Her Sweet Cake

7. Trudy

CHAPTER 7

Trudy

W e put ourselves back to rights as best as we can, taking advantage of the restroom facilities. Then we stumble into my kitchen, laughing and teasing with an ease and a familiarity I've never felt with anyone in my life.

It feels like we've done this a million times already, as opposed to this being our first date –and what a first date! We sure did everything backwards, leaving the actual talking last, but I can't say I mind.

We still managed to share so much, even if it was seemingly only on a physical plane because there is no way you can feel that connected to someone and get so much pleasure in their arms if the things you do to each other don't transcend the material level somehow.

I drag him behind me past the preparation area, pulling on his large hand until we reach the freezer where, only this afternoon, I set my anti-Valentine’s cakes to rest.

I turn to look at him. “Let me guess, in the mood for some chocolate?” I ask, grinning.

Jordan smiles down at me before pulling me in his arms for a quick hug and a kiss on the nose. "You know me too well, my little cupcake."

I feel myself blush at the silly term of endearment.

I know not all women like being called anything but their names, but I'm not one of them. I really like the idea of being special to someone –especially this someone .

I know it's pointless to compare, but my ex never called me anything but Trudy or Gertrude if he was pissed at me. I hated it. But every time I tried to introduce terms of endearment into our relationship, he would shake his head and put me down with one of his patronizing looks as he told me we weren't high school kids and pet names were stupid. I remember how sad he made me feel, not only because he disregarded my wishes for that level of intimacy between us but more so because he ridiculed my need for such things.

I might not know Jordan that well, but I just know in my heart that he would never treat me like that, even with his take-charge ways. He would never put me down or make me feel like an idiot for wanting more than he was ever willing to give. He is such a giver!

And such a thoughtful lover, too, it seems.

It tickles me freaking pink that he is such a sweetheart and has all these cute little names for me behind that glowering, no-nonsense attitude of his.

I don't think many people are lucky enough to have ever met and spent quality time with the Jordan that's with me tonight. In fact, I don't think most people even know the tough CEO exterior actually contains this big marshmallowy heart. I love that I'm going to be one of the lucky few. I really feel privileged.

I turn back to inspect the cakes through the cold glass. “Triple chocolate Pan di Spagna with a salty caramel ganache over it and a creamy-crunchy hazelnut mousse filling?” I ask.

Jordan actually moans, touching his heart. The gesture makes me laugh so hard that I snort and cover my mouth in surprise.

“So this is your secret plan, then, put me deeper under your spell with salty caramel and talk of creamy fillings?”

I hear my former monster-in-law's voice in my head sniping at me, saying that snorting is not ladylike, and I squelch it down, laughing harder. She's not here to cramp my style anymore.

"You found me out, Mr. Arrow!" I remark, nodding thoughtfully.

He chuckles again; the sound –rich, deep, and intoxicating– is like a coffee-flavored piece of toffee candy wrapped up in dark chocolate and goes straight to all my girly bits, making my cheeks flush for an entirely different reason.

Jordan’s arms sneak around me to push my back to his hard front when I spin toward the freezer again.

I open the door, and he reaches around me one-armed to pick up the platter with the cake.

“Let me, princess, it’s cold,” he whispers, dropping a kiss over my head, and my stupid heart dances in my chest to its own joyful beat.

“You’re such a gentleman!” I tell him, turning toward him again.

He gives me a slow, long once-over that makes me tremble before turning those impossibly blue sexy peepers of his back to mine with a lopsided smirk that’s so hot I don’t know how the cake on his open palm isn’t melting in a puddle on the platter, since I sure am.

He leans close to me, his beard tickling the shell of my ear along with his warm breath as I lead him out front again, so we can sit at one of the tables.

Jordan slides the platter with the cake onto the counter and turns to look at me again.

"We'll see if you still think I'm a gentleman after I'm done with you tonight, baby. I don't plan to be very gentlemanly with you in my bed, but don't worry, I will make you love every second of it…"

A little shaky breath leaves my mouth at the tone of his voice, so gravelly and rough. I feel it singe all over my skin and making the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“Is this a promise or a threat?” I ask, teasingly, not even knowing where this risk-taking part of me has come from.

He cups the side of my head in a gentle caress, his big palm splayed on my jaw, his long fingers stroking me tenderly as he tilts my face upward.

“It’s whatever you want it to be, babygirl,” he tells me softly, his hot breath bathing my lips.

I gasp, my mouth gently touching his. “Can it be both?” I ask.

Jordan smiles on my lips. "That can be arranged," he says, pulling me into his arms for a crushing kiss.

