Unsure what woke me, I reach over to grab my cell, wanting to check the time. My guess is it’s early, since it’s still dark, but the almost-nonexistent windows in my room and the trees surrounding my house have a tendency to play tricks on you. When I see it’s almost three in the morning, I sigh, and Tanner’s arm around my waist tightens.
“Are you awake?”
I wait for him to answer, and when he doesn’t, I carefully move his arm and maneuver myself off the bed, grabbing a sweater on the way out, since there’s a chill in the air, and all I have on is a pair of panties and a thin camisole. After I step out of the room, I carefully shut the door and head down the hall, passing the spare bedroom that I turned into a closet and my tiny office. Since my house isn’t actually a house but a small single-wide trailer, it takes mere seconds to reach the kitchen.
After turning on the light over the stove, I grab a glass from the cupboard and get the filtered water from the fridge, filling my glass before guzzling it down and filling it back up. I take my second glass to the door and pull the curtain aside to look across the yard at my shop, the steel building that’s three times bigger than my house and the main reason I bought this property, the other being that I’m over a quarter mile from my nearest neighbor.
If I wasn’t worried about Tanner waking up and wondering where I went, I would go over there, find some fabric, and start up my sewing machine to help clear my head. Today, or I guess it was yesterday, was mentally exhausting, especially seeing Maisie in the hospital, completely out of it.
“Hey.” Tanner’s sleepy voice startles me, and I jump slightly, turning to look at him over my shoulder as his arms wrap around my middle.
“You scared me.”
“Sorry.” His lips touch the space between my neck and shoulder, sending a shiver down my spine. “What woke you up?”
“I don’t know,” I say quietly, letting the curtain fall back into place. “I think it’s a little of everything—Maisie being in the hospital, and just being back here.”
“Being back here?” He turns me to face him and smooths my hair back over my shoulder; then his thumb slides back and forth across my jaw. The contact sends tingles across my skin.
“I don’t know; it feels strange. But nothing here has changed except me. I don’t feel like the same person I was when I left. Does that make sense?”
“I think a lot happened while you were gone, so I can understand why you’d feel different.” His hand slips back to my nape, and he squeezes while saying softly, “I also think it’s going to take time for people to see that being with Galvin didn’t define who you are.”
“I think you’re right,” I agree, knowing my relationship with Galvin has always been the thing people thought of when they saw me, so they don’t know what to say or how to act around me now that he and I are no longer together. That’s why being with Tanner away from here felt so good. I didn’t have to deal with the awkwardness. I was just able to be myself. “We should go back to bed.”
With a lift of his chin, he takes the glass from my hand, setting it on the counter before moving me down the hall. When we reach my room, I drop my sweater to the floor and climb into bed. He gets in with me, fitting himself against my back and resting his hand on my stomach, which causes my muscles to bunch and twitch.
“I like your bed,” he says quietly, the words brushing my ear and causing my nipples to pebble.
“You and I hardly fit in my bed,” I whisper back, covering his hand with mine as I smile. Really, I didn’t know if the two of us would be able to fit in my double bed, but somehow, we’re making it work.
“That’s why I like it. You have nowhere to go, so you can’t run from me.”
“Hmm,” I hum, and his hips push forward, allowing me to feel how hard he is. I press my thighs together to ease the ache between my legs. “I could get away if I wanted to,” I say breathlessly, and he lifts the bottom of my camisole, placing his hand against my bare stomach.
“Why would you want to get away from me?” He nips my earlobe, causing a zing of desire and heat to travel down between my legs. With every inch of me waiting in anticipation, I hold my breath, then hiss as his fingers skim just under the edge of my panties, and lower over my pubic bone, then down between the lips of my pussy. Latching onto his arm, I pant for breath as he rolls over my clit.
“You’re already soaked, sunshine, and I’ve hardly touched you.” His warm breath causes me to break out in goose bumps while his fingers send me spiraling quickly toward an orgasm.
“Don’t stop.” I turn my head, and his mouth catches mine. As his tongue slips between my lips, I fall over the edge, moaning his name. I come back to myself as he slows the kiss and rolls me to my back.
“Clothes off.” The gruff order leaves no room for argument, not that I would argue with him. I swiftly rid myself of my cami, then lift my hips and slide the cotton material down my thighs before tossing my panties to the end of the bed as he frees himself from his boxers. The moment we’re both naked, he grasps my ankles to spread my legs, then crawls up the bed between my legs and looms over me with only the moon making it possible to see him.
“You’re beautiful.” I slide my hand down his chest and abs, then wrap my hand around his cock, listening to him groan as I stroke him, loving how he feels in my hand.
“Legs around my hips, Cybil.” His hand covers mine as I lift my legs; then he guides our hands to my entrance, with me still holding him.
I bite my bottom lip and arch my back off the bed as he enters me, sure there’s nothing better in the world than this, than feeling him inside me, feeling him over me, being the center of his attention. Moving my hands to his shoulders, I hold on as he thrusts in and out of me hard, stealing my breath every time he bottoms out. “Oh God,” I whimper when tingles begin to dance over my skin and my core starts to tighten.
“I’m right there with you, sunshine.” He kisses me slowly, then pulls away and fucks me hard, the sound of skin slapping and heavy breathing filling the room.
“Tanner.” I lose myself to the waves of pleasure that he’s built, my body becoming liquid, my mind blanking of everything but the tidal wave of pleasure as I come.
“Never had anything better than you in my life, baby. Fuck, I’d give everything up for you and never regret it,” he groans, thrusting into me once more before planting himself there. Tears spring to my eyes, and I wrap my arms around his waist and lift up to bury my face against his neck. His words rock me to my core while his heavy weight settles on top of me, making me feel safe rather than suffocated. “I’m heavy, baby,” he says quietly.
“Don’t move, please,” I whisper when he tries to roll away, and I tighten my hold on him. He doesn’t say a word. Instead, he gives me what I need. His weight settles back against me, and after a few short minutes, I fall asleep under the man I’m falling in love with, feeling safer and more complete than I have in years.
I wake with a start, the sound of what my sleepy brain registered as a gunshot still ringing in my ears. With my heart pounding, I roll over to search for Tanner, but the bed is empty, as is the bathroom, which I can see from where I am.