I grabbed his wrist and tucked my cheek into his palm. “Youaredoing better. You’re giving me more freedom and responsibility. You’re trusting me with important jobs. You didn’t even put up a fight about me going to scavenge with you tomorrow.”
“I’d rather you stay here where I know you’d be safe, but I know it’d be harder for you. And it’s safer out there in pairs. You’ve saved my life twice now. You’re my lucky charm.”
“You saved me too,” I whispered, my mind flashing back to when I’d come to consciousness to find Jeremiah dead with a bullet in his head and Cipher untying me from that stake. He’d come for me. He’d saved me from that terrible, terrible man.
“Trust goes both ways. You can’t lie to me about something as important as your inhaler,” Cipher said.
“I know.” Feeling absolutely wretched, I dropped my gaze, too ashamed to even look at him. A few tears slipped out. No surprise there. I’d been holding them in since dinner.
“Hey, now, it’s okay. Come here.” He pulled me to him, and I immediately crawled into his lap. Nevermind that I probably weighed more than him and he was balancing with only one leg on the side of the tub, slippery from bathing. All I wanted right then was to be held in his strong arms.
“I’m not crying so you’ll forgive me,” I said.
“I know,” he soothed with a hand in my hair.
“But I am sorry,” I said, and I meant it.
“I know you are. No more secrets though, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.” I buried my face in his neck and hid away until my emotions settled and my breathing returned to normal. I hadn’t needed my inhaler that time, just a good cry. Eventually, a sense of calm descended, quieting the chaos and confusion in my mind. “Can I blow you now?” I whispered in his ear.
He chuckled and said in his deep, sexy voice, “Yeah, cutie, you can blow me.”
“Will you top me too?”
“We gotta ride a dirt bike all day tomorrow. You don’t want to be sore.”
“I don’t care. I need it.”
Cipher exhaled against my neck, a whoosh of warm air that tickled my throat. I held my breath, waiting for him to answer.
“Yeah, baby, I need it too.”
THREE
CIPHER
I draggedhim by the hand, both of us naked, into our bedroom where we collapsed onto his tiny twin bed like wet puppies and kissed each other stupid, until we were both hot and sweaty and he was squirming underneath me, impatient as ever. “Cipher, come on,” he begged while gripping me to him. I loved the little pleading noises he made, how his hair fell wild and messy against the pillow, the scent of his arousal clinging to the air.
“I’m here, babe. You gonna let me in?” My lubed cock was notched at his entrance. I’d loosened him already with my fingers, but he was still tight as fuck.
“Yeah, I am,” he murmured, his voice already blissed-out and dreamy.
“Remember to breathe,” I reminded him because he tended to tense up during this part, and I didn’t want him to have an asthma attack.
“Mmm… I am breathing.”
I applied more pressure, going slow even though all I wanted was to be balls-deep inside of him. Kitten sighed, then grunted as I finally pushed the tip of my cock past his clenching muscle. I braced myself on my elbows and knees, waiting for him to relaxso he could take more. I kissed his forehead and buried my nose in his hair. God, he felt so damn good.
“Still with me?” I asked.
“Yeah, right here,” he said with a big, dopey smile.
In another world, where we didn’t have chores and watchtower shifts and five nosy roommates and the ever-present threat of a Rabid attack, Kitten and I would fuck all day long. It’d be slow and drawn out and involve a lot of foreplay and probably food too. He was a sensual person, someone who could spend hours in bed, and I liked edging him til he was a blubbering mess, then watching him come undone on my cock.
“You good?” I asked, nosing along his jaw.
“Yeah, so good. Fill me up, tough guy, I’m ready.”
