Chapter 12
RILEY
The awe that I feel, the pride at being the man she chose to give this gift to, is overwhelming.
I gaze at Cadence, and I know I am ruined.
Any woman I have ever known, ever touched, ever kissed, ever felt anything for is utterly forgotten.
There is only Cadence.
She's passed out. Her head lolls against my chest, one hand curled under her chin. She shivers and cuddles closer to me—best get her home, I suppose, even if the last thing I want to do is leave this place, this moment.
I refasten my jeans, shrug into my tee, slide the blanket out from beneath me, and wrap Cadence up in it, discarded clothing and all.
I hop out of the truck bed, open the passenger door, lift Cadence out of the bed, and set her in the cab, shutting her door gently.
She blinks blearily, mumbling something incoherent.
I shut the tailgate and hustle around to the driver's side, slide in, start the truck, and then let Cadence slide sideways until she's laying across my lap; the nice thing about this older truck is that the center console lifts up out of the way to create a three-across bench.
The ride home is quick and silent—Cadence is down for the count, I think.
I try not to feel smug, or at least self-satisfied, but…
I made the girl come so hard she passed out.
Hard not to feel pretty damn good about that.
I'm fighting a motherfucker of a hard-on, but that's a small price to pay for the privilege of what I just got to do.
Hard-ons will fade. Maybe I'll have a case of blue balls later, whatever.
I can deal with that. Cadence is what matters.
She's so smart, so wise, so unique and interesting. I've never met anyone even remotely like her, and I know I never will. The combination of sexy, cute, smart, beautiful, and fascinating is damned addictive.
Two days. I've known her for two days.
She's under my skin. Inside my brain. Buried in my heart.
And she's leaving.
Soon.
She may never come back.
The thought of never seeing her again makes my entire being recoil in horror, but that's something I'm just going to have to live with. This crazy, possibly suicidal mission to Sudan is her calling. I can’t stand in the way of that—I won't.
I also know there won’t be any other girls…not for a long, long time.
By the time I'm pulling into my driveway, I'm a weird combination of turned on, proud of myself, sad as fuck, and exhausted.
I prop open my side door and then carry Cadence inside, still wrapped in the blanket. I settle her into my bed, trading bed covers for the scratchy wool blanket, and then go back and close doors. Back in my room, I peel off my clothes and put on a pair of workout shorts to sleep in.
I pause in the doorway of my bedroom, glancing back at her; she stirs, one eye cracking open. "Riley?" Her voice is barely audible, muzzy with sleep.
I cross back to the bed and perch on the edge. "Yeah, sweetheart? I'm here."
One eye, a drowsy slit of green, fixes on me. "Stay." She worms a hand out from beneath the covers and grabs my thigh. "Do not leave. Please."
"Uh, yeah," I whisper. "I'll stay, if you want."
"Mmmm."
I go around to the other side and slide under the covers behind her.
I hesitate—how close do I get? I'm not a cuddler.
I don't have girls stay the night, and I don't stay.
I sidle close enough that I can rest my hand on her waist in what seems like no-man's land, but far enough away that I'm not shoving my will-not-go-away erection into her ass, as much as I want to.
I feel myself drowsing, lulling, drifting…
And then she rolls over. Making a soft, delicate mewling noise, she shimmies into me, closer and then closer again until she's pressing every inch of her glorious, warm, smooth, soft, naked body against me.
Her bare tit drapes onto my chest, the other smashed against my ribcage.
She's spooning my thigh and hip, rubbing her naked pussy against my bare thigh.
Fuck.
My cock stiffens into an aching iron rod, and my pulse pounds. I ignore all that, curling my arm around her shoulders and trying to find sleepiness again.
It's a long, long time in coming.
Erotic dreams riddle my sleep. Cadence, unsurprisingly, is the star of all of them.
I dream of what happened—getting to kiss her, to see those big, round, juicy, lush tits, getting to touch them and kiss them and have their beauty all for me…
her eagerness, her desperation. Her pussy wreathed in a fine cloud of strawberry blonde fuzz, with plump lips and so fucking tight I could barely fit my fingers inside her, weeping and glistening with her arousal.
The way she arched off the blanket, screaming, whimpering, pleading.
Fuck.
I jolt awake all at once, my eyes flying open. The first thing I see is huge pair of moss-green eyes.
"Good morning, Riley Crowe of Three Rivers.” She's hiding a smile behind the blanket she has clutched in one hand, but the glittering twinkle in her eye is so bright it dims the dawn glow streaming in through my bedroom window.
