Chapter Fifteen #2
She dragged the warm washcloth down the inside of my thigh and back up again, teasing me, before she tossed it on the floor and stroked her fingers up the length of my hardening cock.
"Me too," she said. "And I have an IUD.”
I tried not to think too hard about the stab of disappointment as she shut down the possibility of pregnancy. I should be glad. If we were going to have a baby, we should plan for it. Of course, we should.
I didn’t have time to dwell on my weird reaction. Lise moved down the bed just far enough to close her mouth over the head of my cock.
It should have taken me a lot longer to get hard again. It usually did. I'm a regular guy, not a superhero, but it had been a while and Annalise had been driving me crazy for days.
She rubbed her tongue against that spot on the underside of the head of my cock, remembering exactly the pressure that made me lose my mind.
I tried to resist the urge to thrust into her mouth and instead reached down and buried my fingers in her long hair, twisting it around my fist, feeling every flex of her jaw and pull of her head as she took my length in her mouth.
I'd be lying if I said I'd forgotten that Annalise Winters gave amazing head.
Fucking amazing. For a girl who hadn't had much experience when we’d met, she'd caught on fast. I pressed my skull back into the pillow, gritting my teeth against the need to move, to fuck her wet, hot mouth.
My fingers tightened in her hair, not guiding her head so much as hanging on for the ride.
She sucked me until I thought my head was going to explode. Both of them. When she pulled her mouth from my cock, she said, in a raspy, husky tone, “You're okay if we don't use a condom?"
"If you are," I ground out.
"K." That was all I heard before she straddled my hips and nudged the head of my cock against the gate of her pussy.
I froze, letting her sink slowly, taking my length and rocking against me, grinding her clit into my abs, bracing herself on her palms and dangling those perfect breasts right in front of my face.
She rode me slowly, letting it build, watching as I sucked at her nipples, going from one to the other until they were shiny and swollen, more red than pink.
I dropped a hand to close over the curve of her ass, urging her to fuck me harder.
Her hips swiveled in a figure eight, her pussy stroking my cock from a completely different angle, setting off fireworks behind my eyes.
I slid my hand between her legs, finding her clit and squeezing with a pulse of pressure that made her gasp. I wanted to watch her come on my cock. Wanted to know I was the one who gave her that, needing to know that she was mine.
I closed my teeth around one nipple and squeezed her clit again, sucking at her breast as I worked her clit, loving every gasp, the way her rhythm stuttered from the flash of pleasure, the way it took her over, dragging low moans from her chest as her orgasm swept her under.
Her pussy clenched hard on my cock and I let go, following her, giving her everything I had as pleasure took us both.
I managed to carry her to the shower, keeping her hair out of the spray as we let the hot water wash away the sweat and sex.
After a lazy swipe with a towel that left both of us still mostly wet, we climbed under the covers and slid easily into sleep, Annalise tucked in my arms, her head on my shoulder, her breath fluttering across my skin.
Her hand lay across my chest, the engagement ring I'd given her sparkling on her finger.
It would put a dent in my savings account, but as soon as I could get to my phone, I was wiring the money for the ring to the Sinclair account. I’d picked that ring for Annalise, and it wasn't going back to the store.
We could have a long engagement. I could work with that if it was what she needed, but none of this was pretend. It never had been. I’d been kidding myself before. There wasn't another woman for me. I'd always belonged to Lise.
Even when I hadn't wanted to.
We lay there, Annalise dozing and me lost in thought, in plans for the future, when my stomach rumbled. The sun had long since set and dinner had been hours before. Annalise's hand drifted lower, resting over my abdomen and she murmured, her eyes still closed, “Hungry."
I kissed the top of her head and slid out from beneath her, tucking the comforter around her body. "Stay there. I'll be back with food."
She mumbled something into the pillow, wrapping her arm around it and tugging it close with a little sigh.
I checked through the bedroom curtains to see the courtyard empty of cars.
There might still be staff in the kitchen, but the guests were gone.
