Yule Be Mine (Standalone Holiday Romance), page 11
“Yeah, I know. I’m used to it.”
The wrinkles on his forehead deepen. “Does it happen a lot?”
“Not quite like that, where people are that nasty, but most people don’t believe me when I say I’m not Steph. It takes some convincing.”
“Now I understand why you reacted the way you did on our first date. Which makes me feel even more like an asshole.” The pain in his tone soothes a little of that hurt I’ve been harboring.
“Honestly, things like what just happened bother me less than when someone knows me and still thinks my sister and I are carbon copies of each other.”
Carter kisses the tip of my cold nose. “I’m sorry I ever made you feel that way.”
“I know you are. But listen, I can be a little too sensitive about it, and I probably overreacted that night. I was really into you and felt this instant connection during dinner, and I was hopeful about where things might go between us. So, when you did a one-eighty, I was embarrassed and disappointed.”
He cringes and inhales through his nose, his eyes never straying from mine. “Rest assured, now that I know you better, I can’t imagine why I ever saw Steph in you. I wasn’t kidding about what I said to them. You are a thousand times better.” Then he gives me a good, long kiss. “But seriously, don’t tell Steph because she’d probably cut my balls off, and that would hurt you as well as me now.”
We burst into laughter, causing me to lose my balance. My feet slip out from under me, and I grab onto Carter, taking him down with me. We end up in a tangle of limbs, laughing even harder.
Chapter Eighteen
CARTER
The next day, I’m in charge of driving the truck to pick up the chairs. Ashley is too scared, since she’s never driven a vehicle this big. Not that I have any experience. I’ve lived in Manhattan for a long time now, so driving in general is a bit of a foreign concept to me.
But after the first twenty minutes, I catch on and feel confident.
After skating last night, we returned to the B&B and had hot chocolate and made out like teenagers in front of the fire. Though I wanted to take Ashley upstairs to her bedroom and have my way with her, I don’t want to rush this thing between us. I messed up once already, and I’m determined not to do it again.
I have no reservations about sleeping with Ashley. I don’t think that what happened last time will happen again. Everything in me tells me this is meant to be between us—she is my destiny. And I want to make sure we go at a pace she’s comfortable with.
So I dragged my turned-on, sorry ass to my room, tossed and turned for an hour, unable to sleep until I took a shower, masturbated to visions of Ashley, and then finally could fall asleep.
Now, she’s in the seat next to me, singing along to a Christmas carol playing on the radio.
“Aren’t you going to sing along with me?” she teases.
“If you want your eardrums to bleed the rest of the trip, I can.”
She laughs and goes back to singing.
I glance at the sky. It’s supposed to snow—hard—and we’re on a race to beat the winter storm rolling in.
By the time we reach our destination, the snow has begun. It’s not coming down terribly hard, so if we do this quickly, we should be okay to get home.
The man who owns the chairs chats up Ashley and me as we load the chairs into the back of the truck and secure them, so they won’t shift while I’m driving. I don’t know what I expected these chairs to be. They’re nice chairs, sure. But are they worth all this effort? I don’t think so. But then again, I’m not a bride who wants her wedding day to be perfect.
By the time the chairs are all loaded and we’re ready to leave, the driveway is covered in a couple of inches of snow.
We’re getting back on the main road when the back end slides a little. “I’m going to have to go slow with this weather since I’m not used to driving a truck.” I glance at Ashley, who is nervously biting her bottom lip. I squeeze her thigh. “Listen, it’s going to be okay.”
She nods, but rather than answering, she pulls out her phone. “The weather app says it’s only supposed to get worse.”
Five minutes later, I feel as if we’re in a blizzard. The snow is falling rapidly, and even with the windshield wipers going full speed, they barely clear the glass. Not that it matters much since I can’t see more than a few feet in front of me.
As we round a bend in the road, I feel the back of the truck slipping out to the side again. Ashley yelps, and I straighten the vehicle.
