Chapter 16 #3
It took a little while before I was finally fully seated inside him, and by then, I was a panting, sweaty mess. “Oh God, oh God. Luke. Fuck. Luke. Christ.”
I was a babbling fool.
He felt so fucking good, I couldn’t even think.
“More,” he croaked, wrapping his legs around my waist and arching closer. I began to thrust into him, careful at first, before he convinced me to stop holding back.
What followed was the most exciting and fulfilling sexual experience of my life. I didn’t hold back. I held him tight and let myself go. I listened to his body and his words to try and give him as much pleasure as I could before taking my own.
But for the first time in my life, I almost couldn’t hold my orgasm off to make sure my partner took their pleasure first. By the time his warm spunk hit the hand I had around his cock, I was coming deep inside his body. My lips were locked onto his neck, and I whimpered under his ear.
We were covered in sweat and semen, practically glued together with it, but I was the happiest I could remember being in a very long time.
And it was all because of the lively, lovely man in my bed and in my arms.
Waking up the following morning still naked and tangled up with Luke was even better than I’d expected. I arched my morning wood into his hip and got a sleepy groan in response.
“Don’t tempt me,” Luke mumbled.
“Why not? Aiden’s not expected home for hours yet, and the dresser is still in front of the door.”
The low rumble of his chuckle made me smile. “Barbarian.”
I kissed the back of his neck and behind his ear until he woke up a little more and turned around to face me. His cheek was creased and his eyes half closed.
I’d never seen anything better.
“Morning,” he said before snuggling into my chest. “God you smell good. I don’t ever want to leave this bed.”
“Your mom comes today, so unfortunately, we can’t stay here forever.”
Luke pulled back to give me a mock glare. “Boner killer, thy name is Webb.”
I kissed his cheek, his forehead, and his temple while reaching down to stroke him. “Bet I can bring it back to life.”
We kissed and stroked each other lazily, teasing and flirting, until we were both hard and ready to come. It didn’t take much. I wondered if it would ever take much with this man who seemed to turn me on simply by breathing near me.
We brought each other off with our mouths in a reversed tangle on the bed. As soon as I caught my breath, I grinned up at him proudly.
“First-ever sixty-nine,” I admitted. “Five out of five stars. Highly recommend.”
Instead of laughing, Luke frowned. “You never did it with Amanda? Ever?”
I thought back to my time with her. “No. Not that I can remember.” I moved around until Luke and I were settled back on the pillows face-to-face. “I was obsessed with making sure my partner came first.”
“I’ve noticed,” Luke interjected. “And let’s be clear, I’m not complaining.”
I reached for his hand and threaded our fingers together. “So I usually focused on her first. And if we came at the same time, it wasn’t through oral. Not sure I’d want someone’s teeth near my junk while they were losing control during an orgasm.”
Luke tilted his head. “But you let me do it.”
“That’s different,” I said without thinking. “I trust you.”
The words landed heavily in the room, killing the mood stone dead.
I muttered a curse and an apology. “I didn’t mean for her to come up.”
Luke reached out and stroked my cheek. “I’m the one who brought her up. And… I’ve been meaning to ask you about her anyway.”
I blew out a breath and turned onto my back. Leave it to Amanda to ruin my morning with Luke. “What do you want to know?”
“I don’t want to know anything if it’s going to upset you.”
I turned my head to face him. “She brings out the worst in me, and I don’t necessarily want you to see the worst in me. That’s all.”
Luke nodded. “That’s pretty expected with exes. But I’m curious how things ended with you two to leave such animosity between you. It…” He hesitated.
I reached out to hold his hand again. “Go on,” I urged softly.
“It upsets Aiden. He feels like he needs to defend her to you and protect her from you. I’d imagine he does the same with her. Defends you and protects you. That’s a lot for a kid his age.”
His words were kindly meant, but the blade still cut deeply.