His tongue plays with mine, our mouths clashing together until we can no longer breathe. We pull apart just slightly, gasping on each other’s lips, me barely standing on my toes as he keeps me almost suspended with the strength of his hold.

I gulp down air, splaying my hands over his muscled pecs. “Let’s… let’s have some cake before it melts.”

He kisses the tip of my nose and then lets me slide back down the hard length of his body until both my feet are firmly planted on the floor again.

We pick up plates, glasses, and two sets of silverware and head toward one of the closest breakfast tables, me carrying the cake this time because Mr. Protective deemed it lighter than the other stuff we need to bring over. How thoughtful is he?

How can someone as big as a bear and with such a commanding presence manage to pull off cute I will never know, nevertheless, Jordan seems to be able to effortlessly do it every single time I least expect it.

He goes from masterful to adorable in seconds. I can barely keep up with it. His sweetness makes my head spin and my heart bit a little faster every time he looks at me.

We make quick work of setting the table for us and then of cutting into the chocolaty concoction.

Jordan is just like me when it comes to portion size, and so we end up with two enormous slices in front of us and less than half the cake left on the platter.

I raise an eyebrow at him as I watch him plate the gigantic slices. He actually blushes under my stare, his ears turning pink.

He shrugs. “What? We need the calories, baby,” he says, sounding so defensive about his legendary sweet tooth that I have to laugh.

He joins me in my humor and slaps the bigger slice on my plate.

“That’s too big!” I protest.

Jordan shakes his head. “No such a thing as too big when it comes to certain things, my sweet.”

I snort-giggle at his double-entendre, playfully slapping at his chest.

He gives a side look to the rest of the cake that makes me laugh harder. “Looks like this dessert is going to have to stand in for dinner, babe. We’re polishing it all off, and then it’s to my place. It’s starting to really come down, and I don’t want to risk driving in that with you, especially not this late… we could end up stranded in the woods.”

I plant my fork in the cake and grin at him, bringing a bite to my lips.

“Well, I think we could come up with a couple of ways to keep warm if that happened, right?” I say around the chocolaty morsel, loving that I can be myself around him and not feel self-conscious about anything.

“Even more than a couple, sugar!” He grins, taking a bite from his plate, and then quickly steals a forkful from my own, moaning at the taste and making me laugh again.

We eat, joke and tease each other for a while, really coming close to actually finishing the cake that could have fed five people easy.

Then Jordan leans in to wipe a little bit of hazelnut cream from the corner of my mouth with his thumb. He brings it to his mouth and proceeds to lick it clean, eyes on mine all the time and a serious air about him. His hand comes down to hold mine on top of the table, his fingers caressing my own.

“I’m really sorry about tonight, baby. I wanted everything to be perfect. We’ll go out on a real date another time, okay?”

I smile up at him, my fingers interlacing with his. “What are you talking about?! Tonight was perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

He looks doubtful, and I shake my head.

“I mean it, Jordan! It was like every girl’s romantic dream!”

One of his eyebrows arches up sexily, and I giggle.

“Okay, maybe slightly hotter than your average romantic first date, but that’s just the cherry on top!”

He gives me a little smile. “You really wouldn’t change a thing?”

I shrug. “Well… maybe just one teensy tiny detail,” I tease.

Jordan frowns, one hand still holding mine while the other plays with his fork.

He looks utterly earnest and eager to give me whatever it is that I desire.

I feel myself falling a little more in love with him.

I let go of my fork and caress the side of his face, fingers catching in his full, dark beard. “I would have made this all happen earlier if I could…”

He nods in understanding, smiling. “Like, maybe, yesterday?”

I smile back. “Yeah…”

Jordan looks down at the remnant of the cake, his eyes lingering on the icing decoration of little decapitated stuffed teddy bears, skulls, and tiny baby Cupids with arrows planted between their eyes. He picks up a little emo-looking Cupid with black wings that’s wearing a little crossed heart over his chest, designed to look like a red stop sign, and then laughs.

“I can see that my being waylaid in Denver has made Valentine’s Day quite unpopular around these parts…”

I giggle, spearing through the prongs of my fork a tiny zombie teddy bear with skeletal arms. “Maybe just a little bit…”

Jordan nods again. “That’s why I came up with Post-Valentine’s Day, baby. I’ve had you pegged as a romantic from day one, what with the name of your bakery and how much of a sweetheart you are… I knew destroying our first Valentine’s Day together was gonna be a grievous offense!”

I bring the teddy bear to my mouth and take a small bite, decapitating him. “Did you, now?!”

“Yes, I couldn’t wait for next year to come around to make it up to you… that’s why I made this holiday up just for the two of us. I wanted us to have this moment right now… so I could be your Valentine, and you could be mine… only kinda late.”