My knuckles are ghost white on the steering wheel, and my heart thunders. “This is going to take us forever to get back, and it’s going to be dark in a couple of hours. What do you think of finding somewhere to stick it out tonight and then get on our way again when the roads are plowed tomorrow?”
I expect Ashley to say that she has to get back to the B&B. To say that she has so much to do for her sister’s wedding that she can’t possibly afford to be stuck somewhere for tonight and into tomorrow. But she doesn’t. She must really be scared.
Instead, she says, “I think that’s smart. Let me look up where the closest place is.”
Within a few minutes, we have a plan. There’s a motel a few miles up the road. We’ll stop there and wait it out.
Rounding the final curve in the road before the motel comes into view, I breathe a sigh of relief at seeing the glowing red vacancy sign through the falling snow. We pull into the parking lot. There are a lot of other vehicles here, though whether they had already planned to stay or the storm brought them in off the road, I don’t know.
“You stay in the warm cab while I get us a room.” I don’t wait for Ashley to argue with me before I open the door and slide out.
Thankfully, I have my boots on, but the snow is already almost over the top of them.
I walk into the small reception area. A man I’d place in his early sixties sits behind the counter, glasses pushed halfway down his nose, a pen in hand, staring at a crossword puzzle.
He looks up when the bell dings as I make my entrance. “Goalie known for the most blocks in a single NHL game?” He arches his gray bushy eyebrow.
“Conor Nilsen,” I say as I stomp the snow off my boots.
“Nilsen. Right, of course. Thanks.” He writes the name in and sets aside the paper. “What can I do for you?”
“I need a pair of rooms.” I didn’t ask Ashley if she wanted her own room, but I’m not going to assume she wants to stay with me.
The man frowns. “Afraid I only got one room left. Storm pushed a lot of people off the roads.”
I sigh. “Any chance it has two beds?”
He shakes his head. “Just the one.”
I nod and pull my wallet out of my pocket. “It’ll have to do then.”
The man is really friendly, checking us into our room, and I leave the reception area with the key for room number thirteen. The gentleman tells me there are some vending machines in the laundry room at the end of the motel.
I slip twice on the walk back to the truck, but I manage not to go ass over tea kettle. I get back in the cab of the truck, thankful for the heat pumping out of the vents. “I got us a room.”
Ashley smiles. “Awesome.”
“But there was only one room available. With only one bed.” I wait for her reaction, but I’m not sure what other choices we have.
“Okay, well, that’s not the end of the world.” She holds my gaze.
I nod and turn off the vehicle. “All right, let’s go then.”
We head to room thirteen, and when I swing open the door, I’m pleasantly surprised. You can never be sure what you’re going to get when you stop at a motel on the side of the road, but this place is nice.
There’s what looks to be a double bed in the center of the room and dark wood nightstands with a matching dresser. A relatively new TV is mounted to the wall over the dresser, and a small table with two chairs sits in the corner. The carpet is dark green with flecks of gray, and the bedding appears to be a flannel comforter coordinating with the carpet. The room is painted beige with older landscape art prints throughout the room. It’s a little dated, but it’s cozy and, most importantly, clean.
“This is pretty nice,” Ashley says as she walks in and looks around.
We remove our boots and leave them on the rubber mat near the door.
“Are you hungry?” I thumb at the door behind me. “The guy mentioned that there are some vending machines.”
She shakes her head and unzips her jacket. “I’m okay for now.”
I unzip my jacket. “What do you want to do then?”
She shrugs. “Want to see what’s on TV? We can relax.”
Six hours later, we’re deep into the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship. They’re doing a marathon today, and Ashley said she loves the show. Now she’s turned me into a fan. Jesse, the host, is funny in a weird way with all his puns, and it’s cool to see what the contestants can come up with on the fly.
“I’m going to have to tell my mom about this show. She’d love it.” I toss another one of the chips from the bag on my lap into my mouth.
