Chapter 25
Tanner
Present day
I heave my body down onto my bed in the cabin, shoving my hands through my hair as I exhale deeply and close my eyes.
Hunter has had his girlfriend cuddled up under his sheets for the past half hour, so with the two of them asleep the only sounds are coming from outside – the gentle rhythmic lapping of the lake as it brushes up against the shore and retreats back into its moonlit swells.
A quiet vibrating sound comes from the small dresser next to my bed and I drop my hands from my face, eyes flashing over to it. As soon as I realise that the sound is coming from my phone, I practically fall off the bed in my haste to reach it.
I grab it and throw my shoulders back down against the mattress, chest pumping hard as my eyes race across the screen.
My heart pounds in my chest as more messages pop up, and I tap on the little bubble, taking me across to our message thread. A thread that, before this exact moment, had been entirely one-sided.
AISLING: Hey.
AISLING: It’s Aisling.
AISLING: Are you still awake?
I shove my free hand through my hair as I prop my body up on one elbow, turning to face the wall so that I can give these messages the privacy that they deserve.
My thumb flies across the screen as I tug at my fringe, suddenly more wired than I’ve been all day.
TANNER: Yeah, baby, still awake.
I press send and watch the message go from Delivered to Read in the space of half a second.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” I murmur, voice low and hoarse as I watch those three dots appear, vanish briefly, and then reappear again.
Unable to lie still I kick my legs off the bed, planting my feet on the floor and dropping my elbows to my knees. I hunch over my phone and wait to see what she’s typing.
I swipe one of my palms down my thigh, knees bouncing at a thousand miles per minute, and when Aisling’s message finally surfaces I’m instantly shoving my feet into my boots and grabbing my shit from the dresser.
AISLING: Do you still want to come over?
I rip the quilt and under-sheet from my bed, shoving them over one of my forearms as I quickly type back Yyesxsd fucdk yes pleasxe .
My thumbs are shaking so hard that I can’t even fix my typos, so I hit send, tripping over the blankets as I quickly shoulder my way into the small bathroom. I give myself a brief check in the mirror, wanting to look the best that I can for when I break down Aisling’s front door in one minute’s time.
My hair’s still damp from the shower, dripping down over my forehead instead of pushed back like I usually try and shove it, and my tan has darkened from the weeks of unfiltered mountain sunlight, not to mention ruddy as hell from my sudden surge of adrenaline. I’m wearing boots, sweatpants and no pyjama shirt, and hopefully that will work in my favour seeing as Aisling likes to palm her hands all over my muscles.
The little buzz in my hand recaptures my attention and my eyes fly across the screen as I read her message.
AISLING: My door’s unlocked.
I stumble my way out of the cabin.
I haul the blankets higher up in my arms, and then gently close the cabin door as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake my roommate and his girl when I know that Aisling wants to keep this thing a secret. I stuff my phone in the front pocket of my pants and jog the distance around the head of the lake, mounting her porch steps two at a time before adjusting myself in my joggers and opening her front door.
I open it quietly, not wanting the sound to carry over the water, and then I ease it shut with the back of my shoulder.
Over the past week, Aisling has had all of the interior fixtures delivered to the lake house, meaning that the living area and kitchen are both packed with unwrapped appliances, as well as two long couches and a really comfortable looking armchair.
I give my stubble a swipe with my shoulder as my eyes linger on the wood that I chopped for her, stacked into a neat pile beside the stone fireplace.
Something tight and protective flares in my chest.
I reluctantly tear my eyes away from the stack – the only area of the room that looks as if it’s had some of her attention yet – and then I kick off my boots and begin walking up the stairs.
The door to the master bedroom is slightly ajar, a faint orange glow radiating through the gap from a small lamp or night-light. My heavy steps come to a stop on the threshold and I swallow quietly before rapping two knuckles against her door.
“Aisling?” I say, my voice quiet and rough. “It’s me. It’s Tanner.”
