She shifted so that her forehead was resting against my abs, and her hands moved so that they were wrapped tightly around me. There was a tremor working its way through her whole body, indicating she was still afraid, but her next words let me know it wasn’t the storm that had her shaken.
“Is it because you know what Sawyer did? Are you disgusted that I let him get away with manipulating me for so long? Are you appalled by how weak I was once you left?” I still had a hold of her shoulder, so I pushed her back, put my other hand under her chin, and forced her to look up at me. She blinked and quietly admitted, “Because I am. For a long time, I was so worried about getting away from him that I didn’t have the time or energy to worry about my own complacency, but now I feel it eating away at my insides. I should’ve done something… anything… other than just take it. I should’ve fought for myself harder since no one else would. I realize now that was never your job, Huck.”
I grunted and used my thumb to trace along the line of her jaw. “It wasn’t my job, but I volunteered to do it anyway. Maybe it’s my fault for doing such a good job that you had no defenses of your own when I left. I should’ve done a better job teaching you how to handle Sawyer. He played us both, but neither of us needs to be part of his game anymore. Nothing about you is bad, Ollie. He didn’t ruin you. All he did was make you smarter and stronger. You got away from him, and so did I. We won. Even if he never stops trying to interfere in our lives, we still managed to get out from under his thumb, and that lack of control will drive him crazy. Take the small victories wherever you can find them because you never know what kind of loss you’ll be looking at next.” I hoped I was getting through to her, but it was hard to tell. “And I want you to know, I’m sorry to hear about your mom. I know losing her was hard and you went through it all alone.”
Her dark eyes were unusually unreadable and gave nothing away. Unable to resist her parted lips and the wounded expression that was simply screaming for comfort, I bent down and angled my head so I could drop a soft kiss on her mouth. She sucked in a breath at the barely there contact, but immediately kissed me back.
I still didn’t think sex or anything similar was the best option considering her current state of mind, but it was near impossible to pull back when her tongue darted out to tangle with mine. Her actions went to my head too fast for my willpower and common sense to intervene with my good intentions. Plus, being chivalrous wasn’t really my thing, so I was woefully out of practice.
Alone, neither one of us had been able to slay the dragon that kept burning us both. Maybe the key was staying together and fighting as one, so we were twice as powerful. When we were kids and attached at the hip, Sawyer never had the upper hand in our relationship. It was entirely possible we had to go back to the beginning before we could break free of the past. We could set the scales back to being balanced without his influence adding weight to either side.
I lifted my head and looked down at her, silently making promises with my eyes that I hoped to God I could keep. She gave me a lopsided grin, and I knew in that instant that I would move mountains and catch stars if she asked me to.
It was on the tip of my tongue to remind her we needed to get out of our wet clothes, but the words never formed because, again, her lips landed on my stomach. Only this time, they didn’t stay still. She kissed a line down my stomach and stopped to dip the tip of her tongue into the divot of my belly button. Her arms around my waist tightened and pulled me closer as she adjusted her hold so she could catch the elastic waistband of my pants with her fingers. She might’ve run out of the house without bothering to put on a bra, but I’d left without pausing to put on a pair of boxers. As she determinedly brought the top of my pants down around my steadily growing erection, we were both suddenly almost naked in the small room.
I made a noise of warning because she was about to go past the point of no return, and I was still doing my best to be the responsible one in this storm.
She ignored me, lips moving lower and lower. By the time she reached the end of my happy trail, my cock was rigidly erect and pointing upward like a beacon. She had my pants down around my ankles, and her mouth wrapped around the width of my dick before I could formulate a real reason to stop her.
Her movements were far from smooth and adorably uncoordinated, but I was pretty sure I’d never enjoyed anyone giving me head as much. The inside of her mouth was warm and wet, and the way her hand slightly shook when it wrapped around the wide base was innocently charming. I felt like I was going to blow down the back of her throat before I could memorize her expression and all the questions she had in her eyes. I worked a hand under her heavy fall of wet hair and gripped the back of her neck in one hand. She was trying to take too much and move too fast for someone who had so clearly never done this before, so instead of pressing her further and trying to go deeper, I used my hold to slow her down and keep her movements shallow.
I grunted when she flicked the tip of her tongue along the sensitive slit running across the front of my cock. She might be new at this, but her instincts were spot on. That tiny little lick had my eyes roll back in my head and my knees lock so I didn’t sway in delight. She bobbed up and down, finding a fast rhythm that worked for her, and quickly figured out that whatever she couldn’t swallow, she could instead cover and squeeze with her hand once the surface was slick.
I felt like she was trying to undo all the damage that had been done, and I would have to let her because I was helpless against her tentative touches. I growled as she suddenly sucked hard enough to pull her cheeks in as she swirled her tongue in an artful circle. I could feel pleasure pulsing hard at the base of my spine and knew she was about to get a mouthful of cum if she didn’t pull back.
“Ollie.” Her name came out on a breathless gasp because she switched her attention to the heavy vein that ran along the underside of my cock. It felt like she was licking along with my heartbeat as she chased the pulse all the way to the base. I felt her fingers start to slide along the inside of my thigh and nearly lost it then and there. I clamped down on her neck harder than intended, and forced her to pull off the throbbing flesh she was licking like a lollipop. “We have to stop.”
Didn’t we?
It wasn’t the time or place for where this was going, right?
Her friend might show up for work any minute, and I was still worried about how easily she collapsed earlier. Not to mention how torn up her soul had to feel after sharing all that insight with the old man earlier.
Instead of quietly agreeing like I expected her to, she suddenly pushed me back with a hand on my stomach and got to her feet in front of me. She clasped my face between her hands and gave me a hard kiss. She stepped around me as I was still trying to get my bearings. As she walked across the room to an antique vanity, she stripped out of her wet jeans, and I realized she was as naked under her clothes as I was. I should’ve bent down and yanked my track pants back up, but I was too busy watching her as she leaned over to rummage through one of the drawers. I had no idea what she was doing, but I liked looking at her rounded backside as she searched for something.
She’d grown up well, and I suddenly understood why I never really had a type and why all women had their own appeal to me.
She was the only one I preferred.