“Where were we?”
“Right here,” I mumble against his lips.
My hands find their way between us and quickly pull at the buckle of his pants, impatient to feel my man’s thick cock. He’s just as insistent, pulling up the hem of my dress. It's a dance we are slowly perfecting, and practice makes perfect. Soon, I have my arms wrapped around Finn’s shoulders and my legs hooked around his trim waist.
“Fuck, you feel good,” he groans in my ear as he slowly enters me. “Perfection.”
“Yes,” I agree, moaning softly in his ear. My man’s cock is perfect.
We move together, our clothes rustling between us, and our breathing mixed. It doesn’t take long before I am shuddering with pleasure and feeling Finn’s explosion within me. Filling me, branding me, with his cum.
“Never had better,” he breathes heavily in my ear.
“Me either,” I tease, gripping my limbs tighter around his body.
“Princess,” he warns, pulling back and giving me his sexy scowl.
I glide my hands up to cup his face and pull him toward me, nipping his lips. Playfully, I whisper, “I never want to feel this connected to anyone else but you, Xavier Finch.”
My man cups the back of my head and fuses our lips together, leaving me breathless. We continue to kiss, stroke, and touch one another slowly, continuing to come down from our peak of pleasure. All too soon, Finn is slipping out of me with a wet pop.
He grabs a nearby box of tissues and silently cleans us both up, muttering, “You don’t have this much mess with condoms.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Clean,” I tell him, pulling up my panties and pulling back down my dress.
He gives me a sharp scowl at the name, his full eyebrows coming together in a sexy line.
“I’m only thinking of you.”
Drawn to him, I wrap my arms around his waist and give him a squeeze. “One of the many reasons why I love you.”
His arms come up around me, holding me against his solid form. He kisses the top of my head before continuing to straighten his own clothing.
“Let’s go home.” I reach out and straighten his tie, smoothing the collar around his neck.
“Lily,” Jasmine, my therapist, says softly. “You have a right to your feelings.”
“I know,” I mutter, my eyes clouding with tears. “I just feel guilty, like I’m a horrible daughter.”
I have been attending these weekly therapy sessions for months. At first, it was to help me cope with the trauma of my kidnapping and imprisonment. To help me deal with being in confined spaces like elevators and bathroom stalls. The sessions changed when the subject of my mother and our relationship took over the conversation. My mother and I have not spoken to one another since before my kidnapping, and once I discovered she was siding with Mayer, I made no attempt to reach out to her.
“Protecting yourself emotionally is not being a horrible daughter,” she says in a low stern voice as she continues to watch me.
“Right.” Taking a deep breath, I attempt to let the words penetrate my mind and heart.
“Last week, we talked about the letter you’re writing to your mother and the things you might say. Have you made any progress?”
“Yes.” I nod, grabbing my purse from the floor and reaching into it. I take out a thick envelope. “I don’t know if I should send it.”
“Writing the letter wasn’t really for your mother, but to give you the time and space to articulate your feelings.” She pauses, letting the words penetrate my mind before continuing, “How did it make you feel, putting your feelings down on paper?”
“Scared at first,” I admit, remembering curling up in the corner of the couch as I struggled to put my feelings down into words. “But when I was done, I felt free.”
“That makes me so happy,” Jasmine smiles. “The point of the exercise was to help you move on from the past and freely enter into your future.”
I may never send the letter to my mother; the truth is she probably doesn’t care what I have to say, but what’s important is I now understand my own emotions and feelings. I was so afraid of losing her love. I realize now how selfish my mother always seemed. Wanting my father’s attention only on her. She always hated sharing him with anyone else, including me, Aunt Kitty, and Peter.
Having Aunt Kitty back in my life, seeing her unconditional love for Peter, and feeling it myself, I now know what a mother’s love should be. Even Finn’s mother, who’s not my favorite person, loves him unconditionally.
Epilogue
One Year Later, Paris
~ Finn ~
“We had our first date here,” Lily muses with a smile, turning slightly in my arms to look back at me as we stand, staring out at a sunlit Paris on the Eiffel Tower’s observation deck.
“We did.” I lean down and press my lips to her upturned ones. “Happy anniversary, princess.”
“You too, stud,” she giggles, turning fully in my arms. Lily wraps her arms around my waist and presses her soft body against mine. Hugging me tightly, she rests her chin on my chest and looks up at me with a smile. Whisps of her wavy hair have escaped her ponytail and now blow in her face, obscuring my view. I reach up and brush them away. I run my fingers across her face, committing it to memory.
So much in my life has changed, for the better, in the past year since I rescued Lily. After Peter took over MacKay International, we joined forces and, with Lily’s help, are making strides to repair the damage Mayer did. Although they were unable to successfully prosecute Mayer for Lily’s father’s death, he is now safely behind bars, awaiting sentencing on a string of charges, including unlawful imprisonment and kidnapping. He will be sent down for a minimum of ten years, but we’re hoping for thirty. Lily has cut all ties with her mother since she supported her husband throughout the trial and even sold the house to help pay his legal fees. Mrs. Mayer has since moved to Arizona. Lily is still healing from her ordeal, but the sessions with her therapist have helped immensely. She’s no longer having nightmares or anxiety attacks in small spaces. Lily has also successfully graduated, only a semester later than planned, and has found her niche within MacKay International. She now heads up corporate giving, helping Peter and me steer the company back to its core values.
I have claimed this kind and giving woman as my own. The question remains, does she want to claim me? I know she loves me and wants to be with me. Lily happily moved in and made herself at home in my—our—condo. But does she want me entirely?
“I can’t believe it’s been a year already.” Her emerald eyes sparkle with happiness as she gives me a quick, tight squeeze saying, “It turned out to be the best year ever!”
“The best is yet to come,” I promise, cupping the back of her head and kissing her again. Her body relaxes into me as she sighs softly and moves her lips against mine. As we pull out of the kiss, my woman nips my lip playfully with her teeth.
“What are we doing next?” she asks, bubbling with excitement.
My heart pounds in my chest, and my hand shakes as I reach into my pocket. Suddenly, I am sweating underneath my sweater, wondering how she’ll react to what I have planned.