by Rae Kennedy
It catches us both by surprise.
“Do you have a condom in here?” His voice is raspy.
I don’t.
I can only shake my head in response. I want to tell him I am on the pill and to just shove inside me already but I keep silent.
“Fuck, you’re going to get me just like this.”
He pulls out the tip of his cock and rubs it in furious little circles over my excruciatingly sensitive button and I am gone. I bite down hard on the heel of his hand as I shatter under him, my knees falling to the bed. I see him grab his discarded boxers and empty himself into them with a couple of shudders. My cheeks are flushed and hot, aftershocks still vibrating through my stomach as he comes down and replaces his bitten hand with his soft lips, kissing me until I come back to earth.
“You coming may be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” He strokes a piece of hair from my face. My forehead is damp with sweat and I’m pretty sure I look more a mess than beautiful, but I feel wonderful.
“Don’t stop next time.”
“You’re sure?” He is so earnest in the question.
“Yes.” I pull his head down to my chest and hold him to the soft swells of my breasts, massaging my fingers through his hair.
He lays still on me and his breathing slows. I close my eyes and just feel his smooth, heated skin against me and his heart beating soft under it. He is amazing. I have the sudden urge to tell him I love him—but it is definitely too soon for that. Verging on crazy.
That’s bat-shit, Haley.
The knock at my door is loud. I sit bolt upright.
“Hale, you still driving me to the airport?” Dammit, Tuck.
“Yeah...” Shit. “Uhh...” Fuck. “Let me get dressed. I’ll be right out,” I finally spit out.
I jump out of bed to the closet, tossing clothes out of my hamper in a frenzy to find my favorite jeans. Cade is chuckling quietly at me from the bed. There he is—gloriously naked, all lean muscle on display not even trying to stay covered, relaxed—and here I am, shaking as I pull on my socks.
“I’m going to go put my bags in the truck,” Tuck calls through the door as he leaves.
I feel better when I’m dressed. Cade has gotten up. He comes up to me as I reach the door, sexy smirk on his lips and whispers in my ear.
“I can’t wait to have you all to myself this week.”
Oh boy. I don’t know if it is the thought of being alone with Cade, the heat of his breath on my neck, or the lust in his voice that sends goosebumps prickling all down my side.
Then he kisses me. My hands are tangled in all his sexy bedhead and his hands are on my butt, holding me against him. My lungs feel empty when I pull away.
* * *
The whole ride I think about Cade. My stomach is all flittering and flipping and I can’t keep the grin off my face.
Tuck glances over at me, the corner of his mouth turned up. “You seem really...I don’t know.” His brows knit together as he takes the off-ramp toward the airport. “Happy.” His smile at me is big and real and all Tuck.
My big brother, the one person I know will always be there for me. He only wants me to be happy. He will understand about Cade. I want to tell him so badly. The words are in my throat, but they don’t come out.
“I guess you’re handling your break-up better than I’m handling mine.” He taps his thumb against the wheel.
“I was just able to figure out I was better off without him rather quickly. That happens when you break up while he’s on a date with someone else.”
He turns his head to me in slow motion, eyes bulging out of their sockets. “What?”
“Don’t worry. Cade already punched him in the face for it.”
He seems to appreciate that.
“Wait. Cade?”
Shut up, Haley.
“Yeah. It happened at his restaurant.” I try to play it off as lightly as possible. He seems confused, but thankfully he drops it.
We park at departures and I run around to the driver’s side of the truck as Tuck retrieves his suitcase. “Thanks for the ride. See you Saturday.”
Tuck gives me a quick hug and waves to me before he turns and goes through the sliding glass doors. He is really leaving. My hands feel clammy sliding against the steering wheel on the drive home.
As I drive up our little street, I can see the house getting closer, closer to where Cade is. The twisting in my stomach is now a thick knot. I am freaking nervous but also so excited. I feel like I’m going to pee my pants as I run up the steps to the front door.
But when I get inside Cade isn’t there. Not in the kitchen, living room, his room, or the bathroom. Well, sonofabitch. I fish through my purse for my phone.
Cade: Sorry babe, got called in early to work. Be ready for me tonight.
CHAPTER 15
Class is boring. When Cade finally comes home, I am more than ready for him. As soon as he walks through the door, I can hear my heart pounding into my ribs and his face lights up when he sees me. He is all pretty blue eyes and straight white teeth as he sweeps me up into a hug and kisses me.
“I’m going to go change. You hungry?”
“Yes.”
He comes out in a tight red tee and straight jeans that hug his butt. He extends his hand to me. “You ready?”
I take his hand and we walk to his car.
We go to a new restaurant that just opened. Bad idea.
My soup is cold and Cade’s salad is drenched in dressing.
The server kind of fumbles all over herself but she is very sweet and apologetic about it.
When my medium-well steak arrives, I swear it is still bleeding. Cade notices me poking at it and insists we send it back to get one that has been cooked properly, though we are wondering if that’s even a possibility here. Meanwhile, Cade laments that his tenderloin has absolutely no seasoning and there’s not even a sauce to save it. By the time my second, very well done, steak arrives, we are over it. Cade gets the check and we leave, barely having touched the food.
