“What you’ve done and who are you are different from each other. You’re not a bad person, Scarlet, and I believe that with my whole heart. I’ve seen you, the real you, and over the last few weeks, I fell in love with you. I never thought I’d love anyone again.”
“And I never thought I’d love anyone at all.” She pulls her arms in toward her body. “Not even myself.”
I turn away from the crawling traffic to look at her beautiful face. Tears well in her eyes and she’s working hard to keep them from falling.
“Loving you and Jackson came easy,” she whispers. “But loving myself…hell, it was hard to remotely like myself most days.”
“You’re worthy of love, Scarlet. Admitting your faults isn’t easy to do, and you have.”
Scarlet nods, wiping away her tears. “Thank you, Weston.”
“For what?”
“For believing in me. My past is dark, but the rest of my life doesn’t have to be.”
I take her hand again. “It won’t be.”* * *
I lug the biggest suitcase to the top of the stairs. Scarlet is behind me, carrying her other bags. I pause at the top of the stairs, looking down the hall at the guest room. My bedroom is on the opposite end, and even before this whole mess, Scarlet kept her stuff in the guest room closet.
She dozed off on the way home, giving me time to think. I’ve always been cautious. Too cautious. I married Daisy because it made sense. We’d dated long enough to warrant a proposal. I loved her because she was safe and familiar, and look how that turned out.
I trust Scarlet when she says she wants to change. She did nothing to make me question her judgment before, and I know the worst thing you can do to someone who’s trying to better themselves is to constantly remind them of the mistakes they made.
I’m done being cautious when it comes to love. I’m letting my heart guide me this time.
“Where are you going?” Scarlet asks when I take her stuff into my room.
“I love you.” I set her suitcase on the floor by the bed. “I want us to be together and I want to make sure you know I’m not going to hold the past against you. We can’t move on and enjoy the present if we’re constantly looking backward. And I want to move forward with you.”
Scarlet drops her bags to the ground. “I love you, too.” She steps forward, closing the distance between us, and it’s like I can’t get enough of her. I grab her and throw her on the bed. I move over top, settling between her legs. She rakes her fingers up over my back, and I’m turned on already. I press my hardened cock against her, and she bucks her hips against me.
I bring my head down, kissing her hard before moving my lips to her neck. She reaches down, fumbling with the button on my jeans for a moment before popping it off and shimmying them down my legs. She pushes me to the side, hooking one leg over me and taking hold of my cock. I look down, groaning when I see her long and slender fingers wrapped around my dick. She pumps her hand up and down, swirling her thumb over the tip and spreading precum down my shaft.
Then she lets go and moves down. With a swift movement, she yanks my pants the rest of the way off and takes a hold of my cock again. But instead of moving back up to where she was before, she takes me in her mouth, tongue flicking the tip of my cock.
I let out a moan, falling back onto the mattress. I spread my legs, watching her suck my cock. She moves slow, teasing me, and then speeds up only to slow again. Fuck, she’s good at this. My eyes flutter shut, and I enjoy her mouth on me for another minute before pushing her away.
“I wasn’t done yet,” she says coyly.
“You’re going to make me come already.”
“That’s the plan. I want to take care of you.”
I sit up, grabbing her by the waist. “Letting me fuck you is taking care of me.”
She moans and falls back against the bed, one arm landing above her head. “I’m okay with that.”
I kiss my way down her torso and pull her leggings down, dropping them on the floor. Then I trail kisses up her thigh, stopping right next to her tender core. She tenses, anticipating what’s coming—which will be her in just a few minutes.
I put my mouth over her, letting out a breath of hot air and teasing her through her panties. Slowly, I stroke her, though so gently she’s pressing herself against me.
“I need you, Wes,” she groans, reaching down and taking my hand. “I need you to make me come.”