Chapter Six
Piper
Who cares about a knight in shining armor? I’ll take a mountain man in plaid, thanks.
Cradled against his big body, I feel so safe. As if nothing bad could ever happen to me again. No more bad dates or one-sided friendships. No more being alone or wondering if there is someone out there for me.
Tilting back, I gaze up at him. Lord, he is handsome. With warm water pouring down, warming our skin cooled by the earlier rain, his dark blue eyes hold mine. Reaching up, I smooth my fingers over the frown on his brow.
“No one…. I mean…” I flush as I trail off shyly.
Pace grins as he lets shampoo pool in his hand. “No one else made you come? Good. No one else will, either,” he hums as he starts working the soap into my hair.
Turning my back to him, I let him cater to me while I do my best to ignore his words. Because what does that even mean? Does he mean…no, no of course he doesn’t mean that. Even if I very much wish he did.
We don’t talk for a while, but it seems as if we don’t need to. We move with each other with ease. I return the favor and wash his hair, laughing hoists me on his back like a backpack. Then he slides me to his front, chuckling as I grasp his big body tight.
“I got you sweetheart. Trust me, yeah?”
Staring down at him, I nod. I do not even hesitate. I do trust him. From the moment he pulled me out of that tree, I’ve felt safe with him. Safe enough I let him touch me in ways I’ve never dared let someone touch me before.
The orgasm he pulled out of me still sends a shudder ofpleasure through me. No one else has ever made me come. Not for lack of trying. My college boyfriend tried for until graduation to make it happen.
Before Pace, I could never let go.
Standing beside his big bed, wrapped up in the cozy robe he took off me earlier, I cannot stop smiling. Yes, I just met him, but he just changed my entire world. I had no idea it could feel so good to be touched by someone else. I could always make myself come with the right toy or right touch, but he managed to find the red button for my pleasure sensors.
“What’s that adorable smile for, sweetheart?”
Pace grins at me as I watch him pull some gray sweats on. I let out a little pout when he tucks his big, thick manhood away. I want to touch it again. I want to watch it come the way it did earlier. All over me. I am hot again just thinking about it.
“I thought we might…. I don’t know…do all of that again?”
Pace’s smile is beaming as he lifts me to set me on the bed. Cradling my face, he tucks my damp hair behind my ear. Outside it’s pouring still, lighting crackling across the skies every few moments. It lights the dark bedroom up and makes his adorable dog Smokie bark.
“Yeah, we can do it all again. We can do anything you want. I just…I need to tell you something.”
Pace lies on the bed so we’re facing each other. I shove closer to his warmth even as I grow shy. I’ve been in bed with a man before but…this is so different. He is…he is undeniably a man.
“What is it? Is something wrong? Is there….” my voice goes tight before I trail off as panic seizes me. Is there someone else? Has he touched another woman the way he touched me?
“Oh, sweetheart no. I meant what I said earlier. Never brought a woman back here. Hell, I haven’t touched a womanin…a decade? Not since…. well…”
“Since you lost someone?”
Pace turns his face away as he nods. I cradle him closer, as if I can hold him together through his pain. Tilting his head back up, I brush my mouth over his. He softens, kissing me back greedily.
“Not someone…. everyone. I lost everything. Didn’t get there in time. My mother, my older sister, little brother…just me and Smokie left. I should have been there.”
Pain fills his words, tensing his big body. It makes my chest ache because I understand his pain. Not the guilt I see in his dark eyes, no. The pain of loss, of wondering why they were taken, or if I could have done more.
“If they loved you the way I can tell you loved them, they would not want you to say that, much less believe it. When did it happen?”
Pace sighs so I press closer as if I can give him some strength. He pushes at the robe, so I let him get it off me. Then I am the one pushing at clothes, shoving his sweats down with my feet. We both seem better once we’re pressed skin to skin again.
“I was away at college. My first time being out on my own. My mother was…uncertain about it. It was always the four of us after my dad bailed on us. It was my job to take care of them.”
“I bet you took such good care of them, honey,” I whisper because I have no doubts.