The breeze is unusually warm as we walk down the sidewalk. The sky is a light misty gray and it still smells like leaves, even though they have long fallen from the trees. Cade takes my hand in his and rubs the back of it with his warm thumb.
He takes me to a gallery I wouldn’t have even known existed by looking at it from the outside.
“The university just got this exhibit on loan from the History Museum in the city. It opened last week,” Cade tells me.
I look around the expansive square white room covered with the most beautiful old black and white photographs. In the middle of the room are several large pieces of metal machinery enclosed by clear glass cases. How had I not heard about this?
“I thought you might like it. You said one day you’d like to work at a museum, right?”
I look at him in awe. How did he know that? I don’t remember ever telling him that.
I walk around the room, looking at every photograph carefully. They are stunning. The whole exhibit is about the Industrial Revolution with pictures of laborers building the first skyscrapers, and workers in factories. I can see the dirt under their fingernails and practically hear the inner cogs grinding in the machines. It’s so fascinating to me.
“You like the photographs?” Cade asks from behind. He’s been so quiet, following me around the room that I almost forgot he is still with me.
“Oh yes. Photography is my favorite. My father was a photographer.”
“Oh yeah? I think Tuck mentioned something like that before.”
“When I was little, I used to love him taking pictures of me. I loved it even more when he would let me take the pictures. He would always tell me about things like aperture and focal length, even though they went way over my head.” Cade is focused intently on me as I speak.
A flash of my Dad’s smile, complete with a five o’clock shadow and a dimple in his left cheek, fills my vision. Tuck has his dimples.
I am brought back to the
present as someone walks past us. “A photograph is a snapshot into someone’s world. Unmoving forever in time. I think that’s where my interest in anthropology comes from. You can learn so much about a person’s life from a single item. A photo. Photographs of my dad are the most treasured things I own. All I have of him now are artifacts.”
Cade holds my hand, our fingers clasped together tightly as we walk through the rest of the exhibit.
* * *
As we walk back toward the car I smell the most divine savory saltiness. Right then my stomach growls. Cade chuckles.
“Hungry?”
“Starving.”
“Me too.”
We stop by the hot dog stand. The guy is closing up for the night, but we manage to snag a couple of dogs. We load them up high with toppings: caramelized onions, sauerkraut (which I don’t even like), mustard, and melty cheese. It’s the best damn hotdog I’ve ever had. Cade and I huddle under a nearby awning and devour them hastily.
When we are done, Cade wipes some mustard off my chin with his thumb and then sucks his thumb clean.
“Let’s do something fun,” he says.
“Aren’t we having fun already?”
“Play a game with me.” He looks mischievous.
“Okay...”
“Truth or Dare.”
“No way!”
“C’mon. I’ll even go first. Dare.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Fine.” I cross my arms, trying to think of something good. “You have to yell penis as loud as you can. Right here.”
He stops abruptly and cocks an eyebrow at me.
“Girl”—an evil smile spreads across his face—“this is going to embarrass you way more than it will me.”
And then he does it. Arms out in the air, his face to the sky he screams, “PEEENISSS!” just as an older lady with a small dog walks by.
He was right. I am horrified. I’m sure my face is deep purple, and he just looks down at me and smirks. He even has the gall to be all sexy about it. “Your turn.”
Shit.
“Truth.”
He doesn’t even take a minute to think of it. “Did I get you off when I gave you that foot rub?”
I am shocked. I’m pretty sure my face goes completely white, my eyes wide.
He just chuckles at me. “I thought so.”
If I was uncomfortable before, I am mortified now. He pulls me to him and hugs me tight. He kisses the top of my head and whispers in my ear.
“Do you know how much knowing that turns me on?”
A smile tugs on my lips at the thought and I relax into the hug a little.
“It’s your turn.”
“Okay,” he says, “truth.”
I look up at him. The heavy clouds in the evening sky reflected in his eyes are kind of mesmerizing. The air around us is thick, warmer than normal. It feels like little bubbles of mist are softly breaking against my face.
“Have you ever been in love?” I ask.
He looks off thoughtfully for a second.
“No.” Then his blue eyes are back on mine, his arms tighten around my waist. “I thought I was once, but now I don’t know. So probably not, right?”
“Probably.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
“Hey, you can’t ask me that. I haven’t said Truth or Dare yet.”
“You’re right. Your turn.”
“Dare.”
That mischievous grin is back. Uh oh. He points across the way to a playground. “I dare you to go take off your underwear and leave them in the playground.”
“What?” These are one of my favorite pair. “Not happening.” I also think that may actually be a crime that would land me on the national sex offender registry.
He has a devious look in his eyes. He throws me over his shoulder and runs to the playground. All I can see is the ground moving fast below me. I’m flailing my legs and beating his back with my fists, begging him to put me down. My escape attempts are weak at best, and he knows it. The mist has turned into a light sprinkle by the time the grass turns into heaps of bark.
