Chapter 16
Lee climbed off the bed and dealt with the condom. As he sat back down on the chair next to the bed, Thora got on her knees.
Putting his hand gently around the back of her neck, he guided her toward him.
She licked up his length, ending with the most teasing little suck. He groaned. She looked up at him, expecting the intense
eye contact she’d given him. His head was thrown back, eyes closed. He looked pained. No longer wishing to cause him pain,
this expression made a good substitute. She gripped the base of his dick.
“Tell me how badly you want it,” she whispered.
His eyes, once cast heavenward, returned their gaze to her. He looked at her like she might be his heaven. “I want you more
than I’ve wanted anything in my life.”
She ran her tongue over him again, keeping that eye contact, daring him to look away first. Then she sucked hard enough to
make him toss his head back again. That’s right, she thought. I win. She circled her tongue around the sensitive head and he gasped her name.
She took him as deep as she could and started moving with long, slow strokes. He continued to keep a hand to the side of her
neck, never pushing her onto his cock but always maintaining contact. Then she sped up. Prolonging his pleasure wasn’t her
goal; working out her frustrations with him was.
And seeing how readily he became utterly vulnerable to her helped her claim power when she had been feeling helpless.
Yes, it had taken vulnerability on her part, too. But she didn’t have to be mad anymore. She could take all the room in her
heart filled with guilt and anger and flood it with pleasure. As much as he was vocally enjoying her performance, it was fun
for her, too. She could enjoy being his heaven.
“I’m going to come,” he said after she reached a tempo that made him grip the chair for dear life. She slowly pulled away.
“You’d better fucking come for me,” she echoed, and then closed her mouth around him, moving until she felt his release, hot
at the back of her throat. She held his gaze as she swallowed, fearless and confident.
He bent down to kiss her, and this time it was soft, so soft, with gentle fingers combing through her hair and his plush lips
meeting hers tenderly.
She pulled him back to the bed, positioning him as the big spoon once again. He clearly hadn’t had enough of her body. He
grazed over her breasts with his hands, playing with her nipples until they were tight peaks. He rained kisses on the back
of her neck, his warm breath tickling her ear. Before long, he was hard, and wordlessly, they fucked again, her on her belly,
him pressing into her from behind, so slowly and gently it seemed a different activity entirely.
The first time felt like it took hours; the second time felt like days. Her orgasm was more like a sunrise than fireworks. When they finally transitioned from sex back to spooning, his breath in her ear calmed her like ocean waves, lulling her into a deep sleep.
Morning light came all too soon, given how late it was when they finally retired. But Thora didn’t feel bleary or underslept.
She was hungry, both for food and for Lee.
It was going to be a problem.
Lee insisted on making breakfast. Thora sat at the table with her coffee, letting the reality of the situation sink in. She
had been determined not to ruin Lee and Cody’s friendship for less than one day before she fell into bed with him. She had
the most fucked up sense of loyalty. That thought continued to spiral outward, encompassing more than the current situation.
She had to get out some of these thoughts before they consumed her.
“So, you know I was working for Bryony Brooks for the past five years.”
“My nanny’s favorite author,” he said, stooped in front of the fridge.
“Really?”
He turned around, arms full of ingredients. “She has a whole bookshelf devoted to her. She took the day off work when a new
book came out. It would piss my dad off sometimes, but Denise knew she held all the cards.”
“Very Bryony Brooks of her.”
“I know. She’s the best.”
Funny how Lee was now caring for Denise in a similar way that she cared for Bryony. Hearing how Lee spoke lovingly of his
former nanny made her wonder about the emotional register of her relationship with Bryony.
Did she love Bryony? Maybe. She certainly loved her work. Did Bryony ever love her? Thora wasn’t sure she had the capacity. What she knew for sure was that somehow Bryony had earned her full devotion. A devotion that was perhaps misplaced.
“Sometimes I think Cody and I didn’t work because I was more loyal to Bryony than I was to him,” she mused.
“Tell me more about that,” Lee said, dashing Thora’s hopes that perhaps Cody had given him some insight into the dissolution
of their marriage.
“I consider myself a loyal person, but I’m not sure that that’s the truth.”
Lee cracked eggs into a bowl before answering. “People aren’t always the best judges of their own character.”
“Do you consider yourself a loyal person?”
