Chapter 10
Aspen
Talkabout a bad time to leave my laptop in the car.
It was well past midnight and approximately two hours since Cade and I had each gone our respective ways—to bed as it were—and I still hadn’t managed to fall asleep.
Ideas were flooding my mind and I had nothing but my phone to log where I would take my characters next.
It’s better than nothing.
I sighed.
Molly had ditched me for Renegade, and being set up in a strange bed that smelled like the man I’d been missing over the last month—without said man—wasn’t helping my sleepless status.
Getting up, I figured I might as well be productive. I tiptoed to the front door, unlocking it as I slid on my shoes, then reached for the knob.
A shrill sound scared the shit out of me, causing me to slam the front door shut as both dogs barked furiously.
“What the fuck?” Cade came out, rubbing at his eyes, sporting nothing but a pair of very tight boxer briefs that left nothing to the imagination.
Here I was, running shoes on, in nothing but a pair of too-big shorts—curtesy of the man of the house himself—and my next-to-nothing tank top, which had been under my sweater earlier; sans bra no less.
I felt like a teenager caught sneaking out of the house after curfew, or rather, what I thought it would feel like since I’d never really tested that theory or acquired that particular badge of honor.
Within seconds, Cade was at a control panel next to the door, breathing heavily as he hit a series of buttons.
Ah, sweet silence.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he barked through the ongoing ringing in my ears.
My eyes widened and my brows knitted. He looked pissed. “I-I… I couldn’t sleep.”
His brows furrowed with incredulity. “You couldn’t sleep?”
“I thought I’d write,” I explained further.
“You thought you would write?” he parroted again, this time, his voice a little softer. Maybe he wasn’t ticked at me.
“I needed my laptop.”
“Mm-hmm.” His eyes were cast downward at my tits, but I couldn’t move to even cover myself, frozen at his shameless interest and not knowing where his mood would take us next.
“I left it in my car,” I whispered, my body heating; my nipples standing at attention.
He licked his lips, an obvious sign of arousal mixed with perhaps a smidgen of annoyance. “I see,” he said roughly.
“I couldn’t sleep,” I repeated dumbly, too flustered to make out where this conversation was headed.
His eyes darted to mine as he swallowed hard, then extended his hand. “Keys.”
“Huh?”
He cleared his throat. “Give me your keys.”
“O—okay.” I dropped them into his waiting hand and jumped back a step just as immediately.
It took him thirty or so seconds—I didn’t really count—before he was out the door, barefoot and relatively naked, then back with my laptop bag in tow and the door was being locked once more.
As he reactivated the house alarm, I found my eyes fused to his back, moving lower. It was easier doing the perusing than being subjected to his perusal: muscles, tattoos, rippling of arms, firm ass. It wasn’t until his throat cleared that my eyes diverted from their feasting, at which point I realized were directly aimed at his growing cock.
Busted!
“Sweetheart, keep eyeing me like that and you can forget writing, or going back to bed for that matter.”
“Huh?”
“You make it hard to keep my hands off you, Pen,” he rasped.
“I’m sorry?” My body flushed with heat once more, my nipples which had started to go down, became erect again, and I swear I might have mini-orgasmed from the heat in his gaze.
Setting my laptop bag down, he dropped my keys on to the table by the front entrance, then stepped toward me. I moved back as he matched me step for step until my backside came flush with the wall.
“You’re not sorry at all, sweetheart,” he whispered, his eyes studying mine. One hand braced him against the wall, while the other came down to play with a loose strand of my hair, tucking it behind my ear.
“Cade,” I breathed as his face came nearer.
“Pen,” I felt more than heard over my lips.
His lips took mine, hungry and animalistic, and I had to brace. Of course, all I had to hold on to was the large bicep by my head and Cade’s shirt. Wait…there was no shirt. His chest. His wonderfully warm and smooth chest, speckled with just enough hair that if my boobs were uncovered, they’d enjoy the delicious friction provided.
My thoughts had me moaning, thus opening for his assault, and what an attack it was. Warm and sweet; tasting of toothpaste and man. I’d never wanted more from the opposite sex than right then.
Before I knew it, Cade had picked me up, guided me so I would wrap my legs around his waist as he pressed me farther into the wall, which forced me to grab on to his shoulders for stability.
Now, I’d written scenes like this before, but holy shit! I’ll admit, I thought they were hot when I wrote them, but they’d never do the real thing justice. I’m talking singe the hairs off your arms, melt the toughest of metals hot!
