Acclimation (The Wild White Orchid Trilogy Book 2), page 25
Still blindfolded and gagged, I feel her whisper in my ear. “Show me how grateful you are.”
I flip her onto her back and pin her down by her wrists. Her legs wrap around me, and I slide into her swiftly, not wanting to waste any time. Her sweet sounds fill the room while I pump in and out of her, being careful not to put too much pressure on her with our baby between us. Her sexy little body is so warm and soft, and I love the way her smooth belly feels against my skin. Hearing her soaked pussy drip each time I slide in and out makes me pound her faster, and the headboard hits the wall with each thrust. I hear her cry out my name and I pour into her, giving her everything I have.
Once we both stop shaking, she removes my blindfold and gag and smiles at me. “How did I do?”
I steal a kiss, eager for her affection. “Perfect, sweetheart. Absolutely perfect.”
Once Gen and I get cleaned up, we change into swimsuits and head out to the beach. She wears a baby blue string bikini, and I wear blue shorts. We skip out on the cabana today and decide to sit down on a towel and watch the waves. Genevieve stares off into the distance while I rub circles on her back.
Her eyelashes flutter. “I can’t believe we’re going to meet her next month, babe.”
A warm feeling spreads throughout my body. “I know. I can’t wait to see what she looks like. I wonder if she’ll look more like you or me. Whether she’ll have my brown eyes or your blue ones. Your smile or mine. She’s going to be so incredible.”
Gen leans up against me. “Who knows? Maybe she’ll get Odette’s green eyes.”
I shudder. “God, I hope not. Dear Universe, don’t let my baby look anything like my mother.”
She looks up at me and winks. “James, you do know you look like your mother a little, right?”
“Then I guess I’m fucked.”
We both laugh out loud as the waves crash in the distance.
She turns to face me. “Were you actually excited when I told you I was pregnant? Or were you just trying to be nice and save face for your blunder? Be honest.”
I think back to the night Genevieve told me she was pregnant. We were having dinner at a steakhouse. Though I was totally caught off guard when she told me, I really was over the moon. I only wish I didn’t fuck the moment up so badly and made her feel more special than I did.
I take her hands in mine. “Genevieve, I was genuinely excited. Ecstatic. Honestly. I’m so sorry I screwed up the moment. I’ve ruined a lot of moments. I know things are hectic right now, but I promise that I will do something special for you soon to make it up to you.”
Her eyes go wide as she looks around. “James. We’re in Hawaii. This is special.”
“I know. But I’m talking about something else. Don’t try to stop me. Just let me show you how much you mean to me.”
She smirks. “Okay. I’ll allow it.”
“Good girl.”
Genevieve and I spend the next three days in bed doing what we love. Eating, watching movies, and making love. I want to redeem myself for my actions in the blue room, but I think I’ll have to wait until after the baby is born. Genevieve’s energy levels sink lower and her sensitivity increases as she gets closer to her delivery date, and even bringing her so far away from home in her condition is a risk. Fortunately, we are heading back soon.
Today is our last full day in Oahu, and we spent the morning at the spa getting facials and massages. Facials aren’t really my thing, but Gen wanted me to get one with her and I couldn’t say no.
Now it’s late afternoon, and we’re relaxing in our cabana by the beach. I almost forgot to let them know we’d be by, and the hotel staff put together a charcuterie board for us to enjoy as well as an assortment of mocktails.
Gen wears black sunglasses and a white string bikini. She looks like a supermodel. Every day here is so beautiful, and I wish we didn’t have to go home.
She yawns. “It’s such a beautiful day out.”
I draw the beige curtains around our white daybed closed. “I know.”
She sits up and takes off her glasses. “What are you doing?! I’m trying to enjoy the view!”
I slide out of my black shorts, and my hard cock springs free.
She shakes her head. “James, no.”
I take her sunglasses from her. “Come on, baby. I know you want to.”
“It’s not about whether I want to or not. It’s about my morals.”
“What morals?”
“James!”
I crawl behind her and untie her top. “If you’re a good girl and stay quiet, no one will know.”
She moves her twists to one shoulder. “I don’t know—”
I undo the strings to her bottoms, and she clenches her legs shut.
I kiss her neck. “Hands and knees. Now, Darling. I want to come inside you before our cabana attendant returns.”
She looks over her shoulder at me. “This is crazy.”
“Are you in or not?”
My girl gets on her hands and knees. “I’m in.”
I don’t waste any of our precious time positioning myself at her entrance and sliding in. Not to my surprise, she’s already wet for me. One of the biggest shockers of Genevieve’s pregnancy has been how horny she’s been. She’s almost always in the mood, and I’m praying things stay that way.
I grip her hips while I bury myself in her completely. She grips the blanket below us, breathing softly. Genevieve’s body has always been beautiful, but she’s stunning pregnant. I rub my hands over her round belly and hold it up, alleviating some of the weight for her.
She lets out a soft whimper of relief, and I smack her ass. “Quiet, sweetheart.”
