Chapter 22
When I finally found the motivation to move last night, I led Mikey to my shower and left her under the warm water while I grabbed us each a change of clothes. When I joined her, she let me help her gently wipe off her makeup and wash her body and hair.
Once we were both clean, I helped her dry off, brushed her hair, and then slipped one of my T-shirts over her head and a pair of boxers on her legs.
We laid in bed, debriefing about our day until her eyelids started to droop with exhaustion. She fell asleep with her head on my chest and her hand on my stomach.
I’d never felt more content.
I fell asleep with a smile on my face and a determination to keep her no matter the cost.
I know it’s crazy. I know it’s soon, but I feel it deep in my bones that Mikey belongs with me here in Cupid’s Cove. We’re meant to fall asleep together, wake up together, and do all the monotonous day-to-day things with each other.
I just hope she feels it, too.
I’m jolted awake by something, and when I check the clock I see it’s four in the morning.
We’ve only been asleep for a few hours, and I know I should let her sleep, but she shifts, and her ass rubs against my cock.
I only have a few precious hours left with her before Ruby and Stella come to say goodbye.
I don’t want her to leave.
But she has her life and job back in Salem, and it would be selfish and rash of me to suggest she move here.
I decide to push thoughts of the future away and focus on this moment with her. I slide my hand up her thigh, reveling in the soft expanse of her skin. We should probably have a proper discussion about limits and safe words because I want nothing more than to fuck her awake.
I’ll just have to wake her up.
I start placing gentle kisses on her face and tracing patterns on her thigh. I wish I could rouse her with my head between her legs, but hopefully I’ll get to another time.
Mikey stirs, pressing herself against me again. She freezes when she feels my hard cock prodding at her back. It’s still dark, so I can’t see her very well, but I feel her shift.
“Saint?” she whispers into the darkness, her voice soft and sleepy.
“Yeah?”
“What are you doing?”
“I didn’t know if you’d be okay with me waking you up with my tongue in your pussy, so I figured I’d ask.”
“What time is it?”
“Four.”
Mikey’s silent for a minute, and worry prickles my skin. Is she mad I woke her up? Maybe this was a step too far—
“I’m more than okay with waking up to your mouth on me.”
Fuck yes.
“I’ll keep it in mind for next time. Right now, how about you spread your legs and let me fuck you nice and slow?”
Her breath hitches, but she does what I asked. I peel off her shirt and pull the boxers down her legs, tossing them somewhere on the floor before shuffling out of my own, rolling on a condom, and lying back down behind her.
I help her lift her leg over mine, notching the head of my cock at her entrance before slowly sliding inside her.
“Fuck, you’re already so wet,” I whisper against the back of her head.
Mikey thrusts herself back against me in a slow rhythm, lacing her fingers with mine where they rest on her hip. “I was dreaming about you,” she admits through a breathy moan.
“What were we doing in your dream?”
“You were eating me out on the hood of your van. It was in the shop after hours, but Rob was still in the front, so you shoved my panties in my mouth to keep quiet.”
My eyes roll back as she clenches around me, and the vision of her dream flashes behind my eyes. I want to make all of her fantasies come true, but like hell I’d ever let Rob—or anyone—hear the pleasure I bring my girl.
I pull out and roll her on her back. I hover over her, thrusting in again, holding eye contact with her.
“Let me make something clear.” I pull back, leaving just the tip in. Mikey squirms, trying to lift her hips, but I don’t let her. “I’ll give you everything you want; I’ll play out every fantasy you have.” I push in an inch. “But no one gets to hear the way you sound when you come. Only me. Got it?”
“Yes, Daddy. Only you.”
I press a soft kiss to her lips as I thrust in the rest of the way. We moan in sync as I start a slow, steady pace.
The same feelings I had last night when we connected for the first time come rushing back, and those three damn words are on the tip of my tongue. I have to close my eyes and bite my lip to stave off the urge to say them. It’s too soon, and it would scare her away.
Mikey’s hands cup my face, and I open my eyes. The only light in the room is coming from the clock on the bedside table, but my eyes have adjusted enough to make out the soft slope of her nose and the pout of her lips.
She brings my lips down to hers, kissing me tenderly. “Saint,” she breathes against my lips in a needy tone.
“Mikelle.”
“I feel… I don’t know how to—”
“I know, sweetheart. I feel it, too.”
“Don’t stop, please. I’m going to come.”
I bury my face in the crook of her neck, relishing in the velvety feel of her skin. “Do it. Come for me. Show me who owns your pleasure. Say my name when you come around my cock.”
“Saint,” she gasps, pulsing around me as she comes.
“Fuck, that’s it. You sound so pretty saying my name.”