I shiver lightly when he turns my hand around, and his fingers start to stroke my palm, slowly moving up and down from my wrist to the inner base of my fingers where the skin is thinnest.

How could I possibly answer that?

I have no words.

What do you say to a man so worried about your delicate heart that he would come up with a new holiday just for us to share?

Zero. Zilch.

There’s only one way to make him feel what’s in my heart, and I do just that by leaning over the table, grabbing the sides of his head, and kissing him as hard as any woman has ever kissed a man.

It took us over an hour to reach Jordan’s property up the mountain.

He told me that, under better weather conditions, the drive from Sylvan Creek is about twenty-minute long, but the snow has been coming down in thick sheets all evening, and by the time we left my bakery at half past nine, there seemed to be over ten inches of new fresh powder blanketing the frozen layer that fell during the afternoon, so we had to slog along very carefully.

Visibility was very low, and Jordan said he would not even have risked the trek back to his little cabin in the woods at all and that it would have been more prudent to simply spend the night in my tiny house and even tinier bed or maybe book a suite in one of the local B we both know what’s waiting for us once we reach his place, but there’s no nervousness, no worries in me. There’s just a building dreamy anticipation thrumming deep into my veins.

It’s another five minutes or so before I finally do see Jordan’s little cabin, and my jaw almost touches my knees because what I see in front of my eyes is nothing like what I pictured. I point in front of us through the windshield.

“That’s what constitutes a cute little log cabin to you?” I ask, turning to look at him.

He chuckles and then shrugs. "Well, I call it my little log cabin, but yeah… my mom and sister had more than a little bit to do with the project, and maybe they went slightly overboard with things," he explains, blushing a bit.

“ Slightly overboard with things?!" I repeat, grinning at him as he slows the truck under the enormous veranda off to the side of the giant wraparound porch protected from the snow by a full glass enclosure.

I gaze up and up to take in the fairytale-like beauty of the enormous chalet that could pass for a small charming modern mountain resort any day with its sturdy-looking but elegant log exterior, the absolutely amazing glass sunroom made by the porch itself, and the expansive picture windows gracing the dark golden facade.

He sighs, letting go of a little chuckle. “Okay, a lot overboard with things. Up until I met you, I thought it was definitely too much space for a single man but not for a guy with a wife and a big family, right? Think about the time we’ll save by not having to add to the structure…”

I feel myself blushing to the top of my ears.

Is he really saying what I think he’s saying?

I wish I wasn’t too chicken to ask.

Jordan unfastens his seatbelt and turns to me.

He reaches behind me to unbuckle the seatbelt he himself pulled over my chest in Sylvan Creek and then gets out and goes around to my door to open it for me, making me smile as I thank him.

He picks me up to help me get out of the massive truck, and we both laugh as he stumbles in the packed snow.

“I’ll walk you inside, and then I’ll go put my truck in the garage… it’s not too far from the cabin, but it can be a bit of a trek in this snow…”

“Okay,” I say, icy air puffing out of my lips in a cloud.

I throw one arm around him, holding onto his side and smile up at him when I feel his cold lips kiss my cheek as he fixes my fluffy hat more firmly over my head. I take a step and feel myself sink down, the snow coming almost to my knees in one place.

I try to pull my foot free and end up crashing into Jordan’s back as we both laugh like kids.

We stumble in the snow together, our feet plummeting past the fresh layer of powdery snow until we hit the frozen one underneath.

I feel the cold of it seeping through the soles of my boots and my thick socks and wince, looking up at Jordan again. He’s a giant of a man and used to live in Colorado, but he’s still in his elegant office bespoken suit, coat and shoes. His feet must be freezing. I do my best to walk faster, sinking deeper into the snow and dragging the poor man down with me with every step I take until we’re both laughing so hard that there are tears freezing in the corners of my eyes.

A few feet from the porch, Jordan realizes there’s no way my short ass can keep up with his much larger stride and gives up on the idea altogether.

He stops, fishes a controller from one pocket, opens the electronic sliding doors of the glass enclosure, and then puts both arms around me and picks me up like I weigh nothing, holding me protectively to his chest, the flaps of his coat around me.

“Put me down, Jordan! You’re going to pull something!”

He slows down a bit but never stops and gives me a glowering look that I’m sure would scare grown men into tears but has quite the opposite effect on me, and I shiver for an entirely different reason than the cold now.

“You kidding right?! You’re such a tiny thing, baby… I can carry you just fine…”

“Even with all my extra padding?” I joke. I always cover up my unease about my weight with humor; it’s an automatic defense mechanism at this point.

“You mean your jacket, scarf, and such, right, cupcake?” he asks, and I give him a look.

