Chapter 32
CHAPTER 32
NORA
I close my diary and tuck it into the nightstand drawer before flopping back onto the bed.
Atlas told me to rest, but my mind and body seem to be at odds.
Maybe a shower to split the difference, and if I can convince Atlas to join me, even better.
Rolling to my side, I huff and push myself into an upright position.
It’s wild how simple things, like getting out of bed or squatting down, are getting harder by the day, thanks to my ever-growing belly.
But if it means my little man is healthy, then so be it.
With one last lingering look at the bed, I stand and strip out of Atlas’s shirt leaving it on top of the covers for him to find, before heading into the bathroom.
I start the water and then move to the sink to brush my teeth and run a brush through my snarled locks—I’m guessing this is what the term sex hair means.
By the time it’s knot-free, steam hangs heavy in the air and the mirror is starting to fog.
Hot showers are still somewhat of a luxury for me, and I’m often torn between flying through it and indulging myself.
Today though, I absolutely plan on taking my time.
After all, Atlas can’t join me if I’m already finished.
I step under the spray, letting the scalding water soak me from head to toe.
Once my hair is thoroughly wet, I grab the fancy shampoo Atlas bought me and flip the cap, squirting a dollop into my palm before massaging it into my scalp.
As the soap lathers, my thoughts return to last night, to the way Atlas was singularly focused on me.
On my wants and my needs.
It sounds cheesy, but it’s almost as if he knows my body as well as I do.
Maybe better…
I release a contented sigh as I tip my head back to rinse the suds.
“Nora?” Atlas calls my name as he enters the bedroom, but I don’t reply.
I want him to come find me.
He knocks on the bathroom door and I have to bite my lower lip to stay quiet.
It’s silly—I want him to join me, but I’m too scared to come right out and ask.
“You good, Pip?”
Maggie and I have been working on me being more assertive—on not being afraid to ask for what I want.
And so, I suck in a calming breath and then say, “Actually, I need your help…”
The seconds creep by as I wait for him to open the door, but finally he does.
“What do you need?” he asks, his voice deliciously low.
I swear, just the sound of it sends a rush of warmth through me.
“You,” I whisper, halfway wondering if he can even hear me over the water.
Or maybe it’s the sound of my own heartbeat whooshing in my ears.
“What was that?”
I flex my fingers at my side, debating whether or not I can go through with this.
No. I refuse to allow fear to win.
He wants me, and I want him.
It’s as simple as that.
I reach out and grip the edge of the shower curtain, tugging it open, baring myself to him, wet and naked.
“I said I needed you.”
He swallows hard as he takes me in.
His pupils are blown wide with desire and his jaw tics.
“And how exactly do you need me, Nora?” He takes a step closer, and then another, until his feet are flush with the tub wall.
“Tell me.”
The cold air causes me to shiver and I try to cover myself, but Atlas is right there, stopping me.
“Don’t hide from me.”
“I’m not.” I duck my head, knowing that a part of me is.
“It’s cold.”
He smirks.
“The sooner you tell me what you need, the quicker we can warm you up.”
“I want you to join me,” I say, knowing full and well my entire body is glowing red with embarrassment.
“I can’t stop thinking about last night…”
Atlas looks torn, but at the sight of my pouting lower lip, his resolve breaks.
He shucks off his sweats and steps into the shower, tugging the curtain closed before crowding me against the cool tile wall.
“What about last night?” he asks, skimming his nose along the sensitive skin of my throat.
I shiver against him—this time with need.
“All of it. The way you made me feel.”
“How did I make you feel?” He scrapes his teeth lightly over my collarbone before kissing away the sting.
“Tell me. You know how much I love your words.”
“Like I was floating… and flying… and falling…” I sigh as he presses an open-mouthed kiss to my neck.
“All at once.”
He moves his mouth lower, sliding his lips over my sternum.
My back arches involuntarily, thrusting my chest into his face, but Atlas just rolls with it, skating his hands up and over my belly until he’s cupping my breasts.
“Such perfect fucking tits.” He jiggles them ever so slightly before sealing his lips around my right nipple.
He sucks hard and I gasp, a desperate moan lodged in my throat.
“Oh, God, Atlas…”
“You like that?” he asks, his lips brush my nipple with every word.
“So much, but…” I trail off as he moves to my other breast, flicking his tongue against the tip before drawing the hardened bud into his mouth.
“But what?” he asks.
His ability to multitask sure is something.
“More,” I beg shamelessly.
“I still want more.”
“Are you sore, pretty girl?”
“Only a little.” I twine my arms around his neck and pull him closer.
“Please, Atlas. Touch me and make me feel good.”
He brings his mouth up to mine, ghosting his lips over my own before sinking to his knees in front of me.
“Stand under the spray,” he orders.
“What are you doing?” I ask, moving directly under the stream of water.
My body warms instantly, but I feel bad.
He has to be freezing.
“I’m going to eat your pussy…” He leans forward and presses a kiss to the top of my mound.
“Until you’re delirious with pleasure and screaming my name.”
“Atlas,” I exhale his name as anticipation zips through me.
“Put your hands on my shoulders, Pip.”
