44. Making Love And Making Moves
FORTY-FOUR
making love and making moves
Dahlia
Despite our plans to share the good news with Jasper and the family, Wes and I take our time plying each other with kisses. My nipples tighten as he slowly peels my leggings down my body. A change from our typical heated intimacy, I know this is what we need to connect right now.
Wes kisses back up my legs, pressing kisses to my ankles before trailing his tongue up my calves. In a display of pure eroticism, he reaches behind his head to pull his shirt off. His broad chest flexes with the movement and I don’t even realize I’m licking my lips.
“I like when you look at me like that, my horny girl.”
“I like you,” I reply.
He resumes his path up my body, cupping my sex with a strong hand. “Fuck, you’re so wet.” My mouth falls open with lust as he slowly enters me with one thick finger. He thrusts with lazy strokes as he kisses the softness below my belly button. “Every inch of you is pure heaven. So, so perfect.”
With the telltale signs of my orgasm beginning, I reach down grabbing at his hair with an erotic whine. When his mouth suctions over my clit, my vision blurs and I come in waves of pleasure.
I can’t get enough, pulling him up towards me—kissing him, tasting myself on his lips, the smell of me coating his beard. He bends my knee, opening me to him before he pushes forward, the man I love filling me with every inch of himself.
“Wes,” I say his name like a prayer as he pushes into me with long, brutal strokes.
His hands bracket my head and he whispers the sweet promise of forever until I feel him spill into me, hot and heavy.
He begins to pull out of me, but I stop him.
“Just a little bit longer. I want to stay like this a little bit longer.” He’s happy to oblige and cradles me against him in our post-sex haze.
Emerging from our lovemaking takes far longer than we planned, so Jasper sits in the living room like a cornered animal while Daphne is perched on a nearby barstool.
“Fucking hell, any day now. What’s the point of telling us to meet for dinner if you two aren’t gonna come up for air?” Jasper grumbles before standing up, brushing his hands down his legs.
“What, Jasper? You mad you’re not getting laid by the love of your life on the regular?
I’m sure your right hand is getting mighty strong.
” Daphne attempts to grab Jasper’s hand but he nearly falls over getting away from her before stomping out of the house.
“It’s too easy to fuck with him. Truly, it’s a pleasure. ”
“Daph, we’re here to share good news, not incite a hostile takeover.
Reel it in, queen.” The walk to Lorraine and Stone’s cabin isn’t long, but the weather is quickly turning bitter.
Leaves crunch underfoot as we plod along the hardened dirt.
Jasper is head down a few paces ahead of us, silent and stoic as ever.
“My babies! Hello, hello, come in. It’s freezing, isn’t it?
I made turkey chili. Come sit.” Ever the kind soul, Stone is a ray of happiness welcoming us in.
Lorraine finishes the place settings and Amber comes behind her with cornbread muffins.
On the floor beside the fireplace, Liam and Emmett are playing with monster trucks.
Notably, Dale is missing, and thank god.
The peace surrounding the table feels like a safety blanket and I didn’t realize how badly I needed to be around a healthy family.
Lorraine passes bowls around the table and speaks first. “So, Wes said you had news.” I can tell she’s trying to temper her expectation, the illusion of a cool indifference.
“We do. We heard back from the grant program, and—” I look to Wes and around the table at the hopeful faces looking at me.
“We were selected to receive the grant reward!” My voice cracks with emotion as I watch Lorraine’s face break into a massive grin and Stone stands up so fast his chair falls backwards.
“Holy—oh my, mother of god!” Stone is pacing now, eyes wild.
“Shit. Well what do we do now? When do we get the money, how the hell does this work?” His giddiness is contagious and Lorraine is somewhere between a laugh and a cry as she gets up and stops his pacing with a hand to his shoulder.
Amber is smiling at me with those tired eyes and her boys have no clue what’s going on, but they’re along for the ride.
Jasper’s looking at the ground fighting a smile, but I can see the subtle upturn of his lips.
“Tell us more, damn!” Stone shouts.
“Stone, calm down. The man is gonna blow a gasket. What does this mean for us? For the orchard?” Lorraine eagerly asks.
The anxiety threatens to crawl up my throat, but I feel Wes’ firm hand on my knee steadying me.
“We’ll have a meeting with the organization to finalize the details and how we’ll receive the money, and then it’s time to get to work.
I finish school at the end of this month, so there’s a lot to do between now and starting. ”
“You’ll have to move here, won’t you, Dahlia? This is wonderful! I’ll have to start fixing up Wes’ cabin.” Stone is going a mile a minute and I’m somewhere between hysterical laughing and crying.
“Hold up, everyone. We don’t need to rush. Dahlia doesn’t have to move—well, obviously I would love to be roomies, that’s not the point. We’ll figure it out in due time.”
“Mom, Mom, Mom! Can we have a snack?” Emmett is waving a lollipop around and Amber hushes him before bargaining with him to eat his dinner first. The chaos of it all feels like home.
The possibility of living here isn’t that far-fetched, is it?
There will be so much to do in the next year and it would make everything significantly easier if I was down in Wes’ cabin rather than an over an hour away.
Jasper looks at me with a head nod, before loading up his plate with chili and cheddar cheese.
It’s not a groundbreaking gesture by any means, but for Jasper it might as well be a kiss on the forehead.
At my side, Daphne is fidgeting. She almost looks nervous?
I lean over to nudge her out of her reverie. “You good?”
“Of course. I’m so happy for you, really.
It’s all so exciting. A lot of change to come.
” She doesn’t meet my eyes and I know a bigger conversation needs to happen about what this means for me and this place, but also Daphne.
Would she come with me? Would she even want to?
Maybe I’m being presumptuous, but I know she’s not necessarily happy where she is.
She’s contented, complacent, even, but happy? I’m not sure.
The dinner table is filled with the excited chatter of family and my frayed nerves start to soften. I hold Wes’ hand under the table while I devour the most hearty bowl of chili, before I steal the last cornbread muffin. Maybe it’ll be okay after all.