Chapter 26
Rolling over in bed, I was met with a hard wall of male muscle covered in a small smattering of dark hair that tickled my nose.
Taking stock, I felt the weight of a heavy arm around my waist, pressing me into the ultrasoft mattress of my bed. There was a hairy leg thrown over my bare ones. Flexing my muscles, I felt the ache between my thighs from my late-night activities.
After Ty had fucked me on the couch, he’d carried me upstairs, stopping to fuck me against the wall when the need became too much. Carrying me to my bedroom, he’d left me boneless on the bed, disappearing only to reappear with some water and a warm, wet cloth.
I’d never had anyone clean me after sex, and it was both a turn-on and slightly mortifying.
It didn’t help that Ty made sure he watched as he ran the cloth between my legs, licking his lips.
The evidence of our need, glistening on the cloth, was enough to prompt a conversation about pregnancy and safety.
I had my tubes tied after Lock, fearing I’d get pregnant again.
My pregnancy had been hell, and I wasn’t sure I could go through it again.
I’d also been tested since Jeremy. Ty shocked me when he confessed he knew, having overheard a conversation I’d had with Alex.
He swore he was clean and offered to get tested again if I needed him to. I didn’t.
Once I’d finished my water, something he pushed me to do hastily, I found myself on my knees, Ty covering me from behind.
It had been a long night, and one I was never going to forget.
By silent agreement, we didn’t discuss all the issues that were waiting like insidious beasts ready to strike this morning. Now that morning was here, I knew I’d have to face what I’d ignored. I’d wanted one night. One night for me. One night when I had what I wanted and damned the consequences.
The light of day brought with it all the repercussions, and the old version of Phoebe began to wake.
“You’re thinking too hard.” His sleep-roughened voice made my thighs tighten as renewed need washed through me.
Again? I didn’t think my body could handle sex with Ty again, even as my pussy demanded his attention.
Ty pulled me closer, snuggling me against him. His cock pressed against my belly, and despite being sore as fuck, I rubbed myself against him, enjoying the way he hissed.
As much as I wanted to have him take me, to feel the stretch of his cock inside me, making me forget everything, my brain was now fully turned on and wouldn’t be denied.
“We need to talk,” I said against his chest, glad I didn’t have to look at him.
He let out a long breath against my forehead. “I know.”
I started to push away only to find myself rolled. Ty arranged me on top of him so I could use his body as a mattress, his arms wrapped around me and my head propped on his chest so I had to look right at him, ensuring I couldn’t hide.
I marveled at how sexy he looked first thing in the morning with the early tendrils of daylight coming through the partially open curtain. His brown hair was wild, his beard just a little longer. His amber eyes warmed me with the way he looked at me, as if I was the best thing he’d ever seen.
Ha. I knew I looked like hell. My makeup was probably smeared all over my face, and my hair was something akin to a rat’s nest. Still, a thrill shot through me at the way his eyes darkened with desire.
I’d never been looked at like that. It was heady, making me almost forget what I needed to say. Almost.
“About last night…” I didn’t really know where to begin. Why couldn’t this be like with my characters? They always knew what to say.
His hand cupped my face, his finger sliding over my lip.
“It will happen again.” He sounded so sure, like it was some foregone conclusion, and I was just a little slow on the uptake.
“Last night wasn’t ‘one night’,” he quoted me, and I tried not to wince.
Okay, that might have been the wrong thing to say in the moment.
“We have things to work out; I’m not going to deny that. I messed up last week.”
“It wasn’t all your fault,” I felt the need to say.
After learning what happened from Alex, it was hard to stay mad or even hurt.
It was hard, not impossible. He still could have come and talked to me here.
Yeah, and how would that have gone with Aaron installing your security system and snarling at anyone at the door?
“I meant it. I’m not taking Olivia to the party. She hasn’t been someone I’ve wanted in a long time. I was doing it out of courtesy. The only woman I want at the party with me is you.”
And that was the problem. “I—”
“Are you expecting someone?” Ty sat up at the sound of the doorbell, taking me with him.
“No.” The sheet that had been draped over my body slid down, revealing my reddened breasts. Ty’s eyes followed, landing on the marks he’d left with his tongue, teeth, and beard. My nipples hardened under that stare, a wolfish grin spreading across his face.
“I love seeing your skin marked by me.” He reached out, cupping my breast, thumbing my nipple.
My brain short-circuited. I wasn’t used to a man talking like that. Jeremy’s version of dirty talk was telling me he wanted to stick it in. Ty’s words made me blush. The doorbell forgotten, I leaned into his touch, the sensual promise on his face something I wanted to claim.