The second my palms make contact, he’s on me, licking a long stripe up my center.
Instinctually, I try to clamp my thighs shut, but Atlas isn’t having it.
He growls and positions my left foot to rest on the lip of the tub.
“I wanna taste you, Nora. Wanna drown in your flavor.”
His filthy words send fire racing through me, and the rapid swipes of his tongue may as well be kerosene.
He licks and sucks at me, focusing on everything except where I need him the most. He’s teasing me, driving my need for him higher and higher, until finally, I can’t take it anymore.
“Atlas, please!” I cry, threading my fingers through his hair, holding his face to my slick center.
“Please.”
His shoulders shake with silent laughter, but he gives me what I need, alternating between flicking the tip of his tongue against my clit and sucking on the ultra-sensitive nub.
My legs shake as pressure builds low in my belly.
I’m teetering right on the edge, and more than anything, I want to topple over it and freefall into bliss.
Ever in tune with my body, Atlas knows I’m close and secures one hand around my left ankle, as if to brace me, while dragging the other one up my right leg, letting his fingers tease and explore until they’re poised at my entrance.
His eyes flash up to mine, seeking permission, and I nod eagerly.
He slides one finger into my tight channel, rubbing it against my inner walls in perfect time with his ministrations.
The combination of his hands and his mouth is exactly what I need, and as he adds a second finger, my orgasm barrels through me, and I come, screaming his name—just like he said I would.
I come back down to earth to find Atlas still kneeling between my legs, smirking up at me.
“You with me, pretty girl?”
A soft sigh escapes me as I nod.
“Yeah, I’m with you.”
“Good.” He presses a soft kiss to the inside of my left thigh before helping me plant my foot back onto the bathtub floor.
“Now let’s get you all cleaned up.”
As he stands, his erection brushes against me.
He’s hard enough to pound nails.
“What about you?” I ask, glancing down between us, where his dick is pointing at me like a heat-seeking missile.
He shakes his head and presses a soft kiss to my lips.
“This was about you.”
My heart flutters at his words, but a frown tugs at my lips.
“You make everything about me.”
A surprised laugh rumbles out of him as he grabs the shampoo and flips the cap, squirting some into his palm.
“Turn around,” he murmurs, and I do, allowing him to lather up my hair for a second time.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing?”
“Not bad,” I say on a sigh.
I swear, his fingers are magic as he massages my scalp.
My whole body tingles with his efforts.
“I just… I don’t want things unbalanced between us. You’re always looking out for me and taking care of me and… well, I want to take care of you sometimes, too.”
Atlas hums and then withdraws his fingers from my hair.
I turn and tilt my head back, letting the now cooling spray rinse away the soap as I wait for his reply.
“I guess I never thought of it like that. When it comes to you, it’s like some baser sense takes over, and all I think of is taking care of you. But I can see how that could create an imbalance.” He grabs the conditioner and begins working it through my ends.
“I don’t want any kind of scoreboard or disparity between us. Not ever.”
“I know you don’t. But maybe try to let me spoil you sometimes too?”
“Consider it done. But, Pip, I’ve gotta be real with you—just to be able to call you mine spoils me.”
I roll my eyes and grab his body wash.
“Let me clean you up and then we can finish getting ready and head out.”
He throws his arms wide—well, as wide as he can in the shower.
“Have at it, pretty girl. Have at it.”
Nerves tickle my belly as I squeeze a dollop of the masculine-scented soap into my palm.
It’s silly—the man literally just had his mouth between my thighs, he’s been inside of me, and we tell each other we love each other regularly, but something about washing him feels intimate on a whole other level.
Get out of your head and wash the man, Nora!
I rub my hands together, working up a rich lather, but still can’t bring myself to make contact.
It’s times like these I wish I wasn’t so…
defective.
“Hey.” Atlas nudges my gaze up to his.
“What’s going on, Pip?”
“It’s dumb,” I mumble, focusing on the wet tile behind him.
Unfortunately, he’s not having it.
“Nothing you think is dumb.” He pries my soapy hands apart, placing them on his shoulders, and then bands his arms around my waist, drawing me as close as my belly will allow.
“Now talk to me.”
A soft sigh escapes me.
“It’s just… this feels so… what if I do it wrong?”
His lips quirk up into a grin.
“Is there a wrong way to wash someone?”
Blood rushes to my cheeks, and I just know they’re strawberry red.
“See—it’s totally dumb.”
“I don’t know… I kind of like that you’re nervous. It’s endearing. How about we do it together?”
I hesitate, not because I don’t want his help, but because I feel like an idiot for needing it.
I mean, he’s right, it’s not like there’s a wrong way to do this.
“Okay.”
“Good girl,” he whispers, placing his hands over mine.
Something about those two words on his lips sends the most delicious kind of shiver through me.
“Take your time,” he says, guiding my hands down from his shoulders to his chest, “and work the soap in. You can rub in circles or massage with your fingertips. As long as your hands are on my body, I’m good.”
I knead the body wash into his pecs.
I’m mostly just touching him at this point, rather than cleaning him, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
“Perfect, Pip.” He tips his head back as I trail my fingers down the valley of his abs, his muscles constricting under my touch.
