I handled him with ease as he managed to get even longer. He gripped my hair in his hand, urging me deep onto his cock. Demanding me to take him fully. To relax my jaw and deep-throat him. I swallowed once and then slowly took him all in.
He tightened his grip on my hair, holding me down for a split second. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it, his hips thrust slightly, and he shot hot cum down my throat. I swallowed reflexively, pulling back to suck him clean.
He lay, pressed against my childhood bed, nearly naked, looking sated. He held his arms out. “Come here.”
I stepped into his embrace and sighed in bliss. He stroked his fingers through the hair he’d just been pulling vigorously.
“Should that have been as invigorating as it was?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Mmm,” I murmured.
“You know you have stars on your ceiling,” he said after a minute.
I nodded, staring up at the glowing constellations that I’d put up myself when we first moved in. I’d always been obsessed with them since my mother told me the stories of the stars when I was a child.
I pointed to the right of us. “Corona Borealis.”
“Our crown,” he said, kissing my hair.
“Always my favorite story,” I told him.
His fingers continued their slow stroking as we stared up at our own night sky. “Ours is my favorite story.”
Chapter 21
Natalie
Michael was a prick. And he was draining the joy out of being home.
I could tell that Penn was on a short tether. He had a temper on a good day. And he’d already walked into this situation, hating Michael. So, him acting like a piece of shit didn’t help. And Penn’s tolerance for entitled, poor little rich boys was pretty high, all things considered.
“I was telling Melanie that my business professor wanted me to work with him for this internship this summer. He knows my father, of course. The Baldwins are a household name here in Charleston. Surely, you’ve heard of my father, Thomas Baldwin,” Michael said to the dull-eyed crowd in the living room.
“No,” Penn said, his pointer finger resting on his temple while his elbow sank into the arm of his chair. “Can’t say that I have.”
“Well, no matter,” Michael went on. “I think I’m going to take this internship and do a little unpaid work to get my foot in the door.”
“Like you need it,” I grumbled under my breath.
“Natalie,” Melanie admonished.
Who knew that, after a few short months on the Upper East Side, I wouldn’t be able to deal with a little…well, a lot of narcissism?
“I think we need to get out for a minute,” I said, jumping to my feet.
Penn stood, too. “Excellent idea.”
Michael glanced between us with disdain. “Don’t want to hear about my internship?”
“Oh, we wish we could, but I remember my mom saying she needed help,” I said, fighting back an eye roll.
Penn tipped his head at Michael and then veered us out of the living room.
“What a prick,” he hissed into my ear as soon as we were out of earshot. “If I had to listen to another word out of his mouth, I was going to give him a real lesson on business, and it wouldn’t have been pretty.”
I laughed. “Right? He’s the worst.”
“He really is. Why is Melanie with him?”
“I don’t know. They’ve been together forever. She doesn’t see his flaws anymore. Just his sort of pretty face and the money that she’s never had…the life she could have.”
“She’d be better off with this life than what he’s going to offer. I know many people who married people just like him, albeit with a lot more money and prestige. And now, they’re either miserable or divorced. Not worth it.”
“Like Katherine?” I asked.
He sighed. “Katherine made her bed. Now, she has to lie in it. Though, to be honest, she looked pretty happy to see Camden at the gala.”
I stopped in my tracks. “Are you telling me that Katherine is happy to be married to Camden Percy?”
“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “I thought she’d be glad to be out of his clutches after a month alone. But I can read her better than anyone, and I would definitely say it was at least relief on her face.”
I ground my teeth together. Fuck that. I’d thought Katherine would be nice and miserable, marrying that douche. She’d gotten what she deserved. Earned this isolation and torment. I didn’t want her to find peace and be happy with Camden fucking Percy, who made Michael look like a fucking saint.
“Let’s not talk about her,” Penn said hastily.
“Fine,” I muttered.
We stepped into the kitchen where my mother was standing over a book on astrology. She didn’t look up until we were practically on top of her.
“Oh hello, dears. Having fun with Michael?” she asked with a knowing smile.
“Do you have any errands that would get us out of the house