Redemption (The Bet) (3 page)

He cupped her cheek, leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I love you." He wasn't the type of person to share his emotions Ellie knew, but Devlin always managed to whisper those words to her when Ellie most needed to hear them.

Ellie stood on her toes and tenderly kissed him, needing the contact, before saying. "I love you too."

It was silly to say that she was avoiding Sophie's room, but then that was exactly what Ellie was doing as she lingered a little longer than necessary in the twins' r
oom. Once she'd tucked them in, Ellie picked up after them, putting away toys and tossing dirty clothes in the hamper. She set out their clothes for tomorrow morning and hung them in the closet, when there was nothing else to be done, Ellie resignedly left the room. The walk to Sophie's room, a door down from the twins' room, was plagued with apprehension.

Honestly it wasn't like she owed Sophie an
explanation. She was the adult here and by God if she wanted to give into her baser instinct every now and then like some amatory teen then she would do it. But then again getting caught doing the horizontal tango on the kitchen table by your very impressionable preteen daughter wasn’t exactly good parenting.

When it all came down to i
t, Ellie knew she should've exercised a little more caution. With a sigh, she opened Sophie's bedroom door and slipped inside.

Sophie's room was the
second largest bedroom in the house. When they'd moved in six years ago, it'd taken them nearly a week to peel off the tacky wallpaper that had covered every inch of the Victorian home. Once the wallpaper had been removed, Sophie had opted to paint her room a butter cream yellow with a violet accent wall, where she'd collected an assortment of Indie rock band posters over the years. Posters of her favorite band of the moment, Carousel, dominated the majority of the wall. The queen size bed dominated the majority of the room from an obsidian four-poster bed frame. Seated in the small alcove that housed a large bay window, Sophie's gaze was on the laptop screen, the ubiquitous white iPod headphones dangling from her ears.

As though she'd sensed her mother's presence, Sophie turned her head in Ellie's dire
ction, her face expressionless.

"Hey, Monster." Ellie greeted after clearing her throat, the pet name from childhood having stuck, held nothing but affection. "Can I sit?" At Sophie's one shoulder shrug, Ellie flopped down on the upholstered bench, mindful of Grayson huddled by Sophie's side. The
muffled chirps emitting from the headphones filled the ensuing silence. "Did you enjoy your birthday?"

Sophie nodded, the slightest smile tugging on her lips despite herself. "Yeah, I'm glad Nan and Grandpa came. It was good seeing them."

"Yeah," Ellie agreed with a smile of her own. "It was good seeing them." She sighed after a moment. They couldn't really dance around the situation anymore. "Soph, what you saw downstairs…”

Sophie
blushed. "Say no more, Mom, I see stuff like that on T.V. all the time. You don't need to explain."

That brought a frown to El
lie's face. "I'm putting parental block on all those channels." There was no way she was going to have her children growing up before they were good and ready. If Ellie could prevent the process from occurring prematurely than damn it, she would do her parental duty. "Soph, I know you're not fond of Devlin but I appreciate the fact that you've been trying hard to be respectful of him and not to fight with Roan anymore. It means a lot to me."

"You're welcome, Mom. I know they won't be in our lives much longer, anyway." She said with a sure
ty that astounded Ellie.

"What makes you think they won't be in our lives anymore?" Ellie inquired, trying to wrap her head around the situation and whether or not she was really having this conversation with her twelve year old daughter.

"Because you don't belong with him." Sophie responded with a secret smile, petting Grayson's fur.

"
Who do I belong with?"

Sophie tilted her head to the side, fixing Ellie with a look that clearly showed exasperation. "You
 know who."

“I really have no idea.”

“Nicholas Grayson.” There went Ellie's heart again, slamming itself against her ribcage like some blind mole rat.

"I think it's tim
e for bed." She abruptly stood the sudden need to escape the room an urgency.

"I saw the pictures, Mom." Sophie said
softly, closing the lid to her laptop she followed her mother to her bed. "In the black chest, in the back of your closet. There was one of you, me and him."

