Chapter 17 #2
My heart beats faster at the mere mention of a bedroom that’s ours, but so many questions roll through my mind on a ticker-tape, reminding me not to drop my guard.
“Whose clothes are in there? Is this a rental or is it your little love nest? And who got everything ready here?” I ask.
The fire could only have been burning for a matter of hours.
Shade moves towards a well-stocked drinks cabinet.
“There’s no way I’d let you wear hand-me-downs from an ex, Lily.
The clothes are yours. I bought them for you,” he says patiently as he examines the whiskey bottle he’s just picked up.
“And the lodge belongs to a friend. I’ve visited before, but I’ve never brought a woman here.
Weekends away aren’t something I normally do.
And I got everything ready while you were driving up from Chicago. Anything else?”
As Shade pours himself a drink, I sneak my hands beneath my sweater and rest a palm on my stomach to quell the flutters.
How can this man be so fucked up and yet so perfect?
Although… I haven’t seen the clothes he’s bought yet.
He could want me dressed up in barely-there underwear or some kinky maid’s outfit.
“I’ll go and have a look,” I say, lifting my chin and stalking off to the bedroom.
Shade sips his whiskey as he watches me leave. I’m almost through the door when he calls after me. “And don’t go doing anything in there that I couldn’t do better for you.”
I contemplate sprawling out on the bed and groaning loudly to see how fast Shade would come running, but when I find what’s waiting for me, I’m struck speechless.
Standing in the walk-in closet, I hold a silk cami and sleep shorts in one hand, and a pair of cotton pajamas in the other as I try to decide which to choose.
There’s also a selection of warm clothes, a ski jacket, hiking boots, strappy sandals and a green velvet dress I recognize from one of my favorite stores.
It’s been lurking in my checkout basket for months in the hope that the internet shopping gods would take pity on me and reduce the price.
Making my choice, I head for the bathroom which has also been stocked to meet my every need.
There are cosmetics and makeup in familiar brands, a pink electric toothbrush, hair products and in the medicine cabinet, there’s even the tampons I regularly buy.
I’ve reached saturation point and I’m no longer surprised by how intimately Shade knows my life.
The only thing that does give me pause is the embroidered lettering on the fluffy white towels. I should have guessed ‘the friend,” who owned the lodge would be a Moncrief.
I get changed and freshen up as quickly as I can. If we’re spending the weekend together, I’m not wasting a second away from him.
Shade is busy slicing through a crusty loaf of bread when I pad over to the kitchen in my bare feet.
“Do you want to pour the wine? It’s cooling in the refrigerator,” he says without looking up.
“Sure.”
I trail a hand across his shoulders as I pass, and he sets about grabbing bowls for our casserole while I fetch the wine.
As I close the refrigerator, he turns to face me and his gaze travels slowly down my body.
I’d dismissed both choices of sleepwear, and after a little hesitation, decided against parading in just the red lace underwear he’d picked out.
In the end, I think I made the right choice.
“Fuck,” he says, his eyes flaring.
I do a little twirl in the t-shirt he’d discarded in his laundry basket that still smells of him. “Do you approve?”
Shade is over to me in two strides. He fists the t-shirt where it hangs over my hips and as he pulls me to him, his mouth covers mine.
He kisses me hard, plundering my mouth with his tongue before nipping at my lower lip.
His hands slip beneath the t-shirt and he explores my body just long enough to figure out that I’m wearing the underwear he selected for me.
“Do you know what you’re doing to me, Lily?” he growls.
I rake my free hand through my hair, now flowing loose over my shoulders. “Slaying you?”
He shakes his head and groans as he lets me go. “Every fucking day,” he agrees. “Now, let’s eat.”
I leave Shade to serve up the food, and don’t speak until after I’ve taken my first mouthful. “My god, did you make this?”
“I hate to break it to you, but I’m an awful cook,” he admits.
We’re seated at the table with our beef casserole and glasses of wine like civilized human beings, or as near an approximation as we can get.
Our chairs are next to each other and Shade has draped one of my legs over his.
He eats one-handed while the other is free to stroke my inner thigh.
So far, he’s keeping away from the red lace.
“Who did make it?” I ask.
“It’s one of Con–” His mouth clamps shut.
“Con…” I say, repeating the sound to encourage him to finish what he was about to say.
When he simply shrugs, I launch into a guessing game.
