Chapter 21
CY
Iwake with a shiver and lift my head, scanning my surroundings. Shit. The fire is almost out.
The last thing I remember is lying down after a particularly long game of Solitaire after Sydney fell asleep. Just for a minute.
Sydney is still curled up in a blanket next to me, lying on her side beneath my arm.
As much as I don’t want to let her go, it’s too fucking cold to let the fire go out.
I toss my blanket to the side, Gramps’s lectures about fire safety ringing in my head.
No blankets when you stoke a fire, Cyrus.
“Fuck, it’s cold,” I hiss as my bare feet make contact with the frigid hardwood floor.
Moving quickly, I toss another log on the fire, then use the poker to stoke the flames until they’re licking at the wood again.
I add another log, then check the status of our clothes.
My shirt is almost dry, but my pants are still damp, both Sydney’s jeans and sweater as well.
I turn the items so the wetter parts are closer to the fire, then dive back for the blanket.
With a breath out, I turn back to face Sydney. It’s then that I discover she’s awake and her eyes are traveling down my bare chest.
At the look of appreciation on her face, a different kind of heat hits me. She likes what she sees. It’s obvious by the way her tongue peeks out, slicking over her lips.
“Hi,” I whisper.
I don’t move, no longer cold. Not when I’m trapped in her heated gaze.
“Hi. Nobody ever showed up?”
She fell asleep after almost two hours of playing war and trading pieces of information back and forth.
I promised her I would keep an ear out.
But at some point I drifted off myself.
“I…guess not. I fell asleep too. Sorry.” I shiver.
She pats the blanket next to her. “It’s freezing out there. Come lay back down.”
I do, tugging the thick fabric back into place and soaking in the warmth still lingering beneath it. She turns, keeping her blanket in place, and lays her head against my chest.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I tell her, breathing in the faint traces of shampoo in her now dry hair.
“I was awake. Mostly.” She looks up at me and smiles.
I respond with an easy grin “I’ll see if the phone works in the morning. Hopefully by then the storm will have passed.”
She yawns, rubbing her cheek against the blanket covering my chest.
“Okay.”
It’s difficult having her so close. Her cheek on my chest alone has turned the semi I woke up with into a full hard-on. Like this, she can probably hear how hard my heart is pounding.
“Can I ask you something?” she murmurs.
I stare up at the dark ceiling. “Absolutely.”
“I’m surprised you wanted to play war and not something like strip poker.”
That wasn’t a question, but I can’t deny the thought crossed my mind for a half a breath. Am I that obvious?
“We were pretty much down to nothing anyway. Plus we needed the warmth of the blankets.”
“But you thought about it?”
Has she forgotten my confession from earlier?
“I did.” I shift slightly, trying to keep my erection to myself.
She looks up again, eyelids lowered.
“Maybe next time,” she murmurs.
Fuck.
“You’re killing me, BB.” Groaning, I tuck a piece of hair behind her ear with trembling fingers.
“You were honest with me. I’ll be honest with you,” she says.
I was probably too honest. But with her, it’s impossible to be anything but. It’s too easy to tell her exactly what I’m thinking. And that makes her incredibly dangerous to my sanity.
“I like being honest with you,” I admit.
That’s a fucking first.
Fuck, she has all the power in our dynamic and she doesn’t even realize it.
“In the interest of being honest, can I tell you something else?” she asks.
I nod, curiosity overwhelming me, my heart rate picking up again.
“I can’t sleep.”
My entire body deflates. That was not what I expected her to say. Not even close.
“It might help if you close your eyes and stop talking.” I give her a half smile so she knows I’m teasing.
She rolls her eyes. “I was awake when you got up. I’ve been lying here thinking about you.”
Me? That has my heart and my dick perking up. “What about me?” I inhale deeply, then hold my breath while I wait for her answer.
“Kissing you again.”
It’s been on my mind since our last kiss. In fact, my lips tingle with the need to kiss her again.
“All you have to do is ask,” I tell her.
Nervous energy courses through me while I wait.
“I want to, but…”
No, no buts.
Let me kiss you.
I send the words to the universe. A prayer, a plea, manifesting. Whatever it’s called.
“But what?”
“I want more than a kiss. And that’s complicated.”
Fuck, yes. It might be complicated, but nothing between us has been easy. Except the ability to forget everything else.
The battle raging between her body and her head plays out behind her eyes. It’s the same one I’ve been fighting.
“It is.” I nod. But it’s a complication I’m willing to figure out. For her.
