Chapter 8
EIGHT
CLIFF
The hotel room is quiet except for the soft shuffle of our feet across the carpet and the low hum of music playing from Sophie’s phone.
It’s an acoustic cover of an old love song. It’s slow and a little wistful. It fits.
Sophie’s in my arms, her cheek against my chest, her hands looped loosely around my neck. She sways with me like we’re still out on the dance floor instead of standing in the middle of a motel room in Alaska.
“This counts as our last dance, right?” she murmurs.
I tighten my hold on her waist. “It better not be our last.”
She tilts her head to meet my eyes. “You know what I mean.”
Yeah. I do. It’s been hanging over us all day. The clock. The ticking down of her time here. It’s made every smile feel more precious. Every touch more urgent.
I clear my throat and step back, just enough to reach for the bottle chilling in a metal ice bucket on the dresser. “Figured we deserved a little send-off.” I lift the champagne. “Swiped it from the reception.”
Her eyes light up. “You stole booze from the wedding?”
“Borrowed. Slate owes me for letting him marry my sister.” I pop the cork and catch the foam with my thumb. “Besides, it seemed like the right way to end the night.”
She watches as I pour two glasses. There’s something softer in her expression now. Not tired, exactly. Just contemplating. Like she’s soaking this in and storing the memory away for later.
We sit on the edge of the bed, our knees bumping, champagne flutes in hand. She takes a sip, then sets her glass down with a quiet clink.
“I’m really glad you’re here,” she says.
I lean in. “Me too.”
For a moment, neither of us speaks. The only sound is the ice melting in the bucket and the faint music still playing in the background.
Then she turns to me, her voice lower now. “I don’t usually do this.”
“Steal champagne?”
She smirks. “No. I mean… this. Flings. With my best friend’s brother. Things that make me feel like I’m living in a romance novel.”
I laugh. “You think this feels like a romance novel?”
“A little.” She brushes her fingers along the edge of her glass. “Don’t you?”
“I haven’t read any romance novels, but…. yeah.” I nod slowly. “It’s kind of hard to believe.”
I lower my forehead to rest against hers. “But novel or not, I’m not ready for this to end.”
Her smile falters slightly. Pulling back slightly, she takes another sip of champagne.
“I love my life in Seattle,” she says after a beat. “I really do. My work, my friends. I’ve built a life there.”
“I believe it.”
“But sometimes it feels like there’s no room for…”
“For what?”
“For a man like you.”
I don’t know what she sees when she looks at me. Maybe I’m a mountain man in scuffed boots who doesn’t do brunch or gallery walks. But I want to be more than that for her. Even if I don’t know how.
“You don’t owe me anything,” I tell her. “I just want to give you one night you’ll never forget.”
Her breath catches, and I swear something shifts in her eyes.
“Cliff,” she whispers.
I set my glass down. I reach for hers and set it down next to mine. Then I slide closer.
Moving closer, I pull Sophie. My tongue tangles with hers.
I let out a low groan as I move my hands up the curves of her hips. I need to feel her. All of her.
Pulling us both to our feet on the side of the bed, I tear my lips from hers long enough to pull her dress over her head. I greedily scan her body.
I could look at her forever and never get tired of it.
We may not have forever.
But we have tonight.
And I don’t plan on letting a second of it go to waste. Tonight, I’ll make her mine.
I have to get my fill of her while I can.
I take my time removing her clothes, stroking her bare skin as I do. Kissing her most sensitive spots with each bit of skin that I expose.
She sighs and leans into my touch, my lips. As if the feel of me against her is the best thing she’s ever felt.
I get the feeling.
As I strip her bare, she reaches for my clothes. Her fingers trace the lines of my muscles as she exposes my chest, pushing the dress shirt from my shoulders.
With every layer of clothing we remove, we expose more of ourselves, body and soul.
Once we’re both naked, I pull Sophie against my chest. I trace kisses over the side of her neck. My hands slowly rove over her breasts and hips. I trace her smooth skin up and down, savoring every whimper and quiver.
With one hand, I cup her breast. It overflows my hand. I rub it against my palm, listening to every noise she makes. Applying more and less pressure to her liking.
As she leans forward against my touch, I rub my thumb over her nipple, making it hard as she gasps.
I slide my other hand down her belly, lower until it reaches the junction of her thighs.
I slide one long along the seam. She squirms against me, teasing my throbbing cock with her sweet curves.
I clench my eyes tight. “Fuck, you’re so wet.”
She nods and spreads her legs allowing me to find her sensitive nub. I’ve tasted it before, but it wasn’t enough.
None of this will ever be enough.
She arches against me and cries out as my finger strokes her again and again. I listen and follow her lead as her breaths grow faster and more labored.
