Chapter 19
Blake
Cocooned inside of an inferno was the best way I could describe what waking up next to Marlow was like.
For all the times I’d brushed up against him in passing or by accident, and the very few times he’d actually put his hands on me for longer than a moment, he’d emitted a warmth that seemed to chase away whatever chill seemed to settle in my bones where I never thought there was any to begin with.
I’d grown up under a hot sun for most of my life. Spent every summer since I was seven at Austin Adventures baking each year in the intense UV rays until I’d eventually formed a permanent tan to keep my poor skin from burning away layers of itself like I did every year before that.
I could never get enough, no matter how much I tried to pretend being in my office all day wasn’t giving me massive FOMO toward everyone getting outside and enjoying the nice weather.
That was how I grew up, after all, on the lake while the summer skies above me were crystal clear and the sun was a blazing orb in the sky. That was probably how I was going to die, too, honestly, dry-roasting on the damn dock like a fucking lizard.
Sleeping next to Marlow was unreal. He was as hot as a space heater pressed right up against your body, branding you through your clothes with the cage design and leaving the nice lasting memory of a third degree burn in its wake that always seemed to twinge every time a cold front was coming in.
And yet, I didn’t want to move away from him at all. I was too cozy lying next to this volcano-turned-man while waiting for my skin to melt off. It was a pleasant kind of slow death in a macabre sort of way.
Wiggling closer to the source got me pressed right up against his back, bare and uncovered, unlike me who had the sheet still wrapped tightly around my entire body to keep whatever lingering heat I stole from him all to myself.
I wasn’t even that cold, honestly.
His breathing was slow and steady, a calming rhythm that was already lulling me back down into a dreamless sleep.
Coming back from my office last night was hazy, partially because I was so fucking high on my own hormones, I barely remembered stumbling through the dark after Marlow as he led us through the backend way to get to his cabin.
After a shower and a change of clothes he’d thrown my way, he’d pulled me into bed without even entertaining the idea of me taking the guest room.
Preemptively, not taking my ‘no’ for an answer.
At the time, I hadn’t had the energy to fight him. Still didn’t, really. So, I’d given in and let him tuck me in, wish me sweet dreams, and then, before I could wait for him to climb into bed on his own side, I was out like a damn light.
Yesterday was intense. Not for the actual sex things we’d done—I’d had far more crazy encounters than that in my life—but for the simple fact of how locked in we both were to each other during the entire thing.
Every move he made, every touch he placed on my body that had me quivering like a newborn calf, I was hooked up to a damn amp to receive it.
Everything felt like it was in high-def.
That was something I’d never experienced before, even after having my fair share of sexual encounters already under my belt.
How could I go back to things after this? After Marlow was long gone and back in his own hometown while I stayed here in Wakefield, trying to figure out how the fuck I was going to find a man half as tuned in to my needs as this man next to me was.
The worst part about all of this, though, by far, was that I should’ve left a long time ago.
Before the sun came up to peek in through Marlow’s bedroom blinds.
Now, I was going to have to figure out a way to leave his cabin without anyone spotting me, along with my walk of shame back to my own place to grab an actual change of clothes.
Fuck, and the youth groups are coming today.
I had until noon to set everything up, double check my plans, cross reference my staff’s jobs to make sure everyone knew what the fuck they were doing before we had dozens of teenagers piling off buses, and run through the roster one more time to solidify enough food was going to be coming over to the event’s pavilions.
Judging by the way the sun was coming in through the window, only partially blocked out by the curtains drawn over the glass panes, it was close to eight.
Ugh, I really didn’t want to get out of bed.
I was too comfortable.
By now, there was a healthy chance my granddad was already up and running through my list of to-dos before I even made my way down to the mess hall to grab a cup of coffee.
He was known to be an early riser with no signs of retirement slowing him down in the slightest, which tended to give him a leg up on all of us mid-morning people.
Before we’d parted ways last night, he had already been planning on acting as my second-hand during the first set of events today, along with offering to help for the rest of the week if I needed him to.
The gesture was sweet and, of course, one I wanted to take him up on, but only in order to spend time together and not force him back into the chaotic role he’d given up five years earlier.
Retirement was his chance to go out and travel like he and my grandma always talked about before she passed. Not get stuck half-running a business he’d handed over to me and trusted me to manage all on my own.
I was confident this youth group was going to go well.
It had to, considering how much time and energy I’d put into perfecting it.
I wasn’t looking for everything to go off without a hitch, much the opposite, in fact.
There would be hiccups along the way, but that was to be expected.
Rolling with the punches and figuring it out as the days progressed was what mattered in the end.
So then, why the hell was I still feeling so damn nervous?
The bed dipped forward as Marlow shifted in his sleep, my body almost rolling with him as he moved.
Sticking out a hand to keep myself from face planting into the mattress, I used it to lean and roll onto my side of the bed.
For a moment, Marlow’s overwhelming warmth wasn’t engulfing me and for the first time since waking up this morning, a gut punch hit me.