“Is she a baker?” Ashley asks from where she’s propped up against the headboard beside me.
“Not so much throughout the year, but during the holidays, she’s a hardcore baker. My sister-in-law Tessa is actually a baker. She had her own place in Manhattan for a while.”
Ashley’s eyes widen. “Oh wow. Remind me never to bake for either of them.” She seems to think better of what she said, then her eyes widen even more. “Not that I’ll ever meet them or have the opportunity to bake for them, I just—”
I quickly kiss her lips. “I’m counting on you meeting them at some point.”
She blinks rapidly. “You are?”
I nod slowly. “I’m counting on a lot of things. I haven’t told you because I don’t want to scare you off.”
The corners of her mouth tip up. “Me too.”
“Yeah?” My head tilts.
“Yeah.”
We hold each other’s gazes for what seems like several minutes. Maybe only seconds.
Then, unsure if I should act on my instincts or not, I look away. “I think I’m going to go have a shower and brush my teeth before we settle in for the night.” Nice that the vending machine had toiletries too.
I don’t know what to make of the fact that she licks her lips when I say that. “Sounds good. I’ll have my shower when you’re done.”
I slide off the bed and practically run to the bathroom before I invite her to join me. If the signals I’m reading are correct, she’s down with things turning physical tonight, but I don’t want her to think that’s all I’m interested in, so I’m going to need her to make it really obvious that’s what she wants.
I have a quick shower, brush my teeth, and quickly redress. She goes into the bathroom after me, and when she does, I strip down to my boxer briefs and slide under the covers.
The entire time she’s in the bathroom, all I can think about is that she’s naked in there. I picture her rubbing soap all over her body, but I end up tenting my boxer briefs, so I try to think of unpleasant things. When that doesn’t work, I turn off the TV and roll onto my side, deciding that maybe the best thing to do is go to sleep.
But I have no luck, so when the bathroom door opens a few minutes later, I hear Ashley come back into the room. I’m facing away from the bathroom so I can’t see her, but I swear she’s watching me. It’s as though I know everywhere her gaze travels as tingles move from one part of my body to another.
The bed dips as she sits on it, and the sheets rustle in the dark as she climbs under them. My breathing picks up its pace because her body spurs heat under the covers. It’s not a huge bed, so we’re close, practically touching.
Then we are touching as she winds her hand around my waist from behind and presses her front to my back. Only I don’t feel the soft cotton of the T-shirt she wore under her sweater. No, her breasts are pressed against my muscled back, the points of her taut nipples dragging against my skin as she moves up to kiss my shoulder.
“Ashley, what are you doing?” The words are raw, and I’m barely holding on until she gives me the green light.
“What I hope you want to.” Her hand dips down my stomach, squeezing my hard length over the fabric of my boxer briefs.
I release a quiet groan. “Are you sure about this?”
“I think the better question is, are you?”
I whip around so fast I might startle her from the noise she makes. Then she giggles. But I don’t give her any time to recover before fastening my mouth on her nipple, twirling my tongue around the hard nub then biting down lightly before soothing it again with my tongue. Ashley gasps, and her hands dive into my hair, pulling at the strands.
I give her other nipple the same treatment before I’m over her, dragging my tongue down her body toward the apex of her thighs. I find heaven on earth with the first lap of my tongue through her center. Her sweet, musky taste is now my favorite flavor. Screw the sweetness of hot chocolate or the peppermint of a candy cane. Ashley is the taste I want on my tongue—always.
Ashley’s back arches off the mattress as I suck her clit. Her fingers grip my hair harder, but the pain in my scalp doesn’t deter me. I push two fingers into her and the noise she makes is the sweetest music to my ears. As I continue to play with her clit with the end of my tongue, I curl my fingers to hit her G-spot.
“Carter, oh my god. Don’t stop,” she moans.
“I don’t plan to stop until you’re coming on my tongue, Ash.” My mouth returns to her clit, and I suck it into my mouth, using a steady rhythm to curl my fingers into her.
