10. Nora
Chapter 10
Nora
Nerves buzzed over my skin.
What the hell had I been thinking?
Even a shower with everything didn’t give me the armor I needed to jump into bed with a man for the first time since...
God, two summers ago?
That couldn’t be right.
I sank onto Sully’s leather couch. I was pretty sure the living room had been moved around. The oddity dragged me out of my personal spiral. A big spot had been made in the corner of the room. I tipped my head.
“For the circle chair,” he said behind me.
I glanced at him. “You got it for him already?”
He grinned. “I took a peek at the tag on yours after our conversation about it.”
The nerves turned into flowing honey. Was there anything sexier than a man who cared for people? Nope ! It was new for me but imagining him like that smoothed away some of my anxiety.
Sully was the perfect first guy to do this with.
I was freshly divorced. I shouldn’t get serious with the first guy who attracted me.
But was it just attraction?
No .
I shoved back that voice again.
“Nora?”
“Yeah?”
He sat beside me on the couch. “If you don’t want to do this, it’s okay.”
“No!” I put my head in my hands. “No, that’s not it. Just nerves. I mean, we’ve known each other forever. I just...”
“Never saw me that way?”
I wasn’t sure that was true.
I’d never been part of the popular crowd until Booker had started dating me. Before we got serious, I had a feeling Booker’s attention hadn’t solely been on me. He was the best hitter on the IVH team and had many admirers.
After I started going to games to see what the fuss was, I did notice Sully. He was quieter than most of the guys on the team, but it seemed as if he was always in his head or helping out the coach instead of messing around.
I ignored that long ago tingle mostly because Booker had been so overwhelming. He’d always had a mercurial temperament, but when he was on a high, I’d get swept into his orbit. Swept so fast, that I didn’t even see the current coming for me. By then, it had been too late.
“Nora?”
“Sorry, dipping into the past.”
“Thinking about Booker?” His voice was even, but tight.
I shook my head. “No. Well, not really. More like I was remembering you on the field. The first time I noticed you. So serious about the team. Like you were five steps ahead.”
He flushed. “Yeah. I could never really fall into just the rhythm of the game. I was too worried about the next inning, the next hitter. Was the pitcher having an off day?”
I turned so my knees were pointed toward him. “Because you take care of people.”
“Ripley is the oldest, but he was always one foot out the door. I was the defacto eldest.”
“You take care of all your brothers and now Danny.”
He nodded. “I just got Danny back.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He settled back on the couch. “My ex is...not the best. She took off with Danny in the middle of the night.”
I reached over and touched his thigh. “Oh, Sully.”
And a few things that didn’t make sense clicked into place. No wonder Danny seemed a little apart from everyone. Well, not the dog and certainly not Anna, but around everyone else, he was perpetually watching. Maybe even making sure he wasn’t going to make anyone angry.
“Yeah, she decided she didn’t want to play mom anymore and dropped him back off for Christmas.” His fingers fisted on either side of his legs.
I reached for his hand, cupping both of mine around it. “How long was he gone?”
“Four years.”
“God.”
He turned to look at me. “Sexy conversation, hey?”
I laughed. “He’s important to you. As he should be, but now I can see why—” I cut myself off.
“Why we’re a little strained? We’re getting there, but it’s been a slow process. He doesn’t talk about his mom, and I’m not entirely sure he even misses her. It’s more that he’s afraid?—”
“He’s going to be taken away again.”
He sighed. “Yeah. That.”
“See, caretaker.”
He shifted his hand so our fingers linked. His was big and rough and a little shiver danced down my spine, wondering what it would feel against my skin. “Let me take care of you.”
I leaned forward, touching his lips in answer. The kiss was soft and lazy as a summer day. I sifted my fingers into his hair. The short strands along his ear led to thick curls that lured me in closer.
He sat forward, curling an arm around me until I straddled him on the leather. It squeaked under my knees and we both laughed until we were kissing again, and his hands raced over my hips and cupped my ass, tipping my hips forward until the first tease of friction made my blood thicken.
