Chapter 44
44
D espite all my best efforts to stay awake and watch over Heath, I failed. He was just so tempting to cuddle with and he’d reached for me in his sleep, pulling me into his embrace. The next thing I knew, I woke up to him thrashing and shouting no over and over.
“… I don’t want to do it …” he moaned, flinching like he was scared of something, his arms flailing.
“Heath,” I said aloud, scooching up to my knees and grabbing his waving arm. “Hey, Heath, wake up.”
“… I don’t want to hurt her! Stop! Don’t! Why can’t I stop? ” His words came out on a distraught sob, tears slicking his cheeks even as his eyes screwed tight.
Worry flooded my chest and I shifted my grip to his shoulder. “Heath, wake up! It’s a dream.”
He wasn’t responding to me, though, his head trapped in whatever dark loop had been haunting his nights, and his next thrash saw his legs kicking out. Scared he’d fall out of my bed, I swung my leg over his hips, sitting on top of him as I cupped his face with my hands.
“Heath, honey, come back to me. You’re just dreaming. You’re safe here with me.” I slapped him lightly, wanting to wake him but not hurt him.
To my intense relief, it worked. His thrashing eased, and the tense furrow in his brow smoothed out. For a moment I thought he’d just slipped into restful sleep, but then his dark lashes fluttered open and his unfocused gaze darted around my dimly lit room. I’d left my study lamp on, facing the wall, just in case this happened and he needed to see where he was.
“Ash?” he croaked, finally focusing on me. “Are you—what’s happening? Am I in your bed?”
I smiled, the fear draining out of me and leaving me a little shaky in its wake. “Yeah, you are. I found you in the library, remember?”
He shook his head, frowning. “Not really. I mean…sort of? It feels like a dream.” Then he seemed to realize I was straddling him while wearing just panties and a T-shirt. His hands cupped my hips and a small grin touched his lips. “Actually this feels like a dream.”
A small laugh bubbled out of me as I leaned down to kiss him lightly. “I was scared you’d fall out. Sitting on you seemed like a safe option.”
He groaned, guiding my hips lower until my core ground against his very hard cock. “I’m okay with that decision. Sound logic, right there. If this was how I woke up every night, maybe I’d be all right with the nightmares.”
My amusement quickly morphed into a gasp as his hips bucked, promising so damn much. And we’d been cock-blocked by Royce for so long would it really be bad to take things further?
Ugh. Damn it, that wasn’t the plan.
“Heath,” I moaned, then, contradictory to what I’d been about to say, I planted my lips against his again for a much less gentle kiss. His hands shifted from my hips to slide beneath my T-shirt, feathering over my ribcage in a way that made me squirm with need.
He kissed me back deeply, swallowing my unvoiced protests as effectively as if they hadn’t existed in the first place.
What were we meant to be doing again?
Oh, right. Sleeping.
“Shit, Heath, I was supposed to help you sleep,” I confessed with regret. “Not sleep with you. You’re exhausted and?—”
“And I always sleep better when I’ve, um…” he seemed to realize what he was saying and trailed off, thinking of another line of reasoning.
I laughed, kissing his scruffy jaw. “When you’ve blown your load, honey? Is that what you were going to say?”
He gave a pained grunt. “That doesn’t sound sexy. Um, what I meant to say…was…uh I’m not likely to fall asleep until I know you aren’t frustrated and tense.”
“Oh, I see,” I said with a chuckle. Then all of a sudden, my shirt was whipped up over my head as if by magic and tossed aside. “Smooth move, Heathcliff.”
He grinned, all traces of exhaustion gone from his expression despite how the dark circles remained. “Thanks, I’ve been thinking about that one for a while.” Then he cupped my bare breasts in his hands and I moaned a shitload louder than I intended to.
“I should have kicked Royce out weeks ago,” I gasped as he tweaked my nipples, playing with them in a way that made my whole body tremble. “Fuck, Heath…I’m supposed to be taking care of you, not taking advantage…”
His hand slipped into my hair, dragging my face back to kiss. “If you really wanted to take care of me…” He said it teasingly, as a joke. Silly man should know me better than that.
My kisses moved from his lips to his jaw, then his throat…chest…abs…
“Ash…” he moaned. “I was kidding.”
“Were you, though?” I challenged, looking up at him with an arched brow. “Heathcliff…I really, really want to suck your dick. Is that okay with you?”
His jaw dropped. Then he nodded quickly, like words were failing him.
I grinned back then slithered down the bed to peel his boxers off. He gasped as I palmed his hard length, tugging his boxers down just far enough that they were out of the way.
“Ash,” he groaned as I pumped my hand slowly, taking in his size with wide eyes.
“Shh,” I hushed with a small chuckle. “Let me play.”
He groaned, his fingers threading into my hair as I licked his tip. He jerked in my hand and I smiled, loving the effect I could have on his body. Wetting my lips, I circled my tongue around his thick tip and kissed it lovingly.