“Come on, you know what I mean… I’m too heavy to be carried around like this. I’m f–”

“Don’t say that!” he interrupts, looking down at me, his blue-blue eyes blazing, hands clutching me to him a little more as if to protect me from my own words.

I sigh, looking away from his intense gaze. “Okay, not the f-word , let’s say big … I’m big then…”

"Baby, kill that noise. I'm the one who's big. You're petite. What kind of man can't carry someone as tiny as you? You're not heavy, what the fuck?! You're curvy, you're thick, sure… but heavy, no way… okay?"

Jordan talks as he trudges toward the three little steps that lead to the porch and then strides over them without even sounding a little winded. I hold him a little tighter with every word he says.

I don’t have a problem with my weight per se. I mean, I would if it impacted my health and stuff, but I’m perfectly fine and feel energetic and like nothing can stop me, so there’s no issue there or even with my self-image.

It’s difficult to tell myself that there’s nothing wrong with me, and believe it’s true, even if I do like my figure, when pretty much ninety-nine percent of the people I met, men and women alike, tend to make me feel ashamed for being bigger than average.

I let go of a shaky breath and watch Jordan as the air wafts out of his lips in a billow of white.

“Okay,” I whisper, and it’s enough for him.

He leans down to kiss the tip of my nose playfully and then moves his lips down to mine, making me giggle; everything else forgotten as we step onto the porch.

I nuzzle into his neck, inhaling the manly, outdoorsy fragrance of his illegally hot cologne. I tickle the naked skin peeking from the gap between his cashmere scarf and the collar of his jacket, and he shivers all over, stumbling a little.

"Your nose's an icicle, baby!" he complains, and we both laugh again.

We're safe from the worst of the blizzard still raging beyond the now-closed glass doors of the conservatory and Jordan puts me back on my feet.

I look at the chalet's entrance and then back at him. "This place is absolutely gorgeous…"

He smiles. “Thanks. Let me get you inside… you must be freezing!”

I nod. “And you, too!”

He laughs, opening the doors, and we walk in.

I can only stare.

There are no words. The cabin is as incredible on the inside as you would think by seeing the outside of it.

We shake the snow off our shoes and take them off on the carpet, and I look around in awe, standing on the dark, lustrous parquet in my stockinged feet.

I feel warmth seep into my cold toes and realize the floors are probably heated.

Jordan orders the house to turn on the gas fireplace in his booming baritone and then takes off my jacket.

“What do you think, cupcake? You like it?”

I open my arms as I look once more around the main living room.

The whole floor is conceived as a gigantic open space surrounded by wood and glass. You can see the property for miles and miles while the snow dances against the glass as if projected on it.

A vaulted ceiling soars above us, illuminated by the soft, cozy glow of rustic pendant lights. The shadows of the trees outside cast intricate patterns over the exposed wooden beams. The large fireplace is glowing in the center of a plush-looking gigantic sitting area done in shades of dark blue and made up of an enormous sectional sofa, two armchairs, and a chaise lounge, all adorned with soft throws and cushions. The final perfect touch is high above our heads and nestled between the exposed logs, a gleaming strip of glass ceiling revealing the darkness of the snowy sky.

I smile at him. “It’s the most beautiful little cabin in the world. In fact, to tell you the truth, if you had not told me that your sister and mom helped you with the decor, at this point, I would be more than a little suspicious you might be hiding a girlfriend or a wife somewhere. It’s masculine and very… you , but you can definitely see that there’s a woman touch sprinkled around.”

Jordan chuckles. “Yeah, that could not be helped, babe. There was no stopping them once I made the mistake of asking for help.”

I laugh at the mock-terrified expression on his face.

He opens his arms for me, and I step into them.

“But, seriously, we can change everything you want,” he whispers, stunning me.

I shake my head against his chest, rising on my tiptoes to kiss his bearded chin as he hugs me closer.

“I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s perfect…”

For a moment, we only hold each other, and I sigh contently; then Jordan tugs my hat off my head, kisses the top of my hair, and pulls away.

“Gotta get the truck in the garage, baby. I’ll be right back. Make yourself comfortable,” he drops my hat on one of the armchairs and turns toward the door.

I reach out a hand to stop him, holding him back by the shoulder. “Wait, love! Put some boots on first. Your feet will turn to ice if you go back outside in those shoes!”

I feel myself go up in an inferno of flames at the way the endearment just rushed out of my mouth.

Now, I’ve scared him off for sure!

There’s no hiding how deep my feelings for him are, and he has said things tonight… but calling him love might be a little too much even for him.

Jordan turns to give me such a scorching-hot look that I feel all my doubts melt away like snow in the sun. Then, he plants a kiss on my lips that nearly makes me faint.

