Chapter Twenty-six
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
NATALIE
I’m not a cuddler.
Or at least I didn’t think I was.
I notice two things the moment I wake up. The first is the warm body that has me trapped under his arm and pulled tight against his chest. The second is the way my body aches, remembering everything that happened between us last night.
I slept with my best friend.
Not just slept.
I had sex with him.
With Tobias Banks.
And in a moment where my mind should be racing with worry over how this could go wrong, it’s not.
Instead, I’m trying not to breathe too hard, thinking of all the ways I want last night to happen again and again and again.
I turn gently under his hold until we’re face-to-face.
Am I worried about morning breath?
A little.
Am I mesmerized by the sweet yet sexy face in front of me?
Oh yes.
I reach up to cup his cheeks, letting my thumb brush over his stubble. He always has a little scruff, but I bet he’d look great with a full-faced beard.
My gaze takes in his chiseled jawline, the scar, now faded, on his chin that he got our first year out of college from an innocent volleyball game, the way his eyebrows look more groomed than mine, the way his plump lips are calling to me.
They’ve never called to me the way they are now.
I know how soft they are, but I want to touch them again.
I lean in, wondering if he’d like me to wake him with kisses. I know my best friend Tobias, but more-than-friends Tobias—now that’s a completely different person to me.
“You better be planning to kiss me right now.”
I hold back my smile, biting my lip as his eyes flash open.
“I was thinking about it.”
“Don’t think too hard, Dove. If it’s something you want, it's something I want.”
Oh, is this cheesy line Tobias?
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Very,” he says just before his hand slides from my hip to my backside and jerks me against him. “Now, tell me what you want this morning. A kiss, a hug, my face between your legs eating you and licking you until you can’t think anymore?”
I swallow and nod. “That one.”
I assume he’s going to pull an are you sure? or you got it! line, but instead, he lifts the sheets and crawls under.
He grabs my thighs and spreads them, causing me to shift to my back all in one move.
My body temperature instantly spikes, so I flip the sheets down to look at him.
With his head between my legs, he grins up at me.
“Sleeping without clothes is officially a requirement for you.”
Then he places one long, slow lick against my core. My back starts to bow, but he reaches up to place his forearm over my hips, holding me down.
Then he eats as if he’s a starved man and I’m the only thing that can refuel him.
“Fuck,” I say quietly, running one hand through my hair while the other pulls at the hair on Tobias’s head.
“Say more,” he instructs. “Tell me how you want it.”
I take a moment to focus on my breathing. How do I want it? Is he kidding me?
“I want it just like that.”
“Like this?” he asks, pulling back to slide two fingers inside me.
“Oh yes.”
“And this?”
He leans back in to suck my clit as his fingers twist and turn, enticing my orgasm out of me.
“Tobias,” I breathe. “I’m close.”
He picks up pace, his fingers scissoring inside of me to make room for his tongue.
“Fuck. Fuck.” I close my eyes, little stars taking over the backs of my eyelids. I grab a pillow and place it over my mouth to let out the small scream I’ve been holding back.
As soon as my body calms down and I toss the pillow back to where it laid, I find a grinning Tobias watching me.
“How in the fuck did I let a sight like that get by me for the last ten years?”
I’m lying in the middle of the bed under his gaze, completely naked, and all I can think about is how I can make him feel the high coursing through my veins right now.
“Lie down,” I say, and his eyes widen.
“You don’t have to do anything for me. That was more for me than it was for you, I promise.”
I let his words float between us for maybe thirty seconds before I sit up on my knees.
“I said, Lie. Down.”
This time, he does as he’s told and lies on his back. I crawl over him and then lower his boxers down his legs.
“If I’m sleeping naked, you’re sleeping naked. Got it?”
He nods.
“Stop smirking.”
“I can’t,” he says with a laugh. “I’m so fucking happy right now. Smiling is the result of that.”
To this I laugh, but the giddiness of the moment is gone as soon as I sit on his lap, rubbing myself over him, letting him feel how wet he’s made me.
“Shit, Nat, that’s nice. That’s really fucking nice.”
I lean forward, keeping my slow and steady rhythm over him.
“I didn’t realize you liked the word fuck so much,” I whisper in his ear and then bite it gently, tugging it as I move my hips faster.
“I can’t help it.” He groans. He holds my hips as he lifts his, increasing the friction between us. “You make me feel feral.”
“We’ve spent one night together.”
“That’s all it took.”
His hips jerk, pressing his hardness against me and causing me to flip over. He lands smoothly between my legs, holding one of them against his biceps.
“This is how I want you,” he says. “Think of how deep I could get like this.”
His eyes latch onto mine as if he needs approval.
I nod.
“Good,” he says, grinding his hips into me one more time before he grabs a condom.
I hear the jingle of his belt and then a quiet “Fuck.”
