“That’s my good fucking girl,” I hear Cillian say roughly as my eyes pull shut. “Look at you,” he says, pushing his fingers inside of me a few more times, probably admiring the way his big fingers stretch me open.
My jaw feels so relaxed that I know my words are only half-audible. “I want to wake up with you inside of me,” I mumble. I don’t know where that thought came from, but it sounds really good right about now.
Cillian’s lips brush softly against my nipples and then my neck before he kisses my mouth so gently and covers me with a fluffy blanket. “I can arrange that, baby.” Those words are the last thing I hear before I drift off to sleep.
CILLIAN
Ipull the blankets up around Ellie’s shoulders, making sure every inch of her is warm before I let myself breathe. She seems to melt into the pillow with that little sigh she makes when she feels safe, and it punches something sharp straight through my chest.
I mean, fucking look at her. She’s all soft and relaxed and trusting in a way I don’t deserve. I sit on the edge of the bed for a moment, unable to make myself stand yet. She’s too perfect for a man like me.
Guilt tugs at something deep inside my ribs. It’s a sharp feeling, unfamiliar, and unwelcome. I’ve spent a lifetime alone, uniformed, hardened, carving out survival because it was the only thing I knew. I wasn’t built for softness. I wasn’t made to hold something this pure.
But she’s lying in my bed anyway.
She’s fucking mine because she wants to be.
I reach out and trace a slow line down the side of her face, the back of my knuckle brushing her cheek. She moves in her sleep, just a small stretch, her arm shifting, her lips parting just slightly, and the sight knocks the breath out of me.
Her beautiful body, relaxed from pleasure, trusting me enough to fall asleep in my arms…it amazes me. Every damn part of her is a fucking gift.
I stroke her hair once more, letting my fingers linger.
“I don’t deserve you,” I whisper, voice barely audible even to myself. “But I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to. I can promise you that, baby.”
I stand only when I’m sure she won’t stir, pulling the blanket snug around her once again before I turn quietly toward the door. There’s a few things I have to take care of before I come back to her.
The second I step outside of the cabin, the cold hits me like a punch. Snow’s coming down hard now, thick, fast, unforgiving, and part of me hates that I even left the bed at all. I pull my coat tighter, drag the hood up, and move quickly, because every second out here is a second I’m not with her.
Ellie’s clothes are the first thing I see.
Scattered across the driveway exactly where she dropped them earlier, half-covered in fresh snow like the storm is trying to hide the evidence of how she teased me. I stop, staring down at the mess of fabric, and my chest tightens in that stupid, aching way it only does with her.
I crouch and gather it, shaking off the snow, brushing it away with my gloved hands, and I can’t fucking help it. I smile like a damn idiot.
Because I can still hear her laugh from earlier, soft and breathless as she ran ahead of me. I can still see the way shelooked over her shoulder. So mischievous, so fucking pretty, and all mine.
Fuck, I need to get back inside.
I tuck her clothes under my arm and make my way to my motorcycle. The snow’s blanketing it, piling on fast, and the sight makes irritation flare hot in my chest. I only left it out because I chased her like a man who’d never seen something so beautiful in his life, and honestly, that’s exactly what happened, so I can’t complain. I was exactly where I wanted to be while my bike was out here getting snowed on. I’d do the same thing if given the chance.
I straddle the bike, turn the key, and the engine rumbles awake under me. I back it toward the shed, jaw tight, the snow thick enough now that I can barely see the outlines of the trees around the property.
As soon as I get it inside and shut the shed door, I take a breath.
I need to get back to her. And I’m wasting time out here while she’s inside, wrapped in my blankets, smelling like me, dreaming on my pillow.
I lock up and head toward the cabin, Ellie’s clothes tucked tight against my side, my boots crunching through the snow.
I hope she’s ready for what I need from her tonight. I’ve waited too long to wait any longer, and now that I’ve had a taste of her, there’s no way I’ll be able to hold back. Then, when she’s come on my cock enough to tire herself out, I’m going to spend the rest of the night holding her. Loving on her. Memorizing every soft sound she makes in her sleep.
I’m halfway to the house before I realize I’m practically jogging. I don’t care. She’s not with me, and I need her like air.
I drop her clothes in the laundry room and head for the firewood pile, grabbing an armful before the cold can settle intomy bones. Snow’s coming in harder now, hammering the roof and windows like the world’s trying to trap us here forever.
I honestly wouldn’t fucking mind that.
I load the woodstove first, stacking the new logs with practiced hands until the fire catches and flares. Then, I move to the fireplace in the living room, adding more wood there too. The flames snap, and I’m content that she’ll stay warm through the night.