Sometime later, I find myself sitting on the sofa, no longer wearing my bomber jacket and scarf. I'm completely out of breath, my heart is racing, butterflies are dancing the rumba in my tummy, and there's an insistent pulsing between my legs, and I have no idea how I got here.

The kiss was so hot and felt so amazing it actually made me lose a chunk of time, and it must have been a significant chunk, too, because Jordan's already opening the front doors with heavy boots on his feet.

Wow.

I didn’t know stuff like this could really happen!

I sit here, trying to make sense of the whirlwind of emotions running through me. It’s the first moment I’ve got to myself since Jordan stepped into my bakery at closing time, and my brain is attempting to process the happenings of the last few hours with almost zero success.

I started the day in utter despair, torturing myself with what-ifs I was too afraid to even put into words…

What if he doesn’t feel the way I feel?

What if I misunderstood everything between us?

What if he is just a natural flirt, and then when he realizes I’m hooked, he decides to pull back because he doesn’t want to have to reject me?

What if he doesn’t ever step foot in my bakery again?

So many what-ifs , and then, fast-forward to tonight, and here I am, having shared some of the hottest moments of my life with him, still reeling from another one of his killer kisses as I sit on the lavish sofa in his quote/unquote cabin.

I can’t make sense of anything right now.

There’s just too much for my mind and heart to process. But even with this rush of messy feelings driving me crazy, I still somehow know deep inside of me that this night is going to be more than my heart could ever dream or hope for.

I can hear this soft but sure whisper in the most recondite, secret place of my soul. It’s telling me that, as soon as Jordan comes back, something momentous will happen, and I don't just mean physically; I don't just mean sex.

I mean that I can feel this inexplicable certainty crackling all over my skin.

This unshakable belief that, this time, with this one man, everything will finally be real, and that tonight is going to be the start of something that's gonna change both of our lives forever and I can't wait.

I should be scared, maybe, or at the very least nervous, but I'm beyond that. There's this joyful anticipation that's been living inside of me since the first moment I laid eyes on him two weeks ago, and this is the night that anticipation finally turns into reality.

A few moments later, I hear the door opening again.

I turn away from my watch of the flurries of snow outside one of the large wall-windows and bring my eyes toward Jordan as he steps back into the room.

We just look at each other for a moment, and then he smiles at me and starts to take off his long overcoat dusted with snow.

I stand up and walk toward him, my hands reaching up to flick the crystals of snow clinging to his dark hair and beard away, but he's too tall for me, and he has to stoop a little.

We laugh, eyes on each other as he drops his scarf and removes his boots, leaving them on the mat.

Then we’re hugging and just like that, we’re kissing again, unable to resist the undeniable pull between us.

We stand there and kiss and kiss, the world spinning around me.

I love it that once his lips touch mine, no matter the hunger behind his caressing hands and the way he clutches me to him, the kiss goes on and on as if there were nothing else waiting for us.

As if kissing were the main objective and not just something to use as a stepping stone to something else; not something to use to rev up my engine.

No… this man kisses me like kissing me is the main event, and the world is about to end two seconds from now.

So, as he keeps seeking out my mouth with his, my tongue with his, I’m the one who breaks the kiss and looks up into his heated gaze, panting and still hanging from around his neck.

“Bed,” I gasp out, my heart thundering madly in my chest.

Jordan looks down at me so hotly it’s a miracle I don’t melt right here and right now.

“Are you sure?” he asks, voice raspy and breath as ragged as my own, big hands stroking my lower back and one of my hips in circles.

I nod, and he just picks me up, again like I’m nothing but a feather.

He pushes me against his firm, big body, making me feel so protected that I know that if I could get away with it, I would never leave the circle of his arms ever again.

He strides through the ample open space of the lower floor and then climbs the wooden stairs; eyes on mine all the way as he cradles me, and then we're standing in his darkened bedroom.

My eyes take in the masculine, almost spartan décor, and widen onto the positively enormous sleigh bed dominating the space.

He walks to the bed with me still firmly held in his arms and then lowers us both to it, his lips clashing with mine, our kiss going from zero to sixty in the span of a breath.

Jordan rolls us until he's on his back, half sitting up against the plush headrest, and I'm on top of him. My legs are straddling his hips, my breasts are smashed against his hard, burly chest, and his arms are tightly coiled around my waist while his hands are clutching at me like he's afraid I'm about to disappear.

Our lips never come apart as our tongues keep on sparring.

I feel my nipples become hard and achy with every push of the growing erection jerking in the cradle of my thighs and pushing against my needy core through our suddenly so-very stifling clothes.

