Out of the Ashes (35 page)

“
Love, I know.”  I remove his shirt and drop it to the floor in front of him to remove his pants.  He pulls me to him and works the clasp on my bra before pulling the straps down my arms.  “You are absolutely stunning.”  His mouth covers my nipple. 

I moan in ecstasy.  “Ian, I need you.” 

“Anything you want, sweetheart.”  He pulls my thong down my legs and slips out of his boxer briefs.  He is glorious standing before me completely naked.  I rake my eyes over his body.  I’m pretty sure just the sight of him could make me come.  I reach out and grasp his cock stroking it as I pull him toward me. 

“I want you inside me.”  He pushes two fingers in to make sure I am ready. 

“God, Celeste you’re so fucking tight and wet.”  I feel his weight come down on me and he pushes inside me.  I cry out again.  The feelings I have for him are so intense.

Sex has never been like this before.  We always fit perfectly and it
’s amazing but tonight, there is no doubt that this is where I belong.  “Ian, I love you.” 

He is smiling at me while he pumps into me.  “I want to see you come apart for me,
gorgeous.”  He takes my nipple in his mouth again.  He licks and swirls his tongue.  Then he lowers himself so he’s on his elbows and leans into my ear.  “Come for me, sweetheart.  I want to hear you when you come.”  I scream out and unravel beneath him.  I ride wave after wave as my muscles clench; my orgasm continues on and on as he pounds into me.  “Fuck, Celeste.  So fucking tight.  Ah yes, fuck.”  And with his own shout, he spills himself inside me. Afterwards he holds me tightly in his arms. “I want to do this forever with you.  Celeste, I love you.”

I
’m crying at his words and he’s confused.  But my body is so full of emotions right now there’s nothing else I can do.  “Sweetheart, did I hurt you?” 

“Tell me again, Ian.  I need you to say it again.” 

He smiles understanding my tears.  “I love you.”  His eyes bore into mine.  “And I promise to do this right someday very soon but, Celeste; I want you to be my wife.” 

I
’m so overjoyed that I cannot stop the tears.  “Ian, I love you so much.”  I press my lips to his; sealing all my love for him with him.  He pulls me to him and makes love to me again.

~

I’m asleep in bed when I hear someone pounding on the door.  What time is it?  I look at the clock.  What the hell?  It’s 3:30 in the fucking morning.  Ian must have answered the door anyway as the banging stopped but then voices started to rise out in the living room.  I throw on the first thing I can find, which happened to be Ian’s discarded dress shirt.  Well, it’s longer than some of the things I wear out to the clubs.  As I pad down the hallway I hear Ian’s voice rise. “Look I don’t care who you are; you can’t come barging in here like this, asshole.  I’m telling you, you’re in the wrong place.  You must have the wrong address.”  I can tell that he’s moments away from losing it altogether and getting physical with whoever it is so I hurry the rest of the way down the hall.

As I round the corner, I halt dead in my tracks; fear runs like ice through my veins and I’m sure it shows on my face.  With a small gasp, I reach up and my hand covers my mouth as the tears begin to
pour out of me.  “Celeste, sweetheart you can go back to bed.  This
asshole
is clearly in the wrong place but isn’t bothering to listen.”  I can’t focus on anything Ian is saying; my focus is solely on the man behind him.  The man looks up and meets my stare.  He smiles, a sadistic smile and moves around Ian toward me but Ian blocks him from entering the apartment.  I know what’s coming and I’m powerless to stop it.  The man takes another look at me and then focuses back on Ian. 

He raises a finger in my direction and i
n a disturbingly calm voice he says to Ian, “She’s who I’m looking for.”  While Ian tries to make sense of his words, the man walks around him and comes face to face with me staring directly into my eyes.

“I’ve been looking for you
for a long time.  Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

I shake my head as words won’t come; my hand is still covering my mouth in disbelief and the tears start to soak the lapels of Ian’s shirt.  Ian
notices my state but is confused and struck immovable just as I am.  Taking his large hand, the man raises it to my cheek as if he’s going to brush away my tears; but instead, he pulls it back hitting me full force with the back of his hand.  I’m knocked to the floor; my head bounces against the hard wood.  Briefly I see Ian spring into action just as the man begins to laugh.  “I’ve really missed you,
Lauren.
”  Those words and Dean’s sadistic smile are the last things I remember before the darkness consumes me.

Blaze of Glory ~ Jon Bon Jovi

The Other Side ~ Jason Derulo

I Can’t Help Falling in Love
with You ~ Elvis Presley

Let Her Go ~ Passenger

Over ~ Blake Shelton

Moves Like Jagger ~ Maroon 5

Misery ~ Maroon 5

Here with Me ~ The Killers

Love Somebody ~ Maroon 5

All In ~ Lifehouse

Behind Blue Eyes ~ The Who

Human ~ Christina Perri

Everything Has Changed ~ Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran

Where to begin?  There are so many people who have been instrumental in getting me here.  First off, I want to thank God for the path He put me on that led me here.  My husband and children, I cannot thank enough for all the days and evenings they put up with Mommy being busy.  My husband has been my rock and my biggest cheerleader throughout all this.  I love you, honey.  To Libby and Josh, you are an inspiration to me every day and you remind me never to give up.  I love you both.

I want to thank my parents.  My mother for being so supportive and getting the info out to all of her friends.  My dad for instilling in me
the love of reading.  Though we don’t always agree on genre, if I didn’t have you I would never have had the courage and drive to do this.

To the rest of my family and friends that have stood by me and tirelessly supported me in this endeavor, I say a huge thank you.

To my beta readers, there is nowhere near enough praise or thanks I could give you.  Tia Jolly, thank you for painstakingly going through the entire manuscript and showing me ways to improve.  Cristina Georgescu, your feedback on the Prologue and the characters made this book what it is.  I would never have made the changes if it wasn’t for you ladies.  I can’t say thank you enough.

To all of the book blogs and Heather at Book Plug Promotions, you have been instrumental in getting the word out about the book and writing reviews.

To my wonderful cover designer, Kari Ayasha at Cover to Cover Designs, your work is beautiful and I can’t wait to work with you on the next one.

And finally to you the reader.  I hope that you have enjoyed Celeste and Ian’s journey thus far.  As you can tell there is much more to come.  I would love to hear what you think about the book so please post a review on Amazon or GoodReads or contact me on Facebook.

Thanks again to everyone.  This has been an amazing journey so far and I can’t wait to see where it goes.