Authors Note: Hello friends! Sorry for the late upload (it’s been a day to say the least, and my imposter syndrome is present lol), but I hope you enjoy today’s chapter! We pick up directly where we left off last time, so if spice isn’t your thing, you can skip to Brooks’ little city icon between scenes :)
I’m going to New York this week and am visiting family after that, so I’m not sure how regular the next few uploads will be. April NaNo is coming up and I’m trying to figure out my writing/project goals, as well as realizing just how daunting the final chapters of this story are to write. We have 10 planned chapters left in The Lost Girls of Lake Lunelle (wowzers) and I just want to make sure that they’re the best I can make them before posting. My goal is to get some more chapters written so I can continue to post while also having wiggle room incase the plot tells me it needs to shift (it does that from time to time), but I promise I won’t keep you waiting too long! Maybe I’ll share some other writing with you in the meantime, if that’s something that interests you! I have some exciting things in the works and I can’t wait to share with you soon!
With all of that being said, happy reading! Thank you for being here, your support means the world! — Emma
Content Warning: descriptions of consensual, adult sexual content
Lennon lifted her hips and we clumsily pulled her shorts off without my mouth or my hand leaving her. She wasn’t wearing underwear beneath them, and the discovery left me wanting to roll my eyes into the back of my head with the force of my attraction to her. I should’ve guessed, seeing how she wasn’t wearing a bra to bed either––not that I understood why anyone would.
There had been a moment when I’d first woken up and felt her brush against me where I was horrified that I’d been hard, followed by the thought that I must’ve still been dreaming since she seemed to be into it.
But that hadn’t made sense, since things––namely, our position––had been different when I opened my eyes. No, Lennon had made what she wanted painfully clear, and I was more than happy to oblige.
She expressed her desires easily with me––and I fucking loved it.
The way she’d panted my name––with enough force to tell me to stop teasing her and get to it––had nearly undone me. Lennon kissed me like I was the first breath of air she’d ever had, and I let myself get lost in her. She was soft under my hands, the orange and sage smell of her offering me a comfort I hadn’t known I needed.
I trailed my fingers up the inside of her thigh and revelled in the shudder I pulled from her in the process.
“Show me what you like,” I urged between kisses.
It was all the instruction she needed before her hand found mind and led me to exactly where she wanted it. I let out a pleased sigh at the feel of the wetness gathered there. She dragged my fingers through it with a soft moan, and guided them in small circles. Her hips rolled against my hand in a rhythm I was determined to learn, and I got lost in the way her ass pressed back into me as she moved. Lennon caressed my tongue with hers and I nipped at her lower lip, pulling it between my teeth. She gasped into my mouth again, before her head fell back to rest on my shoulder.
My eyes travelled over her face hungrily, loving the way her swollen lips were parted as she made soft noises of pleasure. Her eyes were closed, and she looked incredibly beautiful with the moonlight trickling through the window on the opposite wall.
I’m in Lennon’s bed, I thought to myself in disbelief. I’m in Lennon’s bed, and my fingers are between her thighs.
Her hand had fallen to rest against my hip as I continued to match her pace with my fingers. They stayed where she’d put them, and I watched her for signs she wanted something else. As far as I could see––and hear––she was good with this, but I wanted more. I pulled my hand away from her breast, and smiled at the sound of protest she made. Easing my arm from behind her, I rolled her the rest of the way so she was flat on her back, my hand between her legs not leaving her or changing pace.
She let out a surprised noise as I pulled her tank top up and dipped my head, closing my mouth around her nipple. I sucked gently and ran my teeth along her skin before releasing her and pressing open mouthed kisses to her breasts. Lennon arched her back, and her hands came up to thread through my hair. I groaned against her breast as her nails dug gently against my scalp.
One of her hands found mine and guided two of my fingers inside of her. Unable to help myself at the feel of her, I rolled slightly and pressed against her leg. She made an appreciative noise that turned into another moan as the thumb on my other hand joined in and found the spot my fingers had just been, following the rhythm her hips still set. I loved how she moved beneath me, taking exactly what she needed to get herself there.
I nipped at her breast again and her hips bucked, followed by, “Fuck Brooks, don’t stop.”
I had to adjust slightly as she began to tremble and jerk, but I managed it, determined to watch her come undone under my hands. Pulling her breast into my mouth again, I looked up to find her watching me. I flashed her a quick grin, and watched as she threw her head back and arched into my hand as her orgasm hit her.
Lennon moaned my name into the darkened cabin and I stayed exactly where I was––and didn’t stop––until she relaxed beneath me. My mouth left her breast with a pop, and I eased my fingers from her gently. I slid down her body, earning a soft noise of surprise, and eased her thighs apart for me again. I could feel her watching me as I bent my head and pressed an open mouthed kiss where my thumb had just been.