My hands explore the sinewy muscles of his large back, fingers sinking into the fabric of his shirt as I move them down his shoulders and then back to the front and down his chest. I work rapidly to unfasten the buttons of his shirt.

His hands are all over me, caressing, kneading, and arousing every inch of my body and turning my already damp panties into an even bigger, wetter mess.

Jordan quickly gets rid of my jumper, leaving me once more only in my bra, before that's also ripped away from my body and thrown over my back somewhere.

I need to feel his naked skin against mine immediately.

I can't wait a minute longer.

I pull the flaps of his shirt open and push them away from his arms, leaving him in his undershirt only for a moment before I’m rolling it up his taut, sculpted abdomen and then upward over his chest and finally off of him. Our lips barely part to allow us a bit of space to discard our clothing before our mouths surge once more against each other.

One of Jordan's large hands slides away from my back and upward until its fingers are buried in my hair. He makes a fist around my curls and grips me there, making me moan into our kiss when I feel him give me a gentle but firm pull as he tilts my head upward to deepen our devouring kiss even further. His tongue chases mine backward from his mouth and past my lips, and I feel my body melt against his hardness.

I just discovered that there’s an invisible line that I never knew about running from my hair to my clit and touching every nerve ending in between.

I feel that tiny part of me pulse with hunger and desire in time with every tightening of his grip on my hair; my center clenching on itself, the emptiness I feel becoming almost unbearable.

I want him inside of me.

Now.

No games.

No teasing.

I break the kiss, gasping for air and my eyes get captured by his smoldering stare.

“Jordan, I need… I want…” I moan again, rocking my hips up into his driving length when I feel his hands start to knead my breasts and pluck my nipples.

“What, baby? What do you want?” he asks, his voice low and husky.

I take a breath, and then, grasping his face to pull it down to mine for another kiss, I murmur my answer on his lips. “Everything. I want everything.”

He gives me a soft kiss, one hand stroking my cheek gently, the other already working to pull down my pants.

“Then that’s what you’ll get, sweetheart. I’ll always give you whatever you want,” he grunts, pressing his still-covered erection against my core and making me gasp and rock up to meet his bucking hips.

Our lips meet again in a fiery kiss as we tear at what’s left of each other’s clothes, not stopping until we touch hot bare skin.

Jordan’s hands grasp my wet panties, that I can feel are plastered to my soaked lower lips, and yanks them swiftly off of me, while one of my own hands sneaks between us and slides downward to undo his belt’s buckle.

He helps me out, pulling his zipper down himself when my fingers struggle to push it past the hardness of his rock-hard cock.

I feel it spring free between us and slap heftily against my mound, and he hisses when I run my knuckles over the swollen head and then grunts when my fingers reach down to caress his heavy balls.

I feel his large hand splayed over my mound, and then one of his rough fingers slips inside of me, making me jump a little in surprise.

“So snug, baby… can’t wait to feel you milk my cock! But first, I need another taste of your sweetness on my tongue,” he groans and, keeping his eyes on mine, he slips his forefinger out of me and brings it to his lips.

I watch, enthralled, as Jordan eyes briefly fall close as he savors my taste.

Holding himself up on his elbows, he looks down at me. His gaze burns me from head to toe as he takes into my full nakedness with an expression I can only describe as pure delight.

I blush under his intense blue eyes, my heart thundering madly in my chest as my lower body undulates against his.

I love the way his eyes study me. It is as if he doesn't know where to start, like I discompose him, and I'm the prettiest thing he's ever seen.

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful, cupcake. I’m gonna love you all night long. I won’t stop until we both pass the fuck out, but I need to make sure you’re ready to take my cock first,” he growls.

“Jordan, please! I’m ready! I’m so ready, please…”

God, this man could kill me with words alone!

I tremble as I run my eyes all over his large, muscular body, biting my lower lip in desire.

He is so hot that I don’t have the words to describe it.

I’m positive I could come just from lying under him as he slowly scorches me with the hunger in his eyes.

He nuzzles down my throat, and I feel my center breathing against the underside of his length, still nestled between my lower lips.

He gives me more of his weight, his lips peppering the side of my neck and my clavicle with hot little kisses and nibbles, his beard tickling my sensitive skin.

He moves his mouth lower down the slope of my shoulder and then to the side, not stopping until he reaches my breasts. He pulls one of my tight nipples into his mouth, pulling on it firmly while licking the tip with his tongue; the sensation is so intense and pleasurable that it makes me shake all over as I moan his name like a prayer.

One of his big hands reaches down to caress and knead the flesh of my bottom, while the other treats the breast he's not suckling to the same brand of delightful torture; the feel of his rough fingers cutting the breath in my lungs.

