Chapter 29
Theo
After dropping off the dogs, Pen and I grabbed takeout from the Copper Kettle Diner. When we got home, she changed into a sweatshirt and a pair of blue lounge pants, and I ditched my joggers for pajamas.
We settled on the couch with our dinner. Pen sat sideways with her back against the armrest and her feet on the center cushion. I took the other corner and crossed an ankle over my knee.
Apparently the hike had made me hungry and I inhaled my food in no time.
Since Pen was still eating, I decided to give Garrett a call.
We hadn’t found anything at the creek, but my gut told me he should know about the woman in Raven Falls and how the location matched one of the Morris paintings with a hidden note.
“What’s up, Theo?” he answered.
“Got a minute?”
“Sure.”
“You know how I told you about that note my friend Penelope found hidden in a painting?”
“Rings a bell, yeah.”
“We found more.”
“I probably don’t want to know how, do I?”
“Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure we didn’t do anything illegal.” I winked at Pen.
She giggled behind her hand.
Garrett sighed. “Okay, so you found notes hidden in paintings. Where are you going with this?”
“Hear me out. Hikers discovered a body outside a town called Raven Falls. It was a woman who went missing twenty years ago. But here’s the thing. That artist—Edwin Morris? He painted the spot where she was found. And there was a note in that painting.”
“Huh.” He paused. “All right, that’s mildly interesting.”
“It’s not mildly interesting. It’s suspicious as hell.”
“How do you know he painted that exact location?”
“There’s a barn and the details all match. It’s definitely the same place. And the note says What have I done?”
He grunted. “Okay, that is suspicious.”
“Exactly!” I gave Pen a thumbs-up. “We also found the location of another one of his paintings—one that also had a hidden note. We hiked out there today. We didn’t find anything, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing there.”
“Where is it?”
I gave him the location of the trailhead and a rough description of where we’d gone.
“Got it,” Garrett said. “That’s not far from town.”
“We borrowed Max and Maggie, but all they found were the buried remains of someone’s lunch.”
“Well, if there’s anything out there to be found, it might be too old or buried too deep for their noses to pick up on it.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“I gotta be honest, you got me. I’m curious. I might head out there tomorrow since the weather is supposed to be dry.”
“Awesome, man. Thanks. Let me know if you find anything.”
“Will do. Talk to you later.”
I ended the call and put my phone on the coffee table. “Garrett’s going to take a look.”
“Oh good. I’m glad he listened to you.” She sat up suddenly, wincing, and put her to-go container on the coffee table. “Ouch.”
“You okay?”
She reached down to rub her lower leg. “Yeah, I just got a leg cramp.”
“Here, let me.”
I scooted to the middle of the couch and put her legs in my lap. She leaned back against the armrest as I bent her leg so I could massage her calf.
Her pants were in the way, so I pushed them up to her knee and dug my thumbs into the muscle. By her sharp intake of breath, I could tell it hurt.
“Too hard?” I asked.
“No, I think that’s what it needs.”
I kept massaging, working from beneath the tight spot over the knot in her muscle. Pausing a few times, I stretched her leg straight and turned her ankle, then went back to massaging.
Her body relaxed and I could feel the knot ease. But I didn’t stop. I massaged her lower leg from ankle to knee, running both hands up her smooth skin.
Touching her was intoxicating. My heart rate picked up and pressure built in my groin as I continued, not ready to let her go. From the corner of my eye, I saw her lick her lips. That tiny flick of her tongue sent a jolt through me.
Leaning her head against the armrest, she let out a long breath with the barest hint of a moan. I stopped, gently pushed her legs off my lap, and stood.
She lifted her head to look at me, her expression surprised.
“Sorry,” I said.
“That’s okay. It felt really good.”
Swallowing hard, I ran my hands through my hair. It wasn’t just that massaging her leg was arousing. It was. But I had weeks’ worth of pent-up desire begging to be set free.
“Are you all right?” she asked, bending her knees and drawing her legs close to her body.
“Yeah, fine.” I walked aimlessly around the living room. “I just need a minute.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” I ran my hands through my hair again while I paced. Maybe I needed a cold shower. Did that actually work?
She watched me with concern, and I stopped, looking her in the eyes. I opened my mouth to reassure her that everything was fine. That she didn’t need to be worried. But that was not what I said.
“I want you, Pen. I want you so fucking bad. I keep trying to tell myself I shouldn’t. I can’t let it happen again.”
“That’s what I keep saying to myself, too.”
It wasn’t helping to hear her admit she’d been thinking about it, too. “Exactly. You’re my best friend. And it’s great being roommates. So, we can’t…”
She shook her head slowly. “No. We can’t.”
