Chapter 7
seven
. . .
Emmy
“That’s it. That’s the last cookie.”
“Cleaning up is always my least favorite part,” I playfully pout.
The mess is nothing compared to the disaster my kitchen at Dockside Cafe ends up looking like when I’ve finished up all my orders for the day, but it’s still significant.
“That’s why you won’t be cleaning up tonight.”
“Hayes!” I laugh. “I wasn’t implying that you should do it. I can help.”
“Nope,” he shakes his head and reaches over me to grab a glass from the cabinet behind me.
I watch as he pours a glass of milk and sets it on the counter next to a plate of warm cookies.
“You sit and savor. I’ve got this.”
I start to protest, but Hayes cuts me off with a kiss.
“Relax. This won’t take long.”
It might sound crazy, but there is something incredibly sexy about watching Hayes clean up the kitchen.
The way his arms flex while he washes and dries the cookie sheets feels like its own kind of foreplay.
And I shamelessly appreciate the way the denim hugs his ass when he bends over to put the trays away.
Hayes wipes down the counters and the sink once more before he hangs up the rag and looks at me.
“I guess we’re done here,” I say, looking down, and playing with the ends of my sweater, nervous that he’s going to offer to take me home now that we’re finished baking.
“Are we?”
The way he says it sends a pulse of heat through me.
I open my mouth, close it again, then tilt my head. “Aren’t we?”
He walks toward me slowly—deliberately—like he’s giving me every chance in the world to stop him.
I don’t move. I barely breathe.
When he reaches me, his hand slides around my waist, fingers dipping beneath the hem of my sweater. “We finished baking.” His voice is a low rumble. “But you and me…we’re just getting started.”
“Hayes,” his name rolls off my tongue in a breathy whisper.
He moves his hands and trails one finger down my jaw. The touch is gentle, reverent, completely at odds with the wicked promise in his eyes.
“You’ve been looking at me all night like you wanted more,” he murmurs. “And I’ve been trying—really trying—to be good.”
“Good?” I whisper.
“Respectable. Controlled. Behaving like a man who isn’t two seconds from carrying you off somewhere we won’t be interrupted.”
My knees go wobbly. “Still might get interrupted here, though. Pretty sure Evie was born with a GPS tracker located in her brain.”
“I know.” He leans down and kisses me just enough to make my pulse stutter. “But I can lock the doors. Which is why I’m asking if you want to stay a little longer?”
The soft rasp in his voice, the honesty in his eyes—it isn’t a casual question. It’s careful. It’s important.
I’m not na?ve. I know what he means. And it makes my answer come out steadier than I feel.
“Yes.”
His inhale is sharp, like he didn’t expect me to say it. Then his thumb drags across my bottom lip, and a shiver races down my spine. He dips his head, his lips brushing my jaw, the edge of my throat. “I want you in my bed, Em. I want to feel you against me. I want all of you tonight.”
My fingers curl in the front of his shirt. “Mmm. That sounds very promising.”
“Good.” He kisses me. “I’m done pretending I don’t want you.”
My chest presses against his. Hayes’s hand slides up my back. His breath fans across my cheek.
“Tell me to stop,” he whispers.
“I won’t.”
His eyes flash—relief softening him for half a heartbeat before everything inside him turns sharp. Desire flares, feral and hot, like flames in his gaze.. Then he surges forward, his mouth claiming mine with a desperate, possessive hunger, like he’s staking a claim he won’t ever let go of.
His arm wraps fully around my waist. My hands slide up his back, anchoring to his shoulders. He groans—a low, rough sound that vibrates against my lips—and the sound undoes me.
“Hayes,” I breathe when his mouth trails to my neck.
“I’ve wanted you for so damn long.” His fingers slip beneath my shirt again, tracing bare skin. “And tonight, I’m gonna show you.”
The air rushes out of me.
He lifts me—effortlessly—until I’m sitting on the countertop. My legs part without thought, his hips slotting perfectly between mine, heat meeting heat through too many layers of clothes.
“This changes everything, Em. I need you to know that.”
“I know.”
“There’s no going back.”
This time, it’s me cupping his face, reassuring him that I’m ready for whatever happens next. Whatever I hope happens next. “I don’t want to go back, Hayes. I want to move forward. With you.”
“It’s about time,” he chuckles.
“You have zero room to talk,” I reply, poking his chest.
He grabs my hand and kisses my palm. “What can I say? I’m stubborn by nature.”
“It’s getting a little hot in here. Don’t you think?” I smirk.
Hayes grips the bottom of my sweater. “Better get this off you then.” He lifts it over my head and chucks it into the living room. He brushes a kiss over my collarbone then across my chest. His hands caress my ample cleavage before he tugs down the cups of my bra and sucks a nipple into his mouth.
“Oh damn,” I hiss and arch my back.
He moves to the other side, making sure to give both my breasts ample attention.
I squeal his name as he licks down my stomach, stopping at the top of my jeans.
“I think it’s time I finally taste your cookie. What do you say, Em?”
I want to giggle at cookie, but the laughter dies on my lips when he playfully bites my stomach and pops the button on my pants.
Arms braced behind me on the counter, I lift my hips and let Hayes shimmy the denim down my legs. He pauses long enough to slip my favorite fuzzy boots off my feet, then my jeans are on the floor, and Hayes is kneeling between my legs.
“You smell so fucking sweet, Em.” He kisses along the insides of my thighs before pushing them further apart. “That’s it, spread your legs for me, baby.”
Hayes tugs my panties to the side, and licks my slit.
My hands tangle in his hair, holding him against me while I shamelessly grind against his face.
