Chapter 32
Devan
O n our drive, I look up the history of the West Baden Hotel. And read aloud.
“I had no idea it had all that history,” Justin said.
“Do you think that’s why some people think it’s haunted?”
Justin laughed. “I reserved a room for two. If the room is haunted, the ghosts will need to find somewhere else to stay.”
I continued reading. “It looks like people think the first owner, a guy named Taggart, is still hanging around, despite dying in 1916.”
“If you’re scared, I promise to keep you safe.”
“My hero.”
The historic hotel is bigger than I imagined, looking like a castle as we approach.
Together we walk into the gigantic lobby.
The room is round with tall pillars and a beautiful high ceiling, the combination of which making me feel small.
Even Justin’s height is dwarfed by the size of the room.
I stand to his side as he checks us in. His words don’t register as I look around with the weight of what accepting this weekend getaway invitation truly means.
I peer up at his profile.
Justin Sheers.
At times like these, it almost seems as if I’m in a dream.
It’s hard to fathom that this man, one I’ve known most of my life, is the man I want to share my life with.
Yes, I’m thinking about more than my body.
I want that too. I want to enjoy the way he makes me feel.
I also don’t want to stop with giving him my virginity.
In the short time since our one kiss, I realize I want to share my life with him.
I never dreamed we would have such similar interests—mine of earth science and his of geology and farming, or that it would be so easy to talk to him, or that his smile would make the dark clouds part and fill my life with sunshine.
As Ricky’s little sister, I never took the time to witness the sweet, sincere, and sexual side of Justin Sheers. Maybe he never showed it. Knowing he’s sharing it with me now adds to the way he makes me feel special.
Now that I’ve not only seen the hidden sides but witnessed them firsthand in his kiss, touch, and kindness, I believe I could spend the next fifty years learning every side, level, and layer to this handsome man.
“Devan?”
I shake my head with a giggle. “Sorry, I think I was spacing out.”
“Did you see a ghost?”
“No.” I’m not thinking about an apparition from the past but about what possibilities the future holds.
We both pull our suitcases across the shiny marble floor as Justin takes my hand.
Once in the elevator, Justin hits the button for the fourth floor.
The furnishings throughout the hotel are lavish, reminding me of something out of a movie.
When he opens the door to our suite, I laugh. Yeah, maybe it’s nerves.
“Is this funny?” he asks.
Letting go of my suitcase, I spin around, my arms outstretched. “It’s not funny. And it’s so not that hotel in Bloomington.” The room may be the nicest one I’ve ever stayed in.
Justin’s smile shines. “Come look.” He tugs my hand. “We have an atrium view.”
Beyond our windows, there is a large dome covering a spectacular room below with clusters of seats and guests milling from here to there.
Turning back to Justin, I grin. “This is beautiful.”
“You, Devan, are beautiful. This is a nice hotel.”
“It’s still beautiful,” I insist.
“Before your stomach starts growling,” Justin says with a smirk, “where would you like to eat? I have reservations for tomorrow night at Sinclair’s Restaurant.”
“He was the guy in the history.”
“That’s probably where they got the name,” he says. “I thought maybe tonight we could walk around. Check things out. Find someplace to dine.”
“I thought you said we weren’t sightseeing.”
He cups my cheek.
It’s a habit I’m growing to love, to lean into his warm, firm touch.
“Sightsee tonight,” he says, “while you’re still wearing clothes. Remember, other than dinner tomorrow or maybe going out to the pool, we are on a clothes-free getaway.”
“You plan to starve me?” I ask with added dramatic flair.
“Room service.”
My smile grows. “You thought of everything.” I don’t want to wait. I’ve waited twenty-two years and never has it felt this right. The sights will be there tomorrow. Taking a step back, I veil my eyes and push one of the spaghetti straps off my shoulder.
“Devan.” His timbre is lower than moments before.
I push the strap off the other shoulder.
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Plan B,” I say with a smile.
Justin comes closer and lifts my chin. Within his blue orbs, I see the brewing of a storm. It’s mesmerizing and intense. The summer thunderstorm that grows in the humid air, no warning, and no way to know what it has in store.
His voice is deep and soft. “I want you to know there is no pressure.”
“There is. I feel it. Not from you but when I’m with you.
From that one kiss, when we’re together, my entire body feels as if it could implode at any moment.
I’ve never felt this way before. I thought the feeling would dwindle, but it hasn’t, Justin.
It’s more intense every time we talk, you reach for my hand, or we kiss. ”
He sighs. “I’m fucking petrified I’m going to scare you away, but damn it, I like you—I think I love you. I’m not saying that to get into your pants.”
Love.
I concentrate on the last part of his statement. “You’ve already been there.”
“Yeah,” he says with a smirk. “I want to go back, but that isn’t why I’m saying this.
I don’t know how you see us. I see us lasting for a long time.
That means we can spend this weekend doing what we’ve done, holding one another, talking, and I might even allow clothes and sightseeing.
We don’t need to go all the way. I’m not going anywhere.
If we do it this weekend or a week from now or a year, Devan, I’m in this for the long haul. ”
“I want to do all those things you said. I didn’t save my virginity for some extravagant occasion. I just have never wanted to go that far with anyone. Riverbend…before, there was no one I wanted to have that experience with. No one I thought of as my forever. Until now.”