The gentle sound of her clambering to her feet and then padding over to the door filters over to me through the wood.
I arch my neck as I close my eyes, gratitude surging through my chest.
I’m so fucking lucky that she actually wants me to be here. After so much time apart, a big part of me never expected us to get back into the situation that we originally lost ourselves in four years ago. So the fact that Aisling is dipping her toe back in the water here – giving me another shot – is making me really feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the world.
I can sense the moment where she presses the tips of her fingers against the other side of the door, making the dark wood sway slightly, both of us thrumming with tension and need.
I drop my chin to my chest and try to calm my breathing, eyes trained on her delicate shadow as she moves cautiously on the other side of the wood.
Then she pulls the door open and the air rushes out of my lungs.
“Hey,” she says, light and casual, before stumbling back with a squeak as I practically fall inside her room.
The lake house’s master bedroom is set under a beautiful wooden A-frame, making it seem smaller than it is and cosy as hell. Right now it’s got a deconstructed bed leaning heavily against the wall, a tiny night-light plugged in beside the balcony, a deflated blow-up mattress rolled up on the left, and a recently-vacated sleeping bag on the right.
But I barely register any of it.
I click the door closed with a shove of my shoulder, toss my two quilts over on top of her sleeping bag, and then take both sides of her hips in my hands, eyes raking her up and down as my blood rushes south.
“Why’d you bring your sheets?” she asks breathlessly, glancing hastily over to the thick quilts I’ve tossed down.
I can only think about one hot thing at a time and right now that hot thing is the captain of Carter U’s cheer team wearing my goddamn shirt.
“This looks so fucking good on you,” I rumble, dropping my forehead down to hers and hauling her body up against mine.
“The sheets?” she whispers again, trying fucking valiantly to keep my brain remotely working.
“There’s only one sleeping bag,” I reply, voice so deep that she sucks in a breath. And now that I see she hasn’t put her blow-up mattress to use tonight, I’m extra glad that I brought the quilt over.
“Why didn’t you blow up the mattress?” I ask quietly, as my palms grip into the sides of her waist. Her sleeping bag looks high quality but even a high quality one is no match for a mattress.
She shakes her head, inhaling shakily as her cheeks turn pink.
“I can’t… I, uh… it’s a big mattress, is all,” she finally whispers. “It’s hard to blow that much in one go.”
I drop my head into the curve of her neck, groaning quietly.
“You’ve been trying to blow that thing up with your mouth ?” I mumble into her skin, my hands tightening on her waist as my shoulder muscles flex.
No-one told this girl that airbed pumps exist? What the fuck?
“How else would I do it?” she whispers, hands tentatively moving to the back of my neck as I leash my arms around her and haul her up.
“Jesus Christ, baby,” I whisper, too astounded and turned on by the image of her trying to blow up the mattress with her mouth to answer her question. “Don’t tell me that you’ve just had that thing lying there and not being used this whole time.”
She purses her lips together and stares guiltily at my chest.
I bounce her firmly against my body and she releases a sad guilty hum.
I duck my head so that I can reach her cheek with my mouth, pressing a couple of kisses against her as she cautiously lets her fingers trace over my shoulders, until she’s fully massaging my pecs.
There’s nowhere on Earth that I’d rather be right now.
I keep one arm leashed around her lower back and I use the other one to arrange the sheets, quickly tossing out both of the quilts before dragging her sleeping bag on top of them, and then folding the overhang over the top of it.
Aisling watches as I prepare the make-shift bed for us and, after spotting her small night-light again, I walk us over to it and push it a little closer to the sheets, hoping that it looks kind of rustic and cosy.
When I finally step back from the squishy pile of bedding, Aisling wraps her arms tighter around my shoulders and I press another kiss to one of her cheeks.
“Blanket fort,” she whispers, her eyes sparkling.
I give her a playful squeeze on the ass before finally setting her down from her position on my waist. Then I turn her gently in my arms and hold her back up against my front.
