Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Nice until proven naughty.
— Jeremiah to Merriam
JEREMIAH
The look on her face sent my heart racing.
“ It’s my fault that she whispers,” she said quietly.
I reached forward and caught her hand, guiding her out of the bedroom.
“ Should we leave the door open or closed?” I asked.
“ Closed ,” she said. “ She’ll come looking for us when she wakes up. But I also set an alarm for a couple of hours from now so I can go check on her fever.”
“ Good .” I paused. “ I did, too.”
She smiled up at me and fell into step with me as I guided her back to the bedroom.
Her hair was still wet, and I had the insane urge to wrap my hands around it and braid it for her so it didn’t get crazy when it dried.
I imagined that she usually put some sort of product in it to keep it looking so good, but she’d only come in with the clothes on her back.
Tomorrow , I’d go downstairs and get all her shit from her car that my grandmother said she put in there, but for tonight…
“ Can I braid your hair for you?” I asked.
She looked at me, startled.
“ You know how to braid hair?” She blinked.
I grinned. “ Not well.”
Her face split into a sweet smile as she said, “ Sure .”
I walked to the bathroom and got the hair ties that I used for when the nieces stayed here and wanted their hair done, then came back to find her standing in front of the bed.
“ I don’t know where you want me,” she admitted.
I sat on the bed, widened my thighs, then said, “ Lean against it.”
She did, putting her body crazy close to mine.
I held out the rubber bands to her, and she smiled. “ Green and red. Very festive.”
“ I try,” I teased as I reached for her hair. “ I’m assuming that you don’t want me to brush it.”
“ I don’t mind, but I don’t think a brush would go through it,” she admitted. “ It’s dried too much.”
“ Hmm ,” I mused as I sank my fingers into her hair, causing my heart to lurch inside my chest.
As I braided her hair for the next ten minutes, I relished the way her body relaxed further and further. I liked that she was getting more comfortable around me.
I liked even more that she was here, and staying, for the foreseeable future.
It was a bad thought, but I was happy her dad had driven her away.
I hated—no, despised—that she was hurt, for a long fucking time might I add, but I wasn’t upset that she’d run to me.
“ While you were showering,” I said, my gaze taking in my t-shirt that engulfed her body. “ I got an email from my lawyer friend.”
She stilled. “ Yeah ?”
“ He said that he would get right on the work that it would require to sue him for damages,” he said. “ He already started to freeze your credit and that of your daughter’s, too. I just need to send him her social security number.”
She gasped and turned, and if I hadn’t just tied the band onto the end, her hair would’ve fallen out of the braid.
“ I never even thought of that!” she cried.
I squeezed her hand. “ It looks like, from what he’s been able to find, that he hasn’t done anything in her name. But he’s just going to make sure when we send out the social security number.”
Her head dropped.
“ You know, none of this is your fault,” I pointed out. “ Not the way that she whispers. Not the way that you tiptoe around, expecting the worst. Not the life that you’ve lived. None of it. It’s his fault. All of it. And you need to forgive yourself. You did the best you could.”
She shrugged. “ I feel like such a failure.”
“ You aren’t,” I said fiercely. “ You’re a fighter.”
She swiped away a few tears that’d dripped from her eyes and said, “ I’m glad I left.”
I pulled her into my arms. “ I know we’re new. I know that you’re uncertain about everything. But it’s going to be all right. I won’t let it be otherwise.”
She leaned into me heavily, and when I felt like her legs were getting tired of standing, I shifted us so that I was still holding her, but in the bed now.
She buried her face into my neck much the way her daughter did, and that was how she fell asleep.
Only when I knew she was well and truly asleep did I reposition us and cover us with the large blanket.
I reached out and turned her alarms off on the watch that was connected to her wrist, then held her until the first alarm on my phone vibrated on the bed beside me.
After checking on Anleigh and finding her fever-free, I went back to the bed, gathered Merriam back into my arms, and fell asleep.
The next morning dawned, and the sun practically blinded me when I blinked open my eyes.
It was barely morning, but the way the sun reflected off the snow made it blindingly bright in the loft.
