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I also left him some money for his help. It’s the right thing to do.
With my treasures loaded, I head back up the long drive. I can’t wait to get home so I can draw out what is in my head. I’m no artist like Ian, but I can do a mad sketch and girl math to get things done when I need to.
Chapter 8
Ian
It’s been weeks since I’ve woken up alone. The bed beneath me is cold without my sunshine in it. I’d left her at the house, making her final arrangements to get her son and his grandparents to North Carolina.
For the last couple of days, I’ve had time to reflect in the silence of this hotel room; letting my heart and mind lead me.
Pulling my shirt open over my tank, I look at myself in the mirror. The words tattooed on my chest—Veni, Vidi, Vici—serve as a reminder of where I started and where I am now. I came, I saw, I conquered, as in the words of Julius Caesar. I remember hearing them for the first time in high school. History taught me enough to know that if I wanted to make a difference in someone else’s life, I had to do the same for myself. So, I put myself on a path to greatness. Minimal greatness, but I take pride in my job. Smiling, I pull the sides of my shirt back together.
The first time Tori really got a look at these words, and the snarling wolf tattoo on my shoulder, I’d told her all of my insecurities, my secrets; I knew from that moment that she is someone who I need—want—in my life. As I’d told her, I wanted her; all of her. Family, friends, I would take it all.
The night we shared before I left still rang through me. That asshole Carter had shown up again. This time, he’d left in the back of a police car, arrested for trespassing and harassment. How I’d wanted to put him in a deep hole in the woods…but he wasn’t worth the orange jumpsuit.
Tori had been there to calm me down in the way only she could.
“Come on, Ian, forget him.” Her words pulled my attention from the now closed door. That asshole best be glad she’d stopped me when she did. If not, I can’t say he’d still be breathing.
Taking her hand, I tried to push the anger boiling up in my gut down. She was safe; he was gone.
Leading her up the newly refinished staircase, I started to relax. Her smile as she looked it over made something in me happy. The newly restored banister and railing artwork that had taken the craftsman a month to repair the broken pieces, re-carve others, and make it all fit back together seamlessly.
Tori ran her hand along the smooth railing. Her lips tipped up at the corner when she caught me watching her.
Nothing could compare to her natural beauty though. Every day for the last couple of months, she has done nothing but take over my dreams. I close my eyes, and I see her coming out of the shower, naked, her tanned skin glistening. Her beautiful eyes sparkling every time they meet mine. That delicate tongue of hers running over her luscious lips; her body. Curvy hips, thighs that hold me tight against her. Her moans when I make love to her.
But more than that, she is smart, kind, and everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner. She balances me.
I watched her fingers glide over the polished wood, pressing harder at times as we moved up to the stairs. I knew how that hand felt gliding along my shaft. The feel of her fingertips as she delicately ran her nails over the ridges. My dick, too, knew how that hand felt and was currently pressing against my jeans so tightly, it hurt.
“Victoria.”
The minx let go of my hand and ran up the rest of the stairs, turning to look down at me from the landing. I took two stairs at a time and pulled her to me, my mouth moving to claim hers in a heated kiss.
I released her mouth, brushing my lips along her jaw toward that sensitive spot just below her ear. My breath fanned her skin as I spoke. “It’s not nice to tease me, love.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Hmm…” My hand came down against her ass. The moan she let out had my dick fighting to get free of its restraints. “Maybe you need a reminder.”
“Yes…”
I bit her neck, pinching the skin just enough to make her moan again. Pleasure over pain for my girl. I scooped her up, rubbing her warmth against my dick. My hands found bare skin under her robe.
“I know you were almost home…I was ready for you.”
“Ready for what?”
Now it was my time to tease. I ran my lips down to her collarbone, nipping along the sensitive skin there.
“For you,” she gasped out the word as my fingers dug into her flesh, pulling her closer to me.
“What do you want?” I asked, making my way down the hall to the master suite.
“You.”
