Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
RYKER
The next morning, after the best night of sleep of my life, I cuddled a very naked Sam against me. I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck, taking in his scent.
Last night’s events flashed through my mind, sending a happy thrill through my veins.
Sam moaned, then flipped over to face me. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pausing when he probably felt the furry purring machine that was currently glued to my back.
I’d let Gray back into the room after I’d cleaned us up. The little man had not been happy about being denied access to what he probably thought was his room. And most likely as a form of protest, he’d basically plastered himself against me all night.
Sam let out a sleepy little noise as he stroked Gray and snuggled closer into my chest.
“You’re not going to pretend to be asleep today?” I asked as I swept a piece of hair out of his face. As handsome as he was, it was a crime to have my view hindered.
Sam jolted at my words and tried to pull away from my arms, but I held him down. I hadn’t had enough of my morning cuddle session yet. He didn’t struggle for long and sank back into my hug. I loved how he seemed to always willingly let me overpower him. Even more powerful was knowing he knew I would never hurt him.
“You knew I was awake all those mornings? Have you known this entire time?” he accused and glared up at me from my chest.
I laughed and planted a kiss on his hair. The action had Sam raising his face up again and snatching my lips for a real kiss.
I breathed him in, unable to get enough of the warmth that flowed through my blood every time his lips were on mine.
I pulled him closer—if that was even possible. I hoisted his leg over my hip, earning an unhappy trill from Gray in the process as he vacated the spot he’d kept vigil at all night.
The sound caused Sam to break the kiss and look over. I turned to look, too, and found Gray sitting upright at the edge of the bed, his amber eyes narrowed at us.
“I think he’s plotting our death,” Sam whispered.
“Nah, he’s probably plotting how to get us to stay in bed all day and cuddle him,” I said and shifted, so there was a small pocket of space between Sam and me. As expected, Gray immediately locked in on the spot and hopped over to claim it.
Sam laughed with delight. “There’s no plotting necessary for that. After last night, you’ll have to carry me if you want me out of this bed,” he said, eyes lidded as he leered at me.
I tried my best not to puff out and beat my chest like a barbarian, knowing that last night was a job well done.
“Don’t look so smug,” Sam chastised.
Apparently, I wasn’t as good as I thought at keeping my face straight. I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk my way out of confessing these silly thoughts, so I put my mouth to good use and kissed him instead.
My hand wandered down his spine, loving the shiver that overtook him at the action, caressed his fine ass, then reached lower to grab hold of his inner thigh.
Sam winced, and the pained sound had me pulling back instantly.
“Are you okay?” I asked. Sometimes it was hard to gauge my own strength, and I worried that I’d hurt him.
“It’s nothing,” he muttered.
I cupped his cheek. “Tell me.”
The expression Sam gave me could only be described as half-pout, half-glare.
“My inner thighs are sore. I think the skin is still chaffed from last night,” he grumbled.
I threw the blanket off us so fast that Sam let out a surprised ‘ hey! ’ and tried to grab the covers, but I was quicker.
Scooting down the bed, I nudged his legs open. As he’d predicted, the skin on his upper inner thighs was red. Thankfully, the skin hadn’t broken and was only a little irritated. Mixed in were smaller, darker traces of the kisses I’d left on his thighs, too.
The sight did nothing to calm the morning wood I’d been trying to ignore. Sam glanced down from his spot at the head of the bed. He used his feet to tap my shoulders.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said with a glare.
I grabbed hold of his feet and kissed his ankle, then dotted kisses up his inner leg again until I was mouthing the spot I’d fucked last night. Sam’s half-erect cock stood at full attention as I continued to mouth his poor red skin. My hand reached up to cup his full balls and palm the soft skin at the underside of his dick. It felt so good rutting against him last night that I was leaking just thinking about a repeat.
“No, I can’t. I don’t want to come again. Let me rest!” Sam said, reaching out to stop my hand from pumping his full cock.
I immediately paused my actions and gave his intimate skin one more longing kiss before pushing myself off the bed.
“Where are you going?” Sam called out. There was a hint of worry in his tone that I didn’t like. “Are you mad I don’t want to have sex?”
My steps paused as I flipped back around to him. “Fuck, no. Why would I be mad?”
Sam shrugged. The action looked casual, but the stiffness in his jaw revealed he was anything but. “Some people get mad when they’re denied sex.”
My jaw hardened with anger. “By some people, are you talking about your exes?”
He gave a one-shoulder shrug, like it wasn’t a big deal. I padded back and plopped beside him, causing the bed to dip and shift. Gray glanced up and shot me a judgmental gaze only cats could do so well before jumping off the bed and strutting away with the attitude of a diva.
“Sam, I was serious yesterday when I said I don’t want to be with you just for your body. Just thinking that your exes could have made you feel that way makes me want to punch something.”
My hands balled into tight fists as the anger ran through me. It was quickly dispelled when Sam reached out, his touch gentle as he undid my fists until our hands joined.
“Don’t go all violent just because of little ol’ me,” Sam joked.
“Don’t do that,” I said, gripping his hand tighter.
“Do what?” Sam let out a weak laugh.
“Make light of yourself,” I said sternly and brought his hand up for a kiss on the back of it. “You said you like me the way I am, and it’s the same for me. I don’t know how to say all those flowery words, so I’m just gonna say it straight up. Being with you like this—just the way you are—makes me extremely happy.”
He was silent for a moment, eyes searching mine—for a lie, perhaps? I was firmly aware I was a terrible liar, which was a good thing that every single word I said was nothing but the truth. I wasn’t prepared for his breathtaking smile or the way it had me feeling lightheaded.
He pushed his face closer toward me until our noses rubbed together. “You say you’re bad with words, yet you seem to always know how to make my heart flutter.”