I couldn’t begin to understand what it was about him. I’d never been like this. I was always more inhibited in the bedroom, the only sexual freedom I found on the page.
The doorbell chimed again, and Ty cursed, his lips a hair’s breadth from mine.
“Stay here!” he growled, giving me a quick hard kiss, getting out of the bed.
“Wait!” I practically shrieked, grabbing his shoulder. “I’ll get it. We don’t know who it is.”
For a moment, fear spiked through me. You don’t know who it is, Phoebe.
Unable to stop myself, I looked at the small pile of poison that kept getting delivered in paper format on my dresser.
I felt my pulse skitter. No. It’s broad daylight.
Stop being a wuss. Besides, Ty is here. And what kind of person threatens you and then just rings your doorbell?
Ty looked like he wanted to argue.
“Please?” I asked, climbing out of bed and heading to the chair where I’d thrown my “home clothes,” as I called them, which consisted of a pair of leggings, a tank top, and Trinity College sweater.
“Fuck, you’re gorgeous.” The heat of his body surrounded me, his hands coming to my hips, momentarily replacing the fear of who was at the door.
The doorbell sounded again, and I gave a quick yell that I’d be right down.
Ty gripped my face, giving me a searing kiss full of promise. “Get downstairs or I’m going to say to hell with whoever is there and fuck you where you stand.”
He meant it.
Throwing my clothes on, I raced out of the room. Stumbling on the stairs, I winced at the twinge in my muscles from my quick movements. My inner thighs felt like I’d spent the night riding a horse…Oh, shit.
“Morning, Phoebe.”
Standing on my front porch were none other than Cady-Jo and Olivia.
“Morning,” I said automatically. This was bad. My brain decided that moment was a good time to check out, leaving me numb in the face of the reason I’d decided Ty was off-limits.
“Sorry to just drop by.” Cady-Jo eased her way inside without an invitation, Olivia right behind her. “I just thought I’d come by and grab the extra dough for the cookies you said you’d prepped just in case.”
“Did you run out already?” This was the first official weekend my cookies were at the café, and after last weekend, I’d tripled what I’d made and then made another couple hundred cookies’ worth of dough for good measure.
“No.” Cady-Jo looked everywhere but at me. “I just thought I’d swing by and pick it up, so you don’t have to come in today if you had plans?”
Now why did that sound so freaking suspicious?
Watching her, I saw the way she tried to surreptitiously look around. With my brain on a break, I didn’t quite add it all up. Shrugging, I led the way to my kitchen. “Sure, they’re in the fridge.”
My mind spun at the implications of what was happening. Ty was upstairs, naked in my bed, and now his mother and ex-girlfriend/girl-who-wants-to-be-his-girlfriend-again were in my house.
Entering the kitchen, I was relieved to see there was no indication anyone other than me was here. Ty must have cleaned up our clothes and the food dishes from the midnight, or midmorning, snack he’d made us.
“Are you just getting up?” Olivia was the one to ask, peering around. It was the first time since she’d been a kid that she’d been in Winterbourne Manor, so I figured she was comparing the changes.
“Yep.” Heat swept through me, and I tried not to think about why I was just getting out of bed. I blushed in the best of circumstances; I didn’t need it to give me away.
“Would you mind if we stayed for a cup of coffee?” Cady-Jo pulled out a stool at the breakfast bar, settling in.
Yes, I minded. “Not at all.” This was bad. “Olivia, would you like a cup, too?”
Looking up from her cellphone, she shook her head. “Thanks, but I think I’ll head back to Wade’s and see if Ty’s back yet.”
Alarm bells started clanging in my head. But what could I say to that? He’s not going to be “back there” because he’s currently upstairs? In my bedroom?
“You haven’t heard from Ty this morning, have you?” This was from Cady-Jo.
Fuck. “Should I have?” Asking a question wasn’t lying, was it?
“No.” Cady-Jo made herself comfortable. “We’d just stopped by Wade’s and he wasn’t there, but Bones was.”
As I turned to grab some mugs, my mind raced. “Maybe he’s out for a run?” It was common knowledge Ty liked to run in the mornings on his days off.
“Oh!” Olivia exclaimed, her phone dinging. “He’s out with Wade. They decided to go for a hike after Wade’s shift.” Looking to me, she asked, “Would it be okay if I had that coffee after all?” Her focus returned to her phone, as she texted who I now presumed was Ty.