“Jesus, Hayes. Who knew you were so talented?”
His chuckle vibrates against my sensitive skin, then he’s right back to making me see stars.
He slips two fingers inside me, curling upward as he moves them in and out. Then he sucks my clit, making me shudder.
Hayes lifts his eyes and looks up at me. “Come for me, Em. Come all over my face, baby.”
It doesn’t take much more of his tongue and fingers combined before I’m doing just that.
“Holy shit! Yessssssss.”
He doesn’t stop until he’s satisfied that he’s drawn out every ounce of pleasure I can give.
When Hayes stands, it’s with a satisfied smirk, the glistening evidence of my release on his face, and what looks like a very painful hard-on begging to be set free.
“I was right, you know,” he says, licking his lips.
“Hmm?”
“Earlier, when I said those cookies were delicious like you. I was right.”
“I bet I could say the same about you.” I reach for him, eager to return the favor. But before I can, he stops me.
“Only one way to find out, Em.” Hayes scoops me up in his arms like I weigh nothing. “But not here. I want you in my bed. I need to be inside you. Then you can taste all you want, sweetheart.”
He carries me through the house and into his bedroom, shutting the door behind us and plopping me in the middle of his bed.
“Take your bra off, Em,” he commands while discarding his shirt and shucking his jeans.
Hayes slides off my panties finally. And peels off his boxers.
His cock flexes and my mouth waters. I’ve never really been into blowjobs but with Hayes, I realize, I want to explore it all.
His taught abs and broad shoulders are more defined than I remember from our high school days. I mean, of course they are. I know he spends time working out to stay in shape. Has to. Grown-up Hayes is a sight to behold.
“Em, you keep looking at me like that and I won’t be able to control myself.”
“I’m actually counting on that.” I lick my lips and brazenly spread my legs for him. Feeling bolder than I ever have before, I run my hand down my chest, over my soft stomach, and reach between my legs. Rubbing my soaked pussy that’s ready and waiting for him.
“Jesus Christ.” Hayes hisses and strokes his cock. “Em,” his voice cracks.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I…” I can see the muscles in his neck move as he swallows. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You would never,” I tell him, knowing it’s the absolute truth.
Hayes grabs my ankles and yanks me to the end of his bed. He runs his cock through my slick heat and then he’s pressing into me. Inch by agonizing inch. Once it feels like he’s buried to the hilt, he props my ankles on his shoulders and leans forward, his cock going even deeper.
“Hayes.” I grip his biceps and beg him to move.
“I feel like I’m in heaven,” he groans and kisses me.
He starts moving, thrusting in and out of me with feral need..
“Do you know how long I’ve dreamed about this, Em? How many times I jerked off to thoughts of what it would feel like to be buried inside you?”
I shake my head. “Tell me.”
“Probably since I was at least sixteen. My God. I wanted to be your first. To claim you. Ruin you for anyone else,” he says, panting between every thrust. “I always knew it would be like this. Fucking perfect. Your curves. Your tits. This pussy. All of it.”
His confession breaks me open and sends me screaming over the edge into an orgasm so intense that I feel a huge gush. My mind, and the world around me, goes utterly still.
“Fuck, Em! That was so fucking hot.” Hayes reaches between us and plays with my clit. The sensation is even more intense than before. “Are you going to do that again for me? Squirt all over my dick?”
“I…I don’t know if I can?” I’ve certainly never done it before. I want to be embarrassed, but how can I be when Hayes is so into it?
“I’m damn sure going make sure we both enjoy trying,” he chuckles. His dick twitches inside me with the vibration.
He runs the back of his hand across his forehead, wiping away the sweat forming there, but doesn’t stop.
Hayes leans in even closer, giving attention to my boobs with his mouth. This time, I sense the slow orgasm building. Higher and higher with each move of his hips.
“So close, Em. So fucking close.” He nips at my lips. “You gonna come with me, babe? Hm?”
A moment at least a decade and a half in the making, it hits me like a freight train.
Everything feels stronger. More vibrant and earth-shattering.
It’s a feeling I can’t quite explain. “Holy shit. Yesssssss.” My nails dig into Hayes’ skin.
A kaleidoscope of color explodes behind my eyelids, but I force myself to open them and focus on Hayes.
I don’t want to miss a second of any of this.
“Damn, Em. So tight. You’re milking my cock, baby. Ah. Shit. Fuuuck, yes.” His body tenses, his eyes lock with mine, and I can feel his release spilling inside me while I come down from my own orgasm.
Hayes lets my legs rest around his hips now, and rests his head against my shoulder, refusing to let me go. “Fuck, Em. I got so caught up that I forgot a condom. I’ve never…”
Not using protection should scare me. With Hayes, it doesn’t.
“I haven’t been with anyone in a while. Had my yearly physical not all that long ago, if that’s what you’re worried about,” I tell him while running my fingers up and down his back.
He lifts his head and looks at me. “Not at all. It’s been a few years for me. Annual physical for the job, every year and, like I said, never gone without one before. Are you on the pill or something?”
I bite my lip and shake my head. “No. I hated the way it made me feel, so I stopped taking it because I wasn’t seeing anyone or sleeping with anyone for that matter.”
His cock, still nestled inside me, jumps.
“God. I’m such a fucking prick.” I’ll give him credit, he tries really hard not to smirk.
“Being pregnant with your baby wouldn’t be the end of the world. Would it?” I ask nervously. Deep down, I think I already know the answer.
He rolls his hips, and that smirk he was trying to fight is on full display now. “What do you think?”
“I think that you knocking me up would be the best Christmas present I could ever ask for.”