24. Reality
Reality
Liam
The sounds of birds calling in the tree tops woke me.
I inhaled a deep breath, my eyes still closed, as I allowed myself to enjoy the peace of the morning.
I lay on my side, the warmth of Cerise’s back flush against my chest, my hand resting on her hip.
I slid my arm around her waist and pulled her closer, nuzzling into her hair as I tried to fall back asleep.
But I couldn’t.
All I could think about was how she’d looked yesterday as she came while I fucked her.
The way her mouth fell open, how her eyes rolled back, her cries of pleasure that I wanted to bottle up and listen to again and again.
Her heated skin against mine. How pliant and relaxed she’d been as I coaxed every last tremor from her body.
I also couldn’t stop thinking about the way her eyes crinkled when she laughed, or the little noise she always made when I was irritating her.
The way she straightened her shirt when she was nervous but trying to hide it.
Or how she chastised me when I was being too ‘unruly.’ The tinge of pink on her cheeks when she blushed. Her intelligence. Her passion.
Fuck, I’ve got it bad.
Cerise shifted, arching her back and scooting closer to me. I tightened my grip on her waist.
“Morning,” she said, voice laced with sleep.
“Morning, sunshine,” I said, placing a kiss on her neck. “How are you feeling? Are you sore?”
I was worried I’d hurt her yesterday. I wasn’t small by any means and though she’d asked me to, the way I had vigorously slammed into her would have left anyone tender.
“A little. But in a good way.”
I’d never experienced sex with anyone the way I had with her yesterday. It was as if our bodies recognized each other and knew exactly what to do. The physical connection was astounding, but the emotional? Unparalleled.
And the closer we got to each other, the more I knew my heart would break when we had to part ways. But I couldn’t help myself. I would enjoy whatever time we had. I would remain here, living in this achingly tender moment for eternity.
I placed another gentle kiss on her neck, then another, trailing my lips along her shoulder. Cerise arched her back, pressing her delicious ass against me. I was already hard—had been since I woke up—and it took everything in me not to flip her over and fuck her again.
She moaned, moving against me, and I took that as a sign to continue.
I slid my hand from where it rested on her hip up her waist, then grasped her breast and twisted her nipple.
She gasped and turned her head, her fingers diving into my hair and pulling me into a kiss.
It was a slow, lazy kiss, both of us still tired from sleep.
Our tongues teased each other and I nipped her lower lip, causing her to whimper and rock against me harder.
Releasing her breast, my hand skimmed low, gripped her thigh and pulled her leg back over mine. Cerise reached behind her, fisting my cock as she lined me up with her entrance. I groaned into her mouth as I sank inside, the heat of her causing a shiver of need to tear through me.
Breaking the kiss she let out a low moan and closed her eyes, tilting her head back as I lazily thrust in and out.
It wasn’t hard and fast like yesterday, but slow and intimate. The way Cerise undulated her hips was sensual, passionate, and utterly erotic, meeting me thrust for thrust.
“Fuck, Cerise. I’ll never be able to get enough of you,” I murmured into her ear, then tugged on her lobe with my teeth.
Her breath hitched at my words.
I reached between her legs, finding her swollen clit, and moved my finger in slow circles. She shuddered and whimpered, her breaths coming faster. Fuck, this woman responded so easily to me. I increased my pace, holding her flush against me as I continued to work her clit and plunged deeper.
She came with a beautiful cry, her pulsing orgasm squeezing my cock so hard it sent me over the edge with her. With one last thrust, I spilled inside of her, worshiping her neck with my lips as she trembled against me.
It wasn’t long before we both fell back asleep.
“Liam.” Cerise’s whisper woke me.
I was on my back now, her arm draped over my shoulder, and her head on my chest.
“Five more minutes,” I groaned, pulling her closer to me.
“We can’t just lie in this tent and sleep and have sex all day.”
I opened my eyes and looked at her. “And why not? That’s an incredible idea. You’re brilliant.” I kissed her forehead.
“We should check our clothing to see if it’s dry. If it is, we need to get back to trying to find our camp.”
I sighed. She was right. We needed to get out of here. But I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay forever, in the little bubble we’d made in this beautiful grotto. Free from the expectations and responsibilities of home.
“Cerise.”
“Hmm?”
My heart raced as I pushed myself to say the next thing. “What happens when we get home?”
She tensed. “I don’t know.”
“What do you want?”
“I don’t know,” she said again.
We were silent.
“What about you?” she asked. “What do you want?”
“You.” The words came out so fast, I didn’t even think it through.
She sniffled. I tilted her chin, pulling her gaze to mine. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know how to do this.”
“How to do what?”
“Continue whatever this is when we’re back home and living so far away.”
I gave her a smile. “So you’re saying there is something to continue?” She bit her lip. I traced her cheek with my knuckles. “Don’t hide from me. Tell me the truth.”
“I don’t know, Liam. I told you, I—this may not work.”
“So we figure it out as we go.”
She groaned. “I can’t do that.”
“You must have some semblance of a plan, huh?”
“Sorry…yes.”
I thought for a moment. I knew she would never move. I would in a heartbeat if she wanted me to. I could apply for a job at her university. We’d be coworkers, which might be a mess with our bosses, but we could figure that out too.
But if I told her those things right now, it would scare her off.
I was certain of it. She needed time to face her own barriers and insecurities.
Because even though she sounded like she wanted it now, I feared she would change her mind when she learned truly how difficult it would be to make us work.
