Chapter Five
They were still without power by the time everyone retired to bed.
Gloria and Levi made delicious ginger crinkle cookies and an even more delicious apple pie, which they all decided was a perfectly acceptable dinner. Jennifer, of course, made them all eat some chopped up raw veggies, too, as they all sat in the living room and watched a movie.
After a bath, Levi retired to bed by nine, a severe case of the yawns interfering with his speech. Then Phil and Gloria followed by nine-thirty.
Luckily, Dax had two spare rooms in addition to his own bedroom.
He had a double bed in one room, which he gave to Phil and Gloria, and a day bed with a trundle in the other, which he gave to Levi and Jennifer.
Though, he and Jennifer had other plans, because in his opinion, the trundle was just a step up from a bed of nails.
He wasn’t expecting what happened in the loft that afternoon.
Sure, he was attracted to Jennifer, but he never wanted to make her feel uncomfortable, or like she owed him something.
His heart broke for her after she confessed how her past lovers treated her. No woman should ever be made to feel so insecure or undervalued. But he wasn’t lying when he said he was enjoying himself. Because he absolutely fucking was.
He loved eating pussy.
It truly was a hobby.
And Jennifer neither tasted or smelled bad.
In fact, he could have forgone dinner and dessert altogether and just dined on her all night.
They waited until about ten-thirty when they knew the rest of the house was asleep, before they turned off all the lights, Dax stoked the woodstove and they slowly crept to his bedroom.
He showered, did a quick manscape and brushed his teeth, just as Jennifer snuck back in after having gone to brush her teeth and wash her face.
She wore a matching set of dark purple pajama pants and a tank top. Her dark blonde hair was in a messy top knot, and she wore glasses.
The glasses made him breakout into a huge grin around his toothbrush.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“Are you blind?”
Her brows kissed for a second. “Oh, the glasses.” Then she giggled. “Yeah, pretty blind, actually.” She took them off for a moment and squinted. “You’re just a handsome blur. Like I can barely make out your features.” She put them back on. “I wear contacts most of the time.”
“I’m digging the thick black rims. It’s hot.”
That made her do a cute little eye roll and half smirk.
He spat and rinsed in the sink, then joined her in the bedroom. “They’re in the left nightstand.”
She glanced at the drawer and her eyes widened.
“But we don’t have to do anything. You do know that you don’t owe me sex or anything else for letting you stay here, right? I’m happy to help. You’re all very nice people, and I’m fortunate to have a woodstove and generator. It’s the right thing to do.”
“And that’s why I want to,” she said, crawling onto the bed, kneeling up and pulling her tank top over her head. “Because I feel safe with you. I feel safe here.”
She didn’t realize it, but knowing that she felt safe with him, in his home was one of the biggest compliments she could ever give him.
Not that he’d ever been a bad guy, he knew given his edgier look, and the fact that he was a middle-aged musician with a hard past, no wife or kids, that some people thought he was bad news.
He just had a lot to work through and didn’t feel like putting anybody else in the middle of it. They were his demons and he needed to battle them on his own. Not saddle someone else with a fight they never signed up for.
So he did the work. He went to therapy. He did yoga. He meditated. He forgave Amy. He forgave himself. And he forgave his father. It wasn’t an easy path, but it was one he needed to take alone so that he could be good partner for someone some day.
He believed he was finally ready, though.
He’d found peace and forgiveness. He had his land, his animals, his thriving business, and his demons were officially laid to rest. He was ready to share his life with someone else.
He was ready to be that safe place for someone.
To be their soft place to land when things got hard.
Pausing for just a moment, he took in her natural beauty. The swell of her breasts, the curve of her hips, the gentle rounding of her lower belly. She was gorgeous.
He went to her and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’ve never really felt safe with a man before. Safe to be myself. To be vulnerable.” Their eyes met. “But I feel safe with you.”
“You are safe with me.”
Their lips met in a gentle, languid tango. Their tongues joined in with zero rush. He lowered her to the bed, where he shucked his boxer briefs and she removed her underwear and pants.
He could already smell her arousal and ached to taste her again. To feel her thighs tremble next to his head and her clit swell against his tongue.
Cupping her breast, he teased and tweaked her nipple until she gasped then smiled against his mouth. Slowly, he blazed a trail of kisses and licks down her neck and jaw, to each nipple, across her sternum, her navel and lower until he reached her clit once more.
She was wet for him, so he wasted no time sliding two fingers inside and pumping. Her hips rocked, taking him deeper. Then he began to swirl his tongue around her clit, loving how the slippery little button swelled and pulsed.
He had her coming in no time. The way her pussy squeezed his fingers as she found her release was nothing short of spectacular. She was tight as fuck and got so damn wet. He couldn’t wait to sink into her and feel her squeeze his cock like that.
By the time she came down from her first climax, he could tell she was ready for another.
He was rock hard and dripping onto the mattress when she reached for him.
He crawled up her body and she opened the drawer of the nightstand to retrieve a condom.
He hadn’t been with anybody in over two years and was clean.
But she wasn’t on birth control, so they needed to be smart.
Sitting back on his heels, he quickly rolled on the condom, tossed the wrapper to the floor, then lowered himself back to his hands above her.
Reaching between them, she found his length and helped notch him at her center. Their eyes locked as he slowly slid inside, inch by inch.
When he reached the base, they both let out a collective groan of pleasure. She was as tight as he knew she would be.
“You okay?” he asked, not wanting to get too ahead of himself.
