Just Between Us (The Kings)
Just Between Us: Chapter 21

Spending an evening with my face buried between my woman’s legs was the highlight of my damn year.

There was no denying it—Veda was mine. She had consumed me, every last part, and I needed to show her how much she meant to me. I could show her in all the ways I knew how.

She opened for me like a needy little slut, and I nearly came. I glanced up to replace her eyes locked on me, just as I’d instructed her. I groaned and used my hands to bury my face deeper. My tongue tasted and teased. Her pussy throbbed around my tongue as I sampled her. When my mouth clamped onto her clit, her back arched off the bed. I used one hand to press her into the mattress.

I took my time with her, bringing her to the edge and allowing her to fall back down, only to tease out her shallow panting breaths again. Her fingernails dug into my shoulders, and I reveled in the sharp pinch of her nails. Closer and closer, I wound her higher until, on a cry, she fell apart.

As she came, I licked and sucked and laved until she rode the last waves of her orgasm. I moved over her, surrounding and protecting her body with mine. She gazed up at me, and my heart slammed against my ribs. Her hair was a fucking mess, and her cheeks were flushed, but her eyes were sharp.

I grinned. “You stayed with me.”

Her blush deepened. “You told me I had to stay in the moment.”

“That’s right.” I ground my body into hers, my hard cock pressed between us.

Her eyes moved to my mouth, still glistening with her sex. I licked my lip. “Do you want a taste?”

Her eyes flashed, and she tucked her lower lip into her mouth before nodding.

I grinned and lowered my mouth to hers, pouring myself into that kiss. I wanted her to taste how good she was and feel how special she was to me.

I lifted my weight from her, and she pouted. With a chuckle, I maneuvered, taking her with me so I was sitting against the headboard. My cock ached to be inside her.

“Come here,” I said, stretching my legs in front of me. “Sink that pussy onto my cock.”

Veda smiled and crawled on top of me. I lined up to her entrance and let my head fall back as she lowered onto me.

“Ah, ah,” she said as she paused. My eyes opened and she was smiling. “Stay with me.”

I gripped her hips and was lost in the depths of her green eyes. My jaw clenched as she took control, taking her time as she stretched around me.

We groaned in unison as she sank her hips down and I filled her. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her against me as her hips began to move. She rode my cock as my hands explored, memorizing and worshipping every inch of her smooth skin.

My body ached for release—to fill her and keep fucking.

Veda’s tits bounced, and I buried my face into her chest. My lips found the hard point of her nipple, and I sucked it into my mouth.

“Yes. Yes,” I demanded as her hips jerked.

“Oh god. I’m going to . . . oh . . .”

Her pussy gripped my cock, and it was too much. Right behind her, I felt the familiar pulse and surge of my own release. I held her close as I filled her.

When the last pulses of our orgasms subsided, I clung to her. Our breaths rasped in tandem. Her heartbeat clunked against my ear as I embraced her. Every cell in my body was tuned in and turned on to her.

Her body started to shake, and I released her. She looked down at me, her hand covering her mouth as she started to giggle.

I raised an eyebrow and tried not to smile. “What is so funny?”

A cackle cracked through the darkness, and she sighed. “You are unbelievable.” She held her arms out. “I feel like I’m floating.”

I shifted my hips, my cock still nestled inside her. “I told you it’s better when you stay in the moment.”

Veda melted against me, and I shifted so we were lying side by side. “We should get you cleaned up.”

Veda tucked her hands under her head. “Uh-uh. We can clean up in a minute. Right now I just want to lie here with you.”

My arm wrapped around her rib cage. “I can deal with that.” I nuzzled my nose against hers.

Completely relaxed, I held her and soaked in the quiet between us. “It’s never been like this, you know,” I whispered.

I opened my eyes, hoping she could see the truth in my statement.

She stared at me for a heavy moment, and my chest squeezed.