But as soon as it’d come, it was quickly chased away by a figure looming over me, half covered in the bed’s comforter, messy hair poking out from where it was gently resting on the crown of his head.
There was no time for me to react before he was leaning back down, his arms digging under me and circling my waist while his upper half laid down on top of me.
I struggled under the added weight, suddenly flustered at the unexpected intimate position.
“Uh…” was all I managed to get out before Marlow was burrowing his face into the crook of my neck.
“I can hear you thinking...” His lips tickled my neck as he spoke, sending a shiver rolling down my spine.
My face felt like it was on fire. He had to still be half asleep. “How?”
“Because your thoughts are loud as fuck. I can literally hear the stress sirens going off.”
Okay, that was uncalled for.
I was only stressed because my body refused to roll out of bed and kick itself into high gear. While running on a finite amount of time before all hell broke loose, there was very little dilly-dallying I was allotted before I royally fucked myself over.
Not to mention, my granddad feeling obligated to pick up the slack. Which was absolutely something I didn’t want him doing.
“Blake.” There was a sharp pinch at my side, snapping me out of my thoughts instantly.
“What?”
“Jesus.” He nipped at my skin next. “Stop it. It’s not even ten yet.”
“That’s the problem. The kids arrive at noon.”
“Plenty of time.”
That’s what he thought. Time tended to fly by on busy days. Even more so when there was an actual set schedule set in place.
My stomach clenched the moment I felt Marlow’s lips moving along my neck.
Soft presses that were making my toes curl with each one.
One of his hands unhooked from around my waist to come up and thread through my hair.
He gripped the strands gently, using them to tilt my head back to give him better access.
Oh...
My hips were still sore from last night, a lasting reminder of what we’d done in my office and the mess I had to go back and clean once I finally forced myself out of this damn bed.
Yet, despite all of that, they still managed to kick up against his body in return, coming alive under his touch like some fucking soothsayer calling to me.
I’d never been used in quite the way Marlow’s creatively had allowed for.
Often when I found myself in sexual situations similar to what happened last night, they either ended one of two ways: unsatisfied or downright weird.
Neither of which were pleasant and ultimately had me swearing off hopping into bed with someone for a long while.
Until Marlow came around and completely bulldozed his way through all of those carefully laid plans.
At this point, I really shouldn’t be surprised anymore. After all, he was a man that was all about the unexpected.
Who could predict someone like him when before that, there were set rules to everything?
“Fuck,” I muttered when he sank his teeth into my skin.
Making good on his promise from last night, no doubt.
I’d definitely have to wear one of my sports jackets today to keep my granddad from questioning the random love bite suddenly appearing on my skin with no boyfriend in the picture.
I was going to end up sweating my balls off but that was the far better alternative than getting interrogated about a secret situationship I was currently engaging in.
Marlow shifted over me, keeping his mouth attached to my neck. He hooked a leg over mine to grind his pelvis against me, the thin material of his sweats doing hardly anything to hide how hard his cock was underneath them.
Oh, that felt good.
Getting off two days in a row?
I wasn’t going to complain.
When he finally released my neck, he ran his tongue over the marking a few times. The spot felt raw and tender, mirroring the ones on my thighs that sparked every time his hips collided with mine in that slow roll of his.
Now this was perfect, a little bit of pain mixed with the pleasure.
Why was that so hard for people to grasp?
Too many times I’d been in an all-or-nothing situation that never left me coming back wanting more.
“I should keep you here,” he whispered. “Tie you to my bed until you actually let go like I want you to.”
What was a clear sign that something was definitely wrong with me was how little I cared about anything else other than those words—the promise in his voice. Skipping out on the first day of an event I’d been planning for months would go down in the history of dumbest decisions I’d ever made.
And yet...
“Hm?” He nuzzled his nose against my ear. “What do you say?”
Oh, god. He was making me choose.
What the hell.
“Marlow...”
He dove back for my neck, swiping his tongue along the love bite again and then latching on once more right below it. I squirmed under him, feeling completely powerless under his heavy weight pinning me to the bed.
He bucked against me, his hard length teasing mine through my boxers. With each pass of his hips, I tried to follow after, to get a little bit more of that delicious friction to bring me to the promised oasis of pleasure I’d been transported to the night before.
I wanted more.
I needed more.
This was what domination was all about. A give and take that was controlled by one party with mutual trust exchanged between both with the understanding that at the end of the day, we both got what we wanted.
My eyes popped open—when had I closed them?—the second Marlow’s mouth popped off my neck and he pushed back from me. Dazed from the sudden shift and still trying to chase my high, I wasn’t at all expecting it when he scooped me up and dumped me onto my stomach.
His hand splayed between my shoulder blades to fist my t-shirt in a tight hold, keeping me down while kicking my legs apart and getting me to spread them until my hips screamed in pain.
“How about this,” he said, lowering himself down until his cock rested against the curve of my ass. “Tonight, after your event is over, you come back here with that box of condoms you hid from me.”
I shivered. “It’ll be late.”
He chuckled, his mouth finding my ear again. “Don’t worry, Blake. I’ll be waiting up.”