I was slightly taller than him in this position and he tipped his head back, letting me take the lead. I couldn’t get enough of his hair. Of his mouth. Of his hands that gripped me like he didn’t want to let go.
Somehow far hotter than his kisses.
I couldn’t remember the last time anyone wanted to touch me like that. Who held me like I was precious.
The world tilted and Sully stood with me in his arms.
I grabbed onto his shoulders.
“You want patience, I’m going to need to get you horizontal for that.”
I laced my fingers around the back of his neck and squeezed him with my thighs. “What if maybe the first time we aren’t patient?”
His dark eyes flashed, and he picked up the pace down the hall to the last room.
“Tell me Danny isn’t right next door.”
He grinned and hiked me up so he could kiss me again. “Nope. The first bedroom we passed.”
“Thank God.”
“Are you a screamer, Nora?”
I grinned. “I don’t know.”
His smile slid away. “I could kick Booker’s ass for not treating you right.”
“It wasn’t just him.” Once upon a time, things had been different, but then it had just become safe and steady. The passion had slowly leaked away like there had been a pinhole in us.
“Regardless, you deserve to be treated like a queen. And maybe I’ll shake his hand for letting you go, because I won’t.” He jostled me a little to get to the doorknob of his door and pushed through, shutting it behind him with a boot.
I didn’t have time to digest that statement. It made everything inside of me tighten, then Sully put me on his bed. The familiar scent of laundry and cedar enveloped me, back and front.
I flicked my shoes off as I backed up toward the headboard. Boots thudded on the floor then Sully was at the bottom of the bed, his big hands sliding up my calves to my knees. He dragged his bearded chin along the inside of my knee and up my thigh, pushing the skirt of my dress up until the cool air hit my panties.
He pulled me closer until my shoulders settled on the pillows behind me, then settled there and nibbled his way along the skin of my leg until his nose brushed my panties.
I stiffened.
“Easy, we’re just touching.”
“Sorry.” I stared at the ceiling. Married sex was much different than the exploring phase. It had been so long since I’d allowed myself to fall into the new.
He bit my thigh until I met his gaze. “Here with me, Nora.”
“I am.”
“No, you’re not.” He pushed up the skirt of my dress and kissed his way over my panties to the flat of my belly, then he pulled the skirt over his head until I laughed.
“What are you doing?”
“Figuring out how to get this off, but I do appreciate the little flowers on these.” He brushed his thumb between my thighs over the cotton.
He pulled the skirts back over his head. “Want to give me a clue on the dress?”
I laughed. God, when was the last time I’d laughed in bed? “It just goes over my head.” I sat up and flipped it off.
His eyes lit with heat and my heartbeat skipped. Was that what it looked like to be wanted?
He curled me under him, covering me hip to chest. Gently, he braced his arms on either side of me, nibbling my mouth open. “Did you wear this for me?”
“Maybe.”
His lips tipped up in one corner before he lowered to tease along the skin that curved up from the white lace of my bra. I didn’t really have sexy lingerie anymore, but now I wished I did.
For him.
For the future.
I stifled that little voice. It was just sex. I couldn’t get emotions twisted up in this.
It was just because no one had touched me in so long.
I was starved for it.
And he noticed. He nudged the cup of my bra down and my breath stalled, then I closed my eyes. I pushed away the past, the mistakes, the unknown and let myself be right here .
I cupped the back of his head and urged him to my tight nipple. My hips were restless under him as my body came alive. It knew what to do and synched up with Sully’s rhythm. His denim-wrapped hardness bumped along the cotton shielding my pussy.
He moved to the other nipple, and I was lost to his touch.
Firm and focused.
Goodness. So very focused.
As if he had nowhere else to be.
I sucked in a breath as the friction tipped me into another realm. Where the soft and the hard had a singular purpose.
He made his way up to my neck, then to my ear. “You’re perfect under me.” His voice was barely a rumble. “I need to know how you taste.”
I shivered and dragged his mouth up by his hair. The wild, messy kiss matched the rocking of our hips. As if we both couldn’t stop moving.
Knowing that it would be him inside me soon, the fuzziness intensified. “Sully.”
God, was that my voice? So needy and low.