Her hips bucked beneath me, and I looked up to see that she’d pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. I smiled up at her, “Sensitive?”
She nodded.
“Sorry,” I said wryly.
“After what you just did, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for,” she said with a light laugh. “Wow. You are very good at that.”
Soft laughter left me, and I couldn’t help the pride that filled my chest. Pleasing Lennon might just be my new favourite hobby.
I admired the view from where I sat, with her bare legs laid out before me, and her shirt tucked above her breasts, leaving nearly all of her exposed. Her eyes were closed again, and I made my way back to where I’d been laying next to her. My arm wound around her waist and I moved to pull her body against mine, the way we’d been sleeping, but I slowed as hazel eyes fell on me.
Hazel eyes that didn’t look nearly finished with me yet.
“I do believe I was told I’d get to hear about a certain dream,” she mused.
“I never specified that I’d tell you tonight, Len,” I teased.
Giving her this kind of pleasure––with my hands and my mouth––felt different, and while we’d agreed we wanted to explore things, it didn’t feel right to go all the way hours after that conversation. I didn’t want her to think that was all I wanted from her. Making her come was good enough for me tonight.
She watched me for a moment with a contemplative look, as if surprised that I was content to stop here, before she seemed to come to some kind of decision.
Lennon moved to kneel next to me, and pulled her tank top the rest of the way off. I watched her with interest, waiting to see what she was up to.
“Fine,” she said with a small smile. “I’ll just have to see if I can guess.”
I laughed and went to tell her that I didn’t expect anything in return, when she leaned down and kissed me. My body reacted to her immediately and my hands threaded into her hair, wrapping the curls around my fingers and slanting her mouth over mine in a way where I had the perfect angle. Lennon sighed against my lips and I felt her soften into my touch, before she realized what was happening and pulled back.
“Hey,” she snapped. “You’re distracting me while I’m trying to seduce you.”
“You don’t have to seduce me,” I laughed.
“I want to.” I didn’t really have much to say to that, and I was still obviously hard. A playful smile painted her lips and she leaned forward, her hair falling forward to rest on my chest. “You can tell me if you want me to stop.”
The familiarity of my words brought another small smile to my lips, and I nodded my agreement. She reached for the hem of my shirt. “Take this off.”
“Yes ma’am.”
My shirt hit the floor next to the bed with a soft thud. Lennon’s eyes tracked over my chest and arms appreciatively, and I tried not to squirm under her gaze. Running was the only physical activity I did these days, and time had lent a softness to my belly that hadn’t been there a few years ago. I was in decent shape, and I knew that, but it had been a while since a woman looked at me the way Lennon was. I’d been shirtless infront of her before, but that was different. She’d pretended not to look then, but she was looking now. Full-on, shameless ogling, but from the look on her face, Lennon didn’t see me the way I saw myself.
Lennon looked at me like I was her favourite thing, and I quickly shook off my self deprecating thoughts. She’d been vulnerable with me, and I wouldn’t let myself ruin this moment.
“You are so hot,” she murmured, and I felt heat creep into my cheeks.
“Even with my lack of abs?” I joked, apparently throwing the play it cool routine out the window.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but her soft answering smile wasn’t it. Lennon bent, and pressed a line of soft kisses along my lower stomach, just above the waistband of my pyjama pants.
“Like I said,” she met my eyes. “So hot.”
I couldn’t help but grin as I sat up and held her face in my hands as I kissed her. She let me get away with it for a few seconds, before she shoved my shoulders gently, telling me to lay back down. I’d been expecting her to follow me, but she didn’t. Her eyes had moved on to other things.
Lennon’s hand was confident as she reached for me, pausing only to make eye contact and to receive an encouraging nod, before wrapping her hand around the length of me. I let out a quick breath, already loving the feel of her hand on me.
“What do you like?” she asked wryly.
“Anything,” I said. “Even that feels good. So long as you’re touching me, I dont think you can go wrong.”
Her laughter was light on my skin and I drank in the pleased look on her face. “I’m touching you through your pants.”
“Exactly,” I said with a grin.
Lennon moved to kneel between my legs and reached for the drawstring of my pants. I lifted my hips and helped her pull them down, before kicking them the rest of the way off, which earned me an affectionate chuckle. Her hands were warm against my skin as they slid up my thighs, and I stilled as she wrapped a hand around me.
“Fuck.” I groaned, not bothering to hide the way my hips bucked in response to her touch.
Lennon’s hand moved in a slow rhythm, increasing her pressure ever so slightly around the head, in a way that had me sighing my pleasure into the air around us.
