Chapter 5 Josie
JOSIE
When he finally thrusts inside of me, the all-encompassing sensation steals my breath. He fills me completely, and my walls stretch to accommodate his girth. I think I might shatter from the intensity. The fire ignited inside me threatens to consume everything in its path.
Every nerve ending I have sings as he rocks inside of me, and I clench along his length. I move my hips to meet his movements. The rhythm we find is slow at first, and I savor it. But it builds into something more primal, and the tension coils tighter between us.
He wraps a hand around my throat, claiming me as his. He slips my nipple into his mouth and suckles until I’m gasping. I arch beneath him and lose myself completely in him. Cade hammers into me, and he doesn’t let up.
He pins me to the bed, keeping me there and making me his over and over again. Everything around us fades into white hot nothingness. My body racks with tremors as he drives me toward the edge.
“Let go for me,” Cade murmurs against my throat and his voice is rough with need. The command in his voice is paired with the gentle tug of his fingers in my hair, and it sends me spiraling over the edge.
His final thrust pushes me into a release. Every muscle clenches, then melts into beautiful waves as I fall over the edge. Cade lets go, too. With a final thrust, my name falls from his lips, and he buries his face in my neck as he shoots hot streams into me.
We lie tangled together for a long while. Our hearts hammer, and our skin is damp with satisfaction. I could lose myself in his arms. Cade runs his fingertips along my back, and my whole body ripples with goosebumps in the wake of his touch. I’ve never felt more beautiful.
A comfortable silence falls over the room. This is so much easier than it has any business being. Cade and I shouldn’t fit together this easily, not when we haven’t even seen each other in a decade. But somehow he feels at home.
I hear his breath come deep and slow. But when I look up at him, Cade is wide awake.
“I thought you were asleep.” I reach up and tangle my fingers in his hair.
He plants a kiss on the top of my head. "You’ve been here all along. I’m running around, jumping through a million hoops like an idiot. It’s just…You’re…Josie. You're not what I expected to find when I came back to Deadwood.”
"What did you expect?"
“Not you. Never you.” His thumb traces my bottom lip with infinite tenderness. “But maybe that's why this feels so right. You're not what I thought I wanted. But you're what I need.”
The words hit me like a spark in the cold. They’re sharp and warm all at once. For a second, I forget to breathe. Nobody’s said anything like that to me. People need things from me all the time. I help with shifts, rides to the airport, or someone to cover holidays. But need me? That’s different.
It scares me. If he means it, then there’s no going back to the safe, little box I’ve been living in. And if he doesn’t mean it, if this is just a heat-of-the-moment thing, then I’m letting him inside just to watch him walk away.
I want to ask what he means. I want to demand that he prove it.
But instead, what if I decide to get out of my own way?
Just for today. I let my hand drift over his chest and feel the steady thump of his heart under my palm.
Then I let myself imagine for just a heartbeat that this impossible fantasy could be a reality.
"Maybe we need each other,” I whisper, reaching up to smooth the worry lines from his forehead. The words jump out of my throat before I can stop them, and they shock me.
The confession hangs between us. We shouldn’t have said the words. They’re too raw and too honest for what in the end will be one night between old friends. But I couldn’t help it. When I look back up at him, I see something in his eyes that makes my chest tight with emotion.
This isn't just attraction, it’s recognition. But of what? Amazing sex? Two old friends reunited for a little fun? Or something more?
From there, time seems to slow. Cade tells me about the loneliness that fame couldn't fill. I share the dreams I've kept buried under the weight of everyone else's expectations. Between kisses, we map out the years we've been apart and hold each other together.
At some point, we move back to the living room. Cade takes me two more times in front of the fireplace. It’s slow and tender. Every move we make is a silent promise.
In the end, we lie together, tangled under a pile of comforters and quilts as the fire crackles quietly beside us. He traces lazy patterns on my back and plants sweet kisses on my forehead. I listen to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat and hope that this moment never ends.
The fire’s low now. Its glow flickers against the far wall. Cade’s arm is heavy around my waist. His breathing is deep and even. The slow rhythm of his heartbeat lulls me into a relaxation I haven’t felt in years.
My fingers curl into the blanket. I revel in the heat trapped beneath it.
Every so often, his thumb makes a slow circle at my hip.
It’s like he’s reminding himself I’m still here even in his sleep.
I try to stay awake, to hold onto this moment a little longer.
But with the steady, grounding presence of Cade beside me, my eyelids grow heavy.
The world narrows to the sound of the wind outside and the quiet pop of the last embers in the fireplace. My last thought before sleep claims me is simple and terrifying in equal measure. If this is what falling feels like, I don’t want to catch myself.
Sunlight wakes me and his arms are still wrapped around me like he's afraid I might disappear. Outside, the snow continues to fall in thick, lazy flakes. Inside our little bubble, nothing exists except warmth and the steady rhythm of his breath against my neck.