His lips coasted down over my chin to my neck and made a return trip to my breasts.
He dragged the material down until it was just the underwire pushing me up like an offering. And he didn’t hesitate to take .
But he was a man on a mission, and he kept moving down my ribs, then to the hollow of my belly. He stared up at me as he rolled the cotton down.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
I arched my back as he trailed his thumbs down over my hipbones to where I was bare. I let out a hissing groan when his thumb slid over my clit.
“Wet for me.” His thumb slid lower, and I raised my arms to hold onto the headboard, sure that I was going to fly apart from a single touch.
Then I couldn’t help but look down when I felt his warm tongue replace his thumb. His hands slid under my butt and lifted me up. His little smirk made me laugh then shifted to a moan as he settled in to drive me insane. Tongue, fingers, and that deliciously rough beard drove me into sensory overload.
I tried to roll onto my side as the pleasure became too much.
Overwhelming my system like a bolt of electricity, I reached out and found a pillow, dragging it over my face to muffle the scream.
But he didn’t stop.
As if my hoarse cries amped him up.
The room went dark, and I threw the pillow aside as I gasped for air.
Sully slid up to cover me again, but this time his jeans and shirt were gone. He must have undressed while I was recovering for dear life.
“You’re so fucking sexy.” He pushed my arm away. “Quit hiding from me.”
I smiled, my eyes still closed. “Not hiding. Trying not to wake up Danny.”
He laughed. “Much appreciated. Don’t think I want to have that talk with him today.”
I giggled. “God, no. No trauma today, please.”
“Just orgasms.” He buried his face in my neck, and I wrapped my arms around him.
“Delicious orgasms,” I sighed as I trailed my fingers down his back. So many delicious muscles. So different from...
Nope. Wasn’t thinking about him right now.
Just about this man who had given me the first non-self-induced orgasm in nearly two years.
My hands traveled lower to his boxers. I dug under the material to grip his rather delicious ass, then I rolled him onto his back.
He grinned up at me, stacking his arms behind his head, easy as you please.
As if he didn’t have a rock-hard erection digging into me.
I reached around and unhooked my bra, tossing the twisted lace away. His eyes lit at my freed breasts, rising up so he could get a taste.
“Now that you’ve scrambled my brains, I think it’s time to reciprocate.”
“What did you have in mind?”
I slipped a hand into the front of his boxers and swallowed a gasp at the length of him. So much more than I was expecting.
My bravado took a nosedive.
“Hey.” He cupped my cheek. “No expectations.”
A tiny laugh bubbled out. “I want this. I want you.”
He rolled me onto my back. “And I’ve never wanted anyone more.”
My eyes stung. “Sully.”
He hovered over me. “It’s the truth. You’re everything I ever wanted, Nora. Period. Let me show you.”
I’d forgotten what it felt like to be adored. To be put first. I pushed down the cotton and slid my fingers along his length, learning him. What made him shiver, what made him groan.
He reached for the bedside table for a condom, and I was grateful. I hadn’t been thinking that far ahead. Foolish .
I helped line us up and closed my eyes as the tip of him slid inside.
“Nora.”
I was afraid to open my eyes.
Afraid to let him in every part of me.
“Nora, sweetheart.”
I met his gaze. The heat was there, but that wasn’t all. It was only the first layer of Sully. There was understanding and something fiercer that I couldn’t risk naming.
He eased into me and while my brain was still turbulent, my body knew he was the one for me.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Not the first time.
My legs lifted to take him ever deeper and we moved together as we started, but now we fit in every way.
He rocked against me, and it was so perfect my eyes swam. “God, so good.” I wanted to shut my eyes, but I close him out for a second.
As the sweat built between us and the pleasure rose, I let go. He pounded into me as if he couldn’t hold back. I wrapped around him and each stroke destroyed me as much as it put me back together.
I broke around him, my legs shaking. My arms banded around his shoulders as he hit me just right.
The whole room went bright then dark and sparkled behind my eyes.
The intensity nearly ended me as I held on with everything I had.
His name was on my lips before I could swallow it down.
But he caught me when no one else had in so long.