Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
I’ve had to do all the touching myself
Arthur
My lips shift to her wrist as her hand lowers from my chest, over my belly button, and finally to where my towel hangs. With a flick of her wrist, it falls to my feet, and her gaze falls to where I am very much naked.
“Alice,” I warn, dropping her hand as I look for any ounce of self-control I might have left in me.
“Do you have any condoms?” She peels off the sweats she must have just put on, then lets my flannel shirt she wears almost every night join them in a pile on the floor.
“Yeah.” The single word comes out strained, and I bite my fist when she turns and slips her T-shirt off, walking into my room in nothing but a white cotton thong.
Fuck, this woman is my undoing. My end and my beginning. If I wasn’t already in love with her, I am now.
My brain finally catches up with what’s happening and tells my legs to move. When I stumble into my room, she turns around, but suddenly her eyes widen at something behind me, and she covers her chest. Twisting to see what’s shocked her, I find the culprit.
My dog is trying to cock block me right now? I think not. I slam the door shut before he can sneak inside. As I turn back to my girl, she’s got one hand covering her mouth to stifle her giggles, so I rush to move her hand away.
“Your laugh is the best sound in the world. Please never hide it from me.” Kissing her fingers, I pull her close, and can’t help my groan when we’re finally chest-to-chest, skin-to-skin.
Fuck, this feels good.
Burying my face in her neck, I run my hand up her spine until my fingers reach the back of her head, tangling in her curls.
“I love it when you do that.” She sighs as my tongue meets her skin, and when I pull her head back, she moans, fingers pressing into my back hard enough that I feel her blunt nails dig in. “More,” she begs.
In a swift move, I pick her up and lay her on my bed, committing every detail to memory, from how her curls fan out over my pillow to the way her golden eyes shine, even in the dim light.
Her bronze skin glows against the white sheets, and as I hover over her, she reaches down to slide her thong off, wiggling until it’s lost in the sheets.
She reaches for me at the same time I lean down to kiss her. Instantly our hands are everywhere, touching every inch of skin, and when I reach her hip, she lifts her knee, spreading herself open for me. With feather-light touches, I tease the inside of her thigh as she writhes underneath me.
“I’ve thought about touching you so many times,” I confess.
“Me too,” she pants out. “But you’ve been torturing me with nothing but kisses for weeks, so I’ve had to do all the touching myself.”
Fuck. She’s been touching herself across the hall? All while I’ve been holding back, taking it slow, trying not to rush anything, trying not to fall even harder for her than I already have.
“Have you touched yourself thinking about me, baby?” Her response is a nod, cheeks turning red at the admission. “Do you use toys on yourself, wishing it was me?” A headshake this time.
“I don’t have any,” she says as I inch my hand closer to where she wants me.
“Just my fingers, and they’re never enou—” She ends on a gasp when my thumb runs from her entrance to her clit.
“Oh my—Yes.” Her back arches when I spread her wetness around it.
I push the tip of my finger into her, and the sound she makes have me hissing in a breath as I thrust my hips against her leg, searching for friction.
“Like this,” I mumble. She hums, circling her hips as I push deeper into her. “I want you like this every day.” When I add a second finger, she closes her eyes, throwing her head back. I give her a few slow strokes, loving the way she squeezes my fingers.
“How?” she asks, locking eyes with me again.
“In my bed.” My mouth finds hers, and I nip at her bottom lip before releasing it.
“Naked.”
I lick from her collarbone to her breast, flattening my tongue over her nipple, making her moan.
“Dripping wet for me.”
I keep my thrusts shallow, only pushing an inch or two into her. When my thumb meets her clit again, and I suck her nipple into my mouth, she finds her climax, eyes popping open to meet mine as she gasps and moans quietly.
Once her body relaxes, I kiss her neck, her collarbone, her chest, up to her cheeks, and finally her lips.
The little minx spreads her legs more and reaches down to grip my cock, pumping it twice, which is enough to make me lose any potential train of thought I might have had.
I rest my forehead on her chest, trying not to lose my mind.
“Where are they?” She grips me tighter, and I groan, pulling her nipple back into my mouth.
After a few seconds, I remember her question and reach for the nightstand drawer, pulling out a condom and quickly rolling it on.
As much as I want to sink into her, I force myself to slow down, to drink her in, and feel everything in this moment.
I spent so much time trying to numb my feelings, to escape them and reality as often as possible.
