze a tender trail from her breast to her hair.

“I love you, soon-to-be Alyssa Reede,” I whispered against the smooth column of her throat.

I silenced any argument she might have had to the name by pulling her hips against me, pushing my length deeper into her.

Her response was a throaty groan, and I knew I couldn’t last any longer. Yanking her hips roughly against me again, I spilled into her.

Desiring to be even closer to her, knowing all the while that I could never be close enough, I wrapped her securely in my arms. As my breathing slowly returned to normal, I rested my cheek against her heart and listened to it slow to a steady beat while her fingertips brushed lightly through my hair.

We sat like that for an unknown time before she began to extract herself from our tangle. I grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward me. “I’m not finished with you yet,” I growled softly.

She laughed and swatted my hand away playfully. I moved quickly before she could put too much distance between us, and pulled her back into me.

“You think I’m joking?” I asked, before nipping her neck. I ran my hand along her thigh. “I am so not finished with you yet.”

“Declan, we can’t,” she argued with zero conviction. “We have to get back.”

“Why?” I asked, ducking down to suck one of her breasts into my mouth.

“Phoebe—” she started.

“Is with your mum and is perfectly fine,” I countered.

“Umm, Ruby and Josh—” she continued.

“Will still be there when we get back.”

When I saw that she would be compliant despite her debate, I released her. I reached outside the tent to pick up the blindfold that I’d discarded earlier and wrapped it around her eyes before she realised what I was doing.

“Declan?” she questioned, obviously uncertain about the turn of events.

“Trust me,” I whispered.

She nodded.

“We’ve had the main course,” I told her. “Now it’s time for dessert.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: A BLESSING AND A CURSE

I LIFTED MY head off Alyssa’s chest, surveying the scene, before freeing one hand from its hold around her and lightly brushing the remnants of crushed strawberries out of her hair. I grabbed the blindfold that had recently been discarded and gently wiped the last few smears of chocolate sauce from her chest. I stared down at her, marvelling at her beauty. Her brown hair lay fanned out around her face, and her eyes were loosely shut as she rested. Goosebumps littered her body as the night air cooled her skin. She was stunning, but most importantly she had agreed to be mine.

Thinking back on the evening we’d just shared, I smiled. If someone had asked me what my favourite dessert was when I was younger, I probably would have said pavlova, or maybe cheesecake. But after my evening with Alyssa, a new favourite topped the list. Who would have thought that simple strawberries with chocolate dipping sauce could be quite so . . . appetising? Even then, though wholly and completely satiated, the thought of her plump lips closing around the red flesh of the berry as her teeth broke through the skin made me hard. I imagined her tongue darting out to catch the juices or lick a little of the chocolate that had dripped onto her lips, and groaned.

How had I got so lucky? Not only was she stunningly beautiful, and wholly in love with me, she was a willing participant in all things I introduced to her.

Like the blindfold.

Knowing she couldn’t see me as I moved around her, touching and caressing her, was surreal. She made new noises that I’d never heard before. By the end, I’d had her gasping for breath as she came hard. Even as the moments played on repeat in my mind, I wondered whether she would still taste of the strawberries and chocolate if I kissed her.

I trailed my eyes down the length of her body, lifting myself up further, so that I was kneeling above her. My attention roamed around the soft peaks and valleys of her body before landing on the ring that had adorned her left hand for a little less than two hours, but would stay there forever.

When I kissed her again, I felt relieved that our pap stalker hadn’t been spotted once. Maybe he’d been given Christmas off. Even if he was skulking about somewhere hidden, it was too dark for him to have snapped any photos of us naked in the very public park without a night-vision camera with the ability to see through the walls of the tent.

“What’re you smiling at?” Alyssa asked sweetly. Her voice startled me; I’d thought she was dozing. I looked back at her face, but her eyes were still shut.

I leaned into her neck, kissing it softly, and murmured, “How do you know I’m smiling?” I closed my own eyes as I renewed my ministrations on her skin.

“I always know when you are smiling,” she said simply. “It’s my job.”

“Hmmm,” I mused. “Is it your job just to know, or to put a smile there?”

“Both.” She grinned.

“I know a way you could make my smile wider,” I said suggestively. “And maybe yours too.”

She remained silent, but her hips rolled a little in my direction, telling me to go for gold. I nudged her thighs a little wider with my knee before sliding straight into her. I knew I needed to get my fill of her before heading back to her family, and eventually to real life. At least I could do that absolutely secure in the knowledge that she was mine.