As I come in the condom, all I can think about is how I wish there wasn’t a barrier between us. How I wish I could mark her as mine and claim her over and over again.
The click of the front door opening and voices chatting away are what pull me out of sleep the second time. Mikey has her leg thrown over mine, and her head is on my chest, her breath tickling the hair there.
I place a kiss on her forehead. “Mikey, wake up. Ruby and Stella are here for breakfast.” I wish they weren’t. Their arrival means Mikey’s impending departure is sooner rather than later, and I’d prefer to live in ignorance and pretend she’s staying here with me.
Mikey’s eyes blink open, and she sits up, stretching her arms above her head with a yawn. We didn’t get dressed again after our early morning romp, so I have the pleasure of seeing the way her nipples pucker in the chilly morning air.
“I’m going to tell them to leave,” I rasp, my eyes locked on the rosy buds. I want them in my mouth. I want to have Mikey naked in my bed for as long as I can.
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t do that. Let’s get dressed.”
Grumbling in protest, I follow her directions, slipping into a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. Mikey puts on a pair of my sweats, too, and I have to close my eyes to stop myself from tossing her back on the bed.
We head to the kitchen hand in hand, following the soft whispers of—
“What the hell are you doing here?” I ask Slater.
“That’s what I was just asking,” Ruby grumbles.
Stella looks between the two with suspicion in her eyes. “He was here when we pulled in.”
“You usually don’t roll out of bed with your flavor of the day until noon after the festivities,” I say.
Slater shrugs. “I didn’t take anyone home last night. I figured I’d crash breakfast and say goodbye to my new best friend.”
Slater’s never wasted an opportunity for no-strings-attached sex.
I guess he really is hung up on whoever he’s been hooking up with.
I open my mouth to ask him about it, but Ruby claps her hands and steals the attention.
“Our sandwiches will get cold if we keep yapping about Slater’s sex life.
Mikey, you get first pick. They all have egg and cheese on homemade English muffins, but I have ones with sausage, bacon, and ham.
I brought some avocado spread and salsa, too. ”
“I’ll have a bacon one, thanks,” Mikey says. Ruby slides the sandwich to her with a small smile, then the rest of us pick ours.
There’s a tense silence as we eat. No one wants to address the elephant in the room.
“This sandwich is really good, Ruby. What did you do to the eggs? They seem extra fluffy,” Mikey asks, finally breaking the silence.
“I whisk the eggs until they look kind of like orange juice, then strain them through a fine mesh sieve. The secret is to slowly stir the eggs instead of breaking them up and making them crumbly.”
“I feel like there’s so much I could learn from you. I wish I could stay—” Mikey cuts herself off, looking at me with a pained expression.
“You’re welcome in my kitchen anytime.” Ruby offers Mikey a reassuring smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
“You’ll invite a girl you just met but not me? You wound me, Ruby.” Slater pushes his lip into a faux pout, and his ridiculousness eases the tension.
“I don’t think Mikey would try to dump hot deep fryer grease into a plastic container,” Ruby deadpans.
“That was one time. And you stopped me before I could do it, so no harm, no foul.”
When was Slater helping Ruby dump fryer grease?
“Anyway,” Stella says before Ruby can retort, “if you ever want more boudoir photos done, just shoot me a text. I’d love to have you in my studio.”
“She wants more,” I say immediately. “How much for a whole album?”
Everyone chuckles like I’m making a joke, but I’m dead serious.
I’ll blow up one of the pictures and put it in my bedroom, too. Just so I can look at her all the time.
Stella stops laughing and clears her throat. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. I’ll pay whatever it takes.”
“Well then, whenever you can spare a weekend, I’ll clear my schedule.”
“We’re all dancing around the topic, then?” Slater mumbles.
“Yeah. No one wants to bring the mood down like you just did,” Ruby snaps.
“Well excuse me for wanting to know if I’m going to have to pick up the pieces of my best friend’s broken heart after today.”
“Saint and I…” Mikey starts but trails off, like she’s not sure what to say. “We’re figuring it out. I don’t have any intention of breaking his heart.”
“But we haven’t talked about what happens next, so fuck off,” I add.
“Glad to see your efforts weren’t a total waste then, my friend.
Mikey, it was great to meet you, and I’m happy to know you’ll be sticking around, but I have some business to attend to.
Thanks for breakfast, Ruby.” Slater gives Mikey a hug before he leaves.
I’ll have to interrogate him another time.
Ruby, Stella, and Mikey spend the rest of their time together exchanging numbers and making plans for a girls’ night out soon. Stella and Ruby want to go to Salem to see what their nightlife has to offer, and Mikey seems excited about the prospect.
It makes me happy to know she’s made friends with people who are important to me, but is it enough to convince her to move here for good?