27. Shatter Some Worlds
Bailey
I wake wrapped in him, surrounded by his warm arms, his broad chest, his easy breath, and his hard body. One particularly hard part of his body presses against my thigh. My leg trapped between his legs as he tugs me close in his sleep. When I try to gently pull, away he tugs me back in with a low, warning growl.
“Stay. A little longer.” His voice is heavy with sleep. His hand sneaks across my body, his thumb dancing under my pajama top.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
“I’m savoring the moment,” he murmurs against my neck, putting his hot lips on the bare skin that he can reach. His gentle kisses have my newly awake muscles melting against him as his thumb reaches the underside of my breast. “You said you would give me the weekend, and it is still the weekend.”
I don’t know how to admit to him that maybe I was wrong. Maybe I want more than the weekend. I wasn’t supposed to catch feelings like this. I wanted to come back from this trip satisfied that I didn’t want him anymore, and sure that he wouldn’t want me anymore either. I was ready to take his money, and we’d both walk away happy.
Now, here I am, wishing I could just stay a little longer. Maybe that’s what a relationship really is? Always just wanting to stay a little longer. My hand squeezes his arm.
“We should get going,” I say. “Our ride will be here soon, won’t it?”
“Hold on,” he says as his talented fingers creep over my body. “I only have a few hours of you left. And I need to make the most of them.”
I start to protest, but he catches my words with his kiss, and I melt into the bed, letting him take slow, lazy advantage of me. Forgetting all my worries as his mouth works its way down my body, joining his fingers in all my sensitive places until I am gasping and grinding against him. Coming apart on his lips, and tongue, and fingers. He spends so much time that we barely have enough time to clean off, get dressed, and pack our stuff before we leave.
Yvette and Abe give us both long hugs. They are warm and comforting—the kind of loving, overeager parental figures I wish I had in my life.
I wave goodbye as Sacha easily tosses my heavy luggage over his shoulder before we walk down to the field to meet the helicopter. Sacha holds my hand all the way back to the city before he loads me into a town car.
“Thank you for the almost perfect weekend.” He pauses to take a deep breath. “I’ll see you tomorrow? At work?”
The hopeful hesitation in his voice makes my heart ache.
“Yeah,” I say simply.
His whole face lights up when he smiles, he presses a chaste kiss to my cheek before closing the car door. The spot his lips landed burns the whole trip home.
I drop my overstuffed luggage in the living room and stumble to the kitchen, followed by Rhapsody, who rubs against my legs as I grab a glass and fill it in the faucet.
“Bailey, I didn’t think you’d be back ‘til later tonight.” Margot appears in the hallway, her eyes wide with surprise.
“We flew back in this morning. Sac?—”
“Shh!” Margot cuts me off with a loud shushing noise and waves her hands wildly through the air.
“What is wrong with you?”
“I don’t think you want my guest to hear you say his name,” she hisses quietly.
I raise an eyebrow. “I didn’t see anyone in the living room—Oh!” I take in Margot’s disheveled hair, the obvious absence of any clothing under her loosely tied robe. “You have a guest!” I announce louder than I should.
A slim, green-haired figure appears in the doorway behind Margot.
“Tatiana!” I say, again much too loudly. I do not seem to be able to regulate my vocal pitch right now.
Tatiana is wearing one of Margot’s t-shirts and a pair of oversized gym shorts. “Hi, Bay. Margot said you were going to be gone all weekend.”
I look from my roommate to my coworker and back again. “I got back earlier than expected. Great to see you, though. Water?” I ask, holding out the cup that I poured for myself.
“I was promised Gatorade to replenish my electrolytes.” She grins in Margot’s direction, having the impressive self-esteem not to look sheepish before putting an arm around Margot”s waist. “You had a nice trip, though? Hopefully? Who’s the lucky guy?”
“Just some really lucky guy,” I say too quickly.
Tatiana raises an eyebrow.
Margot reaches past me into the fridge, pulling out a sports drink to hand to Tatiana. “Here you go, doll.” She unsuccessfully attempts to herd Tatiana from the kitchen.
“Hold on, I want to hear about some guy who is worth the Temp’s whole weekend.” She sidesteps Margot, keeping her eyes locked on me.
“It was fine. We had fun. Nothing much to report! We spent a couple nights in his cabin in the mountains, which sounds like it might turn into a horror movie where teens get murdered in the woods, but it didn’t. We had a lovely weekend, and nobody got murdered. It was a little awkward, but genuinely it was a really nice time.” I freeze with a smile.
“So glad! Let’s go.” Margot tugs Tatiana’s arm, attempting to lead her out the door.
“Wait, what happened? Why was it awkward?” Tatiana resists the pull, cracking open her Gatorade and taking a long swig.
“His parents showed up.” I admit.
“What? He invited his parents on a booty trip weekend?” Tatiana laughs. This information gets Margot’s full attention and she stops trying to remove herself from the kitchen.
“He didn’t invite them.” I sigh. “We flew up to his family cabin?—”
“Flew up? How rich is he?” Tatiana laughs.
“—so they didn’t realize we would be there, and he didn’t realize that they were coming.”
“Awful.” Tatiana shakes her head.
“Amazing!” Margot says.
“What?” Tatiana looks at Margot like she’s insane.
“Bay is trying to end things with the guy! Now you have a great excuse to break up with him! Was it awkward? Were they awful?” Margot asks.
“No. They were really nice. I actually really liked them.” I take a deep breath. “They seemed like they’d never met someone he was dating before. They were odd, but really sweet.”
“So, you had a good time even though his parents showed up?” Margot asks.
“Did you guys even get a chance to bone? That’s the important question.” Tatiana leans forward. “Who cares about his parents? How was the cunnilingus?”
“Well… He went down on me like three times, and I came a whole bunch. We only got the chance to do ‘it’ once, but when I say that it was amazing—” I breathe out a sigh. “It was like…world-shattering.”
“You hit the jackpot. Don’t overthink it. I heard cryptid dick was good.” Margot shakes her head. “I’ve never gotten a chance to find out.”
“Excuse you, you can’t talk that way in front of your current sexual conquest.” Tatiana puts a hand against her chest in mock horror.
Margot rolls her eyes, before turning to me with a sad smile, she knows my family history. “Cheddar, it’s okay if you like him, and it’s nice if his parents like you.”
“Don’t over think it, Temp. You keep dating that life changing dick!” Tatiana grins wildly. “Simple as that.”
“It’s just that I’ve kind of explicitly told him that I don’t want anything too serious, but now…” I trail off. “I just don’t know.”
“I knew you’d change your mind.” Margot rolls her eyes. “It’s really obvious how much you like him.”
“What do I do now? If he still likes me—” I squirm. “How do I tell him that I was wrong?”
“Cheddar, you are an adult. You know what to do. Talk to him.”
I groan. I hate being an adult. I pick up Rhapsody from the ground and scratch under her chin.
“Or don’t say anything. Just show up at his apartment in lingerie. I did that to a woman once.” Tatiana suggests.
Margot gives her a sly grin. “And that went well for you did it?”
“Well, she fucked me three times that day, before the wife I didn’t know about came home.” Tatiana laughs. “So if you count that as a win?”
“Alright, I think it’s time to leave Bailey alone, let her decompress, we have other important things to be doing.” Margot nudges Tatiana from the room with a firm smack on the ass.
Tatiana giggles as she steps into the hallway, calling behind her. “Okay, but I want to hear all the juicy details later, Temp!”
Great, now I have to figure out how to avoid telling Tatiana that the great guy I’m fucking is our boss. At least her lingerie story might come in useful.