Holding her tightly, I pushed deep inside of her. I wanted something more than just sex—more than fucking. I wanted to communicate to her all the joy I felt from her “yes.” If it meant I had to give her a third orgasm in as many hours, well, that was a price I was more than willing to pay. I stared into her eyes as I took her over the edge and back into oblivion.

Eventually, we untangled ourselves and pulled on our clothes. They were wet from the rain, and the night air was cooler, so it was going to be a very uncomfortable walk back to her parents’ house. Entering looking like we did was not going to be any picnic either, but it was worth it for the “yes” and our time alone.

Alyssa tightened her grip on my hand as we neared the house. She turned to me and shot me a quick smile. I beamed in response. The truth was, I’d never been happier. Still, I wondered if she was thinking about what came next. Walking through the door to her parents’ house would be opening a huge can of worms. We would need to give her family the awesome news in a way that they would accept. Ruth would be over the moon, but I honestly wasn’t sure how it would go over for everyone else. I knew Curtis wouldn’t be happy, but screw him.

We walked past the front window, but the curtains were drawn, so I couldn’t see what everyone was doing. There was a lot of noise and laughter coming from inside.

“I don’t want to hear that about the father of my grandchild!” Ruth shrieked with laughter.

I froze, wondering who had said what about me. Alyssa coaxed me forward gently with a tug at my hand.

“Well, you asked.” Ruby’s laughter joined the mix.

“I didn’t mean I needed all the intimate details of my son’s sex life. There are some things a mother just doesn’t need to know.”

It was Alyssa’s turn to freeze. Her mind was obviously five steps ahead of mine. While I struggled to catch up with the conversation, she quickly turned, pulling me back down the drive and away from the house. Once we were a short distance away from the house, she shook her head in disbelief before smiling at me. She glanced down at her ring, twisting it in a circle around her finger, and then she shook her head again, before finally settling on chewing the inside of her lip.

“What is it?” I asked.

“We can’t tell them,” she murmured, looking back up toward the house. “At least, not tonight.”

I followed her gaze, then back at her, and then back at the house again as if it would reveal whatever information Alyssa had worked out from the conversation we’d overheard. “What? Why not?”

“Ruby’s pregnant,” she said, as if it were obvious. The huge-arse grin crossing her features again told me she was happy about the information.

“And?”

“And I’m not going to take away from her news.”

I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion. “So?”

“Dec, I told you. She and Josh have been trying for . . . well, for forever. If it’s worked. It’s . . . wow . . . it’s . . . great! I’m not going to take any of her joy away from her. Not tonight. I can’t do it.”

I looked back up toward the house again. “But how is us announcing our engagement going to take away from her news?”

Alyssa sighed in exasperation. “It just will.”

“I think your parents know anyway,” I coaxed. “Or at least your mum suspects, and your dad is dreading that it might be the case.”

“Let them speculate,” she said. “Just for tonight?” She slid the ring off her finger and, after realising her outfit had no pockets, slipped it into mine. “Please? For me?”

I closed my eyes so she wouldn’t see the hurt there. I tried to tell myself it was just a ring, just a symbol. She wasn’t telling me no—she’d already said yes—but part of me felt like she’d just ripped out my heart and handed it back to me, before it had even stopped beating.

“Fine. If that’s what you want,” I muttered.

“Thank you,” she said, placing her hands on my face and gently stroking my cheek. “For everything.” She planted a light kiss on my cheek. “Today was perfect. Everything I could have hoped for and more.”

I nodded, unwilling to try to get any more words past the lump in my throat.

Alyssa led us back to the house, planting another quick kiss on my cheek before unlocking the door and walking into what could only be described as a shitstorm of estrogen.

Ruth screamed as we walked in. “It’s finally happened,” she shrieked. “My baby boy is giving me more grandbabies!”

“Congratulations,” Alyssa said. I stood back and ignored everything. At least until I saw Ruth’s eyes fall to Alyssa’s left hand, taking in its bareness, then to my face.

Disappointment crossed her features, but after taking in whatever emotion was currently on my face, it turned to pity. She obviously thought I’d asked and been turned down.

Worse than the look of pity on Ruth’s face was the smug look of derision Curtis wore. I wanted to rip the ring from my pocket and force it on Alyssa’s finger. The next time it went on, I would make sure it would stay there forever.