“Ohhh yeah.” She nodded. “The stretch … oh my god.”
It was impossible not to smile at that. Maybe that was the greatest compliment you could pay him.
“Should I start moving?” he asked.
“You better.”
Chuckling, he began to rock, slowly at first, but her movement beneath him, as well as her breathy demands of, “Harder. Faster. Deeper,” had him picking up the pace.
Dropping his head to her breast, he pulled in a tight, hard nipple, sucking until she gasped. He released it with a wet pop and she moaned. So he moved over to the other breast and did the same thing, eliciting the same reaction that time too.
She continued to buck her hips up beneath him as he drove forward, his arm muscles bunching and flexing beneath his weight. His lower belly prickled with heat as his balls cinched up against his taint.
Fuck, he was close.
Her nails dug into his shoulders and her back arched as she threw her head into the pillow and pressed her pelvic bone up to meet his. She paused, her mouth opened against his on a silent plea, and she let go.
Thank fuck.
Her pussy spasmed around him, kicking him that last half inch over the edge so that he was able to tumble, too. He buried his face in her neck, inhaling her sweet scent and reveling in her whimpers and moans of ecstasy.
Everything inside him warmed, his body buzzed and his cock pulsed, sheathed in her velvet heat as she tightened her muscles around him, milking him, holding him close. Because she felt safe with him.
A moment later, she let out a long, low exhale and her body went lax beneath his. He shuddered with the last surge of his release and let out a slow breath.
Her nails retracted from his shoulders and she raked them gently up his sides causing goosebumps to follow. He kissed her shoulder and rolled off, making sure he brought the condom with him.
He removed it and went to the bathroom to dispose of it and wash his face. As he returned to the bedroom, Jennifer got up and took her turn in the bathroom, closing the door.
He pulled on his boxer briefs and collapsed back into the bed, pulling the covers up to his waist and tucking his hands under his head, staring up at the exposed rafters.
The bathroom door opened and she came out looking more gorgeous than ever. Rosy skinned and freshly fucked. Her messy bun was messier than when she first entered his room, and her glasses were covered in smudges. He smiled at her and pulled back the covers on the other side so she could climb in.
But she hesitated and went on the hunt for her pajamas.
Once she was dressed, she just stood there beside the bed, her lips twisting in thought.
“What’s going on?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.
“I … sex is one thing, but sharing a bed … you don’t have to. And what will Levi think if I’m not downstairs in the trundle when he wakes up?”
With a sigh, he patted the empty space in the bed and lifted his brows at her until she rolled those pretty green eyes and acquiesced, joining him.
They lay on their sides, facing each other.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” he said, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. “But I would like some post-sex cuddling if you’re up for it.” The smile he gave her was hopefully as cute as it was lopsided.
Her reaction led him to believe that it was and she chuckled.
“I do agree, that it might be weird for Levi if you’re not there.
However, that trundle is very uncomfortable.
So we can also say that you found the trundle too difficult to sleep on and moved to the couch.
Or I took the couch and gave you my bed.
However, I am willing to take your lead on this.
Do whatever you feel most comfortable doing.
” He shrugged. “But I would like to hold you for a bit before you decide to leave.”
She swallowed and blinked a few times. The smudges on her glasses had him sitting up, removing them from her face and using the top sheet to clean them. Then he carefully placed them back on the bridge of her nose before sinking back down to face her again.
She smiled. “Do you have any flaws?”
He huffed a laugh. “I snore like a bear. Just forewarning you.”
She rolled to her back and sighed. “I don’t even know your last name.”
“It’s van Camp. My dad’s family was Dutch.” He propped his head in his hand, resting his elbow on the bed. “Daxon Ewan van Camp. Nice to meet you.”
She side-eyed him. “Jennifer Marjorie Anne Baldwin. Nice to meet you.”
They both grinned at each other.
“Will you stay and cuddle for a bit with me Jennifer Marjorie Anne Baldwin?”
She nodded and rolled over to show him her back. “Yeah. I will.”
He tucked her ass in against his pelvis as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her shoulder.
“So … when the power comes on, what happens next?” she asked, lacing their fingers together.
“I turn off the generator.”
Her body shook with laughter. “And then what?”
“We check to see if the power is back on in Qualicum, too, and I drive you, Levi, Phil and Gloria home.”
She was quiet for a moment. The silent, “And then what?” settling between them.
“And then, I call you and ask to see you again. I take you on dates. I cook you dinner. I bring you flowers, and I court you. I date you properly, and we see where things go.”
She unlinked their fingers and spun around to face him. “You want to see where things go?”
“Don’t you?”
She nodded. “I-I do.”
“Good. Because I like you. I like your kid and I think we were meant to meet on that ferry. I don’t believe in coincidences. I think things happen for a reason. And I was meant to meet you.”
She cupped his jaw and brought her lips to his. “I’m so glad I met you.”
They kissed for a while but things never went past that. Then, he held her and it felt good to have his arms around somebody again. And when she fell asleep in his arms, that was the biggest compliment she could ever give him. To feel that he was safe enough for her to truly let go.
He didn’t want to push things, and he certainly didn’t want to upset Levi, so once he knew she was asleep, he pulled on flannel pajama pants and a white T-shirt, then headed downstairs to the couch.
It was toasty with the woodstove right there, so he just needed a light blanket.
He was asleep in minutes, dreaming about a beautiful blonde woman wearing nothing but his guitar and a smile.