Chapter 15 #2
We crawl the five miles in tense silence, both pretending not to notice the way the heater can’t keep up or how the snow’s thickened into a white curtain. When the neon Valley View Inn sign finally cuts through the storm, blinking like it’s on life support, I could almost laugh.
“Five-star accommodations, huh?” she mutters.
“Don’t push it.”
The truck whines in the cold. There are maybe a dozen cars, each blanketed in snow. The office glows dull yellow behind a fogged window, a plastic Santa slumped beside the door like even he gave up on this place.
I kill the engine and shove my door open. “Stay here. I’ll check.”
“Not a chance.” She’s already unbuckling, climbing out after me. The wind whips her hood off, sending strands of hair flying around her face. She crosses her arms, chin tilted like she’s daring me to argue. I don’t. I’m too damn tired.
Inside, the lobby smells like burnt coffee and pine-scented cleaner. A bored-looking guy in a flannel shirt glances up from behind the counter.
“Need a room?”
“Yeah. Just one night.”
He taps at an ancient computer, squinting. “You’re in luck. Got one left.”
“Perfect,” I say, already fishing out my wallet.
Behind me, Hailey’s rubbing her arms, eyeing the faded wreath on the wall. “One left?”
The guy nods. “Room 7. Queen bed. Heat works and so does the cable… most of the time.”
I feel her stare hit the side of my face. “One bed?”
“Afraid so.”
She groans under her breath, muttering something about karma. I hand over my card anyway, sign the receipt, and take the single key he slides across the counter on a cracked plastic fob.
Outside again, the snow’s piling fast. The walk to the room is maybe fifty feet but feels like a mile. The wind bites, the cold seeping through my coat. She trudges behind me, suitcase bumping against her boots.
When we finally step inside, the heat hits like a furnace blast. The room’s small.
There’s one sagging queen bed, a floral comforter, and a single lamp flickering on the nightstand.
There’s a tiny table, a bathroom door that looks like it’s been kicked more than once, and an ancient space heater humming in the corner.
“Well,” she says, dropping her bag with a thud, “I guess there’s a first time for bedbugs.”
I toss the key on the table and shed my coat, shake off the snow, and toe off my boots. She stands there watching me like she’s waiting for instructions.
“You want the first shower?” I ask.
She hesitates. “You can. I’m still thawing out.”
I grab the bag with my change of clothes and head into the bathroom.
The mirror’s cracked, the light’s buzzing, but the water runs hot.
I let it beat the cold and the anger out of me until my shoulders stop aching.
The steam stays trapped in the small bathroom, the overhead fan doing nothing to help.
By the time I’m done showering, it’s almost stifling.
When I step out, towel slung around my waist, she’s sitting cross-legged on the bed, scrolling through her phone. She’s pulled her hair down and it’s fallen over her shoulder. She’s smiling at her phone, eyes bright. Nothing like the grumpy, cookie-crumb-throwing woman from earlier.
She glances up and I see her try to hide her reaction to seeing me in nothing but a towel, but she fails miserably.
“Feel better?”
“Somewhat.”
She rolls her eyes and pushes off the bed, grabbing her overnight bag. “My turn. Try not to get murdered while I’m gone.”
The bathroom door clicks shut behind her. I drag a hand through my hair and drop onto the edge of the bed, elbows on my knees. The heater rattles, wind howls against the window, and all I can think is how close she’s going to be when the lights go out.
Ten minutes later she comes out in a loose T-shirt and sleep shorts, her wet hair dripping down her shoulders, face clean and flushed from the heat. She looks… beautiful and I have the sudden urge to pull her to me and lose myself in her.
“Are you going to sleep now?”
“Yeah.” She crawls onto the far side of the bed, pulling the blanket up and facing away from me.
I turn off the lamp, darkness swallowing the room except for the orange glow from the light on the heater. The silence is deafening, her sighs the only thing cutting through it.
“You always this pleasant on road trips?” she asks quietly.
“Only when I’m trapped in a snowstorm with a mouthy woman who acts like a little brat.” There’s a beat of silence. My pulse ticks higher.
And then she murmurs into the pillow, still loud enough for me to hear it. “You like it.”
I shift, rolling to face her shadowed outline. “If I fuck the attitude out of you, think I’ll be able to get some sleep tonight so I don’t kill us on the road tomorrow?”
She goes still, then turns her head, eyes glinting in the dim light. “Maybe.”
The word hangs between us. I drag in a breath, every muscle tight. “You really want to test me on that?”
Her lips curve. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I reach over, thumb brushing the edge of her jaw, the air sparking with everything we’ve been ignoring since Denver.
“Sweetheart,” I murmur, voice low, “you have no idea what I’d dare.”
I don’t give her time to second-guess it. I slide my hand from her jaw down the column of her throat, feeling her swallow hard, then I’m rolling on top of her, pinning her to the sagging motel mattress like that’s where she’s been headed all damn day.
She gasps, fingers flying to my shoulders. “Cole.”
“Yeah,” I grit out, pushing her T-shirt up with one hand. “Say it.”
Her skin is warm from the shower. I drag the shirt higher, over her ribs, and she lifts just enough for me to yank it off. The heater hums, wind howls outside, and in here it’s just us and the creak of the bed.
“You’ve had that smart mouth running since Denver,” I rasp, looking down at her. “You really want to know what I’d dare? I’ll show you.”
Her eyes flash, half-challenge, half-want. “Then show me.”
