Chapter 22
I glanced at my watch before movement at the end of the street caught my attention, and then I didn’t bother to bite back my smile. Waiting in the misty alleyway between houses while pretending to take out my trash probably wasn’t the smartest deterrent for nosy neighbors, but the street was quiet, the houses dark and the world soft with winter snow. Like a happy little penguin, El waddled around the corner, wrapped in one too many layers to convince anybody she’d grown up here. The snow had given the entire town that soft, almost unnaturally quiet kind of tranquility and the crunch of her feet was the only sound between us. She looked uneasy on the icy street, like she’d forgotten how to keep her feet on the slick surface.
Leaning into my gate, I pushed it open, making room for her to dart past me and through my dark yard before we zipped inside.
Rounding on her, I couldn’t help but mirror her smile, her cheeks rosy with cold as she beamed up at me. “Hey, stranger.”
“Hey, baby,” I breathed, still in a bit of disbelief that this was finally our reality, closing the distance and weaving our fingers together. The kiss we shared was gentle, leisurely, free of that desperate lust that ran us haggard. Her scent filled my lungs as I tasted her lips, and the sweet lingering hint of mint. Like she’d brushed her teeth before heading this way. “Sneak out okay?”
“Yeah, I don’t think anybody noticed.” A full body shiver wracked down her frame when she peeled off her winter coat, and I chuckled as she blew out a frozen breath. Skintight leggings and an oversized…
“Is that my Mistyvale University hoodie?”
“Maybe. I didn’t let James see it, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
That did something disconcerting to my chest. Thirty-five-year-olds could have heart attacks, couldn’t they? Needing to redirect, I just shook my head and said, “Can’t say I’m surprised they wanted you to stay with them.” Jameson and Noel had passionately insisted El stay at the big house with them. When their parents, Milo and Juniper, retired to Florida, leaving the boat to James, the reigning Captain Rhodes moved into the family’s main house. With the two of them keeping the family property and business running, Jameson’s old place became a vacation rental that turned a pretty profit. This time of year was dead for tourists, though, so she could’ve stayed there if they’d been a little less insistent.
“Good luck arguing with either of them, though. Am I right?”
“That would be impossible.”
“At least I know all the sneaky creaky floorboards,” she said with a mischievous grin. I narrowed my eyes, remembering teenage life in that old oceanside house.
“You climbed out the window, didn’t you?”
“And didn’t hit a single creaky board on the way,” she quipped back without missing a beat.
“Some things dont change. I know he’d never say it, but I think James is missing having everyone around.”
“Me too,” she said, her eyes going pensive. “He seems okay, though?”
“Yeah. He’s got Noel. Charlie and I meet up with him at the gym, and Axel’s around quite a bit.”
She nodded pensively. “Good. So, what’s the big plan, professor?”
I smiled when she looked around, leering around the corner, like she’d get a better peek at the living room. They’d barely left when I shot her a text inviting her over tonight once the love birds were in bed. She’d responded within a heartbeat, and I’d gotten to work setting up.
She froze as she observed the living room. I’d piled every pillow and blanket I had on the sectional and enormous accompanying ottoman, in front of one of those television Christmas fireplace screensavers with the crackling sound effects. I’d neatly laid out snacks for the movie–all the classics displayed on a tv tray I usually used to eat when I was on my own. Hot cocoa was steaming away beside the deck of cards I’d set to the right of the licorice. I had two additional board games set out on the end of the footrest; in case she wasn’t in the mood for cards tonight. I had to admit the fat flakes of snow drifting through the darkness past my window added to the cozy, inviting effect of the space.
“You made me a magic snow-night-in date?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You got me Rolos,” she said, something tight in her voice making me nervous.
“Do you not like those anymore? I grabbed Milk Duds and Red Vines too.” My shoulders relaxed the instant she turned to look at me, revealing the sweetest smile and glassy eyes before she threw her arms around me, nearly knocking me back a step.
Chuckling, I said, “Hey, Pix. Did I do good, then?”
“You’re perfect.” She stepped farther back than strictly necessary, and I wondered if she was fighting to keep space between us. I certainly had to battle to not just wrap her up and kiss her breathless the instant she was within reach.
