Redemption (The Bet) (56 page)

Her enchanting hazel eyes glazed over with passion, her face flushed a becoming hue, and his name the only thing on her sweet lips was more of a turn on for him than any sort of foreplay they'd ever engaged in. Unable to resist, Nicholas captured and mercilessly pillaged Ellie’s mouth, milking melodious moans from kiss ravished lips. Before she could find release, Nicholas disengaged from her and much to his amusement, he received a glare and whimper from his displeased lover.

"Nicholas..." she pleaded, her voice strained.

Nicholas kissed her protests away. "I want to come with you." he stole another kiss before moving behind her. With great restraint, he positioned himself at her entrance and tried not surge forward, instead taking his time as he glided in, the velvety sheath making it almost impossible for him. Finally, he found himself buried to the hilt and he took a moment to breath, sheer will alone kept his hips steady, fearing that he'd hurt the writhing woman beneath him.

"Fuck… Elle," he groused, "Stop moving." He gasped and cursed again as the warm sheath constricted, pulling him impossibly deeper.

On her hands and knees, Ellie stared behind her, "Don't you dare go slow." s
he warned, her eyes ablaze with green fire, further ensnaring Nicholas into their luminescent depths.

"Hard and fast?" Nicholas wittily inquired, dropping a kiss between Ellie’s shoulder blades.

"Yes," she moaned, Nicholas cock pulsating in her, filling her to an immense level. "Hard and fast."

Hard and fast had Ellie seeing stars, she arched her back, pleasure-pain coursing through her nervous system. It charged every cell in her body, making every inch of her sensitive to Nicholas’s every touch. The line between, pleasure and pain blurred, each sensation propelling her higher and higher, Ellie felt like a masochist as Nicholas’s teeth bit down on her skin and she moaned, opening her mouth to plead for more.

A fire tongue swept over the wound, eradicating the ache, only to bite down again, hips thrusting in a savage cadence, Nicholas’s cock slammed mercilessly into Ellie’s sheath, demanding her complete surrender and his fiendish love gave it. Arched her back, swiveled her hips and fell into a synchronized dance with her skilled lover. Ellie’s orgasm cleaved through her core, surging forth, and fingers gripped tightly onto the sheet beneath her as she cried Nicholas’s name. Nicholas held tightly to her hips burying his seed deep, the warmth like a flood, dousing the ragging heat that threatened to scorch Ellie alive.

Ellie collapsed unable to support her weight any longer and whimpered when Nicholas withdrew, leaving her empty and cold. During sex, she always felt as though they were one. One entity, moving and laboring towards the same goal, w
here one ended, the other began. It was tantric, Nicholas’s essence filling her, molding and loving, always moving as one. Afterwards, when it was over and the spell shattered along with their releases, and Nicholas withdrew, there was that brief moment when Ellie felt alone and empty. No longer connected to her soul mate and it always managed to sadden her, like now for example.

"Hey," Nicholas came into view. His smile quickly dissolved, catching sight of Ellie’s tears, he frowned in concern. "Hey," he cajoled, gently pulling Ellie to him. Ellie buried her face on Nicholas’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck; her tears fell despite her attempt to sniff them away. "Ellie, baby, what's wrong?" his concern was too much, the soothing motions of his hands on her back produced a sob from her and Ellie pressed closer to him, almost as though she could mold herself into his golden skin.

Alarmed and helpless at the sight of her tears, Nicholas floundered in his attempt to comfort her. "Ellie, babe, what? What's wrong?" he framed her tear stained face, which only seconds ago contorted in passion, and thumbed the tears away. "Did I hurt you?" Nicholas feared the answer; the last thing he ever wanted was to hurt her.

Though they had parted on bad terms, each second he'd been away, was spent pining for her. He'd spent hours ruminating, through important meetings Nicholas had wondered whether she was coping just as miserably as he was. Plagued by the ideas that maybe he'd pushed too far in regards to his marriage proposals, wondering whether he should've w
aited. But then, after four years, how much more waiting could he possibly bear?

As long as it takes.
His mind was quick to respond, and naturally it was right, he would always wait, for as long as it took Ellie to marry him. If not marriage, then he would be satisfied with what they had now, because life was not worth a dime, without Ellie in it.

