Fairytale Come Alive (55 page)

Her mouth broke from his and her head lifted, her tongue sliding down his neck.

“You know that, don’t you, baby?” he asked at her ear when her lips hit his shoulder.

“I didn’t,” she answered against his skin. Pushing him back, she rolled into his side, her hand never ceasing its beautiful work, her head coming up and he felt her eyes on his face before she finished quietly, “I do now.”

His arms crushed around her, holding her tight.

“Can we stop talking now?” she whispered in his ear as her hand kept at its sweet torture. “I want you in my mouth. I can’t talk when you’re in my mouth and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate if you were talking.”

He tried to hold back laughter but this effort shook his entire body.

Her head came back up and he felt her eyes on his face again.

He also felt their heat.

“Are you laughing?” she asked, her voice sounding irate, her hand ceasing its stroking but holding on tight.

“Aye, baby, I’m laughing. What I’m
no’
going to be doing is
talking
.”

It wasn’t in his catalogue of things he wanted to do with Elle (or, in this instance, what he wanted Elle to do to him), and he could only describe it as “interesting” when her mouth took him inside while she was giggling.

But he also wasn’t complaining.

* * * * *

Elle

“Pren?” Elle called quietly.

They’d made love and he was holding her, her back to his front, their legs tangled, their fingers laced and lying on the pillow in front of her.

“Aye, baby,” Prentice answered, his words stirring her hair.

“Why did you read my journals?”

His fingers tightened in hers a moment before they relaxed and he sighed.

“I needed to find a way to get through,” he replied.

“Those thoughts are private,” she whispered. “Or they were.”

She didn’t know what to feel about him invading her privacy. It didn’t feel good, it didn’t exactly feel bad. She wasn’t angry, considering the fact that he’d just turned down fifty-four million dollars to be with her, but she was something.

“Aye, they are,” he agreed. “But you were keeping yourself from me and I didn’t understand why. I can’t say I’m proud of doing it but I can say I would do it again.” He pressed closer and went on, “I’d have done anything, Elle, to make you mine again.”

Okay, now it
definitely
didn’t feel bad.

Still.

“Did you read them all?” she asked.

“Parts of them, yes,” he answered honestly.

She closed her eyes and his fingers tightened in hers again.

“You wore my ring,” he murmured, his voice suddenly hoarse.

Her stomach clutched and her heart skipped.

“Pren –”

His voice was still thick when he continued, “Twenty years and you kept it with you.”

Elle was silent, partly because she didn’t know what to say, vaguely embarrassed that he knew she’d pined for him for twenty years. And partly because she was holding her breath and wasn’t physically able to speak.

Prentice didn’t have the same problem.

“I can’t say I’m proud of the way I treated you when you came back. What I can say is that I wouldn’t have behaved that way if you didn’t mean anything to me.”

Elle had to admit, this made sense.

And even though it felt good, really good, to know she still meant something to him, especially as she’d held him so close to her heart all those years, it didn’t help her breathing in any way.

Prentice kept on sharing, “I tried to forget you, Elle, but I never did. I told myself I’d moved on but I didn’t.”

She felt the tears sting her eyes, the wetness sliding out the sides.

He shifted their laced fingers so they were tight against her chest and she felt his face burrow in her hair.

“I still have your things,” he confessed, she felt herself go still and her eyes go dry.

“My things?” she whispered.

“Everything you ever gave me, every gift, every letter. Fee never knew I kept them; I didn’t want her to know. I felt guilty that I kept it from her but I couldn’t let them go.” He pulled in breath again and sighed into her hair before continuing, “I didn’t understand at the time, didn’t let myself think of it. But now I realize it’s because her knowing would hurt her and I didn’t want to do that. But also, they were mine. I didn’t want to let them go and I didn’t want to share with anyone, even Fee, that I couldn’t.” When Elle laid still and silent, Prentice finished, “They’re in a box in Mum’s loft.”

After he finished, Elle breathed, “Oh my God.”

He had, in his way, been pining for her too.

Prentice carried on, “Mum’s asked me twice in the last twenty years when she was clearing the loft, if she could get rid of them but I wouldn’t allow it.”

“Oh my God,” Elle repeated, comprehending how huge this admission was but not quite able to process it.

“She thought I was daft.” The throatiness had gone from his voice and a touch of humor was there. “When we get back, we’ll move that box home.”

She felt her breath escalate at his words as his chin moved her hair from her neck and he kissed her there before going on, “I’m not upset you got rid of that ring, baby. I never liked it. I always thought you deserved something more and, even the day I gave it to you, I intended to replace it with something better.”

Oh…

Wow
.

“Pren –”

“I
am
upset about the reason why.”

“Pren –”

“And I’m sorry for that reason. More sorry than I can say that I said those things to you.”

Her voice was aching when she tried again to get through, “Pren –”

He continued to resist her efforts and asked, “Did you wear it when you were with Evangelista?”

She swallowed, worried about what her answer would say about her and then, considering Prentice was being so,
very
honest, she felt she had no choice but to nod.

Prentice’s voice sounded with disbelief when he asked, “Did he know what it was?”

Elle nodded again.

Then she felt Prentice’s body start shaking with gentle laughter.

His voice sounded highly satisfied when he remarked, “I bet he loved that.”