“Nobody’s perfect, but I try.”
“So. What am I kicking your ass in tonight?”
“Excuse me?”
“The cards? What game did you pick for me to destroy you in?”
That made me laugh, unable to even feign indifference. “Poker, Rummy, Slapjack, pick your poison and I’ll raise that bet, baby.”
She lifted a hand to her heart as she said, “Slapjack!? Heck, I don’t remember the last time I played Slapjack.”
“High school, maybe?”
“Maybe!” She slowly backed into the space in a cocky little saunter that made not smiling impossible. “Sure about this, Professor? Pretty sure it gets a little intense, if I remember correctly.”
Christ, she was cute when she tried to talk shit. “I once survived a five-hour debate on the existence of time. Now that is intense.”
El rolled her eyes as she kicked off her shoes and climbed up onto the layers of blankets and pillows over the makeshift living room bed. “Oh, spare me the intellectual superiority complex. We’re talking elementary school games, not quantum mechanics.”
“Fine. But don’t underestimate me because I use my brain for a living. I’ve got lightning-fast reflexes.”
“Please, the last time I saw you move like lightning was in high school.”
“Hey now,” I said in mock offense. Hell, she seemed to enjoy watching me move in Vegas. “I’ll have you know I beat both your brothers in the town dodgeball competition last year.”
Laughing, she plopped down between two pillows. “Welp, for your sake, I hope that Salmon Fest championship holds up.”
I sat down on the opposite side of the TV tray, gently nudging her mug and coaster across to her as I snagged the card deck to shuffle and deal. Elora did this adorable, full body wiggle as she looked down at her cocoa, complete with whipped cream and marshmallows. She wrapped her entire mouth around the tip of the whipped cream pyramid before sucking in a mouthful and giggling as she covered her messy lips. How could something so ridiculous and so adorable also get me hard? The two sensations should not walk hand in hand, but with El, it seemed like I was in a perpetual state of raging desire.
“With mini marshmallows and everything?!”
“Go big or go home,” I supplied with a shrug.
“Amen. Now, if you were a true hot cocoa connoisseur, there would be sprinkles.”
Smirking, I plucked a tiny shaker of peppermint sprinkles from the pile of candy and handed it to her. I chuckled when she narrowed her eyes.
“Oh, you are good.”
“Don’t forget it,” I jabbed back as she popped the lid and gave a few generous shakes over her cup, speckling all that fluffy white in tiny red crystals, like a terrifying glitter explosion. As if I hadn’t noticed her love for diabetes in a cup. Sliding slick cards between my fingers, I shuffled the deck and dealt, card for card, between our two piles. A long, dramatic slurp interrupted the subtle slap of them hitting the table and I looked up right as she lowered her mug with a deeply satisfied expression on her face.
“Aren’t you going to drink some?”
“Yeah, in a sec. I sampled my bodyweight in it as I got the ratio right. Actually called my mom to make sure I had the recipe down.”
“I knew I recognized that flavor. God, she was always the keeper of the good cocoa.”
“The baton has been passed.”
“Don’t get too cocky. Hers is better.”
I brought my hands to my chest, tossing my head back dramatically. “You wound me, Rhodes.”
“You’ll live,” she said with a giggle as I set the last card in place. A vaguely warm, very damp finger poked my nose, and I jerked back, narrowing my eyes on a satisfied feline smirk. Wiping the melty whipped cream off my face, I popped my finger into my mouth, shaking my head as she stifled a laugh.
“Easy, Pix. Don’t start a fight you can’t win.”
“For your ego’s sake, I’ll let you keep believing that.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Why, thank you.” She took a long sip from her mug, giving me another satisfied full body wiggle and looking all too pleased with herself as I shook my head. With a dull clunk, she set her drink down and snatched up her stack of cards, turning to face me head on and clearing the couch of all things fuzzy. “You’re going down, Allen.”
“Maybe later. Play me first.”
“Ha-hah, so funny,” she said with an eye roll before an equally dramatic deadpan. “Now, play.” We both started setting cards down in rapid succession, but that didn’t stop her from adding, “If I remember the rules correctly, the loser buys the winners dinner?”