She climaxes in under a minute, calling out my name and grinding her pelvis onto my face. Her back arches off the bed as I commit the entire scene to memory, never wanting to forget this moment.
When she comes down from her orgasm, I work my way back up her body. I kiss her, and she returns it greedily as if she likes the taste of herself on my tongue. My erection strains between us, and god, I want to sink into her so badly. But only if she’s ready. Now that she’s gotten off, she may decide she wants to slow things down.
Ashley trails her hands from my hair down toward my waist, slipping her fingers around the elastic of my boxer briefs and pushing them down. “You need to take these off. Do you have a condom?”
It takes a moment for the words to work their way into my brain because all the blood has rushed to my dick because holy shit we’re going to have sex with Ashley.
I can’t believe I was ever stupid enough to push this woman away. I was a fucking idiot.
“I have some in my wallet.” I roll off the bed and look for my pants in the dark. They’re hanging over the chair in front of the table. I yank my wallet out and slide a condom out of it, discarding the wallet on the table.
When I reach the side of the bed again, I pull off my boxer briefs. I’m not sure how much Ashley can see in the dark, but she spends a good deal of time checking me out. It makes me puff my chest out a little because she clearly likes what she sees.
Bringing the condom wrapper to my mouth, I tear it open.
Ashley reaches out her hand. “Here, let me.”
My dick twitches between us, something she notices because she chuckles. I pass her the open condom wrapper, and she pulls out the condom, crawling over to sit on her knees in front of me. Her petite hands grip me, stroking a few times. My eyes drift closed with the sensation, and my head rocks back, tilting toward the ceiling.
When I feel her grip the base and roll the condom on, I open my eyes and stare down at her. God, she’s gorgeous with her red hair spilling over her bare shoulders and her eyes glittering in the dark as she looks up at me.
Once the condom is on, I kiss her and gently lead her with my body back up the mattress. I don’t remove my lips from her the entire time. Not until she’s lying across the mattress and I’m hovering over her. And only so I can take her in as I slide inside her for the first time.
I watch the way her eyes widen the slightest amount. The way her mouth opens, and she sucks in a breath. The way her entire body relaxes as though she can finally exhale. Gently, I rock into her, an inch or two at a time, until I’m fully seated inside her.
“God, Ashley…” I hold myself and bask in the sensation of her warm heat surrounding me. I trail my tongue from her collarbone, up her neck and to her ear. “It’s official. I won’t ever get enough of you.”
She turns her head and licks the seam of my mouth. Our tongues tangle as I move inside her. My hips pound out a steady beat as the heels of Ashley’s feet push against my ass. I take my cues from her, and when she digs her heels in, I increase my pace.
Sex has never felt like this for me—amazing physically but also so wrapped up in emotion.
I know for sure that I’m never letting this woman go.
Chapter Nineteen
ASHLEY
My heart riots as Carter moves on top of me. Everything about this joining feels so right. So meant to be.
It’s silly to think like the fantasies of a teenage girl, but I can’t help it. I’ve never felt so much like this is where I’m supposed to be.
“You feel so good,” I say, truth slipping from my lips. I feel as if I’m both in and out of my body.
“Fuck, Ash, I don’t ever want to stop.”
My body contracts around him when he calls me Ash.
“You like that do you? Ash?” It happens again, and he lets out a low chuckle. “I want to see you.”
Without warning, Carter wraps his arms around me and sits up so that he’s sitting back on his heels and I’m straddling him. My hair drapes over one shoulder, and Carter gently moves it so that it lays along my back, exposing my bare chest to him.
I move over him. A moan works its way up my throat from the feel of my clit rubbing against him. I’m not going to last long in this position.
Quicker than I would like, the sensation of my impending climax builds. Carter’s fingers weave in my hair as he looks up at me in what I can only think of as awe. His gaze echoes what I’m feeling—though I’ve been like this with a man before, it’s never been like this.