I rolled toward him and buried my face in his neck. “Thank you for being brave enough to tell me that,” I mumbled against his warm skin. “You’re right.”
We lay like that for several minutes while I processed what he’d said.
When I got my thoughts together, I pulled away again.
“I married her for the wrong reasons. My dad was sick, and when he passed away… it made me panic a little. With him gone, I realized how short life was. I had the orchard to manage, but I also had young siblings. Em was only eight at the time. I was desperate to keep us together as a ‘normal’ family, whatever normal means. I guess I thought it meant I needed a wife. I needed to start a family.”
“And thank God for that, or you wouldn’t have Aiden,” Luke added with a smile.
I pulled his hand to my lips to press a kiss on it. “Absolutely. I have zero regrets about that. But… in hindsight, the marriage itself wasn’t fair to Amanda or me. I rushed us both into something out of fear instead of love.”
I thought about it for another minute before continuing.
“Because I’d married her for stability, I noticed right away when she started being unreliable.
I think that’s what makes me so angry. She’s unreliable.
I can’t trust her to show up when she’s supposed to.
She doesn’t stick around when things get tough, and raising a kid is tough. ”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized Luke was the opposite of unreliable. He was the opposite of flaky. When Luke promised to show up, he was always there. When faced with the nightmare of Ben Pond’s dilapidated farmhouse, Luke didn’t bolt back south. He stayed and persevered.
I opened my mouth to say something about it, but he spoke first. “She’s here now.
She has a job, and Deb Reinhardt at the Hookers meeting said she’s doing great at it.
Deb’s brother Joey is a real estate agent in Keltyville.
Amanda has also been to a spelling bee practice even though she had to leave work early to make it on time.
She brought the kids a batch of cookies decorated like bees.
And she’s shown up for every visitation with Aiden. ”
“She’s been late for every visitation,” I amended.
Luke nodded. “You know her better than I do, obviously. All I’m saying is…
people change. Do I know whether she’s going to run again?
Of course not. But it seems to me she’s trying.
And if that’s true, it could be a good thing for Aiden.
If nothing else, her trying to be here for him sends him the message that she cares about him. ”
“I don’t appreciate you being so levelheaded and kind,” I muttered, pulling him in for another snuggle. “It’s annoying as fuck.”
“You’re not as grumpy as you pretend to be,” he said with a laugh.
“Don’t kid yourself. The only thing keeping me from full-on grizzly bear status is large quantities of coffee.”
“Then maybe we should slide the dresser over and go in search of some,” Luke suggested, crawling out of bed. “We’ll grab coffee and then come back up here for a lesson on soapy shower hand jobs.”
After we slipped on pajama pants from my dresser, we moved it away from the door and made our way downstairs.
It wasn’t until we were halfway to the coffee maker that I realized we weren’t alone.
“Hi, Dad! Hi, Mr. Williams! Did you…” Aiden’s face wrinkled adorably from his spot at the kitchen table.
“Did you have a sleepover? Oh, wait! You did that thing Mayor York was talking about. Bed bundling! Part Nine of the handfast! Oh my gosh, you’re really getting married. This is the best thing ever!”
My face ignited. Shit. Technically, he wasn’t wrong. If I remembered correctly, Luke had even said, “Oh, God,” a number of times, and that was pretty close to a prayer.
Luke let out a helpless sound under his breath, and Amanda set down her coffee mug. Uncle Drew’s lips stayed closed, but his nostrils flared in laughter.
Amanda looked down at her coffee. “So, it’s true? You’re getting married?”
Her voice was curious, not judgmental, but still I panicked.
“No! Of course not. Not really. Don’t be ridiculous. This is just… it’s…” I glanced at Drew for help, but there was none to be found. I glanced at Emma, who’d just stumbled in, but she was obviously still half asleep. “It’s nothing. Right, Luke?”
I glanced at Luke.
And realized I’d fucked everything up. Again.
Only worse. Because this time I had so much more to lose.