“Is that so?” I pushed back as our cards tap, tap, tapped onto the growing stack between us. “Thought we were just playing for bragging rights.”
The smirk that lifted her cheeks was nothing shy of maniacal. “Consider it an added incentive to win.”
I jerked my eyes back to the growing deck as we continued to tap, tap, tap cards into place. “You trying to distract me, Pix? Cause it won’t work.”
“I’m insulted, Brod. Just stating the rules of the game, but if you’re feeling nervous…?” the end of her sentence trailed up and off, but I refused to look up at what was an inevitable Cheshire smile.
“Please,” I scoffed, shaking my head as I watched our cards hit the middle pile. Ace, eight, six. “Steady as a rock, baby.”
“We’ll see about that,” she said slyly as I set mine down. After watching to make sure it wasn’t a jack, she leaned back, casually setting aside her half of the deck and stripping my hoodie off her body in the next motion. The extended lines of her abdomen were on full display as she tossed it across the back of the couch like a lazy basketball shot, smiling coyly as I let my eyes scrape over her frame. I palmed my jaw, admiring all that skin and the way the red bra boosted her tits up in the most inviting fucking way. She wasn’t just gorgeous, she was confident in her body, and that was a deadly combination.
“Like I said. Steady as a rock.” But I couldn’t help but wet my lips, wishing my tongue could run over those sexy lines of muscle instead. Slide up the center of her generous cleavage. Tap, tap, tap.
“Hard as one too, by the looks of it.”
I held onto my next card, locking eyes with her as my smile grew. There was no need to confirm her claim. My dick was at full attention. Painfully so. It took very little effort for her to get it to stand up these days. “Keep running that mouth, and I’m going to give it something hard to do.”
“If that’s your idea of a threat, you’ve got some work cut out for you.”
“You say threat. I say promise.”
“Big words, big man.”
Chuckling, I shook my head, subtly tossing my card on the pile but holding her stare. “Nice try, baby,” I muttered as I set my palm over the jack. Her eyes flared as she lunged forward and then yelped, clapping her hands together in a loud smack and throwing her head back.
“Dammit!”
“Do you generally win your games by getting naked?” I asked, adding the cards to my stack.
Flippantly, she tucked her bangs behind her ear and said, “It’s a new strategy.”
“Not a very good one.”
“That tent in your trousers begs to differ.” Tap, tap, tap. She lost her battle with a nervous little giggle when I narrowed my eyes on her, tonguing at a molar to keep from bursting out laughing. She paused after my turn to sip on her cocoa, and I did the same. Only, her hand swatted out with cat-like efficiency, pushing the cup up and dipping my face in whip cream.
Yep. Should’ve seen that coming. Fighting a smirk at the elated laugh that burst from her lips at the sight of my whipped cream beard, I slowly set aside my drink, snatching hers and adding it to the tray before pushing it back to a safe distance.
My eyes locked on hers for a beat before she yelped and tried to flee. Too little too late, because I already had her wrist gripped in my fingers, locking her in place as my other hand snaked around her waist. She reared back, trying to keep her face away from mine as I dove forward, pinning her to the couch, scrambling to secure her wrists above her head and transferring them into one hand before burying my mess of a face between her breasts. She shrieked with laughter, and I smiled as I popped up, shifting my weight over her body, making sure she could feel that erection she kept pointing out.
“You know, when I’ve thought about covering you with whipped cream, it was in a much more dignified manner.”
Her frantic giggles came to a breathy end as she grinned up at me, full breasts heaving against my chest. “Is there a way to be dignified while covered in whipped cream?”
“Laying naked on my bed so I can decorate those tiny nipples before sucking them off sounded nice to me.”
“I agree. Much more sophisticated than you motorboating my boobs,” she said firmly. My brows rose, smirk hooking wide as her gray-blues went round and she barked, “Don’t you dare!”
Her attempt to squirm away just got me harder, and I ground my hips into hers to hold her steady, still pinning those delicate wrists in one hand as I bent down and did exactly that, coming up with a full face of whipped cream and my woman cackling so hard tears formed in her eyes.
“You know, I thought you on your knees for me would be the only time I enjoyed seeing your mascara run, Pix,” I said as I leaned onto my elbow, releasing her wrists. “This might be better.”