Leaning up on my elbows, I ask, “Is everything okay?”
His head drops. “I only had the three condoms we used last night. I swear I thought I had more.”
“Oh, just three,” I tease, and he shakes his head.
I’d suggest that we go without, but we just erased one line over the past few days. It might be smart to wait before we erase another.
“Well, it’s a good thing we’re going home today, isn’t it?”
“Home?” he repeats and nods. “Yeah, pack your bags. Now.”
He moves quickly, grabbing his clothes and tossing them into his suitcase.
“Slow down, Casanova.”
He pins me with a look. “You know, a punishment might be in the cards for you if you keep that up.”
I move, naked I might add, for the adjoining bathroom. “Can that be done in the shower?”
“Don’t tease me.” His head drops back.
“What? You’re not up for the challenge?”
He drops his bag and stalks toward me with a dark look in his eye.
“Bathroom. Now.”
I grin and do as I’m told.
I like to be my own boss, but when it comes to sex with Tobias, that’s a different story.
* * *
As soon as we’re back in Wind Valley, Nora calls to tell me that one of our authors accidentally hit publish on her new release a week early. We need to get packets out stat, so I rush to her house. We could have done it over the phone or by email, but working together is so much more efficient.
A couple of hours and lots of apologies later, the release blast is underway.
Nora sits back and blows out a long breath. “How was Lovers?”
“It was good.”
“Just good?”
“Yep.”
About a minute goes by before she taps the back of my chair.
“What’s up?” I ask, spinning to face her.
She’s got the baby in her arms and is swiveling her chair left to right slowly to keep her asleep.
“What did you do in Lovers?”
There is suspicion in the way her brown eyes stare me down, but I don’t give in. There is absolutely no way she could know anything that happened between Tobias and me.
“We ate good food, went to the fall festival each night, had cake for Grandma Betty’s birthday, danced, and just hung out. Actually, it was exactly what I needed.”
Especially the sex.
God. I cannot remember the last time I had sex like that.
Sex that not only engaged my entire body but my mind too. Instead of thinking of ways to make each of us reach the finish line, my mind was looking for ways we could do it over and over. To make it last.
I’ve never had sex like that.
“That's it?”
I think for a moment.
“Oh,” I say and hold up a finger. “I caved and decided to read Tobias’s first bestseller.”
Which I did and didn’t tell anyone. Not even Tobias.
For the record, he talks just as dirty in bed as he does in his books.
“Did you now?” Nora grins. “Did you like it?”
“I loved it,” I say and then laugh. “It reminded me why I stopped reading them back in college.”
“Did you stop reading this one?”
“Nope.”
“What changed?”
I spin my chair back to face her.
“What’s going on?” I point at her. “Why are you asking me so many questions?”
“Nothing.” She shrugs and looks away.
“Nora.”
“Nothing,” she says, but this time she laughs. “I just want you to be happy, and I’ve just been worried about you is all. I love that you and Tobias are back to being friends again. He’s good for you.”
“I think so, too.”
I know I told Tobias we shouldn’t tell anyone about us, but I’m going to combust if I don’t tell at least one person.
I open my mouth, but she beats me to it. “It’s probably a good thing that you two never dated or anything.”
Okay, that was not what I was expecting.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because. What would happen if you two became an item and then stopped? Would it be weird? Would you still be friends? Would you be heartbroken? Would he? What if?—”
“We had sex,” I blurt out before she can go on. “All those questions you just asked be damned. We did it.”
Nora’s eyes grow to a size I’ve never seen before, and her bottom lip drops open.
“Say something.”
She just keeps looking at me as if I were Ursula and she can no longer speak.
“What does this mean?” she says quickly, her voice low.
I shrug. “I’m not sure yet.”
“How can you not know?”
“Because … it’s complicated.”
“I’ll say, but oh my god!” she yells. “I have been waiting for this moment for years.”
“Okay, it wasn’t that dramatic, and what about all those things you just said?”
“Oh, pshh that. I was just trying to be a good friend and not let you stress over it the way I know you would, but oh my god! Was it a one-time thing? Do you think you’ll keep doing it? Are you still going to find an apartment? I have so many questions.”
“And I have zero answers.”
“How?” Her hand slaps the top of the desk, and her baby startles. “I’d be wanting to know everything as soon as possible.”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I just … this is Tobias. I get this feeling that I don’t need to be worried about anything.”
Nora grins. “Yeah, you’re probably right. You two may have been blind all this time, but your friends weren’t.”
“Yeah, that brings up another great point. We aren’t going to tell a lot of people. Actually, you might be the only one who knows.”
Her eyes widen again.
“Well, that’s one way to keep things from getting boring.”
She twists back to her computer.
To keep things from getting boring?
Is that what happened with Griffin?
Did he get bored with me and cheat?
Oh my god.