Chapter 13
Elijah
“Can you come in?”
Can I come in? CAN I come in? What happens IN?
“Don’t you need to get some sleep?”
“Yeah. I plan to go to sleep. I was thinking maybe you could stay.....and sleep. Just sleep.”
Damn. This girl is not struggling with the take charge thing at all. It’s like she’s found her niche and she’s settling into it. Do I want to spend the night here? Why do I even pose these stupid questions to myself? Of course, I want to stay here.
“Yeah. Yes. Of course.”
She moves back from the door, allowing me the space to enter, so I do. The air is different in here tonight. It’s charged with desire that I hope isn’t all emanating from me.
“I didn’t bring anything to sleep in.”
Vaughn says nothing and simply looks at me. She’s thinking. There’s no way she owns anything that will fit me. If she attempts to pull out old clothes from a past boyfriend for me to wear, she’ll be seeing a whole other side of me and far too soon.
“What do you sleep in at home?”
The question catches me off guard. It’s not weird that she asked. It’s just that I wasn’t prepared to answer.
“Hunh hmm. Uh..Nude. I sleep naked at home.”
“Can you do that here? Would you feel comfortable?”
Did she just ask me to sleep naked...in her bed...with her? And then ask me if I would feel comfortable? I must be silent too long because she attempts to explain herself.
“It’s just that I don’t have anything that will fit you, but I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable either, though, so it’s okay to say no.”
“I’ll never tell you no.” No thought goes into my response. No thought is needed. I knew when I got onto the back of her bike the first night we met that I would never deny this girl anything she asked of me.
Rainbow smile! It’s a rainbow smile. This one has a tinge of venom in it, and I don’t quite understand that, but I’ll take this smile anyway I can get it. I especially love it when I’m the cause.
“Never. You’ll never tell me no?”
Ah. Yes. The cause for the venom. She’s a vicious little thing, and she sees an opportunity to break me.
“Little devil.”
Her smile widens. “Bedtime.”
My smile vanishes. Oh shit. Why am I scared?
Vaughn holds out her hand for me and leads me into her bedroom. Once inside, she drops my hand and goes into her closet. When she comes back out, she’s holding a baby blue satin pajama short set. She hangs her pajamas? Who hangs their pajamas? Girls who wear scraps of silk to sleep in, that’s who.
She’s walking toward the bathroom door with pajamas in hand when she suddenly stops and turns to look at me. A fiendish look on her beautiful face. She’s about to wreck me.....but, how?
She lays her pajamas on the bed, and it quickly becomes evident how she plans to undo me when she lifts her shirt over her head and begins unzipping her skirt.
The skirt falls to the floor, and she is again wearing nothing, but that black bra and panty set.
Was she born like this? I’ve been here every day for a month.
She doesn’t work out. It’s not even a workout body.
It’s a perfectly proportioned temple of temptation.
I’m pretty sure that every inch of her is homegrown which means she just looks like this.
She was someone really good in the life before this one, or her parents made a deal with some very powerful people.
Wait...wait, wait, wait. What is she doing?
She’s reaching behind her back. Don’t do it.
Please don’t do it. She did it. I’m no tit sizeist. I like all tits.
I don’t discriminate, but sweet Jesus. These are size impeccable.
To be fair, she did warn me about the wits and tits, but damn. ...these tits. I close my eyes.
“Open your eyes.”
I open my eyes. Did I say she gets to boss me? I remember saying that she sets the pace, and that’s been my plan all along, but does that mean she gets to boss me? Maybe tits like that mean she gets to boss me.
“We’re still just sleeping....right?”
“Right.”
“So this is just a little pre-sleep torture. Got it.”
“It’s torture watching me get ready for bed? I fear for our country if you ever get captured. You WILL NOT hold up well under actual torture.”
Lucky for the US of A, I don’t get caught.
“You look like that, and I can’t touch you. What would you call it?”
“A test of your commitment to allowing me to set the pace in this relationship.”
She’s testing me. Her mistrust of herself and others runs so deep that she’s willing to get naked in front of me to prove that she can’t trust me to keep my word. This is warfare. I know warfare. I never lose.
The panties come off next, and this is one of the greatest struggles of my life. I clasp my hands behind my back so they can’t see what’s happening. She’s impeccably groomed. Of course, she is.
“You’re testing me. So this isn’t your normal behavior with men?”