El couldn’t compose herself long enough to articulate a comeback. Every time her laughter tapered off, she’d make this hilarious little humming sound before erupting back into giggles. One delicate hand found its way to my face, and she smudged away the sugary topping, popping a finger between her lips as hysterical machine gun bursts of laughter escaped.
I shook my head, snatched her hand and slowly slid a finger in my mouth, sucking it clean and reveling in her mouth hanging open and eyes sliding closed, before ruining the illusion of the moment by releasing her hand and lapping straight up the valley between her breasts instead.
Elora
Our whipped creamwar resulted in an impromptu shower, and me wearing Broderick’s oversized hoodie and my lace undies with nothing else, while we cuddled up back on his gray sectional to watch Inception. By the time the movie ended, we were both teetering on a sugar coma and completely exhausted. Broderick finished brushing his teeth and ducked into his room before I’d wrapped up my skincare, so I wasn’t shocked to find him already gloriously shirtless and in bed when I came out of the ensuite. He had one knee propped up to brace a book where he could keep it at eye level, but his eyes strayed to mine as I closed the distance.
“Gosh, it doesnt matter how many times I watch it, it’s just one of those films that leaves you questioning everything you think you know, isn’t it?”
“Kinda the point, Pix.”
“It’s like a dream inside a dream inside a… well, you know. And fuck, that ending gets me every time.”
“Maybe we’re living inside someone else’s dream right now,” he teased, waving a conspiracy hand around, his book falling to rest on his thigh.
“Maybe! You don’t know,” I insisted as I flopped onto the mattress beside him. “I hate open ended plots. Unless there’s a sequel to tell me how it concludes, I can’t deal with it. Because then the questions just torture me forever.”
Patting the pillow beside him, Broderick skipped my dramatics with a subdued smirk and said, “Come on, baby. Under the sheets.”
“You probably love open ended plots.”
“I do,” he confirmed simply.
“Endless room for theorizing.”
“I do enjoy theories. Come on, come get under the blankets with me, and then I won’t make you move until morning.”
“Ugh,” I whimpered. “My abs hurt. You laughed me new abs and now they hurt.”
He chuckled before admitting, “Actually, my face is sore, now that you mention it. Are smile-ups a thing? Because my cheeks feel all bruised.”
“Serves you right.”
“You started it.”
“Didn’t expect it to escalate that quickly,” I pointed out, smirking as I begrudgingly rolled onto my hands and knees and crawled up to him. It was impossible to miss the way his pupils flared as he tracked the motion, but my attention locked on the bed when I threw the comforter back. He had two hot pads neatly laid out under the comforter on my side of the mattress, little red lights illuminated on the controllers. Blinking, I glanced to his side of the room, and when I didn’t spot any cords, jerked my gaze back to his. “What’s this?”
He shrugged a nonchalant shoulder as though the gesture warranted no explanation. “You don’t sleep if you’re cold. It’s going to snow tonight, and these windows are terrible.”
“You… you pre-heated the bed for me?”
That made him chuckle, his hand finding my hip as I scooted under the blanket beside him. “Seventy-two degrees or higher for a happy Elora pastry.” I nestled in right next to him, practically purring when the heat from the pads hit my skin. Damn, that was cozy. My eyelids instantly became just a little heavier. “You sure you can get away with sleeping here, Pix?”
It was officially hard to keep my eyes open. “I usually work from the coffee shop in the mornings,” I said with a yawn, stretching before nestling into his side as he scooted down to cradle me against him. “I figure as long as I pop in with my laptop long enough for the baristas to remember me coming by, then nobody will be any wiser.”
“Okay. I’ll wake you up with me.”
“Mmmkay.” My eyes sealed shut, head lolling against his chest, muscles melting between the snuggles and warm bed. Voice barely audible, I mumbled, “Whatcha’ reading?”
“Brandon Sanderson.”
“Dragons?” Even my ears thought I sounded drunk. Could you get drunk on happy?
“Sometimes,” he chuckled. “Goodnight, Pix.”
“Tell me about the dragons tomorrow?”
“Okay, baby.” The heat of his palm settled against my cheek, pulling a contented little hum from my chest as he pushed the hair away. “Sleep well.”