Just as I thought he’d move us to the nearest horizontal surface and have his way with me, his kisses slowed to a complete halt.
Forehead to forehead, his breathing was labored, and I leaned in for more, letting him know I was more than fine with where things between us were headed.
“Shit, Pen,” he growled as he met me peck for peck. “This isn’t what I planned.”
I pulled back slightly. “Cade…” I grabbed on to the sides of his face, my thumbs rubbing his jaw, which carried a scruff I had reveled in only seconds before as it abraded the skin of my face. “It’s okay.”
He squeezed my ass before he set me down, leaning his head on my shoulder, causing me to drop my arms at my sides. “I didn’t mean to maul you like that,” he explained. “It’s just…”
I tried calming my racing heart. “I get it.” I swallowed hard. “I really do. It’s not me, it’s?—”
His head snapped upright, then stepping back, he stared me down. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
My mouth went dry at the rippling of solid muscles in his torso. “What?”
“Don’t give me that it’s not you, it’s me bullshit, sweetheart.” His eyes had me pinned to where I stood. “I don’t work that way. If I’m attracted to someone, I let them know. And in case you missed it,” he looked down at his crotch, “I’m attracted to you, Aspen Ridge, unbelievably so. I’m simply trying to say I shouldn’t have gone at you like I did.”
So much for calm breathing. Hell, forget breathing at all. “W—why not? What’s the problem then?”
“A few kisses here and there is one thing. Dry humping against my fucking wall is another,” he said, closing the distance between us. Grabbing on to the sides of my neck, he tilted my head back enough so he could kiss my forehead. “I want to know more about you. I want to take you out. I want to see how excited you get when you meet Devolin for the first time; and be there when you put those puzzle pieces together to write your next bestseller. I want us to date, and yes…I want us to fuck.” I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped, which netted me with a chaste kiss on the mouth. “Fuck, you’re sexy as all hell, woman, and when you get mad or defensive, I love that the fire in your eyes matches your hair. When you’re turned on, you melt for me. I want to see that and know every little nuance of you in between.”
Holy shit!
“Are you for real?” I blinked, thinking that maybe I had fallen asleep and this whole scenario was in my dreams.
A puff of laughter followed and a light pinch to my backside had me jumping. “It’s real, sweetheart, and just so you know, you’re not going to be writing tonight.” With what seemed like an all too effortless lift, Caden Summers had me in his arms and was walking us toward his bedroom. Renegade graced us with a bark of approval before settling down next to his mate.
Cade
I’ve never felt a state of panic so severe until my home’s alarm went off twenty minutes ago. Thank fuck I got to it in time before Dalton and his crew called things in. I wouldn’t put it past Brycen to have tapped into the video portion of my security system and noticed that my visitor had spent the night, which is why I hurried my ass out the door, waved at the camera hidden in a corner by my front entrance, and hustled to get Aspen’s laptop bag back to her. There’s no fucking way I was going to let her out the door in that barely-there tank top with those tight as fuck nipples on display. If anyone saw those at all, it would be me and me alone.
“What’s with the growl?” Aspen asked, as I set her down on my mattress, then she jolted to sit upright. “Oh shit, did I hurt you? I knew I shouldn’t have let you?—”
“Simmer down,” I nervously laughed off my sudden sense of possessiveness. “I was just thinking I forgot the light on in the entranceway and instead of getting in bed with you right this second like I’m dying to, I need to go turn it off.”
Yeah. Right. That was it. Well, it was, but I wasn’t going to tell her the truth of where my mind had wandered off to. To be honest, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about the fucking lights. If she knew the truth of how I already viewed her as mine and only mine, she’d probably run out of here like her hair had caught fire.
Another one of those giggles came, making my dick take notice.
“Hurry back,” she said, smiling as she threw herself onto the pillows.
By the time I’d checked the house’s surroundings, looked in on the dogs, turned all unnecessary lights off, and made my way back to my bedroom, Aspen was fast asleep, snoring lightly with her arms wrapped around my pillow, her head cocooned by the padded cotton of the one on her side of the bed.
Softly dropping to the mattress, I shuffled my body as close as I could get to Aspen’s, then wrestled my pillow from her arms, tucking it haphazardly behind my head, and settled in.
“Much better,” Aspen mumbled before snuggling closer, letting me get my arm under her, then emitting another cute snore.
“Definitely,” I whispered mostly to myself, as I buffed my cheek against the top of her head, hugging her to my side.