"Mornin' beautiful girl." I caress her cheek. "Sleep well?"
"That was the most refreshing sleep of my life." She searches my face, her cheeks going red. "Riley, I…last night."
"Cadence, I can't explain how honored I feel to that you trusted me like that." I lean in and kiss her forehead.
She shakes her head. "I should be the one saying that, Riley. I had all but given up on ever getting to experience that. You…" she blushes harder, eyes screwing shut. "I am so grateful. So amazed. You…you made me feel beautiful. Womanly."
"Cadence, you are beautiful. So fuckin' sexy, I swear to god. You are all woman. You should feel beautiful all the time."
"There is only one thing that I might wish to change, were that possible."
My heart skips a beat, starts to sink. "Oh. Ah…okay. Hit me with it, honey."
"It was unequal. You did not…or rather, I should say that I did not have a chance to…to do anything for you before I fell asleep." She looks genuinely displeased about this.
I smile at her, shake my head. "Don't even think about that, Gorgeous. I wanted that to be all about you. Not me. Not what I wanted or what I got. It was about you. It was about you hopefully having a chance to feel…wanted. I guess. Desired. To feel beautiful. To know how sexy you are. To be shown that you’re, a sexy, beautiful, amazing, desirable woman.
I'm the luckiest man in the world that you trusted me, with all my bullshit, to give that experience to you. "
"You are so sweet and so selfless, Riley," she whispers.
I snort. "I'm really not, but I'm tryin'. It's what you deserve."
She shimmies closer and my heart starts to pound when I feel her soft, squishy breasts settle against me.
Fuck, I want her. Need her. My jaw clenches and I have to squeeze my hands into shaking fists to keep from pulling her on top of me and devouring her all over again until she's cross-eyed and boneless.
She furrows her brow. "You are very tense, Riley. Why, please?"
I swallow hard, mutter through gritted molars, knotting my fingers in the sheet. "Hard to explain, babe."
"Try. Please? I am confused. Did I upset you?" Her hand flutters over my chest beneath the blanket, comes to rest on my belly.
Not fucking helping.
She deserves the truth, at least. "I…fuck. You're naked, Cadence. And if you really wanna know, I’m all tense because all I can think about is how fuckin' bad I want to eat your sweet, tight, wet little pussy again."
She whines, a tight, small, shocked sound from her throat. "Riley!” Softer, quieter, then. "Eat out my…my…?"
"Yeah, babe." I growl in frustration as need overtakes caution, and I roll into her, gaze down at her, knowing my face is giving away the savagery of my need for her. "Got a taste of heaven last night, sweet girl. Now it's all I can fuckin' think about."
"You…you would…" she bites her lip. “You would want to do that again? With me?"
Fuck.
So soft, so shy, so unassuming—she has not a single fucking clue how hot she is, how bad I want her. She sure as fuck doesn't have the first clue what I would do to her, given the chance. I'd shock her silly. Scare her, more than likely.
Yet I can’t control myself. It's a victory of self-control that I'm not buried balls-deep inside her right now. I'd throw myself through plate glass, naked, before I did that, though. Before she's ready, at least. I sure as fuck won't be the one pressuring her.
"Riley?"
I've spaced out, I guess. Lost in my efforts to hold back my insatiable need for all things Cadence Creswell, MD.
She gazes up at me, waiting, expectant. Her hand, beneath the blanket, searches across my stomach and finds my hand. Guides it to her belly. Eyes widening, cheeks flaming red, I feel her slide her thighs apart, one pressing against mine.
That's as clear as you can get, I think.
Still. I run my palm over her belly, pausing before I reach the promised land. "You want me to touch you again, Cadence?"
"Yes, please," she breathes, eyes shining eagerly, radiant with desire and anticipation. "If you…that is to say…if you want to."
I whip the blanket away, baring her body in its nude glory.
My good god.
She was incredibly beautiful in the delicate silver light of the moon and stars, but now, like this, in the golden light of the sun?
I am literally breathless. Speechless. My mouth goes dry, and my hands shake.
"Jesus," I breathe. "Fuckin' look at you, Cadence. So…goddamned…beautiful."
She's drawn up, arm barred over her chest, knee over her thigh—an instinctive reaction to the covers being torn away so unexpectedly.
At my words, she blushes and slowly, with visible intention, unfolds.
Her full, heavy, creamy breasts pull to either side of her torso, pert, pink, tight little nipples standing straight up. Flat belly, wide hips.
And that pussy.
Fuck.