She has the pajama bottoms on now, and she’s slipping the thin top over her head when she starts laughing so hard she almost loses her balance.
“Behavior with men?” She continues laughing. “First of all, you’re only the second man who’s ever been inside this room. Second of all, I’ve never stood naked in front of anyone in my life, women not included. Third of all, no. This is not at all normal relationship behavior for me.”
Women not included? We’re definitely circling back to that one later. She’s fully dressed now, and thank God for that. The pressure was about to buckle my knees and crumble my resolve.
“My previous behavior led me to where I am now. Mistrustful and unsure of myself. You were right before. I don’t trust myself and, until I do, I can’t truly trust you.
I want to trust you. I want to trust me more.
I know I’m being very bold, and it probably seems like I do things like this all the time, but I don’t.
I feel safe enough to do it with you. That’s at least a step in the right direction, and I felt like you may have been saying earlier that you’re going to give me the space to feel this out. ”
That’s my cue. “I am. I’m giving you that space.
You’re safe with me. You’re setting the pace.
I’m following your lead. I shouldn’t have said the thing about torture.
I like that you’re being bold, and I love that you’ve only been this way with me.
I didn’t mean to make you feel like this wasn’t okay, because it is.
More than okay. This can be our new routine.
And just so we’re clear, we kiss now. You started that earlier, so that’s a new thing we’re doing. ”
She laughs again. Phew! It kind of felt like I had stepped on a land mine there for a minute.
“Your turn.”
My turn. My turn? Oh...shit. I’m sleeping naked here. My turn to get into my pajamas.
Hesitation could send the wrong message here. Just do it.
Quickly pulling my shirt over my head, I notice she’s watching every move as I lay it on the back of her vanity chair.
Now, I’m unfastening my still damp jeans as she watches.
My boxers are cold and wet from the swim.
The air in the room makes things even colder, and now I’m nervous.
On a bad day, I’m still impressive under these things, but I had hoped that the first time she would see all of me would be on a good day.
Her eyes continue to track my movements as I hook my thumbs into the waistband of my boxers and tug them down.
She follows the boxers with her eyes and then looks back up to my dick.
Her eyes widen slightly before she darts them to my face.
Concern. She’s worried. I don’t want her to be worried, but I have to admit that it’s league’s better than disappointment.
“Aren’t you cold?” The question comes out like an accusation. She knows I should be cold because I’ve been in wet boxers and damp jeans, and now I’m naked. I am cold, but I know what she’s wondering.
“We don’t have to worry about that right now. We’re going to sleep. That’s all. Just sleep.”
She turns her face to the bed and stares at it for a moment before slowly nodding. “Just sleep.”
Still impressive. Maybe a little too impressive?
Deciding it’s best that I move first, I go to the side of the bed opposite of where I see her phone charger and slide underneath the covers. Vaughn continues to watch my every move, giving me a small smile once I’m settled in.
“Just to warn you...I’m not much of a cuddler. I want to cuddle with you. Really, I do but I tend to distance myself in sleep. Just don’t want you to think it’s a conscious thing.”
Vaughn simply nods. There’s a faraway look in her eyes.
“Some of that bravado starting to slip?”
Her smile widens. “Maybe just a little.”
“You don’t have to try to be any kind of way with me. Just behave according to how you feel, and we’ll do great.”
A glimmer of something crosses her eyes. Is it awe? Hope? It’s a good thing, and that’s all that matters.
Vaughn pulls back the covers, climbing beneath them before sliding over to me. She stretches her arm across my middle before nestling her face into my chest. God...I take it all back. Don’t take me yet. This just keeps getting better all the time.
“Mmmm.” My groan is deep and thick with sleep.
“Good morning.” Vaughn’s sultry voice is slightly higher than normal and has a lilt of humor in it.
Sleep clings to me, so I turn to bury my face in the sheets, but the sheets are warm and feel a lot like smooth skin. The skin smells like....cinnamon and sugar. Shit. I will NEVER live this down.
My head is resting on a smooth, soft...stomach.
My arms are wrapped tightly around curvy hips.
My leg is hiked way up so that it’s lying across a set of perfect knees.
Is there any possible way that the body I have entangled myself with doesn’t belong to the girl I told only hours ago that I’m not a cuddler?
“Sleep well, Teddy Bear?” Teddy Bear? Cuddle buddy. That’s essentially what she’s saying.
“Any chance we can be adults about this?”
“You can.”
Ah. So I can, but she won’t. Got it.