For all the times I’d brushed up against him in passing or by accident, and the very few times he’d actually put his hands on me for longer than a moment, he’d emitted a warmth that seemed to chase away whatever chill seemed to settle in my bones where I never thought there was any to begin with.
I’d grown up under a hot sun for most of my life. Spent every summer since I was seven atAustin Adventuresbaking each year in the intense UV rays until I’d eventually formed a permanent tan to keep my poor skin from burning away layers of itself like I did every year before that.
I could never get enough, no matter how much I tried to pretend being in my office all day wasn’t giving me massive FOMO toward everyone getting outside and enjoying the nice weather.
That was how I grew up, after all, on the lake while the summer skies above me were crystal clear and the sun was ablazing orb in the sky. That was probably how I was going to die, too, honestly, dry-roasting on the damn dock like a fucking lizard.
Sleeping next to Marlow was unreal. He was as hot as a space heater pressed right up against your body, branding you through your clothes with the cage design and leaving the nice lasting memory of a third degree burn in its wake that always seemed to twinge every time a cold front was coming in.
And yet, I didn’t want to move away from him at all. I was too cozy lying next to this volcano-turned-man while waiting for my skin to melt off. It was a pleasant kind of slow death in a macabre sort of way.
Wiggling closer to the source got me pressed right up against his back, bare and uncovered, unlike me who had the sheet still wrapped tightly around my entire body to keep whatever lingering heat I stole from him all to myself.
I wasn’t even that cold, honestly.
His breathing was slow and steady, a calming rhythm that was already lulling me back down into a dreamless sleep. Coming back from my office last night was hazy, partially because I was so fucking high on my own hormones, I barely remembered stumbling through the dark after Marlow as he led us through the backend way to get to his cabin. After a shower and a change of clothes he’d thrown my way, he’d pulled me into bed without even entertaining the idea of me taking the guest room. Preemptively, not taking my ‘no’ for an answer.
At the time, I hadn’t had the energy to fight him. Still didn’t, really. So, I’d given in and let him tuck me in, wish me sweet dreams, and then, before I could wait for him to climb into bed on his own side, I was out like a damn light.
Yesterday was intense. Not for the actual sex things we’d done—I’d had far more crazy encounters than that in my life—but for the simple fact of howlocked inwe both were to eachother during the entire thing. Every move he made, every touch he placed on my body that had me quivering like a newborn calf, I was hooked up to a damn amp to receive it.
Everythingfelt like it was in high-def.
That was something I’d never experienced before, even after having my fair share of sexual encounters already under my belt.
How could I go back to things after this? After Marlow was long gone and back in his own hometown while I stayed here in Wakefield, trying to figure out how the fuck I was going to find a manhalfas tuned in to my needs as this man next to me was.
The worst part about all of this, though, by far, was that I should’ve left a long time ago. Before the sun came up to peek in through Marlow’s bedroom blinds. Now, I was going to have to figure out a way to leave his cabin without anyone spotting me, along with my walk of shame back to my own place to grab an actual change of clothes.
Fuck, and the youth groups are coming today.
I had until noon to set everything up, double check my plans, cross reference my staff’s jobs to make sure everyone knew what the fuck they were doing before we had dozens of teenagers piling off buses, and run through the rosteronemore time to solidify enough food was going to be coming over to the event’s pavilions.
Judging by the way the sun was coming in through the window, only partially blocked out by the curtains drawn over the glass panes, it was close to eight.
Ugh, I really didn’t want to get out of bed.
I was too comfortable.
By now, there was a healthy chance my granddad was already up and running through my list of to-dos before I even made my way down to the mess hall to grab a cup of coffee. He was known to be an early riser with no signs of retirement slowing him downin the slightest, which tended to give him a leg up on all of us mid-morning people.
Before we’d parted ways last night, he had already been planning on acting as my second-hand during the first set of events today, along with offering to help for the rest of the week if I needed him to. The gesture was sweet and, of course, one I wanted to take him up on, but only in order to spend time together and not force him back into the chaotic role he’d given up five years earlier.
Retirement was his chance to go out and travel like he and my grandma always talked about before she passed. Not get stuck half-running a business he’d handed over to me and trusted me to manage all on my own.
I was confident this youth group was going to go well. It had to, considering how much time and energy I’d put into perfecting it. I wasn’t looking for everything to go off without a hitch, much the opposite, in fact. There would be hiccups along the way, but that was to be expected. Rolling with the punches and figuring it out as the days progressed was what mattered in the end.
So then, why the hell was I still feeling so damn nervous?
The bed dipped forward as Marlow shifted in his sleep, my body almost rolling with him as he moved. Sticking out a hand to keep myself from face planting into the mattress, I used it to lean and roll onto my side of the bed. For a moment, Marlow’s overwhelming warmth wasn’t engulfing me and for the first time since waking up this morning, a gut punch hit me.
But as soon as it’d come, it was quickly chased away by a figure looming over me, half covered in the bed’s comforter, messy hair poking out from where it was gently resting on the crown of his head. There was no time for me to react before he was leaning back down, his arms digging under me and circling my waist while his upper half laid down on top of me.
I struggled under the added weight, suddenly flustered at the unexpected intimate position.
“Uh…” was all I managed to get out before Marlow was burrowing his face into the crook of my neck.
“I canhearyou thinking...” His lips tickled my neck as he spoke, sending a shiver rolling down my spine.