I seriously needed to invest in some blinds.
Groaning , I pulled away from Merriam —who was still cuddled close—and went in search of the little girl.
After finding her still fever-free and sleeping peacefully, I went to the kitchen and started some coffee.
After using the bathroom, I grabbed a glass of coffee and headed back to the bed where I would read until someone woke up to entertain me.
I was about four chapters in, and seriously getting into the dragon riders, when the woman who had her face plastered to my hip stirred.
I looked at my watch and found it was barely six in the morning.
An early riser, like me.
She blinked open her eyes and stared at my hip for a long moment before she turned over onto her back and said, “ Hey .”
She was too fucking sweet.
“ Morning ,” I replied. “ Merry Christmas .”
She smiled a soft smile that went straight to my heart and said, “ I slept through my alarms.”
“ She’s fine,” I assured her. “ And I turned them off. You seriously needed some sleep.”
She stretched, and my t-shirt shifted as her body bowed.
I resisted the urge to reach for her and said, “ I’m honestly kind of surprised that Anleigh isn’t up yet.”
“ She won’t be,” she admitted. “ She sleeps late. If you let her.”
All kinds of thoughts poured through my mind at that.
The things I could do to her before her daughter woke…
She must’ve been thinking the same thing, too, because her cheeks flushed a bright red, and she glanced back down at my hip.
I ran a finger down the side of her cheek and said, “ Sleep okay?”
She sat up and twisted so that her hip was to my hip, only her torso was facing me instead as she said, “ I’ve slept better today than I’ve ever slept.”
That had my heart really fucking happy.
I liked that she felt safe with me.
I liked that she slept better with me.
I liked a lot of stuff right now that was on the verge of over the top.
My eyes trailed down her face, to her hair that was surprisingly still very much in place, then to her sleepy eyes and her soft lips.
“ Good ,” I said.
She looked deep into my eyes, and the way she was looking at me made my heart start to pound.
“ What ?” I asked.
“ I don’t want you to think that I feel obligated in some way,” she said.
“ What do you mean?” I asked, my belly filling with nerves.
“ I mean.” She scooted closer. “ I’ve wanted to kiss you since I fell into your arms.”
I moved closer to her, lips tingling. “ Yeah ?”
“ Yeah ,” she agreed. “ I just don’t want you to think that I’m only doing this because you gave us a place to stay when we were in need.”
I would’ve never thought that.
“ Honey ,” I said. “ I realize that this entire thing is abnormal. That’s why I haven’t done a thing to move this in the direction I so desperately want to. We barely know each other. You have nowhere to go. I have money, and you are struggling because of your dad. Looking at this from an outsider’s perspective, it looks like I’m taking advantage of you because you’re in need…”
She leaned forward and kissed me.
Both of us allowed our qualms about the entire situation to be put on the back burner.
The moment her lips touched mine, I reached for her, pulling her into my lap.
Her body was so small and fit against mine like it was meant to be there.
Her hands went to my shoulders, one hand squeezing tight, while the other traveled upward toward my hair.
Mine did much the same, though mine went down to her ass to pull her more deeply against me, while the other went to one braid as I held her in place.
She gasped and pulled away, her eyes lit with an inner fever that I was sure reflected in my own.
“ Are you sure about this?” she asked.
My hands moved, this time to both hips, and said, “ I’ve never been more sure about something in my life.”
“ I’m not on birth control,” she said.
I cursed. “ I don’t have any condoms…”
Then an idea popped into my head.
“ Oh !” I said. “ Be right back!”
She laughed when I bodily picked her up and set her onto the bed beside me, then launched myself from the bed.
I went to the tree where the presents that I’d bought my family were located and reached for the smallest gift.
Ripping the paper apart, I held the box up to her, nearly crowing in triumph before I remembered that we had a child that needed to stay asleep in the other room for this to work.
“ What is that?” she asked.
“ Apparently gag condoms Noel bought for Chris as a joke since he’s already gotten his wife pregnant,” I said as I brought them to the bed and tossed them between us. “ They’re flavored.”