I threw on clothes, stopping for a minute to grab my phone and send the money for Annalise's ring from my savings account to Sinclair Security.
I didn't want to wait. I wanted that ring to be mine. To be hers. Not on loan from the store. Not a tool for a job. I hadn't been thinking about the job when I picked it. I'd been thinking about her.
The confirmation flashed on the screen, and a sense of completion settled in my chest. Years before I’d dreamed of putting my ring on Annalise’s finger. Now I’d done it. Not as a ploy or a game. For real. Even if she didn’t know it yet.
The door to Jacob and Abigail’s suite was firmly closed when I passed.
I hoped the family room would be empty, but I was out of luck.
The bride and groom were missing, probably locked in Gage's rooms upstairs if they had any sense, but Charlie, Lucas, Aiden, Vance, and Maggie were all in the family room, sprawled on the oversize couches and curled in the armchairs, watching a movie.
"And where have you been?" Charlie asked, her eyes sparkling with laughter.
"Taking a nap," I said with a straight face. Looking at Vance and Maggie, I asked, “Are you two staying here?"
Vance grinned and shook his head. "No. Sophie hasn't officially moved out of my room yet. She's been holding off until she and Gage made it legal."
Maggie poked his arm and explained, “We would've gone home anyway. Rosie's with Ella, our nanny, so we’re taking advantage of a grown-ups night out." She yawned, and Vance tightened his arm around her, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
"Some date you are. Hours from midnight and you're ready to turn into a pumpkin," he said.
"It's not my fault. Rosie woke me up at five o'clock this morning," she protested, burrowing her head into his chest and letting out a sigh.
"I know, I was there."
"You were there, but you pretended to be asleep." Turning her head to look at Charlie she said, "when you two have kids, watch out. Vance pretends he's in a coma every time Rosie needs something in the middle of the night."
"Why do you let him get away with it?" Charlie asked. Maggie's cheeks turned pink, and Charlie burst into giggles. "Oh, yeah. I have that problem too."
Aiden narrowed his eyes at his baby sister and her husband.
I grinned when Lucas shifted uncomfortably under Aiden's hard gaze.
Lucas and Charlie were married, had been for almost six months, but I got the impression Aiden was still getting used to his baby sister being someone's wife. Especially a guy like Lucas Jackson.
I worked with Lucas at Sinclair Security.
Different departments, but we’d gotten to know each other.
He was smart as hell, honest, and loyal.
He also loved his wife like crazy. Still, taking in the look in Aiden's eyes and seeing the way he could make a guy like Lucas squirm, I thought about what it would be like to have these people as in-laws.
I guessed I'd find out. After I talked Annalise into marrying me. Getting her into bed didn’t mean this was a sure thing, but I was one step closer. I shoved a hand in my back pocket and made my way down the hall, ignoring Charlie as she called out, “Where do you think you're going?"
The kitchen was mostly empty except for Mrs. W and Abel, who were standing suspiciously far apart considering Mrs. W’s swollen lips and flushed cheeks. Looked like Sophie was right, there was something going on between those two.
"Sorry to interrupt," I said, easily. "I was just going to get something to eat. Lise’s taking a nap, but she said she was hungry."
"Good idea. Have a snack now so you won't wake up in the middle of the night starving. I'll make you up a tray."
"You don't have to do that," I said, moving toward the giant stainless steel subzero refrigerator.
Mrs. W intercepted me, shooing me away and said, “Go find whatever you want to drink in the butler's pantry while I make your tray.”
The side of Abel's mouth quirked up, and he said, “You might as well let her have her way."
She sent him a look that turned his half smile into a full-on grin, and he sauntered out of the kitchen saying over his shoulder, "I'm just going to head up to my apartment."
I didn't know Mrs. W well enough to tease her, and I wasn't willing to risk pissing her off after witnessing the shortbread incident, so I disappeared into the butler's pantry and tried to decide between beer or wine, while Mrs. W put together our food.