“We argued about it,” Elle whispered and Prentice’s gentle laughter became not so gentle. “A lot,” she added and Prentice’s not so gentle laughter became vocal.

Elle let his hand go, rolled in the circle of his arm and she looked up at his shadowed face.

“Laurent used to tell me Dad should have let you have me, considering the fact I wasn’t much of a wife.”

Prentice’s voice was still tinged with amusement but it was also firm when he replied, “I think the better way to put that, baby, is he wasn’t much of a husband.”

Elle remembered how hurtful Laurent’s words had been back then, believing that he was right. She couldn’t have children, she couldn’t respond to Laurent in bed, she hated to travel with him even though she tried to enjoy it as much as he did.

Now, that hurt slid away.

Because, Laurent was wrong and Prentice was right.

She might not have been the greatest wife but then again, she’d never loved him.

But Laurent had, in the beginning, declared his undying love and devotion to her and he could have at least
tried
to make her feel the same back.

And if he did, indeed, care for her so deeply, he wouldn’t have treated her so cruelly when he found out she couldn’t conceive, he would have taken more care of her when she didn’t respond in bed and he wouldn’t have forced her into the globe-trotting life she found so tedious.

And he wouldn’t have cheated on her repeatedly nor would he have been so hideously obvious about it.

Elle found herself getting angry, thus she declared, “He was a toad.”

Prentice’s body shook with laughter at the same time that laughter rose huskily from his throat. “No, baby, he was a
fool.
” She felt his hand glide down her back to cup her bottom and he continued, “He gave up this?” He gave her behind a squeeze and murmured, “Mad.”

Without her mind commanding her body to do so, she nuzzled closer and she found her mouth saying teasingly, “I’m getting the impression, Prentice Cameron, that you like my behind.”

“Aye,” he growled and his fingers flexed again, “though I wouldn’t put it that way.”

“And what way would you put it?”

His hand not at her bottom drifted into her hair and he used it to pull her head back so his mouth could descend to hers.

“I don’t like it, I love it,” he muttered against her mouth. “You have the sweetest ass I’ve ever seen.”

His words poured over her and they felt like warm, clean, fragrant water.

“Pren –”

“Especially when you’re on your knees, your ass is in the air and my cock is inside you.”

She felt her body heat and her legs started shifting restlessly as she repeated, “Pren –”

“And when it’s snug in my crotch,” he growled, “baby, the…
fucking
… best.”

She snuggled closer and brushed her lips against his, her hands moving, somewhat urgently, along his skin as her leg lifted and hooked around his hip.

His hand slid between her legs, he touched her wetness and her hips jerked before they swayed into his palm.

“There it is,” he muttered, his voice filled with masculine satisfaction, something else that sent heat through her system. “Proof you like it when I talk dirty.”

“You’re impossible,” she retorted, hearing her voice filled with feminine satisfaction mingled with laughter.

“No,” he whispered, his finger slid inside, she stopped laughing and gasped with pleasure against his mouth, “I’m greedy.”

Then he kissed her, his tongue sliding in her mouth, his finger moving in tandem with his tongue.

And he kissed her until Elle’s mind was in a fog and her hips rode his hand.

His mouth tore from hers and his lips slid to her ear as his finger stroked her. “I know I just had you, baby, but I want you again, this time, on your knees.”

She didn’t hesitate before saying, “Okay.”

His finger pressed deep as his voice rumbled, “Christ, I fucking love you.”

Elle wanted to respond but Prentice didn’t give her the chance.

His mouth took hers in another kiss then he took her on her knees and after, when he had her cuddled close to his warmth, she fell asleep before she remembered to tell that she loved him too.

Spooked

Fiona

Fiona floated, her arse close to the stool next to Jason’s, her ghostly eyes were pointed toward the kitchen.

She was avidly watching Prentice and Bella whilst Jason was avidly concentrating on what was on his breakfast plate and trying not to grin.

Sally was forking hash browns into her mouth, swinging her legs and humming to herself through a full mouth, completely oblivious.

Prentice had his hips to the counter, his jaw was tight and his hand was wrapped around a mug of hot coffee in a way that looked like his hand would rather be strangling someone.

The someone he’d rather be strangling was Bella, who was scrubbing a skillet like she wanted it to disappear under her ministrations.

They were having a tiff.

And it was hilarious as it always was and, lately, it had been happening
a lot
.

It had been over a month since they returned from Chicago. Fiona hadn’t been able to go but something happened there, something that had to do with Bella’s odious father and, whatever that something was, it flicked a switch on in Bella.

In the time after “The Kettle Incident” (as Fiona was calling it in her mind) and before they went to Chicago, Bella had been anxious. It was obvious and it was worrying not only because Fiona’s eternity hinged on Bella’s happiness but just because it was difficult to see Bella in that state.

Bella didn’t trust that her life could turn on a dime and, after all she’d endured, why would she?

After they came back from Chicago, Bella was changed. She seemed slightly more settled, more assured but still she was somewhat uncertain, nervous and hesitant.

With Prentice’s unwavering devotion (and it was indeed devotion, even if it was sometimes irritated devotion) and Sally and Jason’s too, Fiona watched Bella’s confidence grow then blossom and finally bloom.

But it bloomed out-of-control.

Bella of old was back with a vengeance.

And Fiona loved it.

Prentice, on the other hand, found it frustrating on occasion and on other occasions annoying and sometimes downright infuriating.