As if that was all the feedback she needed, she leaned forward and her tongue slid up my length, pulling more barely-contained sounds from me. I watched in awe as she slid the tip into her mouth, her perfect lips wrapping around me as her hand stroked my length. A moan left me as she found her rhythm, and I gathered her hair in my hands and held it away from her face. Her eyes––those fucking eyes––met mine and just about undid me with the playful twinkle in them. Pleasure filled minutes passed by and I felt myself getting closer to the edge. Lennon picked up the pace, her hand and mouth working in perfect time together, and my hand tightened in her hair. She moaned, the vibration travelling through me and I cursed, tugging on her hair again.
“Len, I’m not gonna last much longer.”
Her eyes flicked to mine again and she gave me the hottest look I’d ever seen––as if to say I’m not moving. Come for me.
So I did.
The morning sunlight caught in Lennon’s curls and they shone a few shades lighter than her normal dark brown as she drove us into Elmwood the next morning. We’d fallen asleep again for a few more hours, naked and tangled together, with her head resting on my chest and my arms around her. I’d been so warm and content, I didn’t know how I was going to sleep without her tonight.
As we parked and walked towards the coffee shop we’d first met in, I wanted nothing more than to hold her hand, but things felt different now that we were out in the open like this. This was part of walking that line. She wasn’t my Lennon right now, she was PI Lennon, and we were in the middle of a small town that I was fairly sure was already whispering about us. I might not be afraid of Travis, but I didn’t want her to catch anymore shit from him, so I wouldn’t give them anything to talk about.
Not that I could get the sounds she made as she came out of my head, but nobody had to know what was playing on a loop in my mind.
I pulled open the door and held it for her, and she ducked under my arm with a smile. The memory of the last time I’d entered this building came back to me, when I’d spotted Nora––and her vibrant hair––as Lennon listened intently to something she’d been telling her.
“What would you like?” Lennon asked as we stood in the line of people getting their Friday morning caffeine.
I met her gaze and a smile slowly spread across my face at how similar her phrasing was to what we’d murmured in the dark only hours before. Lennon blushed, and it was physically painful to stop myself from leaning down to kiss her.
But before I could reply, a woman approached us. Lennon turned to see who it was and immediately stiffened. My eyes flicked back to the woman as I took her in. She was middle aged, with short blonde hair and cold brown eyes set into a narrow face.
“Lennon Ward!” the woman exclaimed. “How on earth have you been, darling?”
The fake smile that Lennon offered was glaringly closed off compared to the one she usually gave me. Her expression was bland, but the other woman didn’t seem to notice. “Hi, Mrs. Fischer.”
Fischer.
I straightened and shifted slightly closer to Lennon, brushing my elbow against her side, as I pretended to read the chalkboard above the barista. The line was moving quickly, but not quick enough to save us from this conversation.
“How’s your father?” The corner of Lennon’s mouth turned down, but her features remained otherwise in place. She didn’t even have to reply, before the other woman continued where she’d left off. “Maren told me that she saw him visit you recently at the lake. You’re so fortunate to be able to live there full time. I know Travis would be at the cabin year round if his schedule allowed it.”
I frowned at the condescending tone of her words, biting my tongue in the process. Luck or fortune had nothing to do with Lennon living at the lake full time. She’d grown up there, and she worked hard to establish a career that let her stay where she wanted to be.
“I heard that my son played a nasty prank on you and your friend!” Her tone was anything but apologetic or concerned. “You know how that girl is, though,” she said with a conspiratorial smile, the words that girl sounding bitter on her tongue. “She’s been out to get my Travis since the two of you broke up!”
Lennon’s expression shifted at the mention of her friend, and I felt her fighting internally to remain civil with the other woman. “Well, since Nora was the one who almost drowned, I don’t think the feeling is one-sided,” Lennon said with a sweet smile, toeing the line between the truth and the story she’d put out the day before.
Mrs. Fischer took it in stride and immediately changed the subject. It wasn’t much of a leap to realize that this woman and her excuse making for her rotten son had a hand in why he acted the way he did. She rambled on about some bland town gossip, before her eyes landed on me.
“And who is this young man?” she asked Lennon, as if I wasn’t standing right here.
Lennon’s calm expression cracked again, and I felt her patience thinning. “I appreciate you coming over to say hi, Mrs. Fischer, but we are about to order and we need to get going.”
With that, she looped her arm through mine and turned her back on the other woman, pulling me towards the counter after her. I cast a look over my shoulder quickly to see the very unimpressed look on Mrs. Fischer’s face. It took everything in me not to grin at her displeasure.