“What if—” Her tongue peeks out, slicking along her lips. “What if we make an agreement?”
The flirtation in her tone sends a bolt of desire though me. “What kind of agreement?”
“One night. No strings. For the next few hours, the show doesn’t exist. You’re not Cyrus Darby and I’m not Sydney Turner. We’re just two people who want to be with each other. That is, if you want to be with me.”
I nearly laugh out loud. Isn’t it obvious how much I want her?
“So an agreement that what happens tonight stays here?” It’s impressive, really, that I can even form a coherent sentence when all the blood has rushed from my brain to my dick.
She nods. “I want you. I want to fuck you. I want you to fuck me. I’m tired of thinking about it. Of dreaming about it night after night. I want—”
Unable to wait anymore, I slam my mouth to hers. Her words are muffled as I yank her up, crushing my lips to hers. The next moan that leaves her is absorbed by mine as my tongue finds hers.
Fuck, she tastes like heaven.
“Are you sure?” I ask, ripping my mouth from hers and holding her chin so her eyes meet mine.
Panting, she kicks her blanket off, revealing miles of smooth skin glowing in the firelight. I release her chin and sit up so I can take her in, finding rose-tipped breasts and her bare pussy.
“No panties?” I croak out.
My dick kicks once, hard. Ready for action.
She slips a hand beneath my blanket and finds my cock through my boxer briefs. “I’ve never been one for underwear.”
Eyes rolling back, I groan. Fuck.
This woman is perfect for me.
It’s the last rational thought I have before all my mental energy is channeled into thoughts about every part of her I want to taste. And everything I want to do. The choices are overwhelming. The woman next to me is so goddamn beautiful. I don’t know what I want to do first.
I kick free of my blanket, and tuck my chin so I can watch the way she palms my dick where it splits my boxers.
“You’re going to be the death of me, BB.”
She squeezes gently, and a groan rumbles out of me.
I shift, dislodging her hand, then grasp her by the hips and drag her onto my lap. Like this, her breasts are at eye level, making my mouth water.
“Just so long as you fuck me before you die,” she breathes, and when I close my mouth around a nipple and suck hard, she drops her head back and moans.
Her hips spasm against mine, her back arching, pressing her breast farther into my mouth, her hands in my hair, caressing my cheek, cradling me to her chest.
Like I’m going fucking anywhere. Now that I’ve had a taste, nothing could tear me away.
“Fuck. Your mouth is amazing.” She whimpers as I bite down gently and tug.
“Not as amazing as your breasts,” I whisper, dragging my lips across her sternum so I can ravish the other perfect breast.
While I lick and suck, I pinch the other peak, tugging on it until she writhes against me.
“I need more,” she begs.
My dick surges against the warmth of her pussy. Holy fuck. I may have a lot of experience with women, but I’ve never had a woman tell me exactly what she wants.
Because not one of them was Sydney.
I fucking love how vocal she is.
“Boxers off.” She clutches my waistband and yanks, even though she’s sitting in my lap, impeding her own effort.
My lips find hers again, my tongue plundering her mouth as I shift her off my lap, teasing her pussy with my fingers. I’ve barely lifted my hips before she’s divested me of my boxers with enthusiasm.
With her hand wrapped around me once more, she drags her thumb over my crown, spreading the pre-cum around, her ministrations torturous, sending tingles up my spine and causing stars to pop into my vision. Fuck, nothing has ever felt as good as having her hands on me.
“Keep that up and it’s going to be over too soon,” I warn her. It’s an empty threat. I refuse to let it happen. I don’t care what I have to do.
“Promises, promises,” she teases.
I dip my hand between her thighs and quickly find her needy clit, swollen and begging for my attention. Her knees buckle, her hold on me barely keeping her upright as I explore, discovering all the places that make her gasp.
“Fuck,” she groans. “How are you so fucking good at that?”
I’d like to take credit for it, but this is unique to her. Or maybe the two of us. That same type of ecstasy echoes through me too, driving me higher, pulling me to her with a magnetism that has existed between us from the start.
Pressing a finger knuckle deep, I swipe my thumb over her clit, pulling the sweetest whimper from her.
“It’s good to know you’ve been thinking about this, BB.
Because so have I. Every morning in the shower, I imagine your hand wrapped around my cock.
I close my eyes and picture your body. My imagination didn’t do you justice, though, Sydney.
Not the sounds you make, not the way you feel…
the only thing I have yet to check is how you taste.
Is it better than I imagine too?” I growl against her neck, swiping my tongue at the pulse point of her throat.