The wrinkles on his forehead deepen. “Does it happen a lot?”
“Not quite like that, where people are that nasty, but most people don’t believe me when I say I’m not Steph. It takes some convincing.”
“Now I understand why you reacted the way you did on our first date. Which makes me feel even more like an asshole.” The pain in his tone soothes a little of that hurt I’ve been harboring.
“Honestly, things like what just happened bother me less than when someone knows me and still thinks my sister and I are carbon copies of each other.”
Carter kisses the tip of my cold nose. “I’m sorry I ever made you feel that way.”
“I know you are. But listen, I can be a little too sensitive about it, and I probably overreacted that night. I was really into you and felt this instant connection during dinner, and I was hopeful about where things might go between us. So, when you did a one-eighty, I was embarrassed and disappointed.”
He cringes and inhales through his nose, his eyes never straying from mine. “Rest assured, now that I know you better, I can’t imagine why I ever saw Steph in you. I wasn’t kidding about what I said to them. You are a thousand times better.” Then he gives me a good, long kiss. “But seriously, don’t tell Steph because she’d probably cut my balls off, and that would hurt you as well as me now.”
We burst into laughter, causing me to lose my balance. My feet slip out from under me, and I grab onto Carter, taking him down with me. We end up in a tangle of limbs, laughing even harder.
Chapter Eighteen
CARTER
The next day, I’m in charge of driving the truck to pick up the chairs. Ashley is too scared, since she’s never driven a vehicle this big. Not that I have any experience. I’ve lived in Manhattan for a long time now, so driving in general is a bit of a foreign concept to me.
But after the first twenty minutes, I catch on and feel confident.
After skating last night, we returned to the B&B and had hot chocolate and made out like teenagers in front of the fire. Though I wanted to take Ashley upstairs to her bedroom and have my way with her, I don’t want to rush this thing between us. I messed up once already, and I’m determined not to do it again.
I have no reservations about sleeping with Ashley. I don’t think that what happened last time will happen again. Everything in me tells me this is meant to be between us—she is my destiny. And I want to make sure we go at a pace she’s comfortable with.
So I dragged my turned-on, sorry ass to my room, tossed and turned for an hour, unable to sleep until I took a shower, masturbated to visions of Ashley, and then finally could fall asleep.
Now, she’s in the seat next to me, singing along to a Christmas carol playing on the radio.
“Aren’t you going to sing along with me?” she teases.
“If you want your eardrums to bleed the rest of the trip, I can.”
She laughs and goes back to singing.
I glance at the sky. It’s supposed to snow—hard—and we’re on a race to beat the winter storm rolling in.
By the time we reach our destination, the snow has begun. It’s not coming down terribly hard, so if we do this quickly, we should be okay to get home.
The man who owns the chairs chats up Ashley and me as we load the chairs into the back of the truck and secure them, so they won’t shift while I’m driving. I don’t know what I expected these chairs to be. They’re nice chairs, sure. But are they worth all this effort? I don’t think so. But then again, I’m not a bride who wants her wedding day to be perfect.
By the time the chairs are all loaded and we’re ready to leave, the driveway is covered in a couple of inches of snow.
We’re getting back on the main road when the back end slides a little. “I’m going to have to go slow with this weather since I’m not used to driving a truck.” I glance at Ashley, who is nervously biting her bottom lip. I squeeze her thigh. “Listen, it’s going to be okay.”
She nods, but rather than answering, she pulls out her phone. “The weather app says it’s only supposed to get worse.”
Five minutes later, I feel as if we’re in a blizzard. The snow is falling rapidly, and even with the windshield wipers going full speed, they barely clear the glass. Not that it matters much since I can’t see more than a few feet in front of me.
As we round a bend in the road, I feel the back of the truck slipping out to the side again. Ashley yelps, and I straighten the vehicle.