All the while, his large, erect cock is slicking back and forth between my puffy pussy lips, using my own wetness to tease my clit with every pass of its hot, throbbing crown and making my core clench in need.

“Please, Jordan! Inside me… get inside me… now!” I moan, my eyes falling closed for a moment.

He covers me completely, my much smaller frame disappearing under his large body as he cages me in, pressing me into the bed.

“I can’t believe you’re here with me, Trudy. I’ve been wanting to sink myself deep in your sweet cunt since the first time I saw you. No one in my life has ever made me want this as much as you do…”

“I know exactly what you mean,” I murmur, smiling up at him, reaching with one hand to caress his face.

I might have put it less crudely if I talked about it first, but I know exactly how he feels because he makes me feel the same way.

He rocks into me, whispering my name softly; the ridge of his erection bumping against the side of my clit and ripping another strangled moan from my throat.

I feel the large blunt head of his cock splitting my opening as he moves both hands under my bottom to keep me steady for his penetration, and I just stop breathing altogether.

Jordan’s forehead drops to my shoulder as he presses his body down on mine, guiding my thighs higher around his hips, and then he enters me with a single, long, powerful thrust.

He drives into my core, slicing through my tight walls slowly but surely, never stopping until his impossibly hard erection is all the way inside of me, reaching so deep beyond what I knew to be possible that my eyes pop wide open in surprise.

My pussy tightens and throbs around his hardness, and we both release a desperate moan.

He stops moving, his hands drawing soothing circles on my lower back as he holds himself still inside of me.

I feel so full that I can barely breathe.

The intense stretching sensation is almost painful as he works his girth against my walls. Little skitters of pleasure are burning up and down my nerve endings, making my core clench and release around him as Jordan waits for me to get used to having him inside.

Jordan’s body is all bulging and tense muscles; his lower lip is caught between his teeth, and his eyes are scrunched closed as if he’s in pain while he focuses on fighting the instinct to move in and out of me.

I study his handsome face, my body undecided between making me feel bliss or pain, my soul yearning for us to be even closer, the very woman in me loving this moment.

“Baby, are you… okay?” he rasps out, eyes slowly coming open, one of his hands cupping my face.

I nod into his palm. “Yes, just… I feel… very full, but… it’s okay… you can… you can move now.”

He starts to do just that, but then I involuntarily tighten around him.

“Fuck, cupcake! Your pussy is so tight, goddammit! You feel amazing around me! So fucking perfect!”

My walls are clutching him like I don't want to let him out of me, not even for a second.

He groans low in his throat, his big body shaking, one of his hands gripping my hip so hard I'm sure there'll be a bruise there tomorrow; an idea that, incomprehensibly, gives me an inordinate amount of pleasure.

I feel Jordan's hold on me become more forceful as he pushes my body even closer to his own, splaying my legs open for his pleasure until there's not even an inch of space between us.

Then he begins to slam in and out of me hard and fast, his hips powerfully rocking me against the mattress as he pounds into me, his hands now clutching my thighs, his face planted into my neck as I throw my arms around his back, my fingers digging into his warm skin.

I feel his hot, ragged breath against the lobe of my ear before he nips me there, and I shiver all over, letting my lower body drive upward to meet him halfway as he fucks me frantically, almost like there's no tomorrow and maybe not even today, like there is nothing at all beyond us.

I seek his mouth with my own, turning his face toward mine.

I need his lips on mine.

We kiss madly, love and lust coursing in a double current between us as he drives into me over and over, shaking both the bed and me with the strength behind his powerful thrusts.

I hear someone screaming and moaning, and it takes me a second to realize I’m the one making these keening sounds as I egg him on, begging me to fuck me harder, deeper, even as my walls stretch beyond capacity and it feels like he’s fucking into my tummy as it is.

I want more.

I want everything, and I don't want him to hold back, so I meet him thrust for thrust, my nails scoring his back as he does what I ask and speeds up his pace, driving even harder into me. Every movement he makes is accompanied by a sexy animalistic grunt or growl that I feel down to my toes as pleasure bombards my senses.

One of his fingers slides between us to tap my clit over and over, and I feel my body crest into a climax that gives me no quarter, soaring into me fast and deep.

I don’t have time to get down from my high. His finger is still deliciously rubbing tight little circles on my clit, and he’s continuing to use his cock like a battering ram, fucking my pussy like he means to own it; his heavy balls slapping against my wet skin.

My core starts to breathe around his driving length again, and he hisses my name, fucking me even harder into the bed, the headrest slamming into the wall behind us with a continuous thud, thud, thud that seems the physical amplification of the sound of my own heart as his body gives mine more pleasure than I have ever known.