He whisked the eggs, keeping her in suspense. Her impatience was at war with her curiosity, but she managed not to tell him
to spit it out already. “I guess I do. Do you think I’m a loyal person?”
“Are you kidding? Don’t you think Cody treats you like an annoying little brother? Or maybe a charity project? And you’re
still loyal to him.”
Lee raised his eyebrows at the harsh words.
“Sorry, was that too much?” She shouldn’t have apologized. Thora was nothing if not too much.
The eggs sizzled in the skillet as Lee shredded cheese. “Is that how you think Cody treats me?”
“I don’t know how he treats you, but I can tell you how he talks about you. I don’t think it’s news to you, given what Mack
has told me.”
Revealing her gossip source unprompted? She was out of practice.
“Do you think I treat Cody like a big brother or a charity provider?”
Thora shrugged. “I couldn’t say. But you’re loyal to him regardless. You must have had to contort your own schedule to fit into his slim availability for camping trips every year.”
Cody threw some halved kaiser rolls into the oven to toast. “Here’s how I see it. Everyone has needs; someone needs to fulfill
them. Cody, for whatever reason, has a desperate need to feel like a big man. I can give him that feeling without it demanding
a lot of me. Cody’s idea of how my life should be has virtually no bearing on how I live. Not because I don’t have respect
for him, but because we see the world differently. His behavior doesn’t bother me. I figure if he gets what he needs from
me, maybe he’s nicer to his coworkers or fellow students. I don’t know.”
Cody did need to feel like a man, but why on earth did Lee think that was his job? Not to mention the amount of effort Thora
herself had put into that project. “Lee, that’s fucked up.”
“Is it?”
“You think you’re being kind, but you’re enabling his bad behavior.”
“I’m not interested in policing people’s behavior.”
And there it was. This statement finally revealed the rift in how they each saw George. Lee wanted George to get his way.
Encouraging George to think about the ramifications of living alone at his age would never occur to him, evidently. Helping
George live a longer, fuller life? No interest there either, apparently.
Meanwhile, Thora had a very imperfect solution. It was foolish to think George would ever agree to a radically different city
lifestyle. Deep down, she knew that, because she never gave him the option. Once she found out about Lee’s renovations, she
knew he was staying at Juniper.
As she mulled this conclusion over, Lee assembled their breakfast sandwiches.
The cheesy scramble was divided between the grilled buns, topped with arugula and chili crisp, and sat on plates alongside some apple slices.
It wasn’t the flashiest breakfast, but there was something heart-meltingly tender about it.
Lee elevated simple meals with his careful touches.
Maybe he could make anything better with his touch. Thora wondered if that included her.
She was still hung up on Lee’s “policing” comment, though. “Don’t you think being in a relationship with someone means helping
them be the best version of themself?”
“That would have to be a mutually agreed upon decision.”
“You and Cody have never talked about your flaws or your goals?” Thora asked. To her, it was a foregone conclusion that friendships
involved some measure of encouragement and growth. Romantic relationships even more so.
“Sure we have.”
“And when Cody gets on you about your directionlessness, you think that’s about his need to feel superior and not out of any
genuine concern for your happiness?”
Lee chuckled as he tucked into his sandwich. “Cody thinks I’m directionless?” he asked after swallowing a bite.
Thora squawked out laugh. “Surely I can’t be the one who received all his complaints about you squandering your degree. He
must be aiming some of them at you.”
“Do you think I’m directionless?”
This man might be the champion of answering questions with questions. But she still didn’t know him well enough to say for
sure. “Granted, I’ve probably received biased information. Cody feels superior to you because he’s on track to be a scientific
superstar, and you paint houses for a living. If you find painting houses completely fulfilling, I wouldn’t consider you directionless.”
Lee shook his head. “It’s honestly hilarious that Cody has told you that all I do is paint houses.”
Apparently when Lee said he could do more than paint, he wasn’t just flirting. “What do you do?”
“I restore old houses. I’m starting my own business. Halliday Historic Homes has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? I have
a team of skilled craftspeople I’m collaborating with to preserve amazing buildings across the northeast. Either Cody hasn’t
been listening to me, or he doesn’t like to speak well of me to you for some reason.”
Thora had never suspected Cody was jealous of Lee. Or that he perceived some sort of attraction between her and Lee. Until