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’tnoordon’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 timeI 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.
TWENTY-NINE
you can’t laugh while my dick is still inside you
Alice
The front door closes, and Luther’s nails pitter-patter on the stairs as I listen for Arthur. I didn’t expect to be gone so long today, but Maeve wanted to have brunch with the girls, and then I spent the rest of the day cleaning out more of Gran’s house. Before I knew it, the sky was getting dark. I was surprised to get back to an empty house, but it gave me a chance to eat something and have a longeverythingshower.
Once I finished my curly hair routine, I slipped Arthur’s shirt on. I’ve been sitting on my bed staring out the window since, thinking about how much my life has changed over the past couple of months, and what meeting Arthur’s entire family will be like tomorrow. Gabriel and Rafael are lovely, and it helps that Charlie will be another familiar face there, but family events are very far outside of my comfort zone.
Now Luther is sniffing at my door, and the three hard knocks that follow startle me enough to jump off the bed.
I swing the door open and find Arthur, arms spread wide as he holds on to either side of the door frame. His head is lowered, but as the seconds tick by, his chin rises as he takes me in, starting at my toes, over my bare legs, to where his shirt opens wider at the collar. Every inch of my skin warms with the heat from his gaze. I’m practically panting by the time our eyes meet.
Reaching for him first, I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. It’s fierce and needy, it’s wild and entirely uncontrolled. I never want it to end, but he cradles my face in his hands and pulls back.
“Are you okay?” His question unsettles me, because I don’t know.
Am I?
I’m on the brink of falling for a man I can’t have, in a town I don’t want to live in, while I make decisions I never wanted to have to make about someone else’s life. But with him, I feel more than okay. It might be the only time I do.
“Yeah. I didn’t mean to be gone all day, I’m so?—”
He cuts me off with a kiss, shaking his head. “I just wanted to make sure, baby. You don’t need to explain or apologize.”
Him calling me baby does obscene things to my body, and the way I try to climb him like a tree, wrapping my leg around his hip, does nothing to hide that fact.
“You’re wearing my shirt again,” he says, gripping my outer thigh, slowly massaging his way higher and higher, where he’s about to discover… “And nothing else?”
His groan makes my core throb, and when his other hand slides beneath the hem of the shirt, grazing my inner thigh, I’m mewling, ready to beg him to touch me. “Tell me, what am I going to find when I touch you, Alice? Is your pussy soaked for me?” I nod vigorously, and he tsks. The way he talks to me isn’t entirelyunexpected. Arthur is a competent, confident man, and while I adore how tender he can be, this side of him makes me absolutely feral. “I said, tell me.” He pinches my skin lightly, enough to make me gasp, enough to make me wetter.
“Yes, my pussy is soaked for you, Arthur.” I barely know what words are as he inches closer, no doubt already feeling how wet I am.
Instead of touching me like I need him to, he spins us until my back is against the bedroom wall, then he drops to his knees, lifting one of mine until it drapes over his shoulder. The flat of his tongue meets my clit, and I’m certain I levitate. He licks and sucks until I’m riding his face, reaching for the high only he can provide. His response? A desperate-sounding moan followed by his fingers gripping me tighter as he hums, like he’s entirely satisfied.
The tip of his tongue circles my clit as his fingers tease my entrance. Just as I consider begging, he slides two fingers into me, curling them into a spot no one has ever touched before. I slap a hand against the wall as my legs tingle and heat rushes over my skin. He doesn’t pull them out, just keeps curling and uncurling his fingers until I’m gasping for air, screaming as I come harder than I even knew was possible. When I look down, I find his reverent, hungry eyes already on me, and I’m certain it makes my orgasm last longer.
As I begin to calm down from the high, he stills his fingers and sucks my clit into his mouth. Somehow, I come again, my hands gripping his hair, trying to decide whether to push him away or pull him closer, and settling on holding him exactly where he is.