“Yeah,” I murmur, as we walk over to it.
She lightly prods at the blankets with one of her sparkly toes. I huff a laugh against her neck, squeezing my arms around her tighter.
Then I press my mouth against her ear and growl, “Get in the fucking blanket fort.”
She giggles loudly in my arms, making me grin and clutch her tighter, picking her back up off the floor so that I can lower her down on the sheets myself. I press her down on her belly and settle in behind her on my spread haunches, shoving her inside her plush sleeping bag and then swaddling her up with all of the blankets.
“Tanner,” she laughs, shoving me playfully as she tries to wiggle back out of it.
I lean back on one of my elbows and let her, and as soon as she’s free she climbs on top of me. The thick quilts envelop us in our own private world.
Aisling’s sleeping bag and my quilt are cosy as fuck underneath me, and the weight of her perfect body on mine has my fingers squeezing roughly into the backs of her soft thighs.
“I wanna go to sleep like this every night,” I murmur, one of my palms giving her a spank on the ass, before roaming up the curve of her waist and tangling its way into the back of her hair.
I wrap her waves around my fist before gently tugging backwards, making her lift her perfect face and look up at me from under her lashes.
There’s something naughty about that shimmer in her eyes and it makes me lift myself back up onto my elbows, watching her warily as she tries to bite back her smile, trying to look innocent.
She slowly sits herself upright and presses her warm palms against my abdomen, her soft golden thighs straddling the thick ridge beneath my sweatpants.
“What is it?” I rasp, my gaze searching hers in the darkness.
Why’s she looking at me so naughtily for?
“Um,” she whispers, cheeks flushing pink as she smiles.
Slowly, she leans over me so that she can drag the night-light a little closer, her breasts almost scraping over my mouth as she pulls it into place. I turn my head away from her beautiful tits and grunt, my chest rapidly rising and falling.
“I, uh…” she begins as she sits back on my lap, sheets pooling behind her waist and letting me take her in unobstructed. The night-light is barely emitting a single watt of energy but the gentle stream of moonlight filtering in from the balcony makes Aisling glow warmly in the darkness.
I keep my body half-upright on my elbows, my palms roaming over the khaki shirt that she’s wearing.
I’ve seen her wear it from across the lake, but it’s different to see it while my hands are all over her.
She gently rubs her warmth over the long erection between my thighs and my gaze immediately snaps down to the hem of my shirt, covering her little heat.
I meet her eyes with mine as I tuck two fingers under the hem, silently asking her if I can lift the shirt and look at her underneath it. She swallows quietly and nods her head.
I gently lift up the shirt and practically swallow my tongue whole.
“Ash,” I grunt, pupils dialling out as I take her in.
Because she’s wearing the fucking khaki panties.
She’s wearing my favourite khaki shirt with the panties that I bought for her.
I clench my jaw and stifle my groan as I reach behind her and grip my shaft.
“You put this on for me?” I ask her hoarsely, already knowing the answer. “You slip into these panties just for me to see?”
She shifts slightly on my lap and I choke on my grunt as my balls tighten.
“You didn’t get to see me in them the other day because, like, we didn’t want to get caught,” she whispers, fingers trailing over my body and making me grow harder. “And, I don’t know, it’s probably really silly but I thought that you might, like, wanna see? So I–”
I grip both of my palms around her cheeks and kiss the goddamn fuck out of her.
She falls into me with a happy squeal and I lower myself onto my back, pulling Ash along for the ride and then rolling us onto our sides so that I can deepen the angle.
My tongue slides into her mouth and she tightens her arms around my neck as she whimpers, making me grunt low and deep as I shove my palm between her thighs.
“Dream girl,” I rumble, loving the way that she goes all shy when she hears me say that word.
She drops her gaze and I gently nudge the tip of my nose against hers, before hunching back down to kiss her again.
“Tanner,” she whispers against me, while I cup her roughly between her legs.
