Claire
My friends and family being here feels like a gift I don't deserve. A life I don't deserve. But as I look around the room-see the smiling faces, listen to the jokes, the laughter-I can't help but feel this twinge of acceptance well up inside of me.
Maybe I do deserve a life so full, so boundless.
"Do you like Landon?" I ask Mom, while Jack spins Sophia around the room. Apparently they've all gotten to know one another quite well over the past twenty-four hours.
"He loves you, and you love him. That's enough for me." Mom looks down, collecting her thoughts, and when she looks back up she's crying. "But to think you found someone as wonderful as him, someone committed to helping you out of the past you were stuck in, someone so welcoming of Sophia and me … I couldn't be happier for you."
"Don't cry, Mom," I tell her, wrapping my arms around her.
"Oh, Claire, for so long you've been holed up in hiding-maybe not literally, but emotionally. You've kept everyone at a distance. But Landon seems to have cracked your heart wide open."
I squeeze her tight, so grateful to have her support.
"So what happens next?" Mom asks, sitting back into her seat on the sofa next to Tess
"A double wedding, of course," Tess says, grinning.
"Don't, Tess. We aren't even engaged. And after all the drama with Robert Mackle ... I bet Landon's going to need to really think through what a relationship with me looks like."
"You're so dense," Tess says. "Did you see the way he looked at you when he walked in here?"
I did. His eyes met mine, above Sophia's head, and I never wanted to look way.
In my heart, I really don't think he wanted to either.
A bit later, Landon returns to the room with his parents, and everyone seems to look around not knowing what to do. It's awkward, because what I really want is to pull Landon in my arms, kiss him, never let him go.
But everyone is watching us.
"Claire, would you help me with my bags?" he asks me, from across the room.
Brandon steps in and speaks before I can answer. "No need, Miss. I already had them brought upstairs."
"Right." Landon smiles tightly. "Well, then, perhaps we could get some drinks for everyone from the kitchen?"
The maid, Clarice, appears in the room, holding two bottles of wine. "Pinot, anyone?" she asks, unaware.
"Well." Landon frowns. "Claire, would you come with me to see the ... err ... stables?"
"What is this, a story circa 1800?" Fiona asks, rolling her eyes. "Just take her. We all know what you're planning on doing. And be back in an hour for lunch."
"What are you doing, Landon?" Sophia asks.
I see the heat rise to his cheeks. I need to save him from himself.
"Sweet pea, stay here with Gram and your new friends," I tell her. "I'm going to talk to my best friend, okay?"
Sophia gives me a kiss, and then I stand, smiling at the situation, and follow Landon out of the room.
When he pulls me out of the house I'm surprised. I honestly thought we were just headed upstairs, so we could finish what we started there before he was summoned to his parents' room.
What I really want to do is thank him for being my knight in shining armor this week. For saving me from that awful marriage. For relieving me of my worst fears. For never judging, always accepting. For staying, when it would have been so easy to walk away.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask, my hand in his, as he drags me down the front steps.
"To the stables. That's what I said, right?"
"You were serious?"
"Completely." He must see my flummoxed face, because he adds, "What? You don't like horses?"
"I don't have an opinion either way, actually."
"Well, me neither. I just couldn't bear the thought of taking you upstairs and everyone listening as I fucked you silly."
"Oh, it's so good to hear you say that. For a moment I thought you were going to teach me how to ride one of these beasts," I say, as we enter the massive building, which holds a dozen well-groomed horse in their stalls.
"That would be a complete waste of an hour. Besides, why would I teach you to ride a horse when you can ride me perfectly well?" he asks, deadpan.
But I see the twinkle in his eye. He pulls me to him, his hand on my face, another on my waist, and he kisses me.
The kind of kiss girls dream about. The kind of kiss I've always wanted. The kind of kiss that says everything.
That says you are mine.
"I missed you," I say, breathless, once we pull apart.
"Oh, love, you have no fucking clue."