My knuckles are ghost white on the steering wheel, and my heart thunders. “This is going to take us forever to get back, and it’s going to be dark in a couple of hours. What do you think of finding somewhere to stick it out tonight and then get on our way again when the roads are plowed tomorrow?”
I expect Ashley to say that she has to get back to the B&B. To say that she has so much to do for her sister’s wedding that she can’t possibly afford to be stuck somewhere for tonight and into tomorrow. But she doesn’t. She must really be scared.
Instead, she says, “I think that’s smart. Let me look up where the closest place is.”
Within a few minutes, we have a plan. There’s a motel a few miles up the road. We’ll stop there and wait it out.
Rounding the final curve in the road before the motel comes into view, I breathe a sigh of relief at seeing the glowing red vacancy sign through the falling snow. We pull into the parking lot. There are a lot of other vehicles here, though whether they had already planned to stay or the storm brought them in off the road, I don’t know.
“You stay in the warm cab while I get us a room.” I don’t wait for Ashley to argue with me before I open the door and slide out.
Thankfully, I have my boots on, but the snow is already almost over the top of them.
I walk into the small reception area. A man I’d place in his early sixties sits behind the counter, glasses pushed halfway down his nose, a pen in hand, staring at a crossword puzzle.
He looks up when the bell dings as I make my entrance. “Goalie known for the most blocks in a single NHL game?” He arches his gray bushy eyebrow.
“Conor Nilsen,” I say as I stomp the snow off my boots.
“Nilsen. Right, of course. Thanks.” He writes the name in and sets aside the paper. “What can I do for you?”
“I need a pair of rooms.” I didn’t ask Ashley if she wanted her own room, but I’m not going to assume she wants to stay with me.
The man frowns. “Afraid I only got one room left. Storm pushed a lot of people off the roads.”
I sigh. “Any chance it has two beds?”
He shakes his head. “Just the one.”
I nod and pull my wallet out of my pocket. “It’ll have to do then.”
The man is really friendly, checking us into our room, and I leave the reception area with the key for room number thirteen. The gentleman tells me there are some vending machines in the laundry room at the end of the motel.
I slip twice on the walk back to the truck, but I manage not to go ass over tea kettle. I get back in the cab of the truck, thankful for the heat pumping out of the vents. “I got us a room.”
Ashley smiles. “Awesome.”
“But there was only one room available. With only one bed.” I wait for her reaction, but I’m not sure what other choices we have.
“Okay, well, that’s not the end of the world.” She holds my gaze.
I nod and turn off the vehicle. “All right, let’s go then.”
We head to room thirteen, and when I swing open the door, I’m pleasantly surprised. You can never be sure what you’re going to get when you stop at a motel on the side of the road, but this place is nice.
There’s what looks to be a double bed in the center of the room and dark wood nightstands with a matching dresser. A relatively new TV is mounted to the wall over the dresser, and a small table with two chairs sits in the corner. The carpet is dark green with flecks of gray, and the bedding appears to be a flannel comforter coordinating with the carpet. The room is painted beige with older landscape art prints throughout the room. It’s a little dated, but it’s cozy and, most importantly, clean.
“This is pretty nice,” Ashley says as she walks in and looks around.
We remove our boots and leave them on the rubber mat near the door.
“Are you hungry?” I thumb at the door behind me. “The guy mentioned that there are some vending machines.”
She shakes her head and unzips her jacket. “I’m okay for now.”
I unzip my jacket. “What do you want to do then?”
She shrugs. “Want to see what’s on TV? We can relax.”
Six hours later, we’re deep into the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship. They’re doing a marathon today, and Ashley said she loves the show. Now she’s turned me into a fan. Jesse, the host, is funny in a weird way with all his puns, and it’s cool to see what the contestants can come up with on the fly.
“I’m going to have to tell my mom about this show. She’d love it.” I toss another one of the chips from the bag on my lap into my mouth.
“Is she a baker?” Ashley asks from where she’s propped up against the headboard beside me.