I grunt and pull back so that she can say whatever’s on her beautiful mind.
“Yeah, what is it, baby?” I murmur when she keeps her eyes trained on my chest, nibbling on her lower lip and blinking fast as she builds up the courage to say what she wants to say.
“Do you, uh…” She looks up at me for a brief second and then quickly goes back to staring at my pecs.
Smirking, I flex them up and make them do a kind of dance, and she’s instantly laughing, smacking my biceps as she rolls onto her back.
I grin and immediately roll on top of her, settling my hips between her legs before practically smothering her face with my chest.
She giggles up at me, enveloped in my muscles, and a happy rumble spreads through my chest at the sight of her so dazzlingly happy.
“You were saying?” I ask, lifting up about half a centimetre so that she can gasp in a couple of breaths before I get back to cuddling her again.
“I was gonna ask, um, if you... like, when I talk to you, if you have a preference about, you know…”
My mouth lifts up at the corner, a smile crease pulling taut in the centre of my cheek.
I can’t believe that the prettiest girl in the world is almost as flustered around me as I am around her.
“Mm?” I ask, pressing a couple of kisses against her warm cheek. I let my hands roam down over her waist until I’m tangling my digits up in the sides of her panties.
“Do you prefer it if I call you Tanner?” she finally whispers and my hands pause, heart halting. The surge of warmth that explodes in my chest has me dropping my forehead into the curve of her neck and nuzzling hard as I try to tamper down the sudden swell of emotion.
Sweetest fucking girl.
After a good five seconds of fully inhaling her neck, I prop myself back up on one of my elbows and stare down at her, my eyes on fire.
I bracket her chin in my palm and press a rough kiss to her perfect lips.
My voice is low and rumbling when I finally pull away.
“Are you tryna work out if I prefer you calling me Mason or Tanner?” I ask her, downright in love with how nervous this conversation is making her. I don’t know why she’s so shy about saying my first name but it makes me breathe out a laugh as I slip my hand around her neck. “You can call me whatever you want, baby. Mason, Tanner – boyfriend also works.”
She rolls her eyes and laughs before covering her blushing face with her hands. I’m grinning so hard that my cheeks are aching.
Then I grab her left hand and straight up suck her ring finger into my mouth.
Aisling gasps as I release her finger with a pop , pressing another stubble-coated kiss over where a big fat diamond needs to be.
She fans her face with her other hand before pulling me back down and letting me slow-kiss her.
She moans into my mouth when I get both of my hands around her butt cheeks, and I groan against her lips as I start palming them hard and firm.
“Missed your little ass,” I murmur, and Aisling gasps quietly against my throat. She rubs the warm centre of her panties up against my flexing abdomen and I groan harder, delivering a firm spank.
She makes a little hissing sound and my cock instantly hardens as she tries to weakly keep her arms around my shoulders.
“Shit,” I murmur, moving my mouth back to hers and slipping my tongue inside so that I can stroke her hungrily.
Warm fingers grip me over my sweatpants, and I grunt quietly.
“Not tonight,” I choke out, swallowing hard.
But Aisling rolls over onto her stomach, spreads her legs for me, and moans.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I rasp, nuzzling my face in her beautiful hair, gripping my fingers around her hips, and thrusting against her as if we’re naked. “No condoms,” I manage to choke out as she turns her face around so that I can kiss her jaw. My temples pound as I rasp, “I didn’t bring any fucking condoms.”
She nods in understanding and rolls over so that she’s on her back again, and then we’re kissing like we’re back in Carter Ridge, two love-struck freshmen who can’t keep their hands off each other.
“Say my name,” I murmur as I prop my elbows on either side of her face, my shoulders bunching taut as I rub my hips purposefully between her thighs.
She looks up at me with those sparkling eyes, hands gripping as tight as they can around my biceps as I thrust her harder against the sheets.
“Tanner,” she whispers, but she knows that isn’t what I mean.
