Chapter 8 Warden
Warden
This woman has a pull on me that was created the first time I laid my eyes on her. Like an invisible string is always right there connecting us, there’s always a time when I feel a tug yanking me toward her.
At this very moment, it’s the hiss of the shower that makes me wonder what in the hell I’m doing standing in the middle of her kitchen eating a handful of blueberries for.
There’s something much sweeter on the other side of her apartment. She’s not drunk off her ass anymore. And sure, I may be the last thing she wants to deal with now that she’s sober, but how I feel hasn’t changed in the slightest.
I still want her. Very much so. Especially when every day, I’ve been dealing with constant hard-ons that have been relieved by nothing but the curl of my fist. I can’t take much more of this for much longer.
By the time I’m standing in the bathroom, drinking in her naked form from a distance, I’m feeling that same pull. It’s taking strength to wait for an answer, to not tear at my clothes and join her.
We’ve only showered a few times together, and it’s always been after we’ve spent the late hours together. Unlike then, cleaning is the last thing on my mind.
Turning around, she faces the stream. “Go for it.”
Now I’m clawing at my clothes. Fumbling with my jeans and socks, I try not to jerk and hurt something else. This is fine. I’m fine. If she starts caring now, I won’t get very far. Nothing is going to get in my way.
The air smells sweet, like citrus fruit. Instead of making my stomach growl with hunger, it’s my cock firming up against my thigh. How many times have I gotten lost in that smell? Too many times to count.
A quiet groan fills the air as I slide the door open enough to make room to enter. Steam rolls out, warm and heavy, carrying that scent deep into my lungs. She doesn’t turn, just bends beneath the stream, enjoying the water against her chest. My throat tightens as I watch suds travel down.
I don’t touch her. Not yet.
I just stand there, letting the water bounce off her body and hit mine as I drink her in. The remaining suds cling to the dip of her waist before gathering in the lush, full curve of her ass. Fuck. My hands fist at my sides, nails biting into my palms.
I want to touch her. Badly.
Her hair is a dark, wet slick against the pale canvas of her skin, tendrils plastered to her neck and shoulders. It’s almost long enough to reach her hips. All those times she’s worn it braided or tied back, I’ve secretly thanked her for her patience.
Her long hair is just one of the many things on my list of reasons why I love her.
Like she can hear my thoughts, she straightens, and I hold my breath before she turns. So slowly, I assume her goal is to torture me.
The water courses over her collarbones, over the swell of her breasts. My gaze locks there, hungry, devouring. Her nipples are taut, pebbled into hard, dusky peaks from having an audience.
Arousal punches through me, sharp and sweet. My mouth actually waters. I want to taste all of those beads of water. I want to taste her. For now, I enjoy the hunger and worship her from a distance for a few more seconds.
After holding back as much as I have? The moment we finally cave is going to taste so potent, I’ll never know an addiction so impossible to beat.
I’m not the only one doing a little staring, either. Once her eyes leave my face, I feel the entire hot trail of her stare as she looks down. Reaching my stomach, she almost looks relieved to see what state it’s in.
Her care and caution are engulfed in a burning heat when she lets her gaze drop even lower. As she notices my growing arousal, she bites down on her bottom lip, barely holding back the start of a whimper.
Last night was more than confessing our feelings to each other. It showed just how hungry she really is. She isn’t even trying to hide the want behind her stare before she moves toward me. Her fingers dance across my chest.
“It’s your turn under the stream.” Keeping her voice low, like a sultry whisper to keep me on my toes, she moves toward the wall, giving me all the room I could need to do as she asks.
Such a tease. She thinks I’m more worried about bathing at a time like this?
Leah squeaks when I’m suddenly on her. Pressing her against the shower wall, she doesn’t try to scold me before she wraps her arms around my neck, accepting the kiss I have to give her.
As the water splashes our legs, I can barely feel it as I’m trying harder to get closer to her. Reaching down for her thigh, I lift her to my hip so I have just enough room to grind against her wet, velvety heat.
Hearing her breath catch in the back of her throat, I swallow down the sound that tries to escape her lips before licking deeper into her mouth.
