Chapter 24
JESSE
For a little while, nothing felt real. I barely remembered us getting out of bed and cleaning up.
The whole time I’d held him close to me in the shower, I’d been half out of my mind, still disbelieving that we’d finally made it to this.
That I’d finally lived out my fantasy of watching Eric come while I fucked him.
That we’d landed in bed together again in the first place after I’d been so sure we wouldn’t.
The early morning and the amazing sex caught up with us, and after we’d showered we ended up dozing. I wasn’t sure how long we slept, and I didn’t care enough to check the time after I woke up. I was too comfortable and blissed out to think about anything except how good and how right this felt.
Eric was still asleep, his head on my shoulder and his arm slung across my stomach. My arm was around him, my fingers losing some feeling, but I didn’t care about that. Not when he fit so perfectly against me.
Of all the ways things could have played out after I texted him to meet with me before the wedding, this one hadn’t even registered.
There’d been no possible way that text would be the butterfly flapping its wings, and the resulting hurricane would be Eric and me making love in a cabin in Maine. It just wasn’t possible.
But here we were. The woman who’d hurt us both seemed like a distant memory, and even the pain she’d caused seemed to exist on a whole other plane.
The man who’d had every right to spit in my face and curse me out for screwing his fiancée was now sleeping peacefully against me.
He’d been the one to break the standoff and tell me he wanted this.
It was all so bizarre and surreal, but it was real. As real as that moment when we’d been making out in the Jeep and I’d suddenly noticed the voyeuristic moose.
That thought made me chuckle, though I tried to tamp it down. My cats had interrupted sex plenty of times, but nothing held a candle to “we were getting each other all spun up when suddenly—a moose!”
I snorted and wiped my free hand over my face. Yeah, this trip had been something else.
Beside me, Eric stirred. He rolled onto his back, and as I turned on my side, he opened his eyes and gazed at me. His sleepy smile made my heart flutter.
“Hey,” he whispered. “So that wasn’t a dream.”
“Nope. It wasn’t.” I kissed him lightly.
He shifted a little, and a wince flickered across his face. “Definitely wasn’t a dream.”
Panic knifed through me. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” God knew it wouldn’t have been the first time.
His smile widened as he turned onto his side to face me, and he caressed my cheek. “No. I just haven’t bottomed in a while, and I can tell.”
“But I didn’t—”
He kissed me softly. “It was amazing, and I feel fine. I promise.”
That settled my nerves a bit. I loved topping, but I was always afraid I’d leave someone sore afterward.
Eric must’ve seen my lingering concern, because he added, “If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be looking forward to you doing it again.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Mmhmm. Might not be tonight, but I cannot wait for you to dick me down like that again.”
I shivered, sliding my hand up his abs. “Whenever you want it—say the word.”
He squirmed and bit his lip. “I will, believe me.” He held my gaze as he turned serious. “And the rest of it—I mean, I don’t know what we’re doing. I really don’t. But maybe we don’t need to know that. Not right now, anyway.”
“You don’t think so?”
He shook his head. “We like being together. We’ve obviously got some great chemistry.” He half-shrugged. “So let’s just enjoy it, and whatever happens… happens.”
I thought about it. “We can do that. I don’t think either of us is ready for anything really serious right now, but…”
“But this way we don’t have to decide it is or isn’t serious.
It just… is. We let things happen organically.
If we wind up being friends with benefits, or something serious, or we just decide to be friends, then that’s where we wind up.
But there’s no pressure. I wouldn’t want there to be any pressure anyway, but especially after what we’ve both just gone through, the less pressure, the better. ”
I slowly released a breath, some tension I hadn’t even noticed before melting out of my neck and shoulders. Lacing our fingers together, I whispered, “I can work with that.”
“Me too.” He pressed his lips to mine and let a soft, sweet kiss linger for a moment. When he drew back, he whispered, “So we’re clear, I’m not closing the door on this being anything serious. Not at all. Just… keeping an open mind and taking the pressure off.”
“I agree. Though… we do live together. Is that going to complicate things?”
Eric quirked his lips. “Do you think it would be easier if I moved out?”
Why did that thought make me want to panic, grab on to him, and say, “No! Absolutely not!”?
I held that back, though. “I don’t… I mean, it would be a huge expense and a headache for you. And we have separate rooms, so we have space. But if you’d rather get your own place while we figure things out, I won’t be offended.”
He seemed to consider that. “Let’s think about it? We don’t need to make a decision right now. I like living together, but maybe it’ll simplify things? I don’t know.”
“Well, like you said, we don’t have to make a decision right now. Not about living together, and not about anything else.”
“Thank God for that.” He slid his hand up my back and grinned. “Because there are a lot of other things I’d rather think about right now.”
“Me too.”
He kissed me again, but when he drew back, another thought had clearly crossed his mind. “What about being exclusive?” His brow pinched. “Like, not necessarily serious, but just the two of us?”
“I’m fine with that. I actually like it better that way. I know some people like non-monogamy, and it can work—you know, when there isn’t a cheater in the room. But it’s just not for me.” I paused. “Especially if we’re going to keep doing this without condoms.”
Eric pursed his lips. Then he grinned and slid a hand up my chest. “I’m way more interested in going raw with you than I am with touching anyone else, so…”
I laughed, clasped his hand, and brought it up so I could kiss his palm. “I think we’re on the same page.”
“Mmhmm, we are.”
“I’ve, um…” Some heat rose in my face, though I didn’t know why. “I’ve never bottomed for anyone without a condom.” I trailed my fingertips up his back, loving the way it made him shiver. “Kind of like the idea now, though.”
He grinned, one eyebrow arching. “You mean you like the idea going forward?” He slid closer to me, his hardening dick brushing against my thigh. “Or you mean you want me to come in you right now?”
I was pretty sure my whimper answered clearly enough, but just in case, I whispered, “Right now.”
Eric bit his lip, his eyes on fire with need and lust. Then he kissed me, and as he wrapped me up in his arms, my whole body tingled with hunger for him.
There was no hurry, though. No rush. We had all the time in the world—this whole day, the whole next week, and the future when we got back to Pittsburgh.
Plenty of time to explore each other, memorize each other, and find every imaginable way to turn each other on.
It sounded like pure decadence, and I loved it.
I didn’t imagine we’d be doing any more tourist activities around Moosehead Lake. If we left the cabin at all, it would be for food, lube, and maybe some weed.
Otherwise, we had the next week to just be together.
Sex whenever we felt like it. Curling up on the couch or in bed to watch movies.
Smoking out on the deck. Spending every night beneath the same warm sheets.
Just… enjoying each other in every possible way, with no pressure and no worrying about the future.
Life wouldn’t be perfect together. Life was never perfect. Eric wasn’t perfect and neither was I.
But the more I got to know him…
The more I tangled up with him…
The less I doubted that this man was perfect for me.
And I couldn’t wait to see where the future took us.