She glanced down at them and laughed. “ Try to grab the one that tastes like grape. That’s my favorite flavor.”
I ripped the box open and pulled the purple out, showing it to her.
She reached for it, but instead of examining the packet, she placed it down by her side and reached for the hem of my tee.
I lifted my arms as she pulled it off me, turning it inside out and tossing it toward the end of the bed as she did.
I licked my lips when her eyes heated at the sight of my naked chest.
“ Damn ,” she said. “ You’re very muscular.”
I chuckled. “ Comes with the job.”
She jerked her eyes down and said, “ I always thought those muscles were a myth.”
“ Which ?” I asked, looking down at my abs straight to the sight of my cock tenting my sweatpants.
Normally , I would’ve worn only my boxer briefs to bed because I was so hot natured, but I hadn’t wanted to make her uncomfortable so I’d put on the shirt and the sweats.
Though they were thinner, which showed off a lot more of my engorged cock than would’ve been acceptable had we been taking this much slower.
“ Those .” She leaned forward and indicated the muscles of my lower abs that led into my pants.
“ They come with a lot of work,” I admitted. “ They’re the first things to go on me when I let my nutrition get out of hand.”
Her eyes studied mine as she said, “ That’s unfortunate, because they’re quite attractive. I want to lick them.”
My cock jerked in my pants, and she noticed.
Her face flushed as she said, “ Pants .”
I slowly started to lower them, revealing my black boxer briefs as I did.
“ Those , too,” she whispered.
I lowered both, revealing my hard cock as it bobbed out of its confines and slapped against the mattress.
Her breaths started coming in choppier and she reached for the hem of her own shirt.
“ I’m not sure how I’m getting so bold, but…” She whipped it off and threw it to the end of the bed to join the one she’d taken off me.
I watched as her fabulous tits bounced with the movement.
“ Fuck ,” I growled as I took her in.
She was wearing only a pair of white cotton underwear, but it was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen in my life.
“ Is that a good fuck, or a bad fuck?” she asked self-consciously.
“ Very good,” I admitted. “ Very , very, very good.”
Her cheeks flushed as she stood up and shucked her panties.
I didn’t know what I suspected, but her being fully bare wasn’t one of them.
I’d always heard that Brazilian waxes cost a lot of money, and not many women liked to do them.
But she was blissfully bare.
She ran her hand down the length of her thighs for a second before she said, “ One thing that I got from my Native American genes is very little body hair.”
Well that answered that.
“ I like it,” I replied, voice hoarse.
She sat down and scooted underneath the covers, lifting them up high for me. “ I know that the door is closed, but just in case…”
I practically dove underneath the covers.
She laughed at my exuberance, throwing her arms around my neck as I plastered both of our bodies together and roughly brought the covers over us.
“ The condom just went flying.” She giggled.
I’d never held such instant hate for an inanimate object in my life, but all of a sudden I hated the idea of wearing one.
“ There’s more,” I said. “ Maybe not the flavor that you want but…”
I reached for the condom, went up onto my knees, and slicked it on.
She watched, her thighs spreading wider, and waited for it to be on completely before she held out her hands for me again.
I came down onto my elbows, body pressed completely up against hers and kissed her again.
She moaned into my mouth, and my cock jerked against her heated core.
“ Holy shit,” she breathed when I pulled away, my lips stinging from the intensity of our kiss.
I caught the ends of her ponytails with both hands and pulled the hair ties free.
I spent the next thirty seconds working her hair free of the braids.
It was still wet from the night before, which I commented on.
“ Yeah , it’s the thickness,” she inhaled as she sat still underneath me.
“ Figured ,” I said as I pulled the covers up over our heads, then started to work my way down to her breasts.
“ Yes ,” she hissed, her body arching, urging me on.
I sucked, licked, nipped, and bit the rosy peaks.
Only when they were sufficiently hard and aching did I begin to move down again.
She caught my hair in her hands and said, “ Not that I don’t want that, because I really, really do. But I feel like we only have a very short amount of time, and I want you inside of me badly. So , for all that’s holy, please do that.”