“Not so much throughout the year, but during the holidays, she’s a hardcore baker. My sister-in-law Tessa is actually a baker. She had her own place in Manhattan for a while.”
Ashley’s eyes widen. “Oh wow. Remind me never to bake for either of them.” She seems to think better of what she said, then her eyes widen even more. “Not that I’ll ever meet them or have the opportunity to bake for them, I just—”
I quickly kiss her lips. “I’m counting on you meeting them at some point.”
She blinks rapidly. “You are?”
I nod slowly. “I’m counting on a lot of things. I haven’t told you because I don’t want to scare you off.”
The corners of her mouth tip up. “Me too.”
“Yeah?” My head tilts.
“Yeah.”
We hold each other’s gazes for what seems like several minutes. Maybe only seconds.
Then, unsure if I should act on my instincts or not, I look away. “I think I’m going to go have a shower and brush my teeth before we settle in for the night.” Nice that the vending machine had toiletries too.
I don’t know what to make of the fact that she licks her lips when I say that. “Sounds good. I’ll have my shower when you’re done.”
I slide off the bed and practically run to the bathroom before I invite her to join me. If the signals I’m reading are correct, she’s down with things turning physical tonight, but I don’t want her to think that’s all I’m interested in, so I’m going to need her to make it really obvious that’s what she wants.
I have a quick shower, brush my teeth, and quickly redress. She goes into the bathroom after me, and when she does, I strip down to my boxer briefs and slide under the covers.
The entire time she’s in the bathroom, all I can think about is that she’s naked in there. I picture her rubbing soap all over her body, but I end up tenting my boxer briefs, so I try to think of unpleasant things. When that doesn’t work, I turn off the TV and roll onto my side, deciding that maybe the best thing to do is go to sleep.
But I have no luck, so when the bathroom door opens a few minutes later, I hear Ashley come back into the room. I’m facing away from the bathroom so I can’t see her, but I swear she’s watching me. It’s as though I know everywhere her gaze travels as tingles move from one part of my body to another.
The bed dips as she sits on it, and the sheets rustle in the dark as she climbs under them. My breathing picks up its pace because her body spurs heat under the covers. It’s not a huge bed, so we’re close, practically touching.
Then we are touching as she winds her hand around my waist from behind and presses her front to my back. Only I don’t feel the soft cotton of the T-shirt she wore under her sweater. No, her breasts are pressed against my muscled back, the points of her taut nipples dragging against my skin as she moves up to kiss my shoulder.
“Ashley, what are you doing?” The words are raw, and I’m barely holding on until she gives me the green light.
“What I hope you want to.” Her hand dips down my stomach, squeezing my hard length over the fabric of my boxer briefs.
I release a quiet groan. “Are you sure about this?”
“I think the better question is, are you?”
I whip around so fast I might startle her from the noise she makes. Then she giggles. But I don’t give her any time to recover before fastening my mouth on her nipple, twirling my tongue around the hard nub then biting down lightly before soothing it again with my tongue. Ashley gasps, and her hands dive into my hair, pulling at the strands.
I give her other nipple the same treatment before I’m over her, dragging my tongue down her body toward the apex of her thighs. I find heaven on earth with the first lap of my tongue through her center. Her sweet, musky taste is now my favorite flavor. Screw the sweetness of hot chocolate or the peppermint of a candy cane. Ashley is the taste I want on my tongue—always.
Ashley’s back arches off the mattress as I suck her clit. Her fingers grip my hair harder, but the pain in my scalp doesn’t deter me. I push two fingers into her and the noise she makes is the sweetest music to my ears. As I continue to play with her clit with the end of my tongue, I curl my fingers to hit her G-spot.
“Carter, oh my god. Don’t stop,” she moans.
“I don’t plan to stop until you’re coming on my tongue, Ash.” My mouth returns to her clit, and I suck it into my mouth, using a steady rhythm to curl my fingers into her.
