19. Aspen
19
ASPEN
T he sun streaming through the curtains is much brighter than I’m used to, my body waking before my alarm almost every morning. But not this morning. No, this morning, I’m trapped under the muscled, tattoo-covered body of the man I’ve had a crush on since moving to Magnolia Point.
He grunts and holds me tighter, his leg snaking over mine, making him basically a weighted blanket.
A sexy weighted blanket.
“Don’t even think about getting up,” he murmurs into my neck. “It’s Sunday and I don’t plan on leaving this bed.”
“But what will we eat?”
His grin is wolfish when he leans up on his elbow and looks at me, his hair adorably mussed and his jaw covered in a layer of stubble that felt delicious between my legs.
I laugh, pushing him onto his back, and I climb over him, straddling his hips as I brush my hair back from my face. I can only imagine what I look like—I’ve never been one of those girls that wakes up flawless and well rested.
Usually, I need half a pot of coffee, no one to speak to me for at least an hour, and dry shampoo at a minimum.
But Phoenix just smiles at me, his gaze roaming over my naked body, his fingers drawing little circles on my thighs. It’s a damn near perfect morning.
The kind I could definitely get used to.
I push down the little voice that tells me I’m getting ahead of myself and that even though Phoenix has been different, I still need to be careful.
“I propose a shower and then stuffed French toast with bacon and maple syrup and coffee—lots of coffee.”
I giggle when he sits up and wraps his arms around me, tickling my sides so I squirm against his hardening cock.
“I thought we agreed I was eating you?”
“Later, or in the shower, but seriously, I need actual food. Maybe a banana—” His eyebrows bounce and I shove his shoulder as I laugh. “You’re ridiculous. Does anyone know you’re actually like this?”
“Like what?”
“Fun and playful and not just grumpy all the time.”
“I’m pretty sure being grumpy is part of my charm.”
I open my mouth to speak, but instead follow his gaze to the three framed pictures on the wall. He studies them, his fingers absentmindedly trailing up and down my spine.
“You did those?”
“I did,” I say, unable to stop the blush that creeps up my neck. Cora posted about me painting the flowers on the truck, and I’ve never hidden my love of drawing, painting, and creating art in general.
But something about Phoenix being naked in my room, my personal space, hits differently. The walls are a soft mauve color, the comforter a textured cream fabric, and all the wood accents a light, natural stain. It’s simple and feminine, but that’s not what’s captured his attention.
“They’re incredible.” He says the words but doesn’t take his eyes off the wall.
“The ocean I painted when Cora and I first moved here. It’s so different from back home but still a place that makes my heart happy.” I’d painstakingly mixed colors until I had the perfect shade of blue for the water and the sky. Being in Tennessee my whole life, I’d painted plenty of fields with skies that stretched beyond the canvas.
The other two drawings I’d done earlier in my life, one in high school and one in college. The one from college had been a drawing of a picture I’d found of the sunflower field my Grandad had grown for my Nan before she passed. No one had the heart to maintain it when we lost her, and it’d given me a sort of comfort to sketch the field, to preserve a memory I still cherished.
“That one,” I say, pointing to the barn, “is our family’s farm. My brother, Montana, runs it under the watchful and mischievous eye of my grandfather. My parents are in Florida, and you already know Vienna and I both moved to South Carolina.”
“Mischief, huh? No idea where you get it from.”
“I didn’t cause a lot of trouble growing up, and honestly, my brother’s fiancée holds that title. She’s so unassuming, but I know she still helps Grandad get the tractor stuck a couple times a month just to see Montana’s eyelid twitch.”
“I’m sorry, are you not the same woman who would intentionally draw attention to me walking Chip so that I’d have to fend off tourists who were looking for a little vacation hookup?”
“Sounds like you should be thanking me,” I say, threading my fingers through his hair as I push my boobs close to his face.
“I’m not. It was brutal,” he murmurs as he nuzzles into my chest, “but I feel much better now.”
“Since you’re in such a good mood,” I hedge, making him grumble against me, “I agreed to go to speed dating with your sister this week.”
“Cancel.”
“I can’t cancel. She’s nervous and didn’t want to go by herself and we’d made these plans before you pulled your head out of your ass.”
“Are you saying I did this to myself?” he asks, a feigned cocky smile playing on his lips.
“I guess I am.”
Pausing, he licks his lips and doesn’t quite meet my gaze. “Are you… I mean… do you want to…”
“Phoenix Banks, do you know how much work I’ve put in to get you naked? And you want to know if I intend to throw all that away on a five-minute date with a stranger in town?”
“So, you only wanted to get me naked, huh?” he goads, rocking his erection against me.
“That’s all you heard?”
“I think that was the important part.” He shrugs and cups my breasts, pushing them together and dragging his tongue between them. “I’m happy you’re supporting my sister, but you’re still gonna make it up to me.”
“Why do I have to make it up to you?” I say with a laugh.
“Because I’m sad.”
“Oh, you poor baby,” I coo mockingly.
“This makes me feel better,” he murmurs, still talking to my chest.
“Know what else will make you feel better?”
“Sliding inside your pussy and letting you ride me like this while I play with your tits?”
“I was going to say breakfast, but this works.” I gasp as he sucks my nipple into his mouth and I try to calculate the number of condoms we used last night and determine if there are any left.
“I like my idea better.”
“But I think we used all the condoms.”
“Plenty we can do without them,” he rasps, his thumb pressing little circles over my clit.
“Or we could not use them,” I say, nibbling on my bottom lip as his hooded eyes lock on mine.
“I’ve never gone without one,” he says, making it impossible to know what he’s thinking.
“I’m on the pill and I just had my checkup. I haven’t been with anyone since then.”
“Are you sure?” he asks, rubbing my clit harder and preventing me from throwing as much sass at him as I’d like.
“About not being with anyone? Yes. Very sure.”
“I meant are you sure about not using one. I tested negative a few months ago, but I’m more than happy spending all day with my tongue in your pussy.”
Instead of answering, I lean up and tease my opening with the head of his cock before sliding all the way down and grinding against him.
“I’m sure.”
“Do it again,” he groans, his arms braced behind him, giving him an unobstructed view of my body as I place my hands on his shoulders to steady myself as I ride him. Slowly and with more patience than I thought I possessed, I lift myself almost completely off him before slamming back down.
I gasp, my breasts bouncing and every nerve ending in my body alive and pulsing as I do it over and over again.
“Fuck, that’s good,” he growls, his hands fisting the sheets as my nails dig into his shoulders.
“I need to get there,” I whine and he chuckles, the sound low and menacing.
“No patience,” he scolds, leaning back, his palms sliding up my thighs to grip my hips. Holding me steady, he pistons up into me, my orgasm barreling down until I’m screaming his name. Wave after wave crashes over me, my core strangling his cock until he can’t hold out any longer.
Phoenix comes on a guttural roar, his face a mask of divine pleasure that I want to see every day for as long as I live.
The thought is terrifying but not at all surprising as I collapse onto his chest and smile against his skin as his heartbeat syncs with mine.
This.
This is what I’ve been waiting for.
And with any luck, it might just be the real thing.