“Congrats, guys,” I said, to distract myself from my own horrid thoughts. I waited for what felt like the appropriate length of time, listening to bizarre conversations about things that didn’t seem polite to discuss outside of the bedroom, before whispering to Alyssa, “I’m heading for a shower.”

She nodded. “I’ll go next,” she said, before starting up a conversation with Ruby about weeks or due date or some shit that I didn’t want to hear about.

I grabbed a change of clothes and gently stepped around the trundle that held Phoebe’s sleeping form safe. I showered quickly, and then headed straight back to the bedroom. I couldn’t listen to anything more. The last thing I did before going to sleep was to lay Alyssa’s ring on her bedside table. She would put it back on in the morning. I was sure of it.

Wouldn’t she?

Lying in the bed, trying to sleep, my heart was doing so many erratic laps of my chest that I felt like I’d run a marathon. With each passing second, the “yes” Alyssa had given me seemed less and less real. By the time I fell asleep, I was convinced it was nothing but a dream.

WHEN I woke, it was dark and a strange sound filled the air. I took a second to shake the sleep from my head to figure out what it was. When I did, I realised the noise was a soft sobbing. I turned over and felt Alyssa shaking with tears beside me.

“Hey, what is it?” I whispered.

She shook her head and nestled into me.

I brushed her hair back with my hand and held her against me. “Please, tell me.”

“It’s just seeing how well Mum and Dad took Josh and Ruby’s news.” She sobbed a little harder. “I never had that. I mean, they came around eventually of course, but their first reaction was anger and disappointment. I guess I just feel . . . I don’t know. It just makes me sad that my pregnancy is so different to Ruby’s.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.” I felt like I was always apologising for leaving her, but I would apologise every day for the rest of forever if that was what it took to wipe away her pain. “But do you know what? I’m not sorry it happened. I can’t image my life without her. Without both of you.”

Alyssa nodded. “I sound stupid, don’t I? I mean, I wouldn’t change a thing if it meant I’d lose her, but I guess I never understood how much I really wanted that approval.”

“It’s only as stupid as me telling you that I really didn’t like you giving your ring back to me tonight. It made me feel like you were rejecting me.”

“I’m sorry.” She sobbed harder. “I didn’t mean . . . I didn’t know . . . I’m sorry.”

I shushed her and held her tighter. “It’s okay, baby,” I whispered. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. Just like Ruby and Josh, and your parents for that matter, didn’t mean to hurt you.”

She nodded against me.

“Sleep now,” I told her softly.

“Dec?” she whispered.

“Yeah?”

“I didn’t like the feeling of it being off either.” She pressed her hand against mine, and I could feel the band of her engagement ring. “Thanks for leaving it out for me.”

I hummed. It was about the most I could manage as emotion clogged up my throat.

“Can we tell them in the morning?” she asked.

I smiled. “I’d like that.”

“Me too,” she murmured sleepily.

THE NEXT morning was interesting. Alyssa and I were up early with Phoebe—too fucking early after the night we’d had. We stumbled sleepily from the bedroom while Phoebe bounced down the hallway. I slipped my hand onto Alyssa’s arse and gave it a gentle squeeze. When she slapped my shoulder, I captured her hand and kissed it gently. Then I slipped off to the toilet, while Alyssa led Phoebe off to the kitchen for some breakfast.

The squealing that echoed from their direction carried all the way in the bathroom, and I buried my head in my hands. Honestly, how many times could those chicks squeal over a baby? I briefly debated going back to hide in the bedroom for the next week. But then I remembered Alyssa’s sleepy promise the night before and practically skipped down the hallway.

I was immediately wrapped in a huge hug by Ruth. “It’s about time you joined the family properly.”

“Thanks for the support,” I said. “I have a feeling we might need it.”

“Don’t worry about Curtis. He’ll be fine. Trust me . . .  he just wants what is best for Alyssa.”

“That’s all I want too.”

She smiled. “See, you do see eye to eye on something.”

I chuckled. “I guess so.”

“So,” Ruth started, turning back toward Alyssa. “When’s the wedding?”

Alyssa buried her head in her hands and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, “Oh, God.”

I walked over to her before wrapping my arms around her waist and lifting her slightly so that I could plant a row of kisses along her neck. “What’s the matter?” I asked.