“Sometimes I think that there’s a corner of the universe where I stayed in the lukewarm relationship, at the good-on-paper-but-bad-for-my-soul job, or in the town that felt like an itchy fourth-grade sweater on a fifth-grade body. Sometimes I think I might have been happy there.” Veda gently scoffed and shrugged. “Maybe. Happy enough, at least.”

I stroked her back, hoping she could see that I understood what she was struggling to articulate. She stretched and I let her continue, listening quietly as I gently held space for her in the darkness.

Veda sighed as she continued: “In that alternate state, I have nice wineglasses and expensive candles that I can afford to burn every day. I wonder if I have a love that feels like enough, as long as I don’t think about it too hard. That version of me pours nice wine into a nice glass and lights my nice candle, and it’s a nice life.”

“Is that what you want?” I swallowed and searched her eyes. “A nice life?”

“I thought so . . .” Her voice was barely above a whisper, and I clung to her every word. “But now I’m starting to think I want something else entirely.”

“What’s that?” I’d lived my entire life with nothing to lose, but the woman in my arms had changed everything. I desperately wanted to be enough for her.

She chuckled and cuddled into me. “A life where I don’t have every detail planned out. Where good enough isn’t good enough and I replace something . . . more.”

Tiny alarm bells blared in my head.

For so long I had spent every waking second too caught up in the moment to take stock of my surroundings, and now I was tangled with a woman who only played by the rules.

I wasn’t certain I could give her what she was craving. The only thing I knew how to do was offer what I could—and hope she’d be there on the other side of it.

Feeling vulnerable was a real drag, but if she needed more, I would do what I could to give it to her.

I ran my hand down her back. “Why don’t you get cleaned up. I want to show you something.”

Veda slinked out of bed to take a shower, and instead of joining her, I cleaned myself up and paced in the living room. Nerves buzzed under my skin, and I flexed my hand to release some of the pent-up energy. I wasn’t certain whether my anxiousness was because things between Veda and me were shifting, or whether it was simply because I was about to reveal a King secret to an outsider.

When Veda came into view with damp hair and wearing only my T-shirt, I grinned. “Hey, Precious.”

She stepped into my embrace, and I dropped a kiss to the top of her head, leaning into the way her mere presence centered me. I pulled a stool out from the island. “Sit here.”

She complied, and I slid the brown notebook toward her with a nod. “Check that out.”

Her dark brows furrowed, and she flipped open the notebook. Her eyes scanned my aunt’s handwriting as she flipped through the pages.

Her fingers paused and her eyes flew to mine. “Where did you get this?”

I crossed my arms. “Bug gave it to me.”

Her eyes went wide, and she went back to reading the entries. “Royal, there is a lot of incriminating information in here. I recognize some of these dates, and if they are what I think they are, it’s proof that your father was manipulating the businesses for his own gain. This is bad bad.”

I cleared my throat and ground my molars together. “Yeah, well, shitty business practices are the least of our concerns. I got a strange pocket dial, so I went to check on Bug, and I saw him—he . . .”

My fists clenched. I couldn’t even force myself to say it out loud.

Veda’s hand flew to her mouth as she started putting the pieces together. “Oh god, Royal. I’m sorry. Did he hurt her?”

I shook my head. “She’s fine.”

“Are you?” she asked.

I didn’t even know how to answer that question. “I saw his treatment of her, and it was the last straw. I’m done.”

Veda flipped through the notebook again. “She’s been secretly keeping tabs on him for years?”

I swallowed hard. “Looks like it.”

Veda softened. “You need to talk with your siblings about this.” She held up the notebook. “If any of this shows that your father was engaging in unethical or illegal business practices, the entire company will suffer. If there’s any hope to untangle that, you’ll all need to stick together. This will cause serious waves.”

I swallowed again and nodded. It wasn’t just the notebook I needed to tell my siblings about, it was also the memory I’d had of our mother—a memory I wished had stayed buried.

Sticking together wasn’t exactly our strong suit, and I wasn’t entirely sure the Kings could survive it.