Justin’s eyes close as he exhales. When he opens them, the storm clouds from earlier are replaced with the igniting of flames, ice-blue embers that are combusting into a raging fire. His voice takes on a gravelly tenor. “What do you want?”
“You, Justin. I want you. I think I love you too. Maybe it’s lust, but it feels like more than that—more than I’ve felt. It feels exciting, new, and at the same time, comfortable. Does that make sense?”
He nods. His gaze lingers on my lowered straps. “I can either help you push those back up or take that dress all the way off. If we go with the latter, I think room service is in our future.”
“How about we build up an appetite first?”
I don’t need to ask twice before we are on each other. It isn’t as if I have no idea how to proceed. As Justin lifts my dress over my head, I lift his shirt over his. This isn’t going to be a fast wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am. I want to even the playing field.
That means that Justin too will be without clothes.
No boxer shorts.
Nothing.
As our different items of clothing make it to the carpet, our hands skirt over one another’s flesh. Justin’s touch is everywhere: my arms, sides, breasts, and behind. I hold onto what he told me before—to be bold.
Running my fingertips over his broad shoulders, thick arms, and toned torso, I savor every indentation, every muscle, every inch of his massive body.
As his boxer shorts are kicked away, I have a moment of trepidation.
In principle, I understand the mechanics of sex.
That said, I worry he’s too big or maybe I’m not big enough.
Justin reaches for my shoulders. “No rush.”
Nodding, I fall to my knees and look up at him through my veiled lashes.
“Fuck, Devan. You don’t have to do that.”
Seizing his cock between both of my hands, I marvel at the girth and length.
Running my touch up the shaft, I’m surprised by the velvety yet hard surface.
Small veins pop to life as he grows harder and thicker under my touch.
Pre-come shimmers on the tip. Without thinking, I lean in and lick the tip.
My taste buds sense the saltiness.
Justin’s growl stops me.
“Am I doing this wrong?”
His jaw is clenched and his Adam’s apple bobs.
“Fuck no. Your tongue is perfect. I’m sure your mouth is too.
” He reaches for my chin and encourages me to stand.
“Other than our dry humping and some cold showers, it’s been a while for me too.
Before I come in your sexy mouth, I want to come in your pussy… if you’re ready.”
“Condoms?”
Justin nods.
As he did in Bloomington, he flips back the top cover from the king-sized bed. Next, he finds his blue jeans from the floor, takes his wallet from his pocket, and fishes out a condom.
“Did you bring more than one?”
He grins. “In the suitcase.”
Nodding, I scoot up on the bed, reach out my hand, and ask, “Can I do it?”
His sexy blue eyes roll. “You’re killing me.”
“I promise that’s not my goal.”
He hands me the packet. While I’ve never seen one in real life, it’s not rocket science. I rip open the packet with my teeth—my dental hygienist mother would be more upset about that than the sex—and I hold the condom in my grasp. It’s round and looks like a rolled-up balloon.
My heart beats too fast as I place it on the end of his cock and roll the length over him. “Do they ever break?”
As he reaches for my shoulders, he says, “If it does, we can tell Ricky we tried.”
Directing me, Justin lays me against the pillows.
I spread my knees and stare up at the ceiling, trying to ignore my racing pulse and sudden onset of nerves.
“Devan,” he says, his tone soft and tenor low. “Look at me.”
My gaze goes to him.
“You’re overthinking this.”
“I mean…it’s a lot to think about.” My focus goes to his cock. “A lot.”
Justin grins and offers me his hand. “Come here.”
“Where?”
“Here, Devan. Come to me.”
On the giant mattress, we’re both on our hands and knees. Justin starts with kisses. My lips, my ear, my neck. With each kiss, my tension eases and my skin warms. Despite the rise in temperature, my flesh blankets in goosebumps.
Encouraging me to sit up, he lowers his attention to my breasts. It’s not simple sucking. Hell, I’m not even sure what he’s doing, but whatever it is I feel it from my hardened nipples to my twisting core.
Moans and whimpers escape me as the luxurious hotel room disappears. I’m not sure when it happens, when I lie back on the bed, but as Justin’s kisses move over my stomach and toward my core, I feel as if I’m an old-fashion top, spun tighter and tighter, about to lose control.
I cry out as his tongue laps my sensitive flesh and swirls my clit. One finger and then two, so long and the perfect amount of coarseness. My heart is aflutter as my body processes his rhythm. In and out. My back arches and my neck stretches as I push up with my heels.
For only a millisecond, his touch is gone, and then he’s over me.
His lips on mine, his tongue coated with my essence dances with mine.
As he distracts me with his amazing kisses, I’m aware of the pressure, his hard cock at my entrance.
My eyes open. The swirling blue in Justin’s orbs is truly hypnotizing. As I stare, my body relaxes.
This is where I want to be.
I’m with who I want to be with.
I grimace and grasp his shoulders as he pushes through the barrier I saved for this man.
He wipes a tear from my cheek. “Are you all right?” he asks.
I nod.
“Look at me, Devan.”
My eyes open wide.
“Thank you.” His kisses flutter over my lips, face, and neck as he begins to move. Gently, he’s thrusting in and out. The initial stretch has waned, the soreness is forgotten. The top within me is back to being wound, and I’m about to spin out of control.