She rotates her hips on me making it harder to keep my pace steady. “It’s going to be so hard waiting to fuck after the baby is born.”
“I know. I’ll be counting the days. Trust me. Rub your clit, baby.”
She slips her hand between her legs, making herself feel good. “Fuck me faster.”
I pick up my pace while Gen breathes harder. When I can tell she’s about to come, I cover her mouth with my hand to stifle her screams. Nine times out of ten, she screams when she comes. Even when I tell her to be quiet.
It only takes me a second after she finishes to come inside her, and when I pull out, I slide the cum that drips down her legs back into her pussy, fingering her just a little longer.
Once I get everything cleaned up, I help her get dressed, put back on my shorts, and open the curtains like nothing happened. Ten minutes later we have a brand new charcuterie board and smoothies. The perfect fuel for round two.
Chapter thirty-eight
James
The day we get home from vacation, we spend sleeping in bed. As fun as travel is, jet lag sucks, and I know it’s going to take us both at least a week to get back into the groove of things.
I wake up early the next day on Saturday morning before Gen. Our farmhand is off today, so I need to get up and get ready to milk the cows. My sleeping schedule is pretty fucked right now anyways, so I don’t mind.
I never thought I’d be milking cows, but it’s a lot more fun than sitting in a classroom teaching the same shit year after year. Genevieve wants to help milk the cows, but it’s not a good idea in her condition. The closer she gets to her due date, the more I want her to take it easy and just rest. Plus, I need to get some separation between her and the cows. Sourcing new ones is a little harder than I anticipated, and some of the ones we have are going to probably end up as food.
After sliding into my jeans and navy tee, I go to grab my socks and boots to head downstairs. But I’m distracted by my phone buzzing in my pocket.
Who the hell is calling me at five a.m.?
This can’t be good.
I step out into the hall and softly close the door behind me.
“Hey, Hades.”
“Hey, James.”
“Give it to me straight. What’s wrong?”
He pauses. “Nothing’s wrong. Not that I know of at least. Not yet.”
“Just—”
“Jace is back.”
Jace. My distant cousin and Hades’ son. A man who haunts me at night, preventing me from sleeping peacefully. He’s been gone for weeks, and I almost got a little too comfortable with his absence. I should’ve known he’d turn up eventually.
“Is he with you?”
“No. He called me this morning and said he’s back home.”
I lean up against the wall. “Great. So why did you call me at five a.m. to tell me this when I just got back in town?”
“He wants to meet.”
“He wants to meet who?”
Hades lets out a breath. “He wants to meet with you. And me. He said he can’t come to the council meeting tomorrow because he’s unwell. But he wants to talk with us. Privately.”
Everything about this sounds wrong. There’s not a single part of this that sounds good. But I’m curious as hell to know what Jace wants to meet about. Maybe I can find out where he’s been the past few weeks and get a confession out of him. My plans for him remain the same. I’m taking him out one way or another.
I look at the bedroom door to make sure Gen hasn’t got up. “Where does he want to meet?”
“The Exit Ceremony field. Tuesday morning.”
Another thing that’s wrong with this conversation.
The Exit Ceremony field is the last place we should be meeting. It’s a place of destruction. Death. Just bad vibes in general. But it’s wide open, so it might be the best place to meet. I hear stirring from the bedroom, and I know Genevieve will be up soon. She won’t like this, but I feel like I’ve got no other choice. We haven’t gotten any real news for months, and we’ve been living our days filled with anxiety and stress. I’m ready to put an end to all of this.
Hades regains my attention. “What do you want to do, son? I’ll stand by you regardless.”
I look at my bedroom door and think about my pregnant wife. I glance down the hall, looking at the doors to the rooms of our future babies. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect my family. No cost is too high to guarantee their safety and happiness.
I take a breath and tell him what I already know I need to do. “I want to see this through. Tell him we’ll meet.”
Genevieve sits next to me on the couch in our new den. Her curly hair is loose around her shoulders and she’s sporting one of her favorite outfits, an oversized tee.
“I don’t know, James. This situation has the same vibes as the one we were in last year when Tiberius died. I just don’t want to experience something like that ever again.”
“This is not like that situation at all, and you won’t experience something like that ever again.”
She sits on her heels. “I don’t know. Maybe I should come with you.”
“Gen, baby, look at yourself. You’re about to pop. You’re staying home. Mom will come by.”
Her frown makes me want to waver and give in to her wants. “I’m scared, James.”
I pull her close and wrap my arms around her. “Don’t be scared. Everything is going to be alright. I promise.”
“But you’re going there all alone—”
“I won’t be alone. Hades is coming too.”
She scoffs. “Yeah. The father of your enemy.”
“I can trust him, Gen. He won’t betray me. Plus, I’ll have a bunch of weapons on me. I’m prepared.”
Her voice starts to quiver. “You swear you’re coming home to me?”
I kiss her head and rub her arms. I hate making Gen upset, but it’s something I just keep doing. I’ll find a way to stop. I just need to handle our shit first.
“I swear. I’m always coming home to you, baby. Try and relax for me, okay?”