I cup her breast, thumb sweeping over her nipple until it peaks. She arches into my hand, lips parting. I lower my head and take it into my mouth, then suck hard. Her breath stutters.
“God,” she whispers, fingers sliding into my hair. “Okay. Okay. You win.”
“Now shut the fuck up unless you’re moaning my name,” I murmur against her skin.
I trail my mouth across her chest, nipping, sucking, making sure she’s remembering every smart-ass thing she said today.
Her legs fall open around my hips without me asking, and I can feel the heat of her even through her shorts and my boxer briefs.
I grind down once, slow, just to hear the sound she makes.
She doesn’t disappoint. It’s a low, raspy groan. “Cole,” she whines, rocking up. “Don’t tease.”
“You’re the one who started with ‘you wouldn’t dare,’” I remind her, dragging a palm down her stomach, fingers hooking in the waistband of her shorts. “You gonna be good for me now and behave?”
She looks right at me, chin lifting the tiniest bit. “I never behave.”
I grin, dark and low. “I’m starting to realize that.”
I yank her shorts and panties down in one drag. She kicks them off, hair a dark spill on the thin motel pillow, cheeks flushed. And fuck me, she’s already dripping for me, thighs slick, all that attitude melting into need.
“That for me?” I ask, dragging two fingers through her.
“Yes,” she breathes.
“You that worked up from fighting with me?”
“Maybe I just like you bossy.”
I sink my fingers into her, slow at first, then deeper. Her head falls back, a broken moan spilling out. I curl, finding that spot, and her whole body tightens.
“Right there,” she gasps. “Please—”
I keep the rhythm, thumb circling her clit, watching her come apart on my hand.
Her hips chase me, desperate, needy in a way that makes my chest ache and my cock throb.
I want to give it to her rough, hard, just like I promised.
I also want to wrap her up after and tell her I didn’t mean half the shit I said on the side of the highway.
She clenches around my fingers, eyes going glassy. “Cole, I’m gonna—”
“I know, baby,” I say against her neck. “Come.”
She does. Hard. She comes with a choked cry, thighs shaking, nails digging into my shoulders. I work her through it, not stopping until she’s whimpering and trying to close her legs on my hand.
“Sensitive?”
She nods quickly, panting. “Yes.”
I pull my hand away and push my boxers down, freeing myself. Her eyes drop, her hand following mine. She bites her bottom lip as she wraps her fingers around me and something about that look, awestruck, hungry, nearly undoes me.
“Still think I wouldn’t dare?” I ask, bracing over her.
She swallows. “Show me.”
I line up and push inside of her. Her lips part, raw, desperate sounds coming from her throat. Her hands grab my forearms, nails scraping.
“Fucking hell,” I breathe, forcing myself to stop halfway, letting her adjust. “You feel so good.”
“Don’t stop,” she whispers. “Don’t—Cole, please.”
“You’re going to be begging me to later.” I slam the rest of the way in, hips meeting the backs of her thighs. The bed groans beneath us. Her head tips back, throat exposed, and I lower my mouth to taste the pulse hammering there.
“This what you wanted?” I murmur against her skin, starting to thrust. “Wanted me to lose it?”
“Yes,” she gasps. “Wanted you—ah—to stop being so—”
“So what?” I drive into her harder, setting a rough, relentless rhythm. The headboard bangs against the wall. Her moans get louder. The people on both sides of us know full well what I’m doing to her in here. “So pissed? So controlling?”
Her legs lock around my waist. “So in charge.”
I chuckle, breathless. “That’s because you need it.”
She drags my mouth to hers, kissing me like she’s starved. It’s messy and hot and perfect. Her tongue tangles with mine, her teeth catching my lower lip. I groan into her mouth, speeding up.
“I don’t need a man telling me—”
“The fuck you don’t,” I say, pulling out of her and flipping her to her belly so I can fuck her from behind. I slam back into her, followed by a hard slap to her ass. “You need me to tame this ass.” I reach down and wrap her hair around my wrist for leverage.
She’s clenching around me already, close again. I can feel it, the way her body trembles, the way she can’t stop moving her hips back to meet mine. I slip a hand around her, finding her clit again.
“Oh my God,” she cries.
“Give it to me,” I order her. “Come on my cock like you did on my fingers.”
Her eyes roll, and then she falls apart with a sharp, breathless cry. Her body locks around me, pulsing, dragging me right to the edge with her.
I slow, not stopping. Never stopping. But I soften it, let the thrusts go long and deep instead of punishing. Her hands slide out in front of her, her chest flat against the bed, but I don’t stop.
“How does that feel? You like that?”
She nods, a little whimper caught in her throat. “Yeah. God, yeah.”
I keep moving, working myself toward release, maintaining that slower rhythm, rolling my hips so she feels all of it. She fists the sheets in her hands, her ass high in the air.
I grip her hips hard, my head falling back as I come, biting back a groan, holding myself inside her as long as I can. I pull out, then lie back and tug her onto me. She comes willingly, curling into me, tracing idle circles on my skin.
“So…” she says after a beat, voice sleepy and smug. “Was that you fucking the attitude out of me?”
I huff a laugh, pressing my lips to her hairline. “That was me getting you to shut up so I can sleep.”
She grins against my chest. “You’re welcome.”
I tighten my arm around her, thumb stroking her shoulder. “Go to sleep before I force you to swallow me again.”
Outside, the wind rattles the window. Inside, she sighs, warm and loose on top of me. I don’t read into it. I have no idea what tomorrow holds or hell, if she’ll wake up an hour from now pissed at me again.