She arches against the wall perfectly. Knowing I don’t want to slide into her just yet, I keep moving, teasing her like I’m finally going to give us the one thing we both want. Release.
Her mouth opens for me, a surrender so complete it steals the air from my own lungs. The slick friction of her against me is overwhelming, her lush heat stroking the head of my cock like a cruel, intoxicating promise.
Am I going to last once I get inside of her?
I tear my mouth from hers, gasping, my forehead pressed to the wet tile beside her head. My hips keep moving, a relentless, rocking rhythm that has her choking back groans with every grind.
“Every night,” I grit out, the words barely louder than the hiss of the water. “Thought about this. About you. Just like this.”
Her nails bite into my shoulders, her ankle bouncing against the back of my thigh as her other leg trembles.
The air doesn’t just cling with citrus, but with her arousal as well. Without needing to think about it, I’m sucking in each lungful with more desperation than the last.
“Warden—” My name is a broken plea on her lips. Tilting her head back, her eyes pinch close. Clawing my neck in an attempt to keep herself grounded, her hips jerk. “Liam.”
I pause long enough to register my real name coming from her lips. It’s not a mistake that happens often enough, and every time it does, I always have to hold myself back.
This time is different. She knows how I feel. She may as well know what she does to me.
“Fuck, I love it when you whine my name like that.” Sounding so hoarse, my eyes lock onto where our bodies meet. Her stomach and thighs have a light pink hue. Is it from the water, or is this beauty just flushed all over?
Thrusting against her, nudging against her clit with enough pressure to make her feel something, just not enough of it, I focus on not coming. It’s been too long. Just when I feel like I’m about to hit my limit, I pull back, much to her dismay.
Before she can complain as I’m releasing her, I’m tucking my hand between her thighs and discovering just how warm and wet she really is. Perfectly soaked.
“You should’ve come to me sooner before you got this bad…” Panting the words against her ear, I hook two fingers inside her channel and imagine the grip she has on them is on my cock instead. Her walls flutter as soon as my thumb grazes her clit.
How long has she been near the edge like this? Normally, it takes a little while to get her warmed up, but she’s already—
Her cry bounces off of the shower walls as she comes on against my fingers. One of my favorite scenes playing out, I watch as her eyes pinch shut and a wave of shivers wrack through her entire body as her thighs clamp down on my wrist to keep me in place.
I don’t ever want to let this go.
“I love you.” The words leave me, not even an ounce of hesitation swarming around in my chest. “I love you so fucking much, Leah.”
Not only does it feel good to say it out loud, but seeing her entire body light up at the confession is worth every minute I’ve held them close to my chest.
How many times had I imagined her shoving me away and cutting me off?
Too many to count. In this very moment, the last thing she wants is distance.
She’s clinging hard like she never wants to let go.
I’m not going anywhere. However many times I have to reassure her, I’ll do it until I’ve lost my voice.
Pulling away from her, I shut off the water and leave us dripping. Turning back toward her, I’m picking her up before I can think twice.
The daze in her eyes clears as she realizes I’m making our way out of the shower. She weighs nicely in my hold, but we both know I’m taking a big risk here.
I’ve taken so many of them lately. Why stop now?
“Warden—” Choking on my name, the panic starts to seep in.
“Leah.” Stepping over to her sink, I plop her on the counter. She hisses at the cool surface as it makes contact with her flushed skin. “Kiss me before I lose my mind.”
She does.
I don’t hesitate. I capture her mouth again, slanting my lips over hers, swallowing her gasp. This time, there’s no slow build. My tongue finds hers, and we’re there, dancing that old, desperate dance.
A groan rumbles in my chest, and I use the sound as an excuse to pull her hips, dragging her right to the counter’s edge. She has no choice but to cling to me, her arms locking around my neck, her body arched into mine.
Between kisses, deep and consuming, I break to taste the salt on her skin. I nip the line of her jaw, the hollow of her throat. “Tell me,” I breathe against her damp skin, the words raw. “Should I go hunt down a condom?”
I already know I will if that’s what she wants. We’ve played it safe for years, and I’ve never dared to mention taking such a big decision. This is different. This could start something new between us.