I never want my girl stressed, but with the baby almost here, I’m even more on edge. If I could just handle all of this without filling her in on the details, I would. But I swore I wouldn’t hide anything from her anymore, so that means telling her the truth even when it’s hard.
She lays her head on my lap. “I’ll do my best to relax. But I won’t make any promises.”
“That’s all I’m asking you to do. Just try.”
Her eyes close for a moment and I think she’s about to fall asleep, but then she continues the questions out of nowhere.
“And Hades really has no idea what he wants to meet about?”
“No. But I’m sure it’ll have something to do with Jace lurking in the shadows like a fucking creep the past few months. Don’t think about it right now. I’ll find out soon enough, and I swear I’ll fill you in on everything.”
She looks up at me. “Are you going to kill him?”
I don’t know how to answer this question because I honestly don’t know. Am I going to kill Jace eventually? That’s the plan. Will it take place on that field? Only time will tell. I know I’ll be ready to when the time comes.
I finger her soft curls. “I’m not sure. It’s a possibility.”
“Are you going to hear what he has to say first?”
“I’m going to try to get as much information as I can from him before he dies. I want to put an end to people trying to overthrow us, and that may involve me having to listen to his bullshit for a few minutes, but he’ll never have my forgiveness for anything.”
“And what if he cancels last minute?”
“I don’t know, baby. But I think we should talk about something else for right now.”
She rolls on her back looking up at me, giving me easy access to massage her head and pinch her cute nose. “What do you want to talk about instead?”
After tomorrow’s council meeting, there’s something I want to do with Gen. I don’t know if she’ll be on board, but I’m hoping she is because I think it’s time, and I don’t want to wait any longer.
I tuck a hand behind her head and place my other one over hers that rests on her stomach. “After I pick you up from tea tomorrow, I was thinking we could do something special. It’ll be bittersweet, but it’ll be good.”
“And what’s that?”
“I think we should give the keys to the old house to Paul.”
Chapter thirty-nine
Genevieve
Isit with Odette at the kitchen table sipping tea and eating a veggie sandwich she made me. The other ladies were invited to attend, but they couldn’t make it. James should be here soon, and then we’ll be meeting Paul at the old house. We’ve been out of it for a while, but it’s still crazy that we’re letting it go and finally giving it to someone new.
Odette and I are wearing matching black Orchid Oblivion shirt-dresses. It’s nearly mid-August, and I can’t believe the weather will be cooling down soon. It feels like it was just last year and James and I were decorating for Christmas. Time is flying by so quickly, and sometimes I feel like I can barely keep up.
She pulls her long black hair into a ponytail. “I should probably wait until James gets here, but I’m going to just tell you now.”
“What is it?”
“I heard from Shane.”
Shane. This is good. We’ve been waiting to hear any news from Shane to see if he could figure out what Jace has been up to and where he ran off to. I hope to God Odette has some real news. Something. Anything. Anything to get us ahead of where we are now and give James something to go off of before his meeting in the next two days.
I move my plate and teacup out of the way. “Good. That’s good news. What did he say?”
She bites her lip. “I don’t want you to get too excited. There’s really not much to go on.”
Great.
“That’s alright. Just give me what you have.”
“Okay. So The Caledonia Council has various buildings, but they have one main headquarters.”
“Have you ever been?”
She shakes her head. “No. I don’t even know where it is. But Shane went there recently. And while he was in one of the offices, he looked out the window and saw Jace leaving the building.”
So Jace has been working for The Caledonia Council. Or at least attempted to. He’s had to have met with someone. Maybe he was turned away as soon as he arrived.
That can’t be right.
If Odette doesn’t even know where the main office is, how would Jace know? How would he even be aware of the council’s existence? Someone must’ve reached out to him which means they were either warning him to back off or pulling him in for a mission.
I fidget with the hem of my dress. “And what else?”
She frowns. “That’s it, baby girl. That’s all I’ve got which is why I told you not to get your hopes up.”
“Is Shane still investigating?”
Her brows dip. “I haven’t heard from him since we last spoke.”
I don’t know how often Odette talks to Shane, but I am aware that they keep in touch. Maybe this is normal.
“Do you think something’s wrong?”
She looks down. “I don’t know. It is a bit unusual that I haven’t heard from him in over a week. We don’t talk every week. Sometimes we talk a few days in a row. Other times it’s once a week or every few weeks. But anytime I reach out to him, I hear back from him within twenty-four hours at least. I tried to call him an hour after he gave me the news, and I’ve gotten nothing but silence.”
Each day, a new layer of this society is uncovered. And just when I think we’ve found a breakthrough, we reach another dead end. Hit another wall with no answers that makes it feel like we’re back at square one. I’m honestly not sure how we’re going to get away from all of this. Do we dig deeper or try to climb our way to the top?
Odette’s green eyes water, and I take her hands in mine.
“Are you okay?”
Light tears stream down her face. “I don’t know. I’m just so worried that something terrible has happened to him. And if so, it’s my fault. And I’m scared I’ll never get to speak to him again.”