Lennon ordered for herself and Carson, and I ordered the same thing I’d gotten the first time I’d been here. She insisted on paying, and I let her, knowing I’d get her back and buy lunch for us later anyway. She hustled me out the door and I felt the eyes on our backs, her blush from earlier having turned into an annoyed shade of red that clung to her cheeks.
“‘Who is this’ my ass,” she bit out, and I looked over at her as we walked towards the police station a few blocks over. “She acts like she’d lose a year of her life if she called Nora by her name. It makes me so angry. I’m sure you put the pieces together already, but that’s Travis’s mom. She’s the Queen Bee of the Elmwood gossip hive and everything that comes out of her mouth is condescending. I’m pretty sure she’s one of the people who was spreading that I didn’t look sad enough after my mom died.”
My dislike for the woman grew as she spoke. “Your grief is yours to feel however you need to, Len.”
Lennon lifted her face to look at me, and she nodded sharply. “Yes, it is. I don’t know why I still let it bother me. It’s been a few years now, but all the feelings come rushing back when I have to talk to that woman.”
She made a frustrated noise, and I wished there was more I could do to offer her some comfort. I knew that she didn’t need me to take her frustration away or try and give her solutions right now––honestly, I didn’t know if there even were any––so I settled for brushing the back of my hand against her hip once as we walked, letting her know I was here.
“I like that about you,” she said, so softly I almost didn’t hear her. When I looked at her curiously, she continued on. “I like that you let me feel what I’m feeling. So much of my life has been watched closely by other people, and they speak about me like they know what I should be doing, how I should be feeling, and why I shouldn’t take things so seriously.” Lennon bumped her elbow against mine. “I appreciate that you let me navigate things the way I need to. Your way of showing support is very Brooks, and I like it.”
My chest warmed at her words and I smiled down at her. It hadn’t felt like anything all that profound, the way I casually touched her in moments of tension and followed her lead. My heart ached for her for a moment, thinking about how basic respect wasn’t something she was used to from her ex partners and the community she’d grown up in. I was reminded of my appreciation for Nora and her fierce protectiveness of Lennon.
“Thank you for letting me be there for you when you need it,” I said. We were waiting to cross the street now, but I felt compelled to share something with her, too. “In the spirit of sharing things we like about one another, I’ve felt supported by you since the start. You have this way of making me feel like I’m not alone and that you’d go up to bat for me and my family at the drop of a hat. At first, I thought it was how you treated clients but I’ve learned that this is just who you are. You’re so courageous, and the way you hunt for the truth is inspiring. You care so deeply about everyone in your life, even strangers, and that’s a rare thing in today’s society. You fought for us when I didn’t know how to, and that’s not something I’ll forget anytime soon.”
Lennon beamed up at me and I noted how her lip slightly trembled. “Thank you for seeing me,” she whispered.
The pedestrian light turned to the walk signal, and we hurried across the street. I pulled the door to the police station open for Lennon and followed her inside. The lobby was empty and nobody sat behind the front desk. The last time I’d been in here, I’d been so overwhelmed I’d barely noticed my surroundings.
The linoleum floors looked decades old and the walls were a basic light blue, but things looked maintained despite the age of the building. I assumed there wouldn’t have been much need––or budget––to renovate in a small town like this. The chairs in the lobby were made of a yellowish-brown wood with cushions that looked like they’d make any bare skin itchy, and the desk Lennon placed Carson’s coffee on looked the same. There was a hallway to the left of the reception area, one that I’m fairly confident I was led down when I reported Hailey missing with Officer Pots. I could see a handful of office doors that I could only assume were more rooms like the one I’d been brought into before. To the right of the desk, another hallway led to bathrooms, before disappearing around the corner––likely to the place where the officers would do their work.
“They don’t always have someone watching the front desk,” Lennon told me. “There isn’t much foot traffic this early in the morning.”
I nodded and we stood silently next to one another for a moment, before a familiar voice came from around the corner. Lennon heard it at the same time I did and immediately tensed.
I didn’t even think before I grabbed her by the elbow, dragged her into the second closest of the empty rooms, and shut the door behind us. Lennon’s back bumped into the wall next to the door, and our coffee cups rested between us where we still held them. She looked up at me with wide eyes and we both leaned towards the door as we heard Travis’s voice come again.
“Hold on,” he said in an annoyed tone, and we heard the first office door next to ours open.
There was a shuffle through the thin wall and Lennon immediately moved closer to it, pressing her ear against the fading blue paint. My instincts told me to get her the hell out of here, or at least find a better hiding spot for us incase he decided to look in this room, but I followed her lead. Our breath mingled in the air between us as we faced one another, with the sides of our faces pressing against the wall, and listened.
omg that was such a GOOD ENDING
I adore you