29. Chloe
TWENTY-NINE
CHLOE
Now
“Honey, I’m home!” I exclaim, swinging the door open to the cottage to find Tyler lying on the couch with Dandy stretched along his torso. They are both asleep. What a traitor. I rescued her! I feed and take her to the vet and what do I get in return? Her choosing my boyfriend over me.
My boyfriend.
What a delightful noun to place upon Tyler.
It’s barely been a week since we did unspeakable things on the very couch he is lying on, and yet, it feels like I’ve been with Tyler for longer.
The love I feel for him is different. It’s not like how I saw my parents interact or how it was with Dane.
Even though I feel this surge of love and I never want to be away from him, there’s no underlying panic.
I didn’t realize that until this past week as I’d leave for work.
Not worrying about if Tyler still liked me or if I did something to push him away.
I feel none of that. Was it time that helped me gain this new perspective or just finding the right person for me? Someone who trusts me and whom I trust.
Scooter realizes I’ve walked in, and he jumps off from the bed where he was sleeping and runs over to me. I guess it’s only fair that Scooter likes me a little more than Tyler.
“Hey, sunshine,” Tyler says, stretching his arms over his head as he yawns.
Dandy mimics his stretch, then pounces off the couch to greet me, circling my legs in a figure eight.
We’ve made this little cottage our home over these past few days.
No matter who gets home from work first, we come to the cottage.
I don’t know if we even intentionally decided to move in together; it just felt natural.
He comes up to me, cradles my face in his hands, and claims my mouth with his. A familiar shiver quakes through me as he snakes his hands around my waist and under my shirt.
“I’ve missed you,” he purrs against my neck as he pulls me close so our bodies are flush.
I giggle as my toes curl in my sandals.
“I saw you a few hours ago.”
“Mmm, so long ago…” he lazily peppers kisses along my jaw, gently biting my earlobe, then switching to the other side of my neck and repeating. I can feel my belly lighting with fire.
“How was your day?” I ask as his mouth trails down my neck. A whimper escapes my throat, and I let my hands travel down to feel his arousal through his pants.
“I’ll tell you after,” Tyler backs us toward the bedroom and closes the door, locking out the animals from wandering in.
“After what?” I ask as he eases me onto the bed.
Tyler peels off his shirt with tortured slowness as his rigid torso is revealed to me.
My core heats as I view the copper hair sprinkled across his chest, dipping into his boxers.
I want to kiss every freckle on his body and memorize them.
I realize I’m panting as Tyler reaches down for his pants and removes them in one motion, his hardness throbbing as it’s released.
“After I leave you shuddering and slick with my come,” he says as his eyes rake down the length of my body.
I’m trembling as his eyes are pinned on me.
I don’t know if I ever pegged Tyler to be the dirty talking type, but it leaves me absolutely feral for him.
I’m still clothed but feel bare under his gaze.
He angles himself over me and hungrily covers my mouth with his as he removes my clothes.
His touch is like fire, searing me from my abdomen down to my thighs and finding the spot that sends me rocketing into bliss.
Our bodies melt together, and we find a steady rhythm where we connect.
My body arches towards him in instinct, always wanting to be closer.
I cry out for a release as the ecstasy builds and builds from my center.
Tyler doesn’t hold back as he flips me over, my stomach flat on the bed.
He squeezes his legs around mine so they are zipped shut and enters me from behind.
The pressure sends a new wave of sweet agony through my core as I reach for anything to grab.
“Fuck, Chloe,” he says as if he’s gasping for air.
He leans down, brushes my hair to one side of my head and whispers, “You wreck me. My cock fits so perfectly inside you. I’m going to fill you up so full, you’ll be dripping our pleasure for days,” Tyler rasps into my ear, and I feel my defenses weaken as his thick length eases in and out of me with deliberate slowness.
Tyler gently places a kiss at the nape of my neck as he thrusts harder—the soft converging with the strong—my Tyler.
My love for him flows through me like warm honey.
Oozing through each crevice of my soul. “Is that what you want, sunshine? Do you want me to come inside of you?”
“I need all of you, Tyler, please, I need you,” I beg as my fingers dig into the sheets.
