Cecilia – Twenty-five
The light was soft when I opened my eyes. I didn’t know what time it was, only that the room felt warm and still, like nothing had touched it since we’d fallen asleep.
Theo.
He was beside me, wrapped in the same tangle of sheets.
My thigh was slung over his, my chest pressed to his side, and his arm was heavy around my waist. The room smelled like sex and skin and the faint spice of his aftershave.
I was sore in places I hadn’t been in a long time and still, I wanted him all over again.
I didn’t move. Just lay there, eyes drinking him in.
The slow rise and fall of his chest. The slope of his shoulders.
The short, neat beard framing his jaw. It suited him more than it should have.
I wanted to reach out and trace it with my thumb.
I wanted to kiss the curve of his mouth until he made that sound in the back of his throat again.
He looked peaceful. His lashes cast little shadows on his cheeks, and his hair was a mess. There was a scratch just above his collarbone. My doing.
God.
Last night .
The memory came back like a flood. His hands on me. His mouth. The way he’d touched me like it was more than want. Like it was need. I’d never been wanted like that before. And I’d never wanted someone like this.
I felt it in my chest. A quiet ache, but not painful. Just full. Brimming.
He stirred beneath me, a soft sound catching in his throat as his fingers flexed against my skin. I watched his brow twitch, then his lips, and then he opened his eyes slowly like the world wasn’t something to rush into.
“Are you watching me sleep?” His voice was thick, still dipped in sleep.
I smiled. “Maybe.”
Theo blinked up at me, eyes adjusting. “Don’t stop.”
I buried my face into the space between his neck and shoulder, trying not to laugh. His arm curved tighter around me.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“And you’re beautiful,” he murmured, voice rougher now. “Morning, baby.”
The word hit me square in the chest.
“Morning.”
I felt him smile before he said it. “Still thinking about last night?”
“Mhm.”
He ran his hand slowly up my spine, fingertips brushing each vertebra like a path he already knew by heart. “It was… everything.”
I lifted my head slightly to look at him. “I didn’t know it could be like that.”
His eyes met mine. “It’s like that when it’s real. ”
Something tightened in my throat. I didn’t look away. Not this time.
“I keep trying to hold onto this,” I admitted, my voice quieter now. “Every second. Every look. I don’t want to forget any of it.”
Theo exhaled slowly. His fingers traced small circles on my lower back. “Then don’t. Let it stay with you.”
“But you’re leaving tomorrow.”
There it was. The truth, small and sharp and lodged right in the middle of everything that felt good.
He didn’t flinch. He just looked at me, eyes steady.
“I know. But we’re not there yet. We’re right here. You and me, in this bed. Nothing else exists right now.”
I closed my eyes for a second. Then nodded.
“Okay.”
He kissed me, slow and soft, and something in me broke open.
I pushed myself up, knees on either side of his hips. The sheet fell away and his hands slid down to my thighs. I was naked, bare in every possible way, but I didn’t feel shy. Not with him.
Theo’s gaze roamed from my chest to my mouth, then back to my eyes. “Well, this is new.”
“What is?”
“You being on top of me before I’ve even had a chance to say something inappropriate.”
I raised a brow. “You’re slipping.”
He laughed, the sound low and still sleepy. “Or maybe I’m too distracted to remember my own name. ”
I leaned down to kiss him. He caught my mouth with his and deepened it instantly, his hands gripping my thighs like he never wanted to let go.
His beard scratched lightly against my chin, and it only made me want him more. Everything about him was warm and solid and familiar in a way that didn’t make sense for a week-long reunion.
But nothing had ever made more sense than this.
His mouth moved against mine with growing hunger, but I wasn’t ready to give in just yet. I pulled back, slow and deliberate, letting my lips drag across his, leaving a thread of warmth between us.
Theo made a low noise in the back of his throat. His hands slid up to my waist, but I was already leaning away, sitting upright on his hips, my chest rising and falling.
He followed, propping himself up on one elbow, eyes locked on mine.
“Oh, I see,” he said, voice thick with sleep and lust. “You’re trying to make me work for it.”
I gave him a mock-innocent look. “Am I?”
He moved suddenly, one hand threading through my hair. Then again. Then once more, wrapping it around his knuckles until my head tilted back with a gasp.
“You are,” he growled, mouth brushing the curve of my throat. “You’re teasing me.”
His tongue traced a slow, deliberate path up the length of my neck to my ear. “We can both play this game, Celia.”