With every sigh she makes, I stroke her more. Lathering her up. Making her ready for me.
My dick grows harder pressed against her thigh. But as much as I crave my own release I push it aside.
I want more for her.
I want everything for her.
Her moans turn into gasps. The gasps turn into cries
The cries turn into chants of my name. She’s close. She’s so fucking close.
“Come for me,” I growl into her ear. “Come for me like a good, good girl.”
“Cliff, I—” Her body tenses and she cries out once more as her body shakes with pleasure.
I keep up the movement. I trail kisses along the side of her neck while the orgasm radiates through her.
The sweet, musky scent of her pleasure permeates my senses, driving me more wild.
She goes limp in my arms, and I carefully lower her to the bed.
“Fuck.” I nuzzle the side of her neck. “I want you so badly.”
She opens her eyes. “One second.”
She turns to her side and reaches into a hot pink bag. She pulls out an equally pink foil wrapper. “A souvenir from the bachelorette party.”
I shake my head. “Please tell me you aren’t going to pull out that dildo.”
“No, you don’t need to worry about that. I already know what you have is better than anything I’ll find in the vibrator aisle.”
Chuckling, I take the condom and rip the foil open.
Pumping my cock in my fist, I slide it on. Sophie watches me, a satisfied grin plays on her lips.
“Are you ready?”
She nods. “I’ve been ready for so long.”
“So have I.”
“I want you.”
“You have me.”
“Prove it.”
“Your wish is my command.”
Now and forever. I push into her and clench my eyes. Her tight warmth wraps around my cock, milking me for all I’m worth.
Fuck me. I had no idea she’d feel so good.
Pulling her hips up, I push myself in deeper, until I’m buried to the hilt.
“Yes.” She gasps and pushes her hips against mine. “Just like that.”
I grind against her. Taking long, deep strokes inside of her. With every thrust, I claim more of her.
With every stroke, I feel myself becoming more hers.
As I feel the walls of her clench around me and she cries out for me again, I use all my willpower to keep going. Waiting until she collapses against the bed to find my own release.
I empty myself into the condom with a roar.
Still panting, I collapse onto the bed next to her and pull her close to me. I link my fingers with hers, playing with them lightly.
“Fuck me.”
“I know.” She gasps for breath.
“It’s never been like…” I shake my head and press my lips to her neck.
Sophie lies curled on her side, her face nestled into the crook of my arm, one leg draped over mine. The sheets are twisted around us, her hair a soft tangle against my chest.
I’ve had sex before. Great sex, even.
But this—whatever this is—was something else entirely.
She didn’t just let me in. She gave me everything. Every breath, every touch, every shiver. Like she wanted to remember it for the rest of her life. Like she knew this was the last time.
And maybe it is.
I stare at the ceiling, trying to ignore the ache that’s settled deep in my chest. I should be satisfied—hell, I should be smug. I made her gasp. Laugh. Come apart in my arms more than once. That was the goal, wasn’t it? One night she’d never forget.
But I didn’t expect it to wreck me.
She shifts slightly, her palm sliding across my chest. “You still awake?”
“Yeah.” My voice comes out low and rough. “Did I wear you out?”
A sleepy smile tugs at her lips. “A little. But in the best way.”
I chuckle softly. “Good.”
We fall into silence again, the kind that feels full, not empty.
I want to ask her to stay. To push her flight back. Hell, cancel it altogether and move in with me in the woods. But I can’t.
That’s not who she is.
She has a life. A real one, built on talent and hard work and a vision that doesn’t involve hiding out in a cabin or hanging flannel on a clothesline. She’s got her sights set on something bigger. Something that doesn’t include a man like me.
“Are you having second thoughts?” she asks suddenly, her voice barely audible.
“What?”
“About tonight. About… this.”
I blink, turning my head to look at her. “Not for a damn second.”
She lets out a breath I didn’t realize she’d been holding and nods against my chest. “Good. Me neither.”
I run my fingers through her hair. “You don’t have to explain anything, Sophie.”
“I know. I just…” She lifts her head to meet my eyes. “I don’t want to make this harder than it already is.”
“Too late for that,” I say, trying to smile.
Her eyes soften. She reaches up and brushes her fingers along my jaw. “You’re a really good man, Cliff.”
I swallow hard. “You don’t have to say that.”
“I’m not saying it to be nice. I mean it.” She hesitates. “You could’ve made this feel like a fling. But you didn’t. You made it feel like something special.”
“It was something special.”
Her gaze lingers on mine a beat longer before she lays her head back down, her breath warm against my skin.
I know I won’t sleep tonight. Not really.
I just want to hold her as long as she’ll let me.
Because tomorrow morning, she’s leaving.
And I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do after that.