He was about to say someone’s name. “Constance? Condoleezza? Conrad?” I suggest. The only other name I can think of is Connor, but after what happened to my ex a few short hours ago, I avoid the reminder.
“Come on, Shade. You know so much about me. Give me something.” It can’t be his wife.
I believe him about not being married, and I don’t imagine any woman would be willing to pack her man off for the weekend with a casserole for his girlfriend.
Am I his girlfriend? Is that how he’d introduce me? And how would I introduce him? This is the man who would kill for me, and gives me orgasms that almost make me pass out. I can tell you what he smells like, and what his cum tastes like, but please don’t ask me his name.
That’s an argument for another day.
“Connie,” Shade says, his fingers stilling on my leg. “She’s our housekeeper. Although it’s more accurate to say she works at the house where two of my brothers live. I moved out to share an apartment with my younger brother a few months back, but Connie still looks after us.”
My eyes widen in shock. “Wow, I feel like I should have been taking notes. I’m one step away from cracking the code,” I say. I push Shade’s hand further up my inner thigh. A tactical move to weaken his resolve. “So does Connie wear a starched uniform and call you Sir?”
“No,” Shade says, his eyes twinkling as he loops a finger beneath the drenched lace. “She calls me…” He leaves a pause on purpose to get my hopes up. “By my first name.”
I tear at a piece of bread and huff. “It was worth a try.”
Shade watches me eat, lost in his own thoughts. When he speaks, I’m expecting something deep and meaningful. “I was impressed with your knowledge of medieval weaponry,” he says. “You recognized the mace.”
As I tilt my head, his mouth quirks. He’s playing with me again, but I still haven’t figured out how this game works. I dip my bread in the delicious casserole, and my mouth is full when I reply. “I played a lot of video games in my youth. Assassin’s Creed was one of my favorites.”
“Mine too. We should play together one of these days.”
I lick my fingers clean. “Maybe we should stick to one game at a time.”
“Suits me,” Shade says as he trails a path down my center.
I’m soaking wet and when his finger glides into me, I clamp my pussy walls around him.
“Is there something you need from me, Slayer?”
My body thrums, but I force myself to reach for more bread instead of the thickening cock beneath his boxers. “I’m good, thanks,” I croak.
His thumb presses against my clit and he circles it once. “I can feel you shaking.”
I hold out my hand to prove I’m perfectly steady, but the bread pinched between my finger and thumb trembles. And then it disappears as Shade snatches it from my grasp.
He pulls my panties to the side while he holds the stolen bread in his other hand. A smirk pulls at his lips as he looks down to my exposed pussy and the need dripping from me.
“Shade, please tell me you’re not going to…”
He uses the bread to soak up my wetness, then holds my gaze as he brings it to his mouth. My lips part as I watch him chew slowly, and my next exhale comes out as a grunt because my insides have coiled so tight.
“I think I’m ready for dessert,” Shade says, jumping up from his seat so fast, his chair topples backwards.
It lands with a crash I don’t hear because I’m too busy yelling as Shade pulls me up and flings me over his shoulder. I grab handfuls of his shirt as my hair falls over my head. “You can’t just–” I press my lips closed. Ha! He’s not going to make me beg after all.
When Shade kneels down on the rug in front of the fire, I don’t know if he simply had the same idea as me, or if he’d noticed my lingering looks at the fireplace.
He slides me off his shoulder, already pulling at my t-shirt so I’m left in only the red lace underwear.
As he stands up to look at me, I lean back on the rug, resting on my elbows.
He peels off his shirt, then his boxers, his hard cock springing free. He strokes himself as he stares down at me, and I have to bring my knees together as muscles contract.
Shade’s eyes narrow at my movement, and he squeezes his tip. It glistens with pearls of precum. “Open your legs for me, Lily.”
My legs stay together as I sway my knees from side to side, teasing him, but not long enough to give him time to remember our previous challenge. I plant my heels into the rug and drop my knees.
Shade trails his gaze up and down my body. “My beautiful girl,” he whispers as he drops down between my legs.
As he pulls my thong down over my hips, he dusts my stomach with kisses.
His mouth moves lower as he untangles my underwear from my ankles, and I thread my fingers through his hair to guide him between my legs.
His tongue follows the seam of my pussy to my entrance, and my back arches as he laps up my juices before plunging his tongue inside me.