"Enough, Soph. Bedtime."

"I remember him, Mom." She said firmly, refusing to drop the subject.

"We're not having this conversation, now or ever. Lights out in five minutes."

"But----"

"One more word and Grayson comes with me." That did it and with one last lingering glare at her mother, Sophie fell back against the mattress and turned her back to Ellie.

That gesture alone hurt more than silent treatments, it was a damn slap in the face. But Ellie refused to give in this time. Pout or not, the subject of Nicholas Grayson was off limits.

With a sigh, Ellie kissed Sophie's temple.
"Despite what you may think, Soph," Ellie whispered by her ear, "Devlin is a good person and he makes me happy. It hurts me that you can't to see that. Night, babe and Happy Birthday." The light clicked off as she closed the door behind her.

~*
~*~*~

How had this day come to be about Nicholas? She'd gone months without thinking about him and just at the mere mention of him today alone had Ellie ready to unravel. Was it too much to ask just to forget him?

It was with a heavy heart that she managed to make it downstairs to her own bedroom. She felt ill, but Devlin would remedy her ailment. His touch, his kisses, his presence alone was exactly what she needed at the current moment. Devlin was good at making her forget.

She entered the room and closed the door behind her. Devlin
waited for her, lounging on her bed with a mound of pillows propping him up. He'd hung up his suit jacket in her closet, the periwinkle dress shirt he donned was open, revealing pecs and abdominals Ellie had kissed and licked many a times.

"C'mere." He
invited his smile sexy and welcoming. Ellie needed no further persuasion as she hastened to him. Crawling across the bed she straddled his hips and planted a kiss on Devlin's awaiting lips. He tasted of chocolate raspberry and Devlin, dark and sexy with a hint of sweetness that drove Ellie crazy with want. Their kiss was an exploration of mouths, a teasing of tongues and teeth. It was running hands in hair with a sort of languid patience that made foreplay seem like child's play. It was toying with smooth, barely exposed hot skin with a promise of pleasures to come.

"I'd forgotten how addictive the taste of your lips could be." Devlin said, all deep baritone voice infused with enough sex that Ellie dipped her head for a second helping. The need for oxygen was a secondary
concept; it became completely inconsequential in their burning urgency.

Devlin feasted on the tender flesh of Ellie's lips, her throaty little mewls championing him to continue. "I could kiss you forever." Breath scented of lust, Devlin whispered his want against Ellie's wet lips.

"I think," Ellie purred, hazel eyes darkened to a dark brown by desire, she raked fingernails down the length of Devlin's chest, eliciting shivers. "Forever could be spent doing other things besides kissing." Emboldened by Devlin's obliging smile, Ellie pinched and toyed with his nipples, grinning when he bucked beneath her.

"Like what?" Devlin asked, voice a low rumble in his chest. He folded his arms behind his
head watching Ellie through hooded eyes.

"Like," It was with full knowledge that Ellie knew it was a fantasy of Devlin's to see her strip, confessed after a rousing round of lovemaking one night months ago. "You...watching me...get...naked."

"Naked is always a good thing. 
You
 naked is a marvel."

Ellie laughed, dodging his hands as he made to grab her, she jumped off the bed then let instinct guide her
as she slowly unbutton her blouse. Seduction in every movement. She threw the blouse at him and Devlin caught it, setting it by his side he held on to it, while his blue gaze remained focused on Ellie.

Arms snaking through the air in syn
c with gyrating hips, Ellie listened to the music only she could hear while shedding the rest of her clothes. There was nothing and no one in her mind but Devlin. Exactly how it should be.

