Chapter 49 #2
We lay together for a long time, her head tucked under my chin, leg draped over my body, and fingers curled loosely against my chest. My arm holds her snug against me, and I could stay like this forever.
My breath slows, syncing with hers, and I let my eyes slip closed. The steady rise and fall of her chest pulls me into a contented quiet I haven’t felt in a long time. The weight of exhaustion presses, and all the noise in my head fades into nothing.
We drift off, but I’m not sure how long it lasts before the sharp, shrill ring of a phone jolts us awake. The obnoxious ringtone doesn’t belong to me.
Jade sits straight up, rubbing her eyes. “That’s Josie.” Her voice is soft and raw, like she’s still tangled in her dreams.
That vulnerable sound makes me want to hold her closer, but she throws off the sheet wrapped around us, and it lands on my face.
She crawls out of the bed. “She thinks she’s funny changing my ringtone.”
“Let it go to voicemail,” I growl, pulling the sheet off my head, and catching sight of her.
The curve of her collarbone. The swell of her breasts. The patch of curls between her legs.
My dick twitches.
Nope.
Down boy.
“She won’t give up, and I don’t want them coming looking for us.” A sleepy smile tugs the side of her lips as she glances at the mess we left on the bed.
Bloody hell.
She snatches her phone off the dresser. “Josie, stop changing my ringtone tone.”
Her small, almost unconscious movements are adorable: her slow blink, slight stretch, and quiet sigh.
“Tonight’s bucket list plans are locked in.” Josie’s on speakerphone and her voice charges with an energy that slices through the intimate space we’ve created just for us.
“You and Hart—is Hart there? Hi Hart. Of course, he’s there. Where are you guys? Whatcha doing?”
My head hurts.
“He’s here, but what’s the plan for tonight?” Jade sets the phone on the dresser and grabs a robe off the floor.
I kick off the sheets and crawl across the bed on all fours, intent on ridding that robe from taking away my view.
“I remember seeing hay bales in the book, remember that?”
Page sixteen. A make-out session is involved.
I kneel on the edge of the bed and tug on the fabric.
“Uh-huh. Hay bales.” Jade pulls the robe with a warning glare, starting to tie the belt around her waist.
“The whole page looked confusing,” Josie says.
It’s not meant for her to decipher.
I yank the sash away and toss it on the floor. Jade silently gasps and swats my hand when it slips under the robe.
Lord, she’s soft and warm beneath my fingers.
“So we’ve been talking about it.” Josie is still yakking, and I wonder if she realizes this is a one-sided conversation. “What uses hay and is confusing?” Josie chirps.
Jade melts under my touch. I trail kisses up her neck, nibbling the sensitive skin just under her ear. Then I slide the bathrobe down her arms to the floor, where it belongs.
“Hello? Jade?”
Jade leans back, pressing her hand on my chest. “Yeah?”
My hands slide down her side, and she shakes her head at me. But the way she leans into my touch is the opposite of her objections.
“What uses hay and is confusing?” Josie repeats.
“This conversation.”
I snort at Jade’s reply, and she presses a finger to my mouth, trying to shush me. I take that finger in my mouth and suck.
“Whatever.” Josie scoffs. “The answer is a hay bale maze.”
Is it?
I plant open-mouthed kisses up her arm, and once she’s close enough, I kiss the swell of her breast.
She stiffens, eyes wide, trying to bite back a gasp, and giving me a warning look to stop.
“And it just so happens the rodeo has a haybale maze and we’re going.”
“Sounds great. I gotta go. Text me the details and we’ll meet you there.” Jade clicks off the phone and glares at me.
“What?” I ask, innocently.
“I can’t concentrate when you’re all over me like that.”
I scoop her up, pressing her flush against me, lips brushing hers. “Can’t concentrate?” I murmur, my hands sliding down her back.
Her breath hitches. “You’re out of control.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
She’s right. I have no fucking control when she’s this close. My dick is already hard.
“Don’t you like when I’m out of control?” I nibble on her skin.
“Yes.” The sleepy rasp in her voice makes my chest tighten.
I nibble the shell of her ear, teeth grazing softly. “Your trembling is very convincing.”
She bites her lip, trying to hide a gasp. “I—”
I trail my lips down her neck. “I love how soft you are. How warm. And right now, you’re all mine.”
Her body arches instinctively against me, chest pressing hard against mine.
“I want to taste you again. Feel you shiver under my mouth.”
Her breath hitches. “We have to get our clothes, wash these sheets, and meet them—”
She gasps when I slip my hand down, brushing over the swell of her pussy.
“You’re so wet for me already.”
I grin, pressing a kiss along her collarbone.
Her back arches more, and she tilts her head back, breath ragged. “Yes. There. Yes.”
“I could do this all day. Taste you. Tease you. Make you beg without even touching the parts that make you scream.”
Jade moans until my dick is hard as a rock. At the same time, her phone cracks.
“Um, I’m still here,” Josie says.
I freeze mid-kiss.
Jade freezes beneath me.
“Now that I have all your attention,” she continues.
“What are you still doing on the phone?” Jade demands.
“I didn’t want to interrupt.” There’s a giggle in her voice.
“Hang up!” Jade yells at her sister.
“I was waiting to give you the address and—”
“Hang up!”
“Alright. But, now I’m wet.”
That’s way too much information for me.
“Josie!!!” Jade leaves me to snatch her phone.
Once she confirms the call ended, I see her shoulders slump, and I know what she’s asking herself.
What did we say?
What were our sounds?
Was she on bloody speakerphone? Did the whole rodeo hear?
I ain’t none impressed either, but I’d bet big bucks it won’t be the last time Josie interrupts one of our lovemaking sessions.
I clear my throat. “We can strike that off the bucket list.”
She looks at me with reluctance, stealing her features.
“You know the one?” I reach for her hand, pulling her back to the edge of the bed that takes up most of the room. “Make out where we can be heard. Number twenty-six.” I slide my arms around her waist.
“Do you have the list memorized?” There’s a quirk of curiosity that is better than her worry.
I nod.
“Number six?” She asks, looking pretty damn convinced I’m not going to know.
“Sneak snacks into the movie theater and make out in the back row. Which we already did, but I’m not opposed to another movie and make-out.”
“Number twenty-nine?”
“Stay in a hotel. Role-play before we get to the room. Your favorite scenario was an accidental room mix-up where awkwardness turns to curiosity.”
“Number—”
My mouth covers hers, swallowing her words as I drag her back to the bed, trapping her under my leg.
“I have no more condoms,” I say, kissing her jaw. “We need to get dressed and get some in town.”
“We need to get dressed because we’re meeting at the hay bales tonight.”
I groan. “Let’s skip it.”
“We should go.”
“Or we could stay here. All night. Just you and me. Together. Naked. With five boxes of condoms. And cake. Chocolate cake.”
I get lost in her mouth again, hoping to rid this conversation from our space.
“Or,” she says when we’ve parted. “And hear me out.”
I frown at her.
“We could go laugh with them.”
I wrinkle my nose. “That doesn’t sound nearly as fun.”
“But does it sound hard?”
I’m surprised when my answer is no.
Was it opening up to her that’s made me feel lighter, or is it just finally letting go of everything I’ve been holding in—the guilt, the lies, the anger—and getting it all out in the open?
“No?” Her tender, caring smile is beautiful.
“No. We’ll go.” My mouth finds her throat.
It’s like I can’t stop touching her.
“Also,” she leans back. “There are plenty of things we can do without condoms.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
She slides the sash from the robe through her fingers. “Let’s start with tying you up.”
Why doesn’t that terrify me the way it used to?