I huff out a laugh as I rub my cock against her faster.
“Other one,” I grunt, removing one of my fists from above her head so that I can grab the back of her knee and shove it up over my shoulder.
“Oh my God!” she whimpers, squeezing her eyes shut as I wrap my forearm beneath her body, holding her against me as close as possible.
“Say it,” I rasp, as she pants against my shoulder.
I pull back and stare down at her, my eyes burning as I wait for her to say it. But then we’re laughing and groaning and I’m nudging her nose with mine before we kiss, the pace of my hips never relenting.
“Mason,” she whispers and I release the deepest groan, rubbing my forehead against hers before slipping my hand between our bodies.
“Fuck, that’s it,” I murmur, “I fucking love hearing you say my name.”
I push her panties an inch down her thighs and shove two digits against her little nub, sliding my tongue inside her mouth as her legs clench tight around my waist. Her brow arches high, telling me that she’s there.
I rub her hard and fast, chest pumping as she moans against my throat, and when she finally falls back against the sheets I’m a grunting fucking mess, so close to my own release that I’m goddamn dizzy as I shove down my sweatpants.
“I’m done,” I pant, my brow creased in pain as I grip the heavy muscle that’s hanging between my thighs. I’m towering over her, one palm splayed flat beside her head, and the other tossing my cock as my eyes rake her up and down.
Her pretty khaki panties are twisted like a garter around her thighs.
I drop down on top of her, grunting like an animal as I finally snap, my release coming hard and fast as I pump roughly into my fist. Warm thick spurts release against her thighs and I hunch down to kiss her – trying to be soft and gentle despite the warm mess that I’m covering her in.
“Sorry, baby, I’m almost done,” I whisper, groaning quietly against her neck as I toss out another spurt.
When I’m finally done I leash my arm around her waist so that I can haul her against me as tight as possible. Then I’m kissing her slow and gentle, my free hand cupping her jaw while the last of the tremors ripple through me.
I pull back so that I can rest my forehead against hers, breathing hard as I envelop her in my arms.
“I’ve missed holding you like this,” I rasp quietly, pressing another kiss to her cheek when she nods breathlessly in response. I rub my thumb through the release on her thighs and have to take a few calming breaths before I finally speak again. “You got any towels in here, baby?”
Her pretty eyes flutter open and my heart pounds wildly when they meet mine.
It’s always felt like this.
I’ll never get over how beautiful she is.
My dream girl.
“Yeah,” she whispers, glancing over to one of her luggage bags.
She releases one of her arms from around my neck so that she can point in the direction of her clean laundry, and I’m immediately distracted by her love heart freckle, gripping my fist around her elbow so that I can lift it gently and kiss it.
“This – fucking – freckle,” I murmur against her soft skin, groaning at how sugary-sweet she tastes as she strokes her free hand over the sharp stubble on my jaw.
My eyes close momentarily while the beautiful girl wrapped up in my arms gives me that gentle loving that I’ve always wanted.
I kiss her freckle again, then her wrist, and then I work my way across each of her knuckles.
“Gonna grab a towel, stay here,” I murmur, reluctantly heaving myself up off of her and tucking the quilt back over her before I get to my feet. I pull my pants back up as I trudge over to Aisling’s luggage, wincing hard when the fabric brushes against my shaft. I grab the first towel on the pile, giving it a quick squeeze to make sure that it’s nice and soft, and then I’m settling in on my haunches between Aisling’s thighs, pulling the hem of her shirt just over her belly button and giving it a little kiss before finally cleaning up the situation on her thighs.
“Tanner,” she whispers, swallowing nervously as I stroke the towel over her skin.
I glance up at her from under my lashes, heart pounding as I take in the sight of her.
I give her a dimpled smile as she watches me nervously from the sleeping bag.
“Back to ‘Tanner’ again, huh?” I rumble quietly, hoping that she can’t see the crimson stain beginning to spread its way up my neck to the tips of my ears.