“Just like that.”
His easy praise spurs me on, and while his eyes are closed, I lower myself to my knees to wash his legs.
Only, once my hands find purchase on his powerful thighs and my eyes land on his rock-hard erection, I can’t help but think of all the other things I could do while I’m down here.
I glance up at him, startling when I find he’s staring down at me, his eyes blazing hotter than I’ve ever seen them.
It’s almost like twin flames of desire are flickering in his pupils, and I can’t help but want to turn those flames into a full-blown inferno.
“Nora…” I reach up and grip the base of his shaft, ghosting my lips over the mushroom head.
“Wha—” he groans as I suck him fully into my mouth.
“What are you doing?”
I pull back from him and smile.
“Making you feel good.”
“You don’t?—”
“Shh.” I kiss the tip, lapping up the bead of precum with my tongue.
“I know I don’t have to. I want to.”
“I’m definitely not gonna say no,” he murmurs, low and husky as he threads his fingers through my damp hair.
It’s weird, the way I feel more confident on my knees for him than I did washing him.
Maybe it’s the power dynamic, and how I know what this does for him, how good it makes him feel—how good I make him feel.
Or maybe I’m just broken beyond repair.
All I know is Atlas treats me so dang good, he puts me first in all things.
I’m his priority, me and our jellybean.
And so, with that in mind, I wrap my lips back around the head of his dick, sucking the crown as though he’s my favorite flavored lollipop.
His fingers tighten in my hair, not to the point of pain, but enough that I know he likes what I’m doing.
I slide my tongue over the veins on the underside of his shaft before swallowing him down to the back of my throat.
“Fucking shit, Pip,” he hisses, thighs quivering as he fights off the urge to rut into my mouth.
“God, you feel so good, your mouth is fucking heaven. Made for me.”
My eyes water and my throat contracts as I suck him.
I’m a slobbering mess, but the look of pure adoration in his eyes when I glance up at him is enough to keep me going.
I begin working the hand wrapped around his base in tandem with my mouth, sucking and jerking him as I bring my free hand up to cup his balls.
Which is apparently the right move, because Atlas loses it, pistoning his hips as he full-on fucks my face.
The thought is so unlike me, but I can’t think of any other way to describe it.
Animalistic groans fall from his lips, but I’m not scared.
Even now, I know he’d never hurt me.
If anything, the way he’s falling apart from my touch turns me on.
It makes me feel powerful to know that someone like me can bring a god-of-a-man like him such pleasure.
“Gonna come,” he grunts, trying to pull out of my mouth, which further proves my point.
Even on the brink of orgasm, he’s thinking of me, and how I didn’t love the salty taste of his release.
I slide my hand from his balls around to grip his backside, holding him in place as I double down my efforts, more determined than ever to drive him wild.
I want him to see stars and have galaxies form behind his eyelids as he shouts my name and comes down my throat.
The thought is so out there, so strange, and yet so hot , that an ache forms between my thighs.
I swirl my tongue around the head and swallow down as much of his length as I can before releasing the base of his shaft to touch myself.
It’s foreign, but the insistent throb between my legs has me acting on autopilot.
With the first swipe of my index finger over my clit, I moan, and like a chain reaction, Atlas’s entire body draws tighter than a bowstring as he comes, with my name on his lips.
“Fuck, Nora…” Atlas steps back and I turn my head, spitting his come out onto the shower floor, where it quickly rinses down the drain.
“You’re perfect, you know that?”
“I’m not.” I look up at him, still kneeling.
Being on my knees before him no longer feels like a power pose.
Now I feel silly and vulnerable, and I hate it.
I hate that I can’t just enjoy the afterglow of our time together.
But like always, Atlas knows.
He turns off the water and scoops me up, cradling me against his chest as if it’s as easy as breathing.
“You’re perfect for me. ” He nudges my nose with his own before pressing his lips to mine.
The kiss is sweet and chaste—exactly enough to ground me in the here and now.
“Never doubt that.”
“I promise I’m trying,” I whisper, as he sets me down on the bathmat.
I immediately nestle my head in the space between his chin and chest, plastering my body to his in search of warmth.
“I know you are, pretty girl.” He grabs a towel from the rack and wraps it around my shoulders.
“Now wrap those legs around my waist and hang on.”
“Huh?” I don’t know if the cool air and orgasm fried my brain or what, but what exactly am I hanging on for?
He sends me a wicked grin and once again picks me up like I’m as light as a feather.
I do as he asks, gripping his hips with my thighs while clasping my hands behind his neck as he brings us back into the bedroom.
Anticipation buzzes beneath my skin like an electrical current.
For the first time in practically ever, I’m excited—physically and mentally—for what’s to come.
Because if there’s one thing I know with certainty, it’s that Atlas’s touch will always deliver pleasure, never pain.
Once we cross the threshold, he lowers me back down to my feet.
“If you don’t want this to go any farther, it won’t. Just say the word.”
This man, this gentle giant of mine.
He’s giving me an out, but there’s no way in hell I’m taking it.
“I do,” I whisper, my heart pounding like a jackhammer as I glance up at him from beneath my lashes.