When he sets me down, he is not even out of breath and that devilish look in his eyes has only intensified. I turn and run and he chases me around the swings. I’m screaming and giggling the whole way. I elude him through the bright red and blue jungle gym, but he catches up to me as I’m climbing the ladder. I manage to slip from his grasp and slide down the huge slide. As soon as I reach the bottom, he is already upon me, tackling me to the ground.
My heart is racing. The rain is starting to come down heavier, but I hardly notice. His smile is amazing as he takes my face with both of his hands and kisses me. Right in front of the yellow spiral slide.
His mouth is warm and his teeth just barely nip at my bottom lip. I slide my hands under the warmth of his jacket and he envelopes me in his arms. With his body heat against me, I don’t even mind when the raindrops turn fat and heavy.
A deep rumble of thunder sounds in the distance. Cade and I pull apart just as the dark clouds above decide to dump a constant stream of water on us. Cade is laughing as he takes my hand and we start running toward his car.
By the time we get to the car, we are drenched. My hair is plastered to the side of my face. He opens the door for me, and I sink to the leather seat then shrug out of my dripping jacket. Cade slides into the driver’s seat and blasts the heat. I am shivering. He takes both of my hands into his, rubbing them warm. The raindrops hitting the roof sound off like hundreds of drums. The outside world is obscured by the solid wall of rippling water sheeting against the windows.
Cade leans in to kiss me on the lips and a drop of water falls from his hair onto my nose. “Home?”
“Home.”
* * *
As soon as the door closes behind us, Cade has me up against the wall. Our mouths are devouring one another. He grips my butt and thighs and my fingers are in his still wet hair. I’ll never be able to forget the scent of the rain on him. He pulls me with him toward the hallway as he kicks off his shoes. I slip out of my shoes, almost tripping but he has a hold of me. His teeth tug at my bottom lip as he starts to undo my jeans. I fumble for the button of his and we stumble out of our wet jeans with some difficulty. He falls against the wall, breaking our kiss and we laugh at the way our pants awkwardly cling to our ankles. We finally get them off and then he removes his shirt and I pull off mine before his mouth is back on me and he is pushing me back toward his bedroom.
When we get to the door, he lifts me up. My legs instantly wrap around his waist and he kisses my neck. Our frenzy has me too excited to think. I fall to the bed, bouncing and he crawls over me, his hot hands on my still damp skin.
“Babe, you’re freezing.”
“Not really.” He rubs up and down my arms and covers us in the blankets. He is lying on top of me, our noses almost touching. My heart is pounding but I try to steady my breathing. His skin is perfectly smooth, his eyes so beautiful and clear, his lips full and slightly parted. I reach out to touch his cheek and draw my thumb across his bottom lip. I notice him swallow hard.
“I can’t believe you’re really with me like this. That I get to have you,” he whispers to me.
There goes my heart punching in my chest again.
I take his head in both of my hands. “Then you obviously don’t see what I see.” And we kiss.
Sliding my fingers down the taut skin of his back, I find the dimples just above his ass. His knees wedge between my legs, spreading them farther apart. I can feel the crest of his rigid penis through the thin fabric of his boxers against my thigh. He’s hard for me. Just the thought makes my toes curl.
I try to catch my breath in between kisses and sucking his reddened lips. His hands are sure and warm as they travel across my body, over my hips, and up my stomach to the sheer fabric of my bra. He removes my bra quickly and massages my breasts, pulling my nipples gently. I arch against him and breathe out a small “ah” as the torture sends a molten heat throug
h my core and down to my toes. He gives every inch of my body attention before moving on to the next, and I’ve never felt so appreciated.
I want to feel this way all the time.
I run my fingers over his chest, squeezing his nipple between my thumb and forefinger before sliding them down his stomach to his hips to trace over the delicious ‘V’ cut just above his shorts. Then I slip inside his waistband and take him fully in my hand. His erection is heavy and firm as I massage it. Cade groans and digs his fingers deeper into my hips as he sucks on my breast.
I can already feel the slickness against my panties and my center aching with heat. His fingers curl under the hem of my panties and I instinctively lift my pelvis so he can slide them off easily.
He lifts one of my legs to his lips and kisses the back of my knee. He trails his lips down my inner thigh until he reaches the apex.
His breath is against my pussy, which I can tell is all wet and engorged before him. He runs two fingers between my slippery folds and spreads them.
“I’m going to make you come now.”
I try to say yes but it only comes out as a whimper.
He licks me in one firm stroke as he sinks both fingers inside of me.
“Oh, baby, you don’t even need this. You’re so wet.”
He scissors his fingers inside me, stretching me wide as he continues taking me in his mouth. His tongue flickers quickly against my clit then he goes slower so he can suck on it. I can’t take the pressure building inside me or the tingling in my toes and buttocks. I’m panting and gasping and I’m pretty sure moaning embarrassing things like “God” and “yeah” and “oh” and “fuck.” All the while his fingers push in and out of me, faster. Then he hits that perfect spot inside me and I lose it. I squeeze my eyes shut and fist the sheets. My thighs squeeze his head as I come hard on him.
“God, you feel so good and tight when you come on my fingers, baby. I can only imagine how good that’s going to feel on my cock.”
“Yes.” I’m still panting.