And because I was almost certain her mother was in her head much more than she realized.
I understood. My own family haunted me at times. It didn’t matter how old you were, the shame and fear of disappointing your parents never seemed to truly go away. Especially when it was the only family you had.
“How about we just do the best we can and see what happens?” I said, instead of what I was truly thinking, which was: I will do anything you want. I will move to your town. Please let me take care of you.
“What do you mean by that?”
“We go back to our jobs and our lives, but we visit each other when we can. Phone calls. Letters.”
“Like a long-distance thing?”
“Exactly.” I kissed her on the forehead.
“What if it doesn’t work out?”
“Then it doesn’t work out,” I said. “But shouldn’t we at least try?”
I could see the wheels turning in her head, likely going over every scenario.
“Cerise…are you overthinking everything right now?” I raised a brow with amusement. “This isn’t a research proposal, it’s a relationship.”
She pressed her lips together. “You…astound me, Liam Pendragon.”
I pulled her until she lay on top of me, tracing her hip with slow circles, my other hand threading my fingers through her hair. “And how do I astound you, beautiful?”
“You keep reading my thoughts,” she whispered.
I pulled her face to mine, giving her a tender kiss. “You never answered my question.”
“What was the question?” she asked in between kisses.
“Shouldn’t we at least try?”
She pulled back, her violet eyes serious. “Yes…I think…I—”
“Hello!” someone called out in the distance. A male voice I didn’t recognize.
We both sat up abruptly.
“Who is that?” she asked, gripping my arm. “More poachers?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
We remained still and listened, the voices and footfalls coming closer. It sounded like a large group.
“Hello!” he called again. “Is anyone in that tent?”
“Cerise?” an older feminine voice called. “Are you in there?”
I turned my head to Cerise. Her eyes were wide with panic. “That sounds like my mother…”
My heart almost burst from my chest. The rescue party was here. They had found us. And Cerise’s mother was with them.
She scrambled in the tent as if she was searching for something. “Shit. Shit. Shit!”
“I’ve never heard you curse before,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “Well…except when you were begging me to fu—”
“Liam, this is hardly the time for jokes. What do we do?” she whispered harshly. “We’re both in here naked. Our clothes are out there. Oh this is bad.”
“At least we’re finally being rescued.” I tried again to ease her stress, but she was panicking.
“But I wasn’t expecting my mother to be with them,” she hissed.
I grasped her face and forced her to look at me. “You’re a grown woman, Cerise. Who cares what your mother thinks?”
But I saw the trepidation in her eyes. I was already losing her. It was like she was reverting back to who she was before this trip. We hardly had any time together.
And now our bubble was about to burst.
“Don’t let her make you feel badly about going after what you want,” I urged.
But she just sighed and shrugged.
“We can hear you whispering,” the man said. “Are you two the missing professors?”
“Wrap yourself in a blanket and we’ll step out of the tent,” I said quietly.
Her hands shook as she stood and did as I said.
“You go first,” she said.
I wrapped the other blanket around my waist and stepped outside, squinting against the sunlight.
“Yes, it’s us.” I turned to face the group of about half a dozen people.
Most of them I didn’t recognize, likely guides or others experienced with the local geography. But I spotted Cerise’s mother immediately, somehow dressed impeccably without a hint of sweat deep in the jungle.
Her gray hair was pulled back in a severe low bun, not a strand out of place, and her shrewd blue eyes evaluated me harshly.
“Where is my daughter?” she asked.
“I’m here,” Cerise said, stepping up beside me.
I subtly brushed her hand, trying to steady her. Her mother’s eyes darted down and back up again, missing nothing. “Why on earth are you unclothed, Cerise? And with your colleague? While you were supposed to be on a research expedition?”
Cerise was frozen, as if she didn’t know what to say.
I stepped forward. “Well, Doctor Thornheart, we were fortunate enough to come across this hot spring, so we washed our clothes and hung them to dry.”
Her eyes moved toward me. “I wasn’t asking you, Doctor Pendragon,” she spit out, as if it offended her to even say my name.
But before I could respond, someone else called my name from the back of the group. “Liam!”
My older sister. I hadn’t noticed her standing with the others. She rushed forward, her dark brown ponytail swishing along her back, and pulled me into a hug. “I was so worried about you. I thought you were lost and dead in the jungle forever.”
I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her tight. My sister was the only family member I was close to. Eight years my senior, I looked up to her tremendously. “It’s good to see you, Ellie.”
“Are either of you injured?” asked one of the guides. “We have supplies and a first aid kit.”
I pulled out of the hug. “We’re all right. No injuries. Cerise here is an excellent healer.”
I made sure to look pointedly at her mother when I said that. She glared daggers at me, then turned to Cerise.
“Hurry and get dressed,” her mother ordered. “How embarrassing to find you naked. And with him of all people.”
I tried to hide it, but I know I flinched. Cerise said something back to her, but I couldn’t hear her words. Whatever it was, it increased her mother’s irritation, evidenced by her long sigh and the way she put her hands on her hips.
Ellie tugged on my hand, pulling my attention to her. “Did something happen between you two?”
“I’ll tell you about it later,” I whispered, letting go to grab my own clothes off the tree branch.
And just like that, our whirlwind fling—or whatever it was—was over. There was no more time to talk about it, no time to hold each other. To kiss and explore each other’s bodies. To laugh and tease and get to know each other even more.
We were headed back to the real world.
And I was devastated.