Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Emery
Michael shifts abruptly and covers my mouth with his.
My heart drops into my stomach as our lips collide. I literally feel like I’m on a roller coaster soaring downhill. I’m just so attracted to this man.
We make out for a while.
Just kissing. Yes, there’s tongue. And it’s hot.
But still…it’s just kissing.
That’s not what a casual relationship is usually about.
With casual, it tends to be straight to the main event so both participants can get off. Honestly, in my last relationship, which was not supposed to be casual, that’s all it ever was, though I missed enjoying the main event most nights. As long as my ex got off, that was all he cared about.
But Michael’s tongue is tangling with mine, and his hands are caressing my face like I’m the most precious person in the world. In his world.
I kiss him back like he’s my last breath and I need him to live.
Our make-out session is urgent and emotional .
After a long while, our waders end up piled next to us on the grass. The rest of our clothes follow until we’re both naked and lying on the picnic blanket where Michael’s bracing himself over me. Until…
“Oh, shit.”
I widen my eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t put a condom into my waders. Or my jeans I was wearing under the waders. I didn’t think…”
“We’d want to leave the fishing poles behind to have sex when our cabin is right across the way?” I laugh. “I didn’t think so either.”
Michael
I roll over next to Emery on the picnic blanket and take her into my arms.
“We could just go back to the cabin,” I say.
“We could,” she says. “Or…”
“Or what?”
What she says next blows my mind.
“I’m on birth control. Are you clean?”
I scan her face. Her expression is blank, giving nothing away.
I try to stay calm even though inside I’m shaking. “Yeah. I was tested before I came here.”
The doctor I went to after my near-accident was thorough and ran every test imaginable to make sure I was in good health. Everything came back fine, although he gave me a referral for trauma counseling that I never filled. Probably should have.
“I’m clean too. I got checked after my ex and I ended things. I just never came off birth control. ”
I’m playing with her hair while she traces my anchor tattoo.
“I’d like us to have sex without a condom.”
Emery’s statement hangs loudly in the still mountain air.
“Um…” No one has ever asked this of me before. To be with them unprotected.
I’m aware of the risks. More emotional than physical because I trust Emery. I know she’s safe from any kind of STD. But the idea of being with her bare…
“It’s vulnerable,” she says softly. “I know.”
“It…” I struggle for how to say it. “I want to. I’m just…is this a no-strings kind of thing?”
“Probably not,” she says, and I swear I hear wistfulness in her tone. “But you know what? I think we should decide what is no strings for us. Michael and Emery. And for me, this works. I want to feel all of you these two weeks, Michael Wild. I have a feeling you’re going to change a lot for me.”
“You’ve already changed a lot for me, Mimi.” I say her pet name without thinking. “Sorry. I know that nickname is reserved for your close circle.”
“You’re invited inside that circle.” She kisses my neck, dragging her tongue down to my shoulder.
“I’m honored,” I say sincerely. “But you still can’t call me Mikey.”
She giggles. “I’m okay with that.”
“Good.” I shift and lift her on top of me.
She lowers herself onto me slowly. When she takes me inside, I nearly come right then. Because I can feel her so fully this way. Before I can say anything, she seats herself on top of me without warning.
And… oh, Christ.
“Emery. Wait.” My voice sounds far more controlled than I feel .
But she’s already moving. “Michael, oh God. You feel so good.”
I grab onto her hips to slow her down. Her body feels too good, and I want to make sure she’s on the same page as I am.
“Are you okay?” She halts and reaches her hand out to caress my cheek.
The gesture is so simple. But it hits a nerve inside of me, the one where I never let anyone too close.
I cover her hand with mine. “I’m okay. More than okay. You just feel too damn good—I may lose it before we’ve even gotten going.”
She smiles. “Don’t worry. I feel like I’m nearly there already.”
“You sure?” I groan.
“Positive. Don’t hold back on my account.” And she starts pistoning her hips as she moves over me.
I take hold of her hips again and begin to move in earnest. If she’s going all in, then I am too.
Emery
I forget we’re outdoors; I forget my own name. All I’m aware of is Michael inside of me.
I may be on top, but he’s taken the reins and is driving up into me from below. I hang on for dear life, my hands locked onto his shoulders.
Our lovemaking becomes even more frenzied, and I drop my hips to get even closer to him. His lips meet mine, and he wraps his arms around my back and grabs my ass as we both cry out at the same time.
I feel him jerk and thrust into me hard, and that propels my climax even more.
My orgasm goes on…and on and on .
When I finally come down from the high, I drop my head onto his shoulder. I can’t even open my eyes for a moment.
“Holy shit.” Michael’s low tone vibrates in my ear.
I laugh and lift my head to meet his gaze.
“Amazing.”
He cups my cheek with his hand and captures my mouth with his.
Our kiss feels poignant for some reason. Almost like we both feel the expiration date that we’ve set on our relationship.
He kisses me for a long time, gentle and unhurried.
And I feel every bit of his passion. For me, for life, for whatever this is that we’re in the middle of.
His lips are like a drug. I can’t ever get enough.
“Me neither.”
Did I say that out loud?
I smile against his lips. “I didn’t mean to tell you what was in my brain just now. But I tend to do that sometimes. Mostly when I drink. Apparently, post-orgasm is another type of high where I am too uninhibited.”
His hand roams over my bare back. “I like it. But why didn’t you want to tell me?”
“Because…” I suck in a breath. “It’s a lot to process.”
“What is?”
“This…” I roll off him and onto my side and gesture between us. “This nuclear chemistry we have. I’m not used to feeling so out of control. And wanting to feel that way because it feels too damn good to stop.”
He takes my hand. “Let’s get dressed and go back to the cabin. I’ll make us dinner, and we can talk.”