“I can say some more if it’ll make you keep smiling like that.”
“Yeah? And what would you say?”
I stole a quick kiss, then said, “I’d tell you how handsome you are, and sweet too. I love the way you’re so affectionate toward Gray and always patient with both him and me.” Our faces were still so close that I could feel the smile on his lips.
“I love how tiny you are,” I added.
“Are you trying to anger me?” he asked with a pout. I didn’t tell him how perfectly he fit in my arms, and if I could, I would just carry him around everywhere in my pocket.
“I love every sound that comes out of your lips, whether it’s just listening to you talk, your sexy moans, or your cute little snores when you’re asleep.”
He jolted back with a gasp. “I do not snore!” he exclaimed and grabbed a pillow and whacked me with it. I merely laughed and let the pillow land softly on my chest. He clearly hadn’t used any of his strength.
“Is that how you knew I wasn’t asleep in the mornings?” he grumbled.
“My lips are sealed,” I said with a mysterious smile, then stood again. “Now let me get you some ointment for your chafing.”
He plopped back on the bed, starfish style. Still completely naked, his dick—not hard anymore—flopped to the side of his upper thigh. Cute was never a word I thought I’d use on a penis, but here we were.
Honestly, when I was first met with Sam’s hard cock last night, there was a smidge of worry that I would be turned off. This was a first for me, and what if Jones was wrong and I really was prejudiced against being with a man?
Any thoughts of that flew out the door when I was greeted with the extremely erotic sight of a hard Sam. When erect, Sam’s dick was an enticing shade of red that, like I’d told him, made me want to worship him. Now that he was soft, all I could use to describe it was cute .
“You’re always taking care of me,” he said with a pleased-sounding sigh. “Did you wipe me clean last night, too? Is that why I don’t feel sticky?”
I grunted a yes , then went to my dresser to dig around for something. It didn’t take me long to find it and return to Sam’s side. He hissed at the first contact of cool liquid against his irritated skin.
“Wait, is that…” Sam raised his head to scrutinize the small glass container before shooting to sit up. “It is! It’s my gramps’ homemade aloe vera gel; the one he claims is a miracle cure for everything. Lord, don’t tell me he converted you too?” he said with a skeptical glance.
I shrugged and continued to slather the gel on the inflamed area. “He gave it to me when I went over for dinner the other day. I tried it on a bug bite and was surprised at how well it worked.”
“You should’ve told me you had this last night. We could’ve done anal, then my poor thighs wouldn’t have turned out like this,” he grumbled.
I smirked. Fucking his thighs last night felt so good that it made me wonder how much better anal would be. Though, we’d have to work on Sam’s stamina…
“No condoms, remember?” I replied.
“We’ll have to rectify that as soon as possible,” he muttered, then shot a quick glance at me.
After I was satisfied that his legs had been properly coated with the gel, I put the container away and tugged on some boxers.
“Where are you going now?” Sam asked.
I heard rustling behind me. A few seconds later, warm arms wrapped around my middle.
“Gonna make us some breakfast,” I said, and Sam only hummed in reply but didn’t let go.
I let him be and continued out of the bedroom. Sam shuffled with me, his arms still wrapped around me like he had no intention of letting me go. I didn’t hate it.
We stayed like that while I cooked a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon. Sam was still completely naked, waiting for the gel on his legs to dry.
He refused to release me, even after our food was ready, opting to perch on my lap instead.
“Should I hand-feed you?” I teased, since both his arms were now hanging around my neck.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Sam asked, ignoring my teasing. He played with the short hair on the back of my neck, causing the area to itch. “Being with me, I mean. You’ve never been with a guy before. Hell, you’ve told me you’ve never even been attracted to a guy before, and now you’re jumping in with both feet and your dick leading the way.”
“I’m not sure that’s how the saying goes,” I joked.
Sam gently pinched the skin on the back of my neck. “You know what I mean.”
He didn’t roll his eyes, but I could practically hear it in his tone.
“I’m not going to lie,” I started.
“Good, because you suck at lying,” he interrupted with a smirk.
I let out a huff but continued, “When I first realized I liked you, I wondered why I’d gone twenty-eight years without feeling this way about another man before. I thought maybe if I did have those feelings before, I suppressed them because I didn’t want to be with a man. I’ve spent a lot of my childhood being teased for being the big kid, the stupid kid, just anything but normal that maybe I ignored my sexuality because I wanted to be normal , as if loving a man isn’t normal. Just the possibility that I could have thought that made me hate myself.”
“Do you still think that way?” he asked.
I didn’t answer immediately, taking the time to really think about it.
He didn’t rush me to continue—he never did. Instead, he patiently waited and played with my hair. The gentleness in his eyes had them looking a soft green.
Finally, I shook my head. “I talked to Jones, and he told me how being bi is a spectrum, and I might lean more on liking women than men. I really thought about it and realized I have found men attractive in the past, but just like how I didn’t want to be with every woman I thought was attractive, I didn’t have the urge to be with those men.”
“But you want to be with me,” Sam said with a small grin.
“I do,” I replied. “I know this might be simple-minded of me because it’s too soon. We’ve only been together for a day and all. But hell, we’re already engaged—supposedly.”
Sam chuckled at that. It was a sound that went straight to my heart.
“But I think you might very well be the one. So, if you don’t feel the same way or have no intention of staying with me, I hope you’ll tell me now before I fall even harder for you. You don’t have to tell me right now. Just think about it.” My voice crackled at the last words, but I got them out.
It was both a relief and terrifying as fuck to lay it all out there for him. I was showing him my underbelly, giving him fuel to use against me. But I remembered the kind boy who’d always stuck up for me when we were kids. Sam and I might just be getting to know each other again, but I knew who he was at his core.
He was someone I could trust with my vulnerability.