I pull back just enough to see her eyes, to see her pupils are blown wide with the same want I feel deep inside. “I want to know how you feel,” I say, the confession rough. “All of you. Wrapped around me. With nothing in the way.”
Her breathing grows a little quicker before she blinks. She understands what I’m implying, doesn’t she?
I peck her swollen lips, feel the shape of a smile I can’t contain. “Whatever happens, happens.” My thumb brushes her cheekbone. “I’ll be right here with you.”
Her eyes get misty, shining with all the emotions she must’ve tried to hide for so long, and the sight cracks me right open. She doesn’t speak, just nods, a quick, sure dip of her chin.
With her permission, I have to shove away the happiness that swarms in my chest to remain focused.
Reaching between us, my hand wrapping around my cock, guiding myself to her. She’s slick and ready, and the first press is a hot wave of smoldering perfection.
A relieved, satisfied sigh escapes her lips, echoed by my own as I push forward, burying myself to the hilt in one slow, relentless slide. All the way in, I’m already dizzy. ]
She’s so tight, so impossibly hot, and for a second, I just stay there, welded to her, my forehead bumping her shoulder as I fight the urge to come then and there.
“Leah,” I grit out, the only word left in me.
Wrapping her arms around me, she holds me tight as her legs do the very same. As one of her hands slides through my wet strands, her breath tickles my ear as it shakes. “I love you, Warden. Liam.”
She’s making it very hard not to come.
Cursing under my breath, I start to move.
With her words ringing on repeat in my head, my stomach clenches and aches as her pussy sucks me in.
With every withdrawal, there’s a soft, clinging resistance, as if she’s reluctant to let me go.
And with every plunge back in, it’s a molten, velvet grasp, perfect and punishing.
“Again,” I demand, my voice demanding as I pant. “Say it again.”
“I love you,” she gasps, and digs her nails into my skin to hold on.
She meets every thrust, her body arching as she takes every swollen inch I have to give.
She tries to say something else, but it’s made impossible by my movement.
Turning into breathy sounds, her slick walls begin twitching all over again.
Dragging me to her mouth, like she can’t get enough of how much contact already shared between us, her moans vibrate my teeth as my thrusts grow quicker, losing rhythm. I feel the curve of her lips. She may not be able to talk, but she’s still happy to show her happiness.
Squeezing her hips, I try to thrust impossibly deeper. Her juices are already completely coating me, but I want more. I always want more.
Panting, my head swirls, and I’m choking back a curse when she clamps down around me. While she’s pulling back to sob out her second orgasm, I’m chasing my own orgasm. Moving in a blur, using the wet sounds of our bodies meeting, the friction and suction are my downfall.
Burying myself deep, my body stiffens and jerks as my release crashes down on me hard. Cursing and groaning, I don’t miss the way Leah uses her feet to keep me right there, flooding her with every drop I have to give. For her, I have too much.
This is unreal. I’d pinch myself to see if I was dreaming, but I can’t. Not while we’re wrapped up like this with each other. The way my heart is crashing around in my chest, I find it hard to believe I could fake this.
If only I made this a little more romantic. Fucking her on a sink isn’t exactly what I had in mind any time I thought about making love to her. Next time, I’ll get her some rose petals. Play music or something. I don’t know, but I’ll make it more memorable.
Pulling back, I’m relieved to see there isn’t an ounce of disappointment on her face. Rather, she looks pretty pleased, actually.
A lazy, sated smile touches my lips as the world seeps back in. Hers mirrors it, beautiful and soft. This peace is everything.
Then her gaze drifts down. Her smile dies. “Your stomach,” she breathes, her hand reaching out to touch my stitches. Of course, I’m starting to bleed. Her eyes go wide with that familiar, frantic worry.
Even as my softening cock still rests within her, she shifts, her fingers probing the wound.
I catch her wrist gently, stilling her. Bringing her palm to my mouth, I press a soft, lingering kiss to the center. Her pulse is racing. I meet her terrified eyes, and my smile returns, easy and sure. “I’m going to be just fine.”
I mean it. Now that I’ve got the woman of my dreams to call my own, I’ll be alright for the rest of my days.
Even if it takes years to convince her, decades even, I’m going to enjoy every second of it.