Another moan from him rewarded me, and his fingers flexed in my hair like he wanted to rush me and barely held off. Was Heath maybe the kind of guy who got rough in bed? I had a small inkling that maybe all the polite respectful Heathcliff Briggs flew out the window once clothes came off.
Still, I didn’t have the patience to make him wait any more and took him further into my mouth. My lips closed around him, sucking lightly and delighting with the way his hips jerked up from the bed. Perfection.
He gasped as I gripped his base with my fist, pumping that extra length as I slid my lips further down, taking more and more until he was firmly lodged against the back of my throat.
“Fuck,” he exclaimed as I swallowed, my throat contracting around him. “Holy shit, Ash.” Those fingers flexed in my hair again, and I would have smiled if my mouth weren’t so full. I bobbed up and down on him for a few moments while he squirmed and panted, then something snapped his control.
His hand on my head clenched, his fingers twisting the roots of my hair as his hips bucked, slamming his cock deeper into my throat. I gagged, and he thrust deeper.
“Fuck, shit, Ash, I can’t—” he stammered, and I gripped his thighs with encouragement. Showing him I was okay with getting my throat fucked . Because that was what was happening. I wasn’t sucking his cock, he was fucking my mouth. Seriously unexpected, but in no way unwelcome.
The thick vein in the underside of his dick pulsed against my tongue, and I thought for sure he was about to blow. Instead, he pulled out of my mouth with a rough gasp.
“Ash, shit, I’m sorry,” he panted, his fingers releasing my hair.
I shook my head, licking my slick, puffy lips. “I’m not. But why’d you stop?”
His eyes wide, he stared down at me…then his mouth ticked up in a sly grin. “Because I don’t wanna come down your throat, babe.”
“Oh?” I asked, smiling as I planted my hands either side of his chest, bringing us face to face. “Well in the interest of better sleep…where would you like to do it?”
He dragged his lower lip through his teeth, eyes heavy as he stroked his hands up my sides. Then flipped us over so my back hit the mattress. “I don’t have a condom,” he muttered as he tugged my panties down. “But I badly want to come inside this sweet pussy…”
A small, very brief question crossed my mind as to whether Carter had told him we never used protection. But that seemed like a douchebag thing to do, given how Heath and I were practically dating.
“Do it,” I agreed, breathless. I could have told him that I had an IUD for birth control and that we would just have to trust that neither of us had any communicable diseases but…heat of the moment and all that. Heath didn’t need convincing, either, notching his tip between my pussy lips and thrusting in with one deep motion.
I cried out, my body tensing in shock at the sizable intrusion, but I was more than ready for it, practically dripping with arousal already.
Heath’s breath shuddered as he paused, fully seated. “Ash, holy crap, I wanted to?—”
“It’s fine,” I assured him with a small laugh. “You were already so close.”
With that permission, he rocked his hips only a couple of times, slamming into me with a gasping grunt while his cock jerked and pulsed, unleashing his hot seed within me.
I cupped his face, bringing his lips to mine to kiss him even as he panted for breath. He kissed me back, then shook his head with a groan.
“That…wasn’t my plan,” he muttered. Then he withdrew and shimmied down the bed to hook my legs over his shoulders.
I gasped, peering down at him with disbelief. “Heath, you can’t—you literally just?—”
“I know,” he replied, spreading my folds with his fingers as he got a close-up view of the mess he’d just left. “Fuck me, that’s so hot.”
Then he slipped his tongue right on in there.
Shock saw me squeak, but at the same time…holy hell. Yes.
He went to work with his mouth, licking every fucking millimeter of me, cleaning things up with nothing more than his tongue until I was a shaking, whimpering mess. Then he sucked my clit and pushed two fingers inside my cunt to finish me off. Somewhere in the midst of my bone-shakingly intense climax, I begged for more and he added a third finger. It stretched me in a noticeable way, but the sensation only drove me into a longer, more out-of-worldly orgasm that quite literally left me seeing stars.
Everything turned blurry for a few moments as my body trembled with aftershocks, and Heath repositioned us until I was comfortably spooned against him in the most incredible afterglow.
“Mmm I don’t know about you,” I murmured, my voice thick, “but I’ll sleep well now.”
He chuckled, kissing the back of my neck. “Definitely.”
It took some time for both our breathing and heart rates to return to normal but neither of us were in a hurry to go anywhere. It was a blissful sort of comfort, being naked in Heath’s embrace.
At some stage, we both must have fallen asleep. I remembered being warm and secure, totally at peace in my slumber, but then some time just before dawn—the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon—Heath sat up with a jerk, waking me.
“Heath?” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand. “What are you doing?”
He didn’t respond, just got out of bed silently and pulled on his pants and shirt. I yawned, snuggling back into the warm patch of bedding he’d left. He probably needed to pee, and since it was a shared restroom it made sense to dress.
My eyes closed again, and I must have drifted back to sleep. But then I woke up again with worry tripping through me. The sky was still dark but my phone said half an hour had passed, and Heath wasn’t back.