Page 43 of What the Shadows Hide
She moans around me, taking me until she gags before she pulls back.
But I don’t give her long before I’m pulling her deeper, moaning from the feel of her hot mouth around me, taking me deep.
My hands twist in her hair as I stare down at her from behind the mask. Tears and saliva mix, pooling at her chin. The sight nearly undoes me. She’s a beautiful mess.Mybeautiful mess.
“Fuck. I don’t wanna come yet.” Pulling out, I lift her, settling her against the post.
She wraps around me, trusting, fierce. The world narrows to heat and breath as I stare into her eyes, thrusting inside her. She moans, her nails slipping against my wet back as the rain falls around us. Her legs wrap around me, pulling me closer like she’s claiming me, too.
When I move, she meets me, and the night breaks open—slow at first, then deeper, a rhythm that feels like something we’ve always known. Her fingers slide beneath the mask, palms on my jaw, grounding me while everything else comes apart.
“Eyes on me,” I say. Her gaze locks with mine, rain glittering on her lashes. Her soft, wrecked sounds thread through thethunder, and I’m gone for her—lost and home in the same breath.
We burn through the dark together, chasing and catching and giving in until her body tightens around me and the vineyard goes silent, like the valley itself is holding its breath. She screams my name as she clenches around me. I follow her over the edge with a broken curse and a prayer, the mask fogging, her name in my mouth, my hands too full of her to ever let go.
For a while, there’s only rain and the wild drum of our hearts.
I lower her slowly, keep her pinned to me as if the night might take her back. The mask feels like another heartbeat against my skin. She reaches up and eases it off, eyes searching my face like she’s memorizing the man underneath.
“Mine,” she whispers, her thumb brushing my cheekbone.
“Yours,” I answer, hoarse and certain.
She kisses me—soft this time, reverent—and tucks herself against my chest. I wrap her in my arms, the two of us breathing in time while the storm softens.
“Tristan?” she says after a beat, her voice husky, satisfied.
“Yeah?”
“Chase me again tomorrow.”
A laugh shakes out of me, raw and real. “Every day,” I promise against her hair. “Every day for the rest of my life.”
We stand there in the vines until the thunder turns to a purr and the lights from the house call us home.
Epilogue
Voss & Blackwell Winery,Shadow Falls
Nine months later
The waterfall hums behind us,a steady rhythm that’s become the heartbeat of this valley. The vines shimmer with late-spring green, every row alive again. The tasting room is filled with laughter, light, and the scent of wine and rain.
I never thought this place would feel like home again.
And yet, here I am—standing barefoot in the grass, veil brushing my shoulders, my hand wrapped in Tristan’s, on our wedding day.
He looks devastatingly handsome in his dark suit, his gray eyes soft for once. The same man who once haunted me now stands before me, waiting to say his vows, binding us forever.
His eyes shine with emotion as he promises to love me for a lifetime. The moment feels surreal—the man who was once my enemy has become my best friend, my business partner, my home.
I barely register my own vows, too caught up in the magic floating in the air and the love burning in his eyes.
“You may now kiss the bride,” the officiant says.
Thunder rolls low across the mountains—our version of an amen.
Tristan’s hand slides to my waist, drawing me close. His lips brush mine as the crowd cheers, the waterfall roars, and the valley exhales.
