“I’m glad we understand each other.”
She shifted her thighs farther apart.
Which was all I needed by way of invitation. I dived into her, burying my face between her thighs, devouring her. I consumed everything she willingly gave as she tipped her hips forward, demanding more as I fucked her with my tongue.
“Oh, God,” she moaned.
Her long, drawn-out sighs and whispers echoed as she came hard, shuddering against me.
Pushing to my feet, I leaned in and kissed her again, sharing her taste with her.
Eventually, I pulled away and rested my forehead against hers in the silence, letting this moment convey what I wanted her to know. “I put you down here. In the cold and the dark. Anya, I’m so—”
“Stop. I’ve already forgiven you. That was then, and this is now.” She smiled so wide it almost shattered my heart with its intensity.
Helping her, I pulled up her panties and jeans to redress her.
Taking her hand, I led her out of there.
“Does this place really flood?” she asked as she kept up with my long strides.
A grimace was my answer, considering I had fucking locked her cell gate for a night.
“Clearly, I have issues,” I mumbled.
“Hadn’t noticed.”
I bowed before her. “I’m the king of fucked up. Welcome to my world.”
“Okay, shut up and listen for a second.”
“This is how you win me over?” I smirked.
“I came with you to see your surprise. Which was entertaining if you’re into . . . that. Now you have to come with me to see mine.”
“Am I going to like it?”
“I think so.”
I gave her an amused look because that wasn’t exactly delivered with certainty. Though I was eager to find out what she’d done with her free time.
“Sooo . . .” I led.
And she smiled, a fucking heart-stopping smile that I felt in my bones.
“I’m not telling,” she beamed back, teasing.
She appeared to be rather pleased with herself. That was fine. She could act smug; I knew I would get it out of her eventually. Most likely when I had my head buried between her legs again and she was begging me to take her. From that look on her face, she could read I was ready to take her now.
She moved restlessly as though she regretted her decision to taunt the beast. She let out a long, drawn-out, overdramatic sigh. “I’ll show you. But you have to follow me.”
“Follow you, now that’s intriguing.”
Her cheeks turned a bright red, no doubt sordid memories of the wicked things we did around the house, playing through her mind.
“No, we’re not going to the maze.” Her lip pulled up ever so slightly when she thought I was no longer looking; she’d allowed herself a smile.
I wanted to laugh, and the feeling was still foreign to me. But I was starting to learn when I was with Anya, I was prone to feelings I wasn’t used to. She had a way of bringing them out in me.
Together, we walked through the house, and I let her lead the way. When she stopped in front of my music room, I hesitated. Memories were flashing through my mind after what had once transpired in there. I’d almost brought down the fucking house last time.
“I’m going with no thank you.” I went to pull away.
“Just go in.” She tsked at me.
I grunted, not wanting to go back in and see all that destruction, but I followed her anyway. I was learning that as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I would probably follow her anywhere.
The space was now clean.
Still, I couldn’t understand why she’d want to come in here so soon after I lost my shit. Then again, if she was using the same logic as I had been, we would make a new memory.
This was me getting a taste of my own medicine, and it was sweet and daring yet bitter to swallow. “What are we doing here?” My mood was tainted from a guilty residue that clung, nevertheless.
Anya had a way of working herself inside you. Getting into the darkest parts and bravely throwing in light. She was an untamed fire, and I desired the feel of the heat.
Finally breaking our eye contact, I scanned the room.
Then I saw it. A brand-new Gibson custom guitar.
“What’s this?” Not the smartest question ever poised.
“You need me to tell you what a guitar is?”
I lifted my hands and scrubbed at my eyes. “That’s not what I meant. And you know it.”
“So, then what did you mean?”
“Goddammit, Anya! You know exactly what I meant. Why?”
“Why did I do this?”
Because I’d sworn never to pick up another instrument again after what I’d done to the last—in front of her.
She stepped up to me. Placing her hands on my chest, she rose up and placed a kiss on my lips. “I want you to play.”
“Why?”
“I know what it means to you . . .”
“And what is that?”
“It’s your escape. Your happiness. Your peace.”
That last word made me shudder, and no reply was worthy after that. I merely pulled her closer, sealing my mouth over hers and saying everything I wanted to say like this, showing her everything I wanted to express but couldn’t.
Our kiss was cut short when my phone rang in my pocket.
A sudden start as I recalled who I’d invited over for dinner. My sister, because having her meet Anya felt like the beginning of normality. The kind I’d not known I’d secretly craved and never believed possible.
I tucked my phone back into my pocket. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”
“Here?”
“I invited my sister over.”
She paused, worrying her lip. “You want me to meet her?”
“I do.”
“She knows about me?” She looked nervous. “Why . . . after what my father did?”
“Because unlike me, she never judged you for the actions of your father. Come on. Let’s go, she’s waiting.”
My voice came out more forceful than I’d wanted. The truth was, the more we spoke about it, the longer I thought of my original plan to harm Anya, and the more I felt like an asshole. More than this, I felt remorse like it had been encased in my DNA.
“The guitar’s incredible,” I told her.
“Ridley might have helped.”
“I kind of guessed.” I tried to suppress a frown. “When did you two talk?”
“Yesterday.”
I took her hand in mine and pulled her down the hallway.
“I should change,” Anya said, looking nervous, “before I meet her.”
“You’re perfect,” I told her.
“You sure?”
“Very.” I arched a playful brow. “Never been surer in my life.”
We found Sofia in the parlor facing the vastness of the property behind the house—the view of the maze clear from here. Their green hedges neatly trimmed. The structure preserved after all these years yet it had taken on a new meaning.
To Sofia, the way her shoulders remained tight with tension as she stared off at it in a worrisome trance, it still represented her worst days. She’d run from the pain and I, well I’d run directly into it and made a home from the debris of our lives.