Chapter Eight
Joy
I’d never had sex like this before. He was over me, then inside me. He was pleasuring me with his tongue, then exciting the deepest nerves in my core with his cock. All I could do was lie there and react as he worked me closer and closer to completion.
Once my orgasm crested and started to fade, the sensation changed. It was electric and addictive. I started moving my hips to meet his, bending my knees toward my face. His breath caused my stray curls to dance across my collarbone.
He dropped his forehead to my shoulder, his skin damp with sweat and smelling like wine and man.
“Fuck, Joy, you don’t know how long I’ve wanted this.
” He barely finished his sentence before his pace stuttered, and he was cursing against my skin.
The orgasm he had given me was still fading as he found his release.
After a few more hard thrusts, he stilled and lowered himself beside me.
My legs were wrapped around his arms and shoulders, and it took a minute to untangle us.
Finally, we lay on our backs, side by side, with me tucked under his arm and the fire dancing beside us.
After a few moments of silence, I became very aware of the fact that I A) was naked, B) was lying on the floor, and C) had just had amazing sex with a man I’d crushed on for years.
I wasn’t sure if it was just the wine and the isolation or if it held the same significance for him as it did for me.
I was hesitant to ask too many questions. To take this peaceful post-coital bliss and douse it with a nice, thorough coating of reality.
“I can hear you thinking over there.”
I rolled to my side to face Alden, sliding my hand over his chest and nuzzling into his shoulder. “Can’t help it. You said I didn’t know how long you had wanted this. Was that just sex talk, or was it true?”
He sighed and rolled so we were face-to-face. His softened cock lay against his thigh, and the firelight cast shadows over his face. “I meant it. Ever since, high school, I always had a thing for you.” His cheeks went a little pink.
“Alden, are you blushing?”
He smiled and rolled to hide his face in the carpet.
“Oh my goodness, what is this side of you? Where is the melancholy grump who answered the door?” I dug my fingers into his sides, tickling him until he rolled and I could see his face.
His skin was hot and smooth under my hands.
Without my permission, images of the life we could have had here in this cabin danced behind my eyes.
Ample time and privacy for just the two of us.
Cuddling on the couch, talking about books.
And mindblowing sex whenever we wanted it.
“Okay, I’ll talk. No more tickling.” He cleared his throat. “The thing I want to say at age forty-two that I never said at age eighteen is that I have a crush on you, Joy.”
My heart melted into a little puddle of goo.
“You are so opposite to me that I’m fascinated and awed by everything you do.
You’re the fun to my practical, the whimsy to my hardheaded realism.
” He ran a hand through his hair. His face was perfectly serious.
He was a man who had come home to recover from a career of seeing the worst of humanity.
Trying to put positive feelings into words was hard for him.
I decided to put him out of his misery. “I’ve had a crush on you since then, too, you know.”
His brows fell. “You have? Why?”
I burst out laughing. “Alden, you don’t see how special you are.”
“I’m a cranky old man in a cranky middle-aged man’s body.”
I shook my head. “No, you’re thoughtful and deep. You care about people and feel what they feel. You’re smart and frankly smoking hot, and I may have come here tonight hoping we’d end up exactly where we are now.”
“On the floor?” He smirked.
I smacked his shoulder. “No, naked and having this conversation about the past and, I don’t know, maybe about the future too.” I resisted the urge to fiddle with my fingers. I needed him to know I was serious about everything I was saying.
He reached out and swiped his thumb over my cheek before cradling my jaw and bringing his mouth to mine.
He kissed me slowly and deeply. Not a frantic rush of hormones and adrenaline but a thorough mapping of every part of me.
His stubble tickled my face. I wrapped my hand around the warm skin of his shoulder and pulled him closer until my breasts pillowed against his chest.
Abruptly, he pulled back. “If I keep kissing you, I’m going to forget what I wanted to say. “I’m glad you came here tonight, hiding your ulterior motive behind a stack of porn books.”
“Hey, it’s not porn. We readers prefer the term cliterature.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head in mock exasperation. “What am I going to do with you?”
“What do you want to do with me?” I tried to make the question sound teasing, but he still hadn’t gotten to the point. I kind of had to pee, so he needed to make it soon.
He smirked. “I want to talk more about that future stuff you talked about. To spend more time with you and get to know you again. I hope you’ll understand that I’m still processing some of the things I’ve reported on, but that I want to move forward with life, preferably with you in it.
More than anything, I want to enjoy Christmas Eve for the first time in a long time. ”
“That sounds perfect.”
A hum and a click sounded in the background, and suddenly, the lights came back on.
“Good timing, what do you say we get off the floor and go take a nice hot shower?”
I nodded quickly.
He got to his feet, then pulled me to mine, pushing me toward the shower from behind.