Ellie shook her head, "No, No, Nicky you didn't hurt me," she reached out
to caress his cheek. Through her tears, she smiled. "I just forgot how much I missed you, how much I missed waking up with you. How much I missed seeing your handsome face." She sniffed and yielded to the onslaught of Nicholas’s tender lips.

"God, Ellie," with his forehead resting on hers, Nicholas grinned. "You have no idea how badly I need you when I'm away. You make a man go crazy, missing you. There's only so much my left hand can do, I close my eyes and your there. Your scent on my clothes drives me to distractions. It always scares me,
how much I need you to function. Only a few days away and I ache to run back to you, take you in my arms and never let go." playing with the silken tendrils at Ellie’s nape, Nicholas licked Ellie’s tears away and kissed the corner of her mouth. "You'd think after four years of being with you, my obsession would've ebbed slightly. But I think I might be more addicted to you, now more than ever. Can you believe that, Ellie?"

Ellie hugged him to her, and then very softly, almost inaudibly she said. "Marry me, Nicky.".

Not sure he'd heard right, Nicholas disengaged Ellie’s arms from his neck and firmly forced her to look up. "What?"

Through the damp veil of her dark lashes, Ellie glanced up and to be sure, Nicholas
’ gaze, with its ability to stare right into her soul, stared intently down at her now, a maelstrom of emotions swirling in their silver depths. "I was afraid," she began, running her tongue over suddenly dry lips. "When you first asked me to marry you I thought you were just asking for the sake of the kids. Everything was so crazy with Sophie’s adoption, I just thought, 'oh, maybe, he's just asking to make the children happy.' So I said 'no'." 

Ellie’s looked down at her hands, savaging the poor sheets beneath her, but she trudged on, too late to stop herself. She needed to be heard, needed for Nicholas to understand. "The second time, I couldn't bring myself to say 'yes'. I wanted to, but I just couldn't, I made excuses, telling myself I wasn't ready for it. Then you asked me again before you left and saying 'no' to you the third time was one of the hardest things I've ever done."

Ellie looked up, taking Nicholas’s hand in the process. "I was afraid, scared that we'd end up like my parents. I didn't want you to resent me later. Marriage is a big step and though we've been together for so long, known each other since we were practically kids, I know how much you hate confinement. I didn't want us to marry and have it end in divorce, because you decided you wanted to be..."

"Shut up."

Ellie gasped when Nicholas tugged his hand away. He was angry. "How can you…for you to even think that I would…" he raked his hands through his hair, his frustration evident, "Ellie, I'm not going anywhere! How many times do I have to tell you? Do you think me so fickle?" he was trying hard to keep his rage on a tight leash, but he feared he was losing control, Ellie’s words hurting him more than he realized. "After so many years, I thought you knew me better than that."

Ellie shook her head, trying to rectify her
mistake. It wasn't at all how she'd planned for this to happen, "Nicky…"

"I love you, Ellie, the way I feel about you will never change. I've felt this way since I was eighteen and I swear to you that I'm going to feel the same way when I'm an old man. I understand that I've hurt you in the past and I will spend the rest of my life repenting for it. But you have to know that I'm here to stay, married or
not, I'm here to stay. You are everything to me.”"

In all her wondrous glory, Ellie slid from the bed, ran to the other side of the bed and fell to her knees before him, taking hold of Nicholas’s larger hands Ellie tenderly kissed them, before looking up. "So, marry me."`

"Ellie…"

"I'm so sorry for doubting you...for doubting
us
and our love, for fearing something I know would be a joy to share with you. I've wanted this, for almost as long as I knew I loved you, I've wanted this. I'm ready, Nicky, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to make you as happy as you've continuously made me. I want to be yours, in name, body, mind and soul. Marry me, Nicholas Grayson, please?" She was trembling, her hold on Nicholas hands unyielding. She could feel her tears snaking a path down her cheeks, but Ellie was impervious to it all as she stared up at Nicholas’s face, attempting to make out the whirlwind of emotions there.