Then I learned how to handle them without needing to hide behind anything.
And now, here with her, I’m not afraid to feel it all.
I want to.
I need to.
Sensing the shift, she glides her fingers over my cheek, up to my forehead, pushing my hair back. She gives me time to process, even if she doesn’t understand what it is I’m feeling.
“Sometimes I can’t believe you’re real and that you’re here,” I admit.
“I’m right here.” She pulls me down for a soft kiss.
“I’m right here,” she repeats with another kiss.
“I’m here and I want you. All of you.” This time, she kisses me deeper, shifting until the tip of my cock is gliding to her entrance.
All I want is for those words to be true. “I’m here and I’m yours, Arthur.”
I push inside her, and we both moan, breathing one another’s air.
Has anything ever felt this good?
“No, it hasn’t,” she murmurs. I push deeper, and her eyes widen, a silent gasp forcing her lips open. “Nothing’s ever felt this good.”
I can’t be bothered to care that I let that thought slip out of my mouth. Not when she agrees with me.
“Tell me if it’s too much or not enough.” I rest my forehead on hers, giving her shallow thrusts like I did with my fingers.
“It’s both,” she whines. “It’s so much, but I’m not sure I’ll ever have enough of you. Go slow, but give me all of you.”
I already have.
We’re panting, despite how slowly I’m moving. When I’m all the way inside her, I hold myself there, breathing her in as I burrow into her neck again. She shifts beneath me, circling her hips and whimpering when the base of my cock brushes her clit.
“Alice, baby, you’re driving me crazy. You feel so fucking good. So perfect for me.” I give her a deep thrust, and she moans loudly, nails digging into my shoulders.
“Arthur,” she whispers, gasping when I push into her again, then pulling me down for another kiss.
Time slows, and we move at this languid pace, kissing one another as thoroughly as we’re fucking. It’s all-consuming, the way we move, the way we swallow one another’s moans, and our bodies move in sync.
She lifts her knee, and her noises become more desperate. When she comes, our mouths are still fused together, and when I follow her immediately after, we’re both slick and spent.
Gasping for air, I slide out of her and quickly tie the condom, not wanting to miss out on another moment of being this close to her. I pull her body into mine until her head is on my shoulder, and I hold her tightly despite the sweat on our skin.
When her stomach rumbles, I kiss the top of her head and move quickly to get the pizza she brought home.
She doesn’t bother putting clothes on, but when I forget to eat because I keep staring at her naked body, she giggles and tucks the sheet around herself.
Once we’re both satisfied in every possible way, I put the box on my dresser where Luther won’t reach it and shuffle back under the covers, pulling her close to me again and listening to her tell stories about past horses she’s worked with until eventually we fall into a content, happy silence.
I can’t say how long we lie there for, quietly stroking one another’s skin, but when she finally shifts, it’s late enough that my eyes are growing heavy.
“I should go,” she whispers, lifting her head to look at me. Before I can beg her not to, she strokes my cheek. “I need to shower, and I’m not sure it’s a great idea for me to, um, sleep here?”
I say nothing, and she must take that to mean I agree with what she’s saying. But really, I’m looking for words that aren’t no or don’t go.
After peeling her body away from mine, she looks around the room, quickly realizing none of her clothes are in here.
“Night, Arthur.” Clearing her throat, she stands and walks out of the room, completely naked.
I watch her with a pang of regret in my chest, then stare at the ceiling long after she finishes her shower.
It isn’t until Luther nudges me with his ice-cold nose, likely needing to go out, that I finally get out of bed. By that point, the lights are off in her room and the door is closed.
By the time I woke up, the sun was beaming in through the window, which told me it was late morning already, since the fog had cleared up. Made sense, since I didn’t fall asleep until early morning.
Between the way Alice left last night and the anxiety about seeing my dad tomorrow, I’ve been on edge all day. I’ve read, talked to Beau, gone to check on the horses, and deep-cleaned the fridge, but none of it is helping. Making it all worse is the fact that Alice hasn’t been around all day.
After taking Luther for a long walk, we get back home in the dark. His tail wags excitedly when he sees her Jeep in the driveway.
Inside, I listen for any sounds around the house, but when there are none, I head straight upstairs, stopping in front of Alice’s door.
Either she’s quiet or she’s sleeping, and I hope it’s the former as I knock three times.