My breath hitched as he pressed a kiss just beneath my jaw, then shifted his body lower, his lips dragging down my collarbone. His hands were strong on my waist, holding me in place as his mouth reached my breast. He dragged my nipple between his lips, his teeth grazing just enough to make me jolt.
A broken moan slipped out before I could stop it.
I bucked forward against him, friction sparking between us, and he groaned deep in his chest like it hit him just as hard.
I could feel how wet I was. Just from his mouth. Just from him.
His hands gripped tighter and then he flipped us, rolling me beneath him in one fluid move. My back hit the mattress and he hovered over me, breath hot on my lips.
“Why don’t you make those pretty noises for me.”
He kissed me again, harder this time, and then his hand slid down between my thighs. His fingers brushed through my slick folds, spreading me, and he swore under his breath.
“It’s so sexy how wet you get for me.”
He circled my clit with firm, knowing pressure, making my hips jerk. He dipped two fingers into me, curling just right as he lowered his mouth to my neck. I clung to his shoulders, thighs shaking already.
His pace never faltered, slow and steady, coaxing every reaction from me like he’d mapped out my entire body in his head.
“Theo—” I gasped, my legs tightening around his hips.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered, kissing me between each word. “Come for me, baby. Just like last night.”
It hit fast. Hard .
I moaned against his mouth, my body arching, heat pulsing low in my belly as the orgasm ripped through me. He held me through it, kissing me softly now, fingers easing as I trembled beneath him.
He didn’t stop. He didn’t even pause.
He kissed my jaw, my mouth, my collarbone. He hooked his hands under my thighs and dragged me to the edge of the bed, strong and sure, his body pressing between mine.
I was still breathless when I felt him nudge against me, the thick length of him sliding up and down through my folds, catching on my clit, spreading me again. We were completely bare this time with nothing separating us.
He was teasing me now. Letting me feel it. Letting me ache for it.
I opened my eyes, and just as the tip of him started to press in, I planted my foot gently against his chest.
He stilled.
His gaze flicked up to mine.
I tilted my head, breath still shaky. “I thought I heard something about you begging yesterday.”
Theo’s smile spread slow and wicked across his face. “Is that what you want?”
His eyes roamed over me like he was starving, like he’d eat me alive if I said the word. My heart pounded so loudly I could barely hear my own thoughts.
I nodded, biting my bottom lip. “Yes. I do.”
His chest rose and fell. Then he leaned over me, letting the thick head of his cock nudge at my entrance again, his hand wrapped around the base to keep the pressure light .
“Celia,” he said, voice rougher than I’d ever heard it, “please. Let me in. I need to be inside you. I’ll make it so good. Just let me have you.”
I felt the words ripple through me, heat coiling low and tight. I hooked my leg slowly up over his shoulder, drawing him in.
“As you asked nicely.”
“Shit, we need a condom,” he stated and then his skin was disappearing from mine, but I latched on.
“I’m on the pill. I want to feel you. I don’t want there to be a barrier between us,” I said, I wanted the words to sound confident but they were quiet as they came out.
“Are you sure?” he said.
He was always checking in on me and it was admirable.
I sat up on my elbows, looking at him and then said, “Please.”
He smiled, a beautifully, wicked smile and then his skin was closer to mine again. The sensation of him notching the tip inside me had both of us reacting.
He groaned. Loud. Desperate. And then he thrust in, slow but deep, stretching me around him.
We both moaned.
I clutched the sheets. He buried himself fully, every inch claiming me all over again.
“You feel—fuck—you feel perfect.”
I couldn’t speak. Could only hold onto him as he started to move, each roll of his hips sending waves through my body.
We didn’t look away .
He kept his hand on my thigh, the other braced by my head. Our mouths found each other over and over, kissing through the build, the tension, the hunger.
He pulled back just enough to see me again.
“You are going to wreck me,” he whispered.
“The feeling is mutual,” I whispered back.
His thrusts grew deeper, rougher. Every movement stole the breath from my lungs. I could feel him everywhere, the stretch of him, the heat, the pressure, and the way he never looked away.
Our hands were tangled. Our mouths met between gasps and moans. And when I clenched around him, chasing another release, he dropped his forehead to mine and groaned my name.
That groan and the way he filled me, kissed me, made me feel, had me hurtling towards the edge.
He dropped his forehead to mine and groaned my name. His breath was hot, ragged, fanning across my lips as he slowed his thrusts to deep, rolling movements that had me gasping all over again.