15. Paige
15
PAIGE
I wake up with a terrified shriek, popping up like a jack-in-the-box, my fists clutching the sheets.
I blink my eyes, trying to understand where I am and why I'm so afraid. And then it comes back to me. Poe's room, Poe's bed, and I'm safe. Just dreaming. Just like last night, my heart is pounding and there’s a sheen of sweat on my skin, but this time it’s for an entirely different reason. The images blur even as I try to remember what was happening in my dream, but I can still smell the smoke and hear screaming.
I draw a deep breath and close my eyes, still sitting up, just trying to center myself. To make my heart slow down. To stop shivering.
“Paige?” Poe asks in a sleepy voice.
He's standing at the end of the bed in nothing but a pair of boxers. If my head wasn’t still full of horror, I think I’d appreciate the view a lot more. Even now, I’m not immune to the way the moonlight plays on his inked skin.
“Did I wake you up? I’m sorry.”
“Dreams? You've been whimpering for a while. Was about to come in anyway to check when you screamed.”
“Yeah, it’s fine. I'll be okay.” Eventually. “Could you—Never mind.”
“What?”
What do I have to lose? “Could you stay with me? Like you did last night?”
“Sure, honey.” His voice is low and gravely from sleep, but his eyes are alert and I’m sure he can see the shivers that I can’t quite stop, no matter how hard I rub my arms to make the chills go away.
I raise the corner of the covers and he slides in next to me. “I’m being a baby about this, aren’t I?”
His face is shadowed, but I can almost feel the way his gaze slides over me, from my messy hair, to the way the neck of his borrowed shirt hangs loose, and to where my braless breasts are pushing out against the soft fabric. “There’s nothing babyish about you.”
A shiver races through me, making my spine tingle.
“You know, I know a lot of good ways of getting to sleep.”
There’s no way to misinterpret what he means. “That sounds like asking for trouble.”
“Sometimes a little trouble's fun, and I think you agree. Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten yourself into this mess.”
“Hey!”
He tugs me down into the bed with him, wrapping a strong arm around me and pulling me in until my head is resting on his chest, rising and falling in time with his deep breaths. He's warm, and safe. Being so close lulls my own body into following the same rhythm, and I feel myself relaxing. I throw a leg over his thigh and sigh.
I’ve never been this close to a man I wasn’t already romantically involved with, and even so, I’ve only actually slept with two people before. My high school boyfriend, who was a great starter package. Kind, safe and entirely forgettable once we graduated. And my college boyfriend, who wasn’t the worst, but only lasted a few months and taught me that I kinda lucked out the first time around.
I drift in and out of sleep, listening to his soft breathing and enjoying the closeness. My face is pressed against his pec, and the urge to just turn my head a little and kiss it, right by his nipple, is strong.
Something nudges my thigh and my eyes pop open when I realize what it is. Is he awake? He's not pushing me with it, or doing anything weird, so it’s probably just a natural reaction, but once I feel it, I’m very, very aware that we're just lying here with his dick pressing against my thigh through his boxers.
The hand draped over me starts stroking my side. A soft, slow motion that tingles across my skin with every caress. I can pretend it's not happening, or I can accept the invitation. The decision only takes a moment before I start exploring his side with my fingers, sliding them up his chest and exploring the muscular expanse of him.
“I'm trying to be a fucking gentleman,” he whispers in the darkness. “But fuck, you're not making it easy.”
As if to emphasize his point, his dick twitches. God, in for a penny, in for a pound, right? I move my leg, rubbing my thigh over his shaft.
A soft growl rumbles deep in his chest. “Fuck,” he hisses.
I gather my courage, then whisper right next to his nipple, hoping my breath will tickle it, “Someone told me sometimes a little trouble can be fun.”
With a sleepy laugh, he rolls me right up on top of him, trapping his dick between us as I straddle his thighs, his thick length pressing firmly against my panties. Wetting my lips, I place a kiss on his chest, then look up to find him looking back at me, dark, lusty fire in his black eyes.
He slides his hands down to cup my ass, pulling me against him. The pressure between my legs makes me gasp, even with our underwear in the way. I grind my hips against him in response, and we both moan.
“I want you naked,” he hisses. “Right fucking now.”
The moment I brace my palms against his chest and push myself up to a sitting position, he tugs on the hem of my borrowed t-shirt. I take a nervous breath, then raise my arms, letting him pull it all the way off, exposing me to his hungry gaze. I resist the urge to cover up my breasts with my arms.
