Chapter 12 #2
Her words turn me on more, and I angle my hips so I can hear her moan more. She's close again, I can feel it in the way she's clenching around me, and I'm not far behind.
"Come for me," I growl in her ear, goosebumps popping on my arms. "Fucking let me feel you. Let me feel your pussy tighten around this cock."
She shatters with a scream, and the sensation of her pulsing around me drags me over the edge with her. I bury my face in her neck as I come hard, her name falling from my lips.
We stay locked together as our hearts slow down, both of us trembling and gasping for air. I'm careful not to crush her with my weight, but I can't bring myself to pull away yet. She doesn't seem to mind, her hands stroke lazily up and down my chest.
"Wow," she finally says, and I can hear the smile in her voice.
"Yeah," I agree, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "I didn't expect it to be like that."
"Me neither," she whispers.
I eventually roll to the side, pulling her with me so she's tucked against my chest. We lie there in comfortable silence, the morning sun peeking through the curtains, and I feel more content than I have in a very long time.
Then her stomach growls. Loudly.
I can't help it, I burst out laughing.
"Oh my God," she groans, hiding her face against my chest. "Way to ruin the moment."
"Not ruined," I grin over at her. "Just reminds me I need to get you fed after working up a hunger. Can't have you starving on my watch."
"Food does sound really good right now," she admits, her eyes on my mouth.
"Move those eyes up from my mouth unless you want to stay here a little bit longer." I press a kiss to her forehead. "Pancakes? I make pretty good pancakes."
"That sounds perfect."
We start to get up, and I grab my boxer-briefs from the floor. She bends over to get her tank top and shorts, pulling them back on, and I can't help but watch her ass.
As we're heading toward the door, she stops and turns to me. Her teeth are worrying her bottom lip.
"Chase?"
"Yeah?" I reach out and wrap my arms around her waist.
"Does this mean..." she pauses, her cheeks flushing pink. "Are we going to do this kind of stuff more often?"
The shyness in her voice reminds me that neither one of us have had much experience with any of this. I close the distance between us and cup her face in my hands.
"Yes," I say firmly. "Now that you've given me permission, you can expect me to touch you a lot, Paisley. I meant what I said, I'm going to show you the difference between a man who didn't know what he had and one who does. And that means I'm not holding back from what I want to do with you."
Her smile is both mischievous and cute as hell.
"Good," she says, rising up on her toes to press a quick kiss to my lips. "Because I don't want you to hold back."
I thread my fingers through hers as we walk down the hallway toward the kitchen, and it feels like I'm right where I'm supposed to be.
"Fair warning," I tell her as I start pulling out ingredients for pancakes. "I'm territorial. Once I've had you, I'm not going to want to let you go, or shared if Stanley comes back around."
She hops up onto the counter, watching me with those beautiful eyes. "I don't want to be shared. I want to be claimed. And I want to be claimed by you."
Those words send desire shooting right through me, and I have to adjust myself. "You're going to be the death of me."
"But what a way to go," she teases.
I point the spatula at her. "Behave, or these pancakes are going to burn, and then neither of us will be happy."
She mimes zipping her lips, and throwing away the key.
"What are you going to do today?" I ask her to get my mind off of how hot she looks sitting on the kitchen counter.
"I've got a puzzle I found that I'm gonna do, and I found an old laptop. I think I might see if it works and maybe start to write something. Not sure what, but I have feelings I have to get out."
I nod as I pour the batter into the cast iron. "That was my old laptop. It works, but it's fucking slow. If all you want is use the word processor though, it should be just fine. It's been wiped, so it's yours if you want it."
"Thank you," she winks. "What about you?" she asks. "What do you usually do on days like this?"
"Honestly? I'd probably just work. Check on Blackjack, fix whatever needs fixing around the property, maybe chop some wood. Keep busy so I don't think too much."
"And now?"
I flip a pancake, considering. "Now I'm gonna watch you put that puzzle together, and keep on entering birthing records. All after we get done with breakfast."
I pile the pancakes onto plates and bring them over to the table. We eat in comfortable silence for a while, but I can feel her eyes on me.
"What?" I finally ask.
"I'm just thinking about how different this morning is from how I thought it would be. When I knocked on your door last night, I was so scared you'd look at me differently. That you'd think I was broken or not worth the trouble. But then again, maybe that's the way I've thought of myself."
I set down my fork and reach across the table to take her hand.
"You're worth everything, Paisley. I'm not going anywhere. Even if I could," I joke, looking outside at the snow. "I would still be here."
Tears well up in her eyes, but they're different from last night. These don't have a sadness attached to them.
"Thank you," she whispers. "For everything."
"Don't thank me for treating you the way you should be treated. That's just basic decency."
"It's more than that, and you know it."
Maybe she's right. Maybe it's the beginning of something I thought would never happen again, something that has the potential to heal both of us if we let it.
"Finish your breakfast," I tell her gently. "Then we'll tackle the day together."
She nods, wiping her eyes and picking up her fork again. And as I watch her eat, see the smile that keeps playing at her lips, I feel something I haven't felt in a long time.
Hope, and the beginnings of a life I thought I'd given up.