“What. Do. You. Need?” he asks, gritting out each word after a deep and rough thrust.
“You,” I choke out through the pleasure ready to erupt within.
I feel his body arch back from mine and briefly long for his warmth to return.
He leans back, and his pounding becomes quick and erratic, the sounds of flesh on flesh filling the room.
I feel the pressure of his thumb at the entrance of my backside, and euphoria washes over me.
Tyler’s molten release coats my insides as he slows his movements, sliding out gently and nudging his tip over my slit.
The slick wetness of our lovemaking sends tremors of pleasure rippling through my body at the slight touch.
I flip around, and he lowers down to me, kissing me deeply then gently.
“My day was fine,” he says, and I burst into laughter.
After showering, we sit in peaceful silence, sipping hot tea in the small dining area.
I shift in my seat to alleviate the soreness.
I didn’t let too much time pass before I joined Tyler in the shower and tasted him.
Then, in the best way I can describe it, he fucked me like a madman against the tiled wall, which is why I can barely tolerate sitting on this wooden chair.
Tyler looks up at me, lazy satisfaction in his eyes. “So, how was your day?” he asks.
“Pretty good,” I say, smiling at him. “Sold some books, stopped by the shelter on my way home to snap a few photos of new arrivals for their social media. Came home and then came a few times.” I wink at him, and he chuckles and blushes so innocently as if, not even ten minutes ago, he didn’t have me bent like a pretzel, saying the nastiest things in my ear.
“I also made a couple posts for Griff’s social media pages.
Speaking of, have you given Griff’s offer any more thought? ”
He sets down his mug, “I actually had a chat about it with Martin today. Martin’s been a solid mentor for me since I moved back. He’s always been supportive and takes my suggestions for Parker Wellness to heart, so it felt right to get his advice.”
I nod along, not wanting to interrupt his train of thought but I’m on the edge of my seat to hear what he has to say.
The more I’ve thought about Griff’s offer, for Tyler and I to join him on climbs around the world, the more it excites me.
It could be the perfect opportunity to explore the world but also have time to take on other things I love.
Like I could still help with the shelter and we wouldn’t leave Auburn Hills permanently. It would be our home base.
Tyler continues, “I told him about Griff and he was flabbergasted that I hadn’t taken the offer sooner, said if he was offered something like that, he wouldn’t give a day’s notice before taking off.” Tyler chuckles.
“So…did that help you decide what to do?”
“I already sent Griff a message, I’m going to take it. And Martin said I’m welcome to work out of the clinic when we are home between traveling. I gotta admit though, Chlo, I’m scared as hell.”
I reach across the table and grab his hand, “I’m scared too. But I think my excitement is a bigger feeling. Besides, we have each other.”
Tyler pulls our hands to his mouth and brushes a kiss to my knuckles. “I overcame one scary thing already, and it paid off.”
“What was that?”
“Loving you,” he proclaims, and those words make me feel just as heated as the dirty ones he whispered in my ear earlier.
“You keep making me fall for you,” I say and beam.
We move over to the couch, staring out the front window to the property.
The sun is setting behind the hills in the distance, and the sky is filled with vibrant colors.
Scooter is chasing a bumble bee around the property, and I see Dandy’s tail swat back and forth from where she’s sprawled on the chair.
I look up at Tyler. “Did Griff tell you when his first climb is?”
“He said we can join him whenever, but he has the first climb of the season end of January.” He looks up at me with a nervous stare.
“We need to tell Reid and Annika. Reid is suspicious, I can tell. It’s easy for you, because you don’t work or live with Annika, but Reid and I spend a lot of time near each other, and he keeps talking about wanting to climb with Griff and Miles, and when Miles is starting at the center and where he’s going to live, and—”
“Okay, okay, relax, breathe,” I say. “We can tell them this Friday. They are coming over because the pub has a water leak and will be closed for a few days. It will be perfect, we’ll have dinner here at the cottage, then tell them. It’s not like we are leaving forever—we’ll be back.”
“Reid is family to me. He, his uncle, and his parents opened up their arms to me when I moved back. I don’t want it to seem like I’m abandoning them.”