“Am I on your side?”
“No. I don’t have a side. I sleep alone. This is now your side of the bed.”
“You sure? I don’t mind moving.”
“You’re not moving. I finally got you where I want you.” I kiss her shoulder. “Night, babe.”
“Goodnight,” she whispers.
Within no time, we’re both sound asleep. How could I not be? She’s here in my arms, where she belongs.
Chapter 27
Aspen
Conrad’s thumb lazily strokes my belly. He thinks I’m asleep, and I would have been had it not been for his touch. The feel of his skin against mine is too real, and I knew it wasn’t a dream. No, this is the real thing. I’m here in his new house, in his bed, relishing his touch.
“Morning,” I say sleepily. I glance over my shoulder to find him watching me.
“I love that you’re here.”
“Me too,” I confess before tossing off the covers.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to pee.”
“You’re coming back to bed, right?”
“Do you want me to?” I ask, moving toward the bathroom door.
“If I had my way, you’d be living here, and I wouldn’t have to worry about you leaving me anytime soon.”
“Baby steps, Riggins,” I say, closing the bathroom door. Quickly, I take care of business and wash my hands and brush my teeth. As I brace my hands on the counter, I let his words filter through my mind. He wants me to live here. It’s crazy and too soon. However, if I’ve learned anything about Conrad these past six weeks, it’s that once he’s made up his mind, that’s it. He’s all in. What’s even crazier than him asking me to move in with him is that I want to. I want to be in his arms every night.
Opening the door, I find him leaning against the wall, his legs crossed at the ankles. “My turn, but I’m not done snuggling you.” He gives me a pointed look, which tells me I’m to get back in bed. He’s not going to get any complaints out of me. It’s still early, and snuggling with Conrad is something that I can easily become addicted to.
I’m barely back under the covers when Conrad climbs over the top of me and slides under the covers. His arms wrap around me, holding me close. “I missed being able to touch you. The feel of your skin,” he says as he slides his hand under my shirt. I hate sleeping in a bra, so he has easy access to my breasts, which he takes full advantage of. His thumb traces over the peak of one nipple, then the next, and that simple action has me desperate for more.
“How is it that one simple touch from you is all it takes to make me a pile of goo in your arms?”
“It’s the magic.” He smiles down at me from where he’s resting his weight on his elbow. “I didn’t believe in it until my time with you in the cabin.”
“The magic,” I repeat.
“Yeah, I was actually thinking about that last night at the hospital. How were you in my life for so long, and I failed to see what you could mean to me?”
“Circumstances.” We’d never really spent any time alone. It was always in a group setting. That’s what I was worried about when we started this. That our time together at the cabin was due to being snowed in. However, here we are six weeks later, and he’s still interested.
“Maybe,” he muses. The featherlight touch of his thumb on my nipple causes me to rub my thighs together. He seems to be completely unaffected. “Maybe we just weren’t ready, you know? Maybe it just wasn’t our time.”
“And you think now is?”
He nods. “I know it is. You’re all I think about. I can’t seem to focus, and I sleep like shit. Last night is the first good night’s sleep I’ve had since the night I made love to you and held you in my arms at the cabin.”
“Not sex?” It felt as though he was making love to me that night, but I assumed it was my love-struck heart.
“Yeah, I mean, it's sex, but it was more than that, right? I’ve never felt that kind of connection with anyone before.”
“It scared me. Still does,” I confess.
“Hey.” He waits for me to roll over and give him my full attention. “You think I’m not scared?”
I shake my head. “You’re so confident.”
“I’m not scared of you. I’m afraid of not having you in my life. I wish I could tell you how or explain it, but my time there with you changed me. I’m fearful of my world if you’re not a part of it.”
I don’t have words. I don’t know what to say, and I’m not sure I could find my voice to say them anyway. Instead, I place my palm against his cheek and kiss him. This time, I hold nothing back. I don’t let my fear of a broken heart keep me from showing him how he makes me feel.
We’re a tangle of limbs as we move to undress one another. Clothes fly through the air and land somewhere in the room. I can’t seem to find it in me to care. Not when his hands roam over my body, his tongue traces my lips, and he settles between my thighs.
His touch lights me on fire. Skin to skin, so close, not even air can come between us. This is where I want to be. Today, tomorrow, and always. He does this move where he swivels his hips, and his hard cock presses against my core. I moan, closing my eyes, getting lost in his touch.
“Aspen.” His voice is husky. “Babe, we have to stop.” My eyes pop open, and my heart plummets. “Condom,” he explains. “I don’t have one. Well, I might, but I wouldn’t begin to know where to look for them.” He smiles sheepishly.
“My purse.”
His eyes light up. “Where did we leave it?”
“I think it might be in the living room.” I try to think back to last night, or early this morning, rather, and I can’t remember. “Maybe we left it in the car.”
“Do.” Kiss. “Not.” Kiss. “Move.” Kiss. He climbs off the bed and disappears down the hall.
I miss the heat of his touch immediately, which has me reaching for the covers, pulling them up to my chin. I hear him rummaging around the house, and then his footsteps grow louder as they reach his room. He holds up my purse, and it would be comical if I weren’t so turned on. He’s naked as the day he was born, his hard cock resting against his belly, holding my purse up in the air like a trophy.
“There’s a new small box in there,” I tell him.
He fumbles with my purse, digging around inside for a condom. The funny thing is, I almost didn’t have one either. I stopped at the pharmacy to grab a card for Gloria earlier this week for her birthday. I just happened to walk past the condoms. I wanted to be prepared just in case. I didn’t know if I would need them, but I didn’t want to be in a situation where we needed them and didn’t have them. I guess it worked out.
I see it the minute that he finds the box. His eyes sparkle with mischief, and he drops my purse to the floor. “Were you hoping to get lucky, baby?” he teases.
“I was a girl scout,” I tell him with a straight face. It’s true, I was, but they didn’t teach us to keep condoms on hand.
“Funny girl.” He smiles, tearing open the box, pulling out the three-pack of condoms, and letting the packaging drop to the floor.