Coming down to his knees, so that they both stood at the same height, their gazes locked, Nicholas interlaced their fingers and returned Ellie’s earlier kiss, brushing his lips over her knuckles. "Only if you say yes to my proposal. Eleanor Holbrook, love of my life, my infinite better half, would you do me the honor of giving me your hand in marriage?"

"\Yes! A thousand times yes!" with elated joy and mirth swimming through her veins, Ellie wrapped her arms around Nicholas and embraced him, her laughter and exuberance bringing them both to the floor. She rained a barrage of kisses on Nicholas’s grinning face, while her tears fell. "Will you marry me?"

Framing her tear stained face, Nicholas smiled. "In a heartbeat." He claimed a kiss, tender, sweet and long overdue.

He stood then and returned moments later with a black velvet box. "Let's make it official." taking back his seat, he drew the box open and took from it the cushion-cut rose-gold diamond engagement ring he'd purchased so long ago.

The ring was simple in its elegance. With its clean roman design and peculiar coloring, it was a thing of sheer beauty to Ellie, who reverently gaped when Nicholas held it before her. "Look," he invited, tilting the ring just so, enough that she could glimpse at the engraved inscription inside.

For as long as there are stars.

Ellie bit her lip to stop it from trembling, but all the same, the deluge of tears came and she was helpless to stop them. "Nicky," She croaked, her tears did not permit her words, so instead, Ellie kissed Nicholas, pouring all that she felt into their joined flesh, conveying undying love and adoration one woman could feel towards her other half.

"This is eternal, Ellie." Nicholas whispered, slipping the ring on Ellie’s trembling fingers. It was a perfect fit, snug and just right, exactly where it was supposed to be. Bringing her hand to his lips, Nicholas kissed Ellie’s ring finger, his gaze fixed on the weeping woman across from him. "No matter how many lifetimes we live, know that I'll always find you and our love will always endure."

~*~*~*~

Taking the stairs two at a time Ellie hurried to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. With trepidation pooling in her veins, she approached her bed, warily staring at the black phone on the nightstand. She took a seat, her heart racing a mile a minute she picked up the headset with a quivering hand. Anxiety threatened to push her breakfast out of her mouth, the need to retch clawed a bitter path up her throat, and she forced herself to swallow a few times, impeding her nausea.

The moment the butler had interrupted her breakfast and informed her that she had a call, Ellie knew---in her heart she already knew what Dr. Morrison was going to say. She’d excused herself, quickly rushing to her bedroom and now…now she didn't know why she hesitated.

She pressed the phone to her ear, "He…hello..."she cleared her throat. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Ms. Holbrook." Dr. Morrison jovially greeted.

"Good morning, Dr. Morrison. Did...did you get the test results back?"

"Yes, and they were just as I expected, congratulations Ms. Holbrook you're about eight weeks pregnant. I'd like to schedule…" Ellie didn't hear anything else after that and as she mechanically bid the doctor a good day and a Merry Christmas, she felt what was the first of several droplets of water splashing against her arm. She dropped the phone on the nightstand with nerveless fingers and fell back against the mattress.

"I'm pregnant." She whispered wondrously, joy and fear waging a battle in her body. Joy triumphed and with sobbing laughter, Ellie sent up a silent prayer of thanks for the wonderful miracle she'd just received.

~*~*~*~

Nude and freshly showered, Ellie sat on the gargantuan bed, contemplating whether her plan would work. She fell back against the headboard and with a soft smile on her lips she put a hand on her abdomen. There was a baby there. She couldn't feel anything yet, wouldn't in fact for several months, but the thought that a child grew there, was enough to warm her heart. Would it be another girl? She wondered, or maybe a little brother for Dylan to play with? Growing up the only boy in a female dominated family couldn’t have been all too pleasant. But Dylan dealt with it like the sport he was and Ellie appreciated him for it.

Marriage and a baby on the way, what more could Ellie ask for? She’d never been as happy and content as she was now. Life was finally returning a little bit of what it'd dealt her over the years and Ellie was thankful. Ensnared by her thoughts, she did not notice Nicholas emerging from the bathroom, towel precariously wrapped around a tapered waist until he stood before her.