Page 111 of Wicked & Wildflower

My mouth clamps shut. “I…I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes,” he murmurs, feathering his lips against mine. “Let me tell you a secret, Wildflower.”

“Hmm?” My eyes flutter shut, head dropping back as his mouth connects with my jaw.

“We don’t know anything either. Not me or Leo. Not Darby. We’re winging it every day, but we figure it out. Together. Because we’re a family.” He drags his lips along the column of my throat. “You love baking. It’s how you relieve stress. It’s your therapy. It’s the way you show your love to those in your life. It’s your passion, and that shines through in everything you make. You’re good, and we want you involved, but we’re serious about what we’re doing here. It’s our family legacy, and we wouldn’t offer this to someone if we didn’t have faith in them. We’re not inthe business of failing.” He pulls back, looking down at me with bright eyes. “We’re giving you this because we believe in you, because we think it’d make you happy, and because you should know it’s never too late to find your calling.”

Something soft and warm settles over me, like a blanket being wrapped around my shoulders in the cold. Like a sense of belonging, something larger than myself telling me I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. Whatever compass I’ve been following—while not the direction I intended—finally helped me reach my destination.

“How…How does it work?” I ask.

Everett presses a quick kiss to my forehead. “As soon as you think of what you’d like to name it, we’ll help you get a business license. Our gift to you is that we’ll cover renovations, get the building up to code and refurbished with a kitchen. Once it’s ready to open, you’ll take on a lease from Leo, just like your sister has.” He grabs my face with both hands. “The rest of the details, we can work out later. All I need you to do right now is say yes, Wildflower.”

“I can’t believe you guys want me for this.”

“We believe in you, Dahlia.” He presses his head against mine, flaming eyes blazing right through my soul. “But you’ve got to believe in yourself, too.”

I nod against him. “Okay, I’ll try.”

He smiles wide and bright and beautiful. “That’s my girl.”

I’m the one pulling him against me now, sealing our lips together. He lets out a deep groan, opening for me as my tongue sweeps in, dancing with his. He still tastes like chocolate and all my dreams coming true. He tastes warm and enticing and like he was always meant to be mine. That bone-deep feeling of destiny washes over me once more, and for the first time in my entire life, I think I feel true contentment.

“Thank you,” I whisper into his mouth. “This is better than I ever could’ve imagined for thirty.”

I feel him smile. “I’m not done yet, baby.” Hand snaking around my back and grasping my ass beneath my dress, Everett tugs me flush against him, his hard body aligning flawlessly with mine. His lips drag down my neck before he reaches my collarbone, sinking his teeth into my flesh and causing me to arch and moan. He continues down my chest, using his free hand to tug the cups of my dress down, allowing my breasts to spill over the top of it.

Dark lashes flutter upward, brown eyes on fire in the fading daylight as he looks at me. His tongue snakes out between his lips, landing a teasing flick against my exposed nipple. A moan cascades from my lips, my hips bucking against his, feeling hardness in the places I most need it. He sucks my entire breast into his mouth, pulling away with a delicious tug.

“One last present for you,” he rasps. “But for this next gift, I need to know: would you rather receive it sprawled out on my bed, or right here and now?”

I let out a sigh when his face falls back between my breasts. “I think I have a good idea of what it’d look like in your bed,” I whimper as he swirls his tongue around my other nipple, “but you’ve got me curious about how you’d give it to me on the back of this bike.”

He pulls away, smiling wickedly as he places one hand at the center of my chest and slowly pushes me backward. “Lay down.” I do as he says, falling flat onto the leather and arching my back over the saddle of the seat. “Lift your arms above your head.” His other hand slides tortuously slowly down my bare thigh, hooking beneath my knee and lifting my leg to wrap around his hip. “Hold onto the handlebars.”

I imagine the view I present to him now: laid out on his motorcycle, my breasts spilling out of my top and my dress hikedup to my waist, the sun setting on the ocean behind my back. My breath flies from my lips in short, intense bursts, anticipation stirring in my core and driving me mad.

Everett towers above me—both pure love and feral lust in his features. He’s breathing just as rapidly as I am when his hands reach the buckle on his belt, releasing it before unbuttoning his jeans. He lowers them just enough for his cock to spring free—hard and glistening with arousal.

He reaches between my legs, pulling my panties aside and running a finger through my center. “Mmm,” he groans. “Just what I thought. Soaked for me.”

Feeling a flush run to my cheeks, I bite my lip and nod.

Everett guides his cock between us, and I lift my hips to grant him entrance. We let out a simultaneous moan as he slides inside me, burying himself to the hilt in one thrust. Falling forward, he fists one hand in the fabric of my dress where it’s bunched at my midsection, using it as leverage to fuck me hard, both our bodies slamming together with the delicious sound of flesh meeting flesh.

It’s wild and fierce and ferocious, the way he claims my body with a punishing pace.

Using his other hand to reach behind my head, he knots his fingers in my hair and pulls me up so our faces press together. Heat shoots through my core, setting fire to my veins that reaches every inch of my body. Tightening my legs around his hips, I lift mine to meet him thrust for thrust, desperate to be closer, so entwined that there is no untangling the two of us.

“Tell me it’s real,” he growls into my mouth.

“Real,” I breathe.

“Tell me you’re mine.”

“Yours,” I moan. “I’m yours.”

“Fuck,” he whimpers. “Mine. You’re mine.”

---