It takes a moment before he says anything else, he just looks. Enough that I get a little uncertain. “Is this okay? I mean?—”
“Fucking perfect. You’re fucking perfect,” he growls and then he's pulling me back down so he can kiss me. Weaving his strong fingers into my hair, he holds my head in place as I finally, finally, get kissed the way they write whole books about.
His lips are soft, softer than I expected, and he teases mine open with his tongue. When I let him in, he presses us together while we explore each other. I bury my fingers in his thick, black hair, marveling at the contrast between the velvety shaved skin and the thick, soft strands on top. Then I slide my hands over his powerful shoulders and onto his muscled arms. He runs his free hand down my side until he captures my ass with it, pushing aside my underwear to grip my bare skin.
When he finally lets me up, I draw breath like I've been swimming underwater. I push back, missing the feeling of his cock between my legs and stop in surprise when it's the hot crown that bumps against me. At some point, he popped out of his boxers, and with only the thin wisp of fabric between us, it might as well be skin on skin. A sexy shiver courses through me. “Poe…” I whisper.
“Tell me what you want, baby. Tell me what you want me to do to you.” He grinds himself against me as he explores my ass with his hands. My panties are being pushed down, just a little, but enough that it's obvious what he wants. Not that I had any doubt.
“Anything you want,” I whisper back.
He chuckles darkly. “Not fucking good enough. That's a cop-out answer. Tell me.”
“Would you… would you lick me?” I chew my lip nervously.
Instead of answering, he rolls us over, and suddenly, I'm the one on my back and he's hovering over me. His boxers have slipped just below his hips, enough for me to see his full length, and wow, feeling the bulge didn’t do it justice. With a cocky smile, he hooks his fingers in my panties and tugs them off all the way. I lift my hips to help.
“Fucking beautiful,” he growls as he takes in all of me. I feel so vulnerable, but he looks at me like I'm a dream come true. Then he moves down the bed until he can wrap his strong hands under the backs of my thighs and push my legs up, bending me in two. “Open up for me, baby.”
When I do, he leans down and kisses the inside of my thigh. The short stubble on his jaw tickles the sensitive skin there. I grab the sheets with both hands, balling them up in my fists and watching him in wide-eyed anticipation.
He kisses again, and again, each time coming just a little bit closer to my center. When he looks up at me, the corners of his eyes are crinkled with laugh lines. Then he swipes his tongue through my folds, all the way from the back, dipping inside me for just a moment, then up and around until he flicks the tip of my clit, lighting a tiny firework in my belly as he connects. I gasp and arch against him, eager for more.
Not that he makes me wait. He does it all over, and then again and again, pulling me closer and closer to orgasm with each deep swipe of his tongue. There’s no hesitation in his technique. He follows my cues like an orgasm whisperer, discovering exactly where my most sensitive spots are, how fast I like it, how hard, how… everything. And the closer I get, the harder his fingers dig into my thighs to hold me still so he can work his magic while I shiver and writhe in his bed.
I let go of the sheets, but only so I can wrap my fingers into his hair instead, pulling him against me with short gasps. I teeter on the edge. It's right there, so close… And then with a final swipe that ends with him swirling his tongue around my clit, he pushes me right over the edge. I fall willingly, my eyes shut tight as wave after wave of pleasure washes through me. He slows down but doesn’t stop, wringing every last shudder from my weak limbs as he holds me firmly in place.
I've never come so hard or so long in my life. “Too much,” I finally gasp.
Only then does he let up, letting me drop back into the bed where I lie like a melted puddle, sweaty and slick all over, my breaths coming in ragged gasps.
“Better?” he asks in a whisper as he crawls up to place a little kiss on my nose, his face glistening.
I don't care that he just buried his face between my legs, I pull him in for a proper kiss. And then I collapse back onto the pillow, my whole body relaxed and my eyes already threatening to fall shut.
Except his cock is still standing hard and proud, and it's not fair to leave him like that, especially after what he just did for me. I start to slide down the bed, but he stops me. “You need sleep.”
“But you?—”
“Baby, I'll be fine. This was for you, and you're fucking exhausted. If you're gonna be sucking me off, I don't want you falling asleep right in the middle of it.” He grins. “Get some sleep, and we can pick things up in the morning, if you want.”
He starts to pull away, and I grab his arm. “Don't go. Please. Stay with me.”
“Okay. If that's where you want me.”
“It is.” I pull his arm back around me and roll over until we're spooning. The position doesn’t make me any less aware of the massive erection he’s sporting. “You're sure you don't want me to?—”
“In the morning.” He tucks it against my back, then settles his head into the crook of my neck.
“In the morning,” I repeat sleepily.
The last thing I hear him mumble is, “You were right about the couch, by the way.”
I thought so.