“Because if we did…” I wasn’t sure how to finish. Because if we did, what?
“If we did, we’d probably do it again after that.”
“Exactly.”
“Because it was… Well, I don’t know about you, but it was really good for me. I didn’t have a chance to tell you that, and it seemed like it would be weird if I did. But it was amazing.”
“Right?” I asked, my voice enthusiastic. “It was the best.”
“The best? Really?”
“Oh yeah.”
She hesitated, her lips moving, but for a second, no sound came out. “So it was good for you, too? Not just average?”
I rubbed my hands up and down my face. “Pen, it was incredible. There’s nothing average about you.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear. “But of course we can’t do it again.”
“Right, no. We can’t.” “Because…”
She didn’t finish, and I was having a very hard time remembering why.
I moved over to the couch and lowered myself down next to her.
Her eyes were on mine as I put a hand on her knee. “This would be a bad idea,” I said, my voice low.
“Very bad,” she whispered.
“Friends shouldn’t do this.”
She shook her head slowly, but a flush crept across her cheeks.
“Except…” I tipped one of her legs outward.
Her eyebrows lifted and she licked her lips again. “Except, maybe?”
“If we both want to?”
She nodded.
And the dam broke.
Surging in, I took her lips with mine. Her legs wrapped around my waist, and I could feel her heat through our clothes. Growling into her mouth, I kissed her deeply as I rolled my hips, pressing myself against her.
Her frantic whimpers as I rubbed her center were music to my ears. As much as I wanted to be inside her, dry humping her to climax would be fucking awesome.
With my hand gripping her ass, I found a rhythm she clearly liked and kept at it, utterly relentless. In moments, her lips parted, her breath quickened, and her body shook. She leaned her head back, and I watched her come with gasping moans.
Fuck, yes.
Still breathing hard, she met my eyes. I gently removed her glasses and set them aside, then kissed her again.
“Now I’m going to rip your clothes off,” I said low into her ear, “and fuck you until you can’t breathe.”
She helped me pull off her clothes and I shucked mine, kicking them out of the way. I manhandled her onto her knees with her hands braced on the back of the couch and ran my hands down her waist and over her hips to cup her ass. She looked back over her shoulder.
“Look at you. This is so hot.”
Kneeling on the edge of the couch, I groaned as I slid inside her. Holding her hips, I thrust in and out, reveling in the intensity. She held on, arching her back, and moved with me.
Soon, we were lost in a rhythm. My grip on her hips was tight and she pressed herself into me each time I thrust. I groaned at the feel of her—the way she wrapped around me so perfectly. Pressure built and every moan and whimper that came from her lips brought me closer to my breaking point.
I wanted to make sure she came again, but I didn’t have to wait. She started to move faster, and I matched her pace. Her breathy string of yeses spurred me on until I was driving into her, buried deep.
The sight of her body, the sound of her moans, and the feel of being inside her were too much. One more hard thrust, and I came unglued.
We came together in an overwhelming burst of heat and pressure. I groaned, moving my hips with the pulses of pleasure as they rippled through my body. I held there, deep inside her, breathing hard as I came down the other side, then finally pulled out.
I stood, and with a little smile, she got up. Standing in front of the couch, I drew her into my arms and held her for a long moment, rubbing slow circles across her bare skin.
She stepped back and gestured toward the bathroom. I watched her go, slow-blinking in my daze.
Our first time had not been a fluke. There was no denying it. We were incredible together.
It was too early to go to bed, and a part of me thought I should just get dressed and go on with our evening. Not as if nothing had happened, but without a lot of post-sex contact. That would be better, right?
Except I hated that idea.
I didn’t want to put my clothes on and go back to sitting on the couch with her. I wanted to hold her. Wrap her in my arms and feel her skin against mine.
Maybe that wasn’t what friends turned roommates who were now apparently fucking should do. But I didn’t give a shit.
Leaving my clothes on the floor, I grabbed her glasses and moved to the hallway to wait, propping my shoulder against the wall a couple of feet from the bathroom door.
She came out and gasped. “That’s you, right?”
I grinned and moved closer so I could slide her glasses onto her face. Then I leaned in and kissed her. “It’s me.”
Without explanation, I took her hand and led her into my bedroom. She didn’t protest as I drew her into bed and pulled the covers over us.
She took her glasses off again and set them on the nightstand, then leaned her head on my chest. I put my arm around her and held her close.
With my body sated and her skin against mine, I drifted for a while. I was relaxed, but more than that, I was happy. In a way I hadn’t been in a long time.
Or maybe ever.