“Fuck, baby! I’m going to… fuck! I’m coming… come with me! I want you to come with me!” he snarls, his hips driving faster, his cock digging even deeper inside of me; that maddening finger on my clit never skipping a beat.

My body is only too eager to comply with his request, and before I know it, I’m in the middle of another mind-numbing orgasm, my cunt milking his cock over and over and ripping tortured groans from deep in his throat.

My moans of pleasure and his heated growls fill the night, covering even the high wind howling and blistering the woods outside the window as we make our own little perfect storm inside this bed.

I feel him go over just as the last dregs of my orgasm leave my body, his burning hot cum jetting inside of me and hitting my still contracting walls as he collapses on top of me with a final hiss of pleasure.

His large frame is shaking all over while my legs are still crisscrossed over his lower back, and my hands are clutching him to me like I’m afraid to let go, and maybe I really am.

Nothing good in my life ever lasts, and as always, I’m a bit scared that this happiness will be ripped away from me, and this time, I know I could not bear it if it happened.

I’ve survived a lot, and I’ve made myself strong over the years.

I’ve had to.

It was sink or swim for me from the start, and I swam no matter how agitated or murky the waters got, and yet, the idea of losing him breaks my heart.

It would be the one thing I wouldn’t be able to survive, no matter how strong I can be.

I’ve never loved anyone or anything like I love Jordan, and the fact that he can make me feel this way in a matter of weeks scares me a bit.

God only knows what’s in his power to make me feel if he sticks around.

My body starts to tremble for an entirely different reason.

“You cold, baby?” he asks, delivering a little kiss to my temple in the progress.

I nod, even if the cold I feel has nothing to do with the room's temperature.

Jordan rolls away from me, keeping me to his side so that I land onto his chest.

He frees the covers from under us that we didn’t even bother to turn over and kicks them a bit until they’re at our feet, before he pulls them up again, gathering them over us.

He hugs me closer, and when he speaks, his voice is nothing but a murmur against the skin of my forehead.

“Whatever just popped into your head just now, kill it, baby. It’s not true if it’s making you look this sad…”

I look at him in surprise that he could read me so well in such a short time.

I sigh. "I'm sorry…"

He shakes his head and kisses the side of my face, guiding my head onto his chest. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for…”

I huff out a breath, my finger drawing circles on his pec. “Yes, I have… we just made love for the first time, and it was amazing, and now… now I’m ruining the night.”

Jordan shakes his head again, his arms tightening around me.

“Yes, it was amazing, Trudy, and it still is. And I don’t mean just the sex… every moment we’ve spent together has been amazing. And you can say a happy thing or a sad one if you need to. It’s all good as long as we’re together. You haven’t ruined anything, babygirl. Just tell me what’s bothering you, okay?”

I move my head away from his chest to look at his face.

I shrug my shoulders, not sure how to share with him what’s going through my head. “I’m just… scared.”

He frowns down at me, still catching his breath. “Of what? This? Us?”

I shake my head. “No… I’m…”

I look away and then down.

Jordan cups my chin and raises my head until my eyes are staring into his. “Of this ending?” he asks softly.

I let go of a shaky breath, nodding, and when I feel tears stinging my eyes, I try to blink them away.

He pulls me down onto his body again, kissing my temple. “You’ve got nothing to fear then, baby, because this is never going to end. Never.”

I sigh. “You promise?” I ask, my voice low.

I feel another kiss on the corner of my mouth this time.

One of his large hands opens on my hip and strokes me there tenderly.

“I do. I’m never leaving and I’m never letting you go. And if you look into my eyes, if you look into yourself, you’ll know that what I’m saying is true. Not whatever you were thinking about before when you got scared. This… this is the only thing that’s true. You just have to trust it, trust me… can you do that?”

From my place on his chest, I look up at him and I can see all the things that I feel for him reflected back into those blue-blue eyes of his.

I don’t know how I know this, but this one man would never lie to me.

And he’s right: if I look into him, into me… there’s nothing to be scared of.

We’re in this together.

Now and forever.

I smile up at him. “I can do that, Jordan.”

He gives me a squeeze and then yawns.

“Good, now get your little ass to sleep for a bit, I’m not done with you by any means, and you need to rest some…”

My smile grows bigger in the dark, and my soul suddenly feels as light as a feather.

"Can't wait," I whisper, kissing just over his heart.

I’m in the protective cocoon of his arms, our sweaty skin sticking together, his hot seed slowly sliding down my inner thigh, and my heart just settles, the fear slipping off me and disappearing into thin air like a wisp of smoke, like it was never there to begin with, and all that’s left is us.

Just us today. Just us tomorrow.