I frowned, my fingers plucking at a loose thread on the blanket. “That’s not enough. People don’t just… do this. Not for strangers.”
She looked down at her hands, then back at me. “When I was younger, my parents died, and the people who took me in… they gave me a life. Everything came with conditions, though.”
The air in the room felt tight. Familiar.
“I learned how to function as the person they built,” she went on. “How to smile when I was hollow. How to perform. I married their son, ran their business. I didn’t get locked in a room, Chloe, but I know exactly what it feels like to not be free.”
Her expression softened. “I told myself that what I had was enough—that I should be grateful just to have a roof. I wasn't. I was dying inside. I don’t want another woman feeling like that. Not when I can reach out a hand and pull her up.”
I looked at her, my throat tight. "I keep waiting for you to tell me what I owe you. A percentage of the company. A piece of the trust."
Elara laughed. "Darling, I have my own money. My husband has money. I got a whole white grandaddy with money. I don't need yours. What I want is for you to be able walk into a room and not feel like you have to ask for permission to breathe. That’s my payment."
I blinked back tears.. “Does it ever stop feeling so…?” I couldn’t put words to it. “You don’t think I’m… broken?” I asked.
“No.” She didn’t hesitate. “I think you’re healing wrong.”
I blinked, pulled back by the bluntness. “What does that mean?”
“I know you want to skip the ugly parts. But healing is ugly. Scars scab over before they get better.”
“I don’t want to sit in it. I just want to forget.”
“I know,” she said, her voice turning to silk. “But you have to. And you don’t have to do it alone.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Elara smiled. “Now, go back to your room or scooch in. Julian’s flying in the morning, and he’s going to be a handful from the moment he lands. Both of us need rest because he wants to meet you, so get under the covers or get out,” she chuckled.
“I’ll go back,” I said, standing up. “Goodnight, Elara.”
“Goodnight, Chloe.”
Chapter 36: Killian
Chloe was riding me hard in the back seat of the rental Range Rover in the parking lot of the steakhouse we’d just eaten at. Her skirt was bunched up around her waist with no panties underneath, her shirt pulled down, freeing her breasts. Her soaked pussy slid up and down my dick in fast, greedy strokes, the wet, filthy sounds filling the cramped space. The car rocked with every bounce of her wide hips, her heavy tits straining against her dress as she braced her hands on my chest.
My hand was wrapped firmly around her throat, feeling her pulse hammer wildly under my palm. The sight of her—lips parted, eyes glassy with lust, heavy tits bouncing—made my dick throb even harder inside her.
“Fuck… Chloe,” I groaned, voice strained. I was close, drawing closer as her pussy squeezed me relentlessly. Each downstroke dragged her swollen clit against me, and the obscene wet sounds of her juices coating my dick and dripping onto the leather made my head spin. Heat coiled low and vicious in my gut; every nerve ending was on fire.
“That’s it, little ghost,” I growled, thumb stroking along her jaw. “Take every fucking inch.”
She obeyed, grinding down deeper, her inner walls fluttering and pulsing around my length. The pleasure was almost too much—a burning, electric rush that made my thighstense and my abs clench tight. I could feel my dick swelling inside her, leaking steadily; she was milking me with every roll of her hips. My heart hammered against my ribs, breath coming in short, ragged bursts.
I thrust up to meet her, pounding deep and fast. My grip on her throat tightened instinctively as the pressure built unbearably fast, a white-hot coil tightening at the base of my spine.
“Goddamn.”
We came almost at the same time. Chloe shattered first, shuddering violently. Her orgasm pushed me over the edge right after her. My vision blurred, every muscle in my body locking up as pleasure crashed through me like a freight train, spilling thick ropes of cum deep inside her until my toes curled.
For a long moment, we stayed locked together, foreheads pressed close, both of us panting heavily.
“I’m going to miss you when you leave,” I said.
Chloe pulled back just enough to look at me, her eyes softening even as her chest heaved.
“What do you mean?” she panted, still catching her breath. “I’m not leaving, Killian. You on the no-fly list or something? Been to Paris too many times?”