I love when she calls me Tanner, probably because I’m so used to hearing her say it when she’s giving me hell – and, yeah, okay, her attitude turns me the fuck on – but deep down I love it even more when she calls me Mason. I’ve never actually had a girl call me by my first name before. Unless they were to search it up when I was playing D1 college hockey with the Carter Ridge Rangers, I realise that none of the chicks that I was with at college would have even known my first name. So having Aisling whispering my name when I’m kissing her or we’re being intimate… it feels like a sacred thing that’s just for us, and I’m head over heels for it.
I’m head over heels for her.
I rub the towel over her skin, cleaning off my cum before gently sucking the soft curve of her waist.
She’s so warm and sweet that a low growl spreads through my chest.
I toss the towel out of the blanket fort, tug the blankets back around us, and scrape my stubble over her soft skin, murmuring, “My fuckin’ woman.”
Aisling laughs quietly before tangling her fingers up in my hair and tugging hard, telling me to get my face up next to hers, right the fuck now.
I press another rough kiss against her belly button before heaving myself up beside her, easing her panties back into place.
As soon as I catch that amused sparkle in her eyes I immediately know exactly what she’s trying not to laugh about.
I groan into my hands as I throw myself onto my back.
“Oh my God ,” I mumble, face-palming so freaking hard right now. “I’m an idiot,” I laugh, my voice low as hell.
I drop my hands and look down at her, cupping her cheruby cheeks in my palms as I search her beautiful eyes.
“This was… way too soon again, wasn’t it? I fucked up again, didn’t I?” I rasp, but Aisling just laughs, cuddling her face between the large muscles of my chest. I wrap my biceps around her head, not wanting to ever let her go.
“It’s okay,” she says, her voice all muffled and giggly. “Maybe we just aren’t meant to be conventional.”
I pull one of my arms back from her head so that I can smack my palm straight down on my face.
“I literally fucking said that we were going to take it slow this time,” I groan, and Aisling’s whole body shakes with laughter, much to the interest of my suddenly very rigid cock.
I mean, it’s not like we actually had sex. Fooling around counts as going slow, right? And my cum isn’t even on her anymore, so it’s technically like it never even happened.
I frown at that thought and glance down at her soft thighs. All cleaned up.
Huh.
Maybe we should… do it again?
Christ, what the hell is wrong with me? I steel my jaw and roll heavily on top of her, grunting against the quilt as I wrap her protectively in my arms.
“You’re so beautiful,” I murmur, kissing gently over her cheeks as she snuggles her face in the crook of my neck. “Just cuddling from now on,” I mumble, heart squeezing in my chest as she does this tiny yawn that makes me chuckle. “So fucking cute.”
“Are you sure you can do just cuddling?” she whispers, tilting her head back into the quilt so that she can look up at me.
I crush a kiss to her forehead. “Hell yeah,” I murmur. “I love cuddling you.”
She nods her head, looking away from me as she maps out her renovation itinerary in her mind.
“Okay,” she whispers. “I mean, maybe that’ll work until I’ve finally finished with the refurb. All I have left now is to set up all of the furniture and I think I can get that done by Friday – which means that I’ll be, like, three weeks ahead of schedule anyway.”
I try not to frown as I think about how hard she’s been working, and how big this challenge was for a chick who has literally just graduated. I wonder what her parents are like and if they’ve always been so expectant of her. Or maybe they’re just used to it – how determined Aisling is.
I roll onto my side, keeping her tucked up against my chest.
“I’ll help you finish up,” I tell her, digits getting tangled up in the side of her panties again.
She shakes her head. “I can do this. This one is all me.”
I’m about to argue so she shuts me up with a kiss.
I grunt and hold her tighter. She smiles smug as hell against my lips.
“Trouble,” I murmur, eliciting the prettiest laugh that I’ve ever heard.
“Big shot,” she whispers back, and I smirk as I pull her closer, with no intentions of ever letting her go.