"Show me," I tell him. My whole body is alive with desire, with lust, with passion. My core is alive with his hands on my skin, my body wanting to sink against his flesh, run my hands across his back. Take him inside of me.
Landon picks me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist, my hands running through his hair. I kiss his ear, his neck, my breath pressed against his body, his hardness too far away for me to feel.
I want to feel him. All of him.
He leads me to a back room, a changing room where tall leather boots make a tidy row, where stirrup pants hang on hooks beside heavy coats. He locks the door to the windowless room.
"I can't be apart from you like that again, Claire."
"I know. Not ever." My fingers undo the row of buttons on his tailored shirt. Once it's open, I splay my hands across his strong, firm chest. He is so solid; he makes me feel so safe. I run my fingers over his nipples until they're hard, and then I reach for his pants. "Thank you for getting the divorce process started."
"It just better be the last one you ever get."
"It will be," I sigh, unzipping his pants, my thumbs hooking against the waistband of both his jeans and boxers.
"It won't be final for a few days. But Denzel is taking care of it from here on out."
I nod, grateful that I didn't have to see that bastard whose name I took, whose life changed mine.
Landon uses the tip of his finger to lift my chin, so our eyes meet.
"I'm sorry, Claire, that you went through all that."
"It gave me Sophia. And she is my life." I catch my breath, unexpectedly needing to stifle a sob.
"It's okay, baby, you can cry with me. You don't need to hide your tears."
I believe him, and when he turns me around, unzipping my dress, letting it slip to the floor, then kneels down to take off my heels, to help shimmy down my stockings, I stop trying to hold back.
With Landon, I don't need to.
I turn back around, facing him. He holds my cheeks in his hands, and his thumbs graze over my cheeks, wiping away my tears.
"You remember how I said you were a bird, back at the airport?" he asks. "That you needed to learn to fly?"
I nod, remembering.
"I'm sorry. I should never have said that to you." He licks his lips, blinks, and his long eyelashes brush his face. "You've known how to fly; you just had a broken wing."
I can't speak. Landon has just said all the words. The words that evaporate the fears I've held onto so tightly. I thought, before, that he saw me ... now I have no doubt. Now I know.
"Make love to me," I whisper. And he silently nods.
He steps out of his pants and boxers, his cock so hard I have to blink. But I don't want to close my eyes; I don't want to miss a thing.
His rod is massive, and ready for me. I'm nearly salivating at the sight of it, remembering how I pleasured myself yesterday morning when I was in the bed alone, waiting for him, wanting him so badly.
The memory makes my pussy throb, forces me to slip off my panties and unhook my bra. My breasts spill out and his hands are on them in seconds, massaging them. He kisses my flesh, sucks at my nipples.
His face is buried between them and he squeezes them together as if they are the best things he has ever tasted.
I hook a leg around him and, the moment my legs part, his hand reaches down to feel my opening. I know he likes the wetness, because he moans, running his hand down my stretched legs.
Then he looks around and grabs a pile of blankets from the corner. He quickly spreads a few on the ground, and then returns to me.
"Is it okay out here? Not too cold?" he asks.
"You'll keep me warm."
We lower ourselves to the ground. Landon's above me, on his knees, slowly spreading my legs. He presses his face between them. I sink into the blankets as he brings his mouth to my entrance.
"Oh, God," I moan, as his tongue runs along my slit, easing himself into my folds. I feel my pussy tighten in anticipation. His tongue darts across me, and my head falls back, my shoulders relax, my eyes close. My entire being just gives into him.
My bent knees drop and he reaches a hand to my chest, rolling one of my tits in his hand, as his other hand reaches under my ass, pushing me closer to his face.
"That feels so good, baby," I tell him, as his fingers slide into me. He sits up, his cock at attention between us, and I reach down to touch it, to hold him, but he is too far away.
"I want to touch you," I purr.
But he shakes his head, smirking. "You need to come nice and hard first, Claire. You know you like it when you do."