Devlin's throat worked, throat suddenly dry as he looked on. Watching Ellie dance could make a man extremely parched and the only thing that could possibly quench that thirst being a healthy fill of anything Ellie. She was voluptuous, curves in all the right places. Delectable Café-au-lait skin made him want to lick at her skin until she was squirming beneath him. Perfect, round breast stood pert for him, dusky nipples swelling with desire beckoned him to lick, to suck and devour to his heart's content.
  Ellie was made for dancing and being the possessive man that he was, Devlin rejoiced the fact that this was solely for his viewing pleasure. No other man would lay eyes on this side of Ellie.

Painfully aroused and gripped with animalistic need to lay claim and fuck, Devlin sat up from the bed. He clasped a hand around Ellie's wrist when she came within touching distance and tugged her onto his lap. "You're so impatient, Dev." She chided only to gasp when lips accompanied by a hot tongue nibbled at her ear.

"You expect patience when you gyrate around like that?" he licked a path down Ellie's neck, the five-o'clock shadow that made him both rugged and sexy, teased and tickled until Ellie thought she'd go crazy. Ellie leaned back, unable to help herself, Devlin's large sturdy hands at the base of her spine the only thing keeping Ellie erect as those wondrous lips wrapped around her nipples. Tongue, hot, wet and merciless, flicked to and fro across the hardened tips, evoking pleas from Ellie's lips.

Drawing away only to divest the remainder of his clothes, Devlin was on Ellie in mere seconds, allowing her only the briefest glance at his glorious cock. With his avid ministrations, it did not take long for Ellie to beg for more.

"Dev…please." When he finally conceded to her vociferous cries, he kissed Ellie, long, deep and hungry. Ellie tasted herself on his tongue. "Need you."

Incapable of denying her anything when she looked like that, Devlin reached over the night stand and grabbed the silver wrapper. Ellie took it from his hands, ripped it open and inserted the strawberry flavored condom between her lips. Devlin hands fisted at his sides and he ground his teeth when her warm mouth wrapped around his cock as she slowly slid the condom on him.

"Christ, Ellie…"

"Fuck me, Dev." There was seduction in her voice and the heated look she fixed Devlin with, seating his blood on fire. That look, those big beautiful eyes, made him fall impossibly deeper into the heaven that was Ellie. A man could go to his grave with that look embedded on his soul and never be left wanting.

"Anything for you." Devlin was not a sentimental man, but for Ellie he found, he could write sonnets.

They made love then. Sweet and tender, a languid love that was all flesh and all heart. Their shadows moved like waves against the walls of the bedroom, each movement, a dance as old as time itself where Devlin took the lead and Ellie followed meeting him thrust for thrust and kiss for kiss.

"Loving you is an addiction." Devlin breathed along Ellie's neck, propelling his hips forward elicited a moan from Ellie.

"Are you addicted?" Ellie asked, fingers gripping Devlin's shoulders.

"A veritable junkie."

"Good." She brought his face down and kissed him. After that, only the sounds of lovers emitted from both their lips, reaching bliss together.

Ellie's soft laughter brought a smile to Devlin's lips as he brought the plump chocolate covered strawberry to her lips. "I can't b
elieve she saw that video of us." She wrapped the sheet around her body, taking another bite of strawberry from Devlin's fingers.

Devlin made a face. "That's what she gets
for snooping through my things."

Devlin's abhorrence for his ex-wife did not come as a surprise to Ellie, knowing the grief she'd put him through. Natasha was a spiteful woman who lived to make Devlin's life a nightmare. She'd taken him for all he was during the divorce, despite that she'd been unfaithful to him. Ellie wasn't surprised that Devlin had trust issues. Something they'd had to work on in their three year relationship.

"So," deciding a subject change was in order, Ellie popped a grape in her mouth and tilted her head to Devlin. "Last I remembered you went to Tokyo to schmooze up some big time CEO right, did you talk him into investing?"

Devlin
affectionately smiled, he knew Ellie hated business talk, but it seemed for him, she was always willing to make an exception. It was an endearing quality. "We're still in talks. I'm to return to Tokyo next month for another meeting. I think we're wearing him down. If this all works out, Elle, I could be a very rich and powerful man."