Chapter 53
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Andi
I roll onto my side, careful not to catch on Cat’s long hair. Her eyes are still closed, and I let myself smile. The way she felt around me, her nails scrabbling for purchase as she convulsed and came … I want to make her feel like that again, and again, all night long.
Except she props herself up on one elbow and, with a surprising amount of strength, flips me onto my back. Yanking off my jeans, she admires my Calvin Klein boy shorts for about half a second before ripping those off too. I suck in an inhale as cold covers my bare skin in goose bumps, until she lowers herself to my waist and runs her tongue along the crease of my hips.
My breath hitches. She pauses, just long enough to meet my eyes with a question in the lift of her brow. After a beat, I nod, and she proceeds, following the natural V of my body to my pelvis.
When her mouth closes around my clit, it tears a gasp from me like it’s my first taste of oxygen in years. Her lips are warm and soft in an unfathomable way, and my body begins coiling tighter and tighter around itself.
“Cat,” I say, biting my own fist.
“Hm?” She burrows deeper, the tip of her tongue toying with my entrance, darting in and out, in and out.
When I disappeared, you came looking for me. I gave you no reason to like me, let alone care about me, and still, you came and found me in the middle of nowhere and—
“Andi?” she asks, her voice a vibrating thrum against my skin.
“Nothing,” I rasp. “Just … don’t stop.”
I close my eyes, see galaxies and supernovas.
She replaces her tongue with her fingers, and I immediately tighten around her. Her hair spills across my exposed thighs, and I tangle its silken strands in my fingers, using the last of my consciousness to keep myself from gripping too hard. I come like this, fast and hard, with my legs wrapped around her torso, and afterward, when I can’t take it anymore, when I’m shaking from the aftershocks, I pull her up so that we’re face-to-face again.
“You’re gorgeous,” I say before smothering her with a kiss. I taste myself on her lips and deepen the kiss, searching for her, for tang and sugar and bright sun.
Eventually, our lungs demand to breathe. We break apart, each of us panting. Cat cups the side of my face, her thumb stroking my cheekbone. “You’re just saying that.”
I push up onto my wrist to study her. Most of her hair has escaped her ponytail at this point and is framing her face like messy curtains. I stroke it back to reveal her features. In the half light of the room, her eyes are wide and luminous, and I feel myself falling into their depths.
I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life.
“You’re gorgeous,” I repeat, willing her to believe me. I roll my knuckles down her ribs and waist to cup her hip. When I give it a squeeze, Cat rewards me with a shudder and snuggles into me.
“Stay?” she asks. “Don’t sleep on the couch. Stay here, next to me.” Her muffled voice drops out, but I hear her next words through the bones of my chest. If only for tonight, choose me .
My heart tightens, like it wants the name of anyone who ever made Cat feel small or unwanted—my prior self included. Draping my limbs over her thighs, I scoop her in toward me. I hold her like this until her breathing softens and evens out, until her body goes slack in my arms.
When I’m sure she’s asleep, I press my lips against her hairline and whisper, “Every night, Cat. If you’d let me, I would choose you every night.”
I wake right as the sun is peeking in through the partially drawn blinds, making dust motes dance in its rays. I don’t recognize the room I’m in at first, until I try to shift and am met with resistance.
Arms, pretzeled around my torso. A cascade of dark hair. Soft snuffling at my shoulder.
The night floods back to me. I’m in a motel room. With Cat.
Based on her snoring, she’s still fast asleep, which isn’t surprising given how late we kept each other up. Just thinking about all the things Cat’s mouth did to me sends a faint pulse of electricity running through me and I have to resist the urge to wake her with a line of kisses starting from her navel and traveling down. I settle for watching her unguarded expression flit from dream to dream.
A door slams outside and I start. Checking the time, I see it’s only six, but I have a few things I need to take care of before meeting with Brett at noon, which means I need to hustle. Delicately, I extricate myself from Cat’s grasp. Pulling on my jeans and T-shirt, I let myself out, snicking the door shut behind me.
The parking lot is empty except for my motorcycle cuddled up against Cat’s “car,” which is missing its front fender along with a third of its original paint. Grimacing at the vehicle, I walk a ways away from the room while pulling out my phone.
Still no reception. Letting out a curse, I step into the main lobby of the motel, but there’s no one there. There isn’t even a landline at the front desk, only a pay phone up against the wall by a rack filled with pamphlets for helicopter tours and horseback treks. Rummaging through my pockets, I produce a single quarter. Thank god. I slot it in and punch in Ainsley Ray’s number.
She picks up on the second ring, and relief buoys my brain. After I inform her who’s calling, her groggy tone lifts. “Little early for a social call, Andi. What can I do you for?”
“I need a favor,” I say.
“Oh?” Her voice perks up even further. “Tell me more.”
I explain my plan to her and the timing I need her to hit. Ainsley hums along, and thirty seconds later we have an understanding in place. I’m about to hang up when she waylays me.
“This is unexpected coming from you, Andi.”
“Yeah, well, the situation’s changed.”
“Quite the gamble you’re taking. If they find out you’re the leak, you’re out of a job. Potentially for good. Are you sure it’s worth it?”
I look out the window, back toward Cat’s car and my motorcycle. “Think so.”
Ainsley pauses as if considering something. “If you’re sure. Hey, maybe the next time I’m in town, we can get together again. Go out for drinks.”
A man, the same person who gave me my room key yesterday, shuffles into the lobby. Turning my back to him, I cup a hand around the mouthpiece of the receiver. “I don’t think so, Ainsley. Thanks for the offer, though.”
A laugh crackles the line. “Can’t fault a girl for trying. Best of luck, Andi. Send me what you have once you get internet again, and know I’ll be rooting for you from this side of the fence.”
We hang up. Crossing over to the front desk, I ask for a pen and piece of paper. I leave a note for Cat under her windshield wiper before heading back inside our room and sitting on the edge of the bed.
I touch her shoulder. “Hey.”
With a groan, Cat rolls over, takes my hand, and kisses the flat of my palm. “What time is it?”
“Early. Before seven. I need to get in, though. You gonna be okay driving back?”
Cat replies by dipping her chin into my side and nuzzling me.
Chuckling under my breath, I smooth back her hair. “Right. See you around, Cat.”
I pull the blankets up over her shoulders and adjust the blinds so that darkness envelops the room. Satisfied that she’s warm and safe in this dusty little motel out in the middle of nowhere, I square my shoulders and head out. I have one last mission to complete before the endgame.