She climaxes in under a minute, calling out my name and grinding her pelvis onto my face. Her back arches off the bed as I commit the entire scene to memory, never wanting to forget this moment.
When she comes down from her orgasm, I work my way back up her body. I kiss her, and she returns it greedily as if she likes the taste of herself on my tongue. My erection strains between us, and god, I want to sink into her so badly. But only if she’s ready. Now that she’s gotten off, she may decide she wants to slow things down.
Ashley trails her hands from my hair down toward my waist, slipping her fingers around the elastic of my boxer briefs and pushing them down. “You need to take these off. Do you have a condom?”
It takes a moment for the words to work their way into my brain because all the blood has rushed to my dick because holy shit we’re going to have sex with Ashley.
I can’t believe I was ever stupid enough to push this woman away. I was a fucking idiot.
“I have some in my wallet.” I roll off the bed and look for my pants in the dark. They’re hanging over the chair in front of the table. I yank my wallet out and slide a condom out of it, discarding the wallet on the table.
When I reach the side of the bed again, I pull off my boxer briefs. I’m not sure how much Ashley can see in the dark, but she spends a good deal of time checking me out. It makes me puff my chest out a little because she clearly likes what she sees.
Bringing the condom wrapper to my mouth, I tear it open.
Ashley reaches out her hand. “Here, let me.”
My dick twitches between us, something she notices because she chuckles. I pass her the open condom wrapper, and she pulls out the condom, crawling over to sit on her knees in front of me. Her petite hands grip me, stroking a few times. My eyes drift closed with the sensation, and my head rocks back, tilting toward the ceiling.
When I feel her grip the base and roll the condom on, I open my eyes and stare down at her. God, she’s gorgeous with her red hair spilling over her bare shoulders and her eyes glittering in the dark as she looks up at me.
Once the condom is on, I kiss her and gently lead her with my body back up the mattress. I don’t remove my lips from her the entire time. Not until she’s lying across the mattress and I’m hovering over her. And only so I can take her in as I slide inside her for the first time.
I watch the way her eyes widen the slightest amount. The way her mouth opens, and she sucks in a breath. The way her entire body relaxes as though she can finally exhale. Gently, I rock into her, an inch or two at a time, until I’m fully seated inside her.
“God, Ashley…” I hold myself and bask in the sensation of her warm heat surrounding me. I trail my tongue from her collarbone, up her neck and to her ear. “It’s official. I won’t ever get enough of you.”
She turns her head and licks the seam of my mouth. Our tongues tangle as I move inside her. My hips pound out a steady beat as the heels of Ashley’s feet push against my ass. I take my cues from her, and when she digs her heels in, I increase my pace.
Sex has never felt like this for me—amazing physically but also so wrapped up in emotion.
I know for sure that I’m never letting this woman go.
Chapter Nineteen
ASHLEY
My heart riots as Carter moves on top of me. Everything about this joining feels so right. So meant to be.
It’s silly to think like the fantasies of a teenage girl, but I can’t help it. I’ve never felt so much like this is where I’m supposed to be.
“You feel so good,” I say, truth slipping from my lips. I feel as if I’m both in and out of my body.
“Fuck, Ash, I don’t ever want to stop.”
My body contracts around him when he calls me Ash.
“You like that do you? Ash?” It happens again, and he lets out a low chuckle. “I want to see you.”
Without warning, Carter wraps his arms around me and sits up so that he’s sitting back on his heels and I’m straddling him. My hair drapes over one shoulder, and Carter gently moves it so that it lays along my back, exposing my bare chest to him.
I move over him. A moan works its way up my throat from the feel of my clit rubbing against him. I’m not going to last long in this position.
Quicker than I would like, the sensation of my impending climax builds. Carter’s fingers weave in my hair as he looks up at me in what I can only think of as awe. His gaze echoes what I’m feeling—though I’ve been like this with a man before, it’s never been like this.