Denying her was impossible, so I came back into place, notched my cock at her entrance, and started pushing inside.
She mewled, opening her legs wider, urging me on.
“ Just FYI … I’ve never done this before,” I admitted, already feeling the pull of my orgasm at the base of my cock, centering in my balls.
Shock took over her face. “ As in never?”
“ Never ,” I confirmed.
Her mouth opened and closed, then she shook her head in disbelief. “ Are you telling me I’m corrupting you?”
Catching her hand in mine, I pulled it up over her head and anchored her down with my other, then thrust forward, giving her my entire cock.
She gasped, her head thrusting backward, exposing her neck to me.
There was no more discussion about my never having done this before.
I took advantage of her exposed neck and ran my tongue along the side, letting my tongue dance over her rapid pulse for a short second before biting softly.
She shivered, her legs tightening around me.
“ Fuck , baby.” She gasped, her hands fisting into my hair. “ You feel so big inside of me.”
“ That’s because you’re the size of a doll.” I growled, teeth gritted, as I tried to maintain my control.
Was this normal?
This overwhelming urge to come before I’d even started?
“ You’re being awfully nice,” she snickered. “ But I’m normal sized. You’re just jumbo.”
I liked that she thought I was big.
I wasn’t.
At least, not compared to some of the bigger ones I’d seen in my time in sports, but I wasn’t small either.
She really was just a tiny little thing.
Her breasts were absolutely perfect, though, as she thrust them against my chest and tugged on my hair to angle my head toward them.
I took the hint and wrapped my lips around one of the buds, sucking softly.
“ Keep doing that,” she begged. “ Exactly like that.”
I did as she instructed, making sure to maintain my moderate thrusting as well.
I could already feel her tightening around me.
Her pussy fluttered with each snap of my hips, my cock filling her so completely with each thrust that I bottomed out inside of her.
“ Oh , right there. Exactly like that,” she pleaded.
I didn’t change a thing—even though my first inclination was to speed up my thrusts to mirror her urgency. I’d read that when a woman was close, you didn’t change anything you were doing, because if you did they’d lose the feeling they’d been chasing.
“ Oh , god,” she breathed. “ Right . There .”
I dropped my forehead to her chest and prayed I could hang on.
Already her pussy was quivering, pulsing stronger and stronger with each second that passed.
“ Oh , yes,” she whispered. “ Yes …”
She fell over the edge, and I thrust harder, faster.
She cried out, her hands fisting in my hair, and yanked.
I rode her through her orgasm, not stopping until I’d followed behind.
A grunt of release left my lips as I buried my face into her neck and came.
She wrapped her arms around my head, her legs tighter around my waist, and held on while I bucked, shook, and fell apart in her arms.
Breathing hard and laborious, I pulled back enough that I could look into her eyes.
“ That was…”
“ That was,” she agreed.
No other words had to be said.
They weren’t necessary.
I flipped us until she was on top, then allowed my limbs to fall exhausted beside me.
She giggled, pulling up until she could study my face before saying, “ I’d ask you if it was good, but I don’t need to.”
She was right.
I was sure the look on my face conveyed that clearly enough.
“ As much as I hate to say this, we should probably get dressed,” I grumbled. “ I want to make a good impression on your daughter, and I don’t want to traumatize her this early in the game with my nakedness.”
“ You checked on her?” she asked as she rolled off of me.
The bereft feeling that overtook me at the feel of her heat retreating was a lot more affecting than I wanted to admit.
She squeezed her thighs together and said, “ I want to do that again.”
I chuckled and rolled off the bed, pulling the condom free of my cock as I did.
She watched in fascination as I walked to the bathroom naked and disappeared inside.
After disposing of the condom in some toilet paper in my bathroom trash can, I came back out and searched for my underwear and sweats.
She picked them up off the other side of the bed and tossed them to me.
As I slipped into my pants, she retrieved the t-shirt I’d been wearing earlier and slipped it on over her head.
I grinned at the possessive move.
“ I’m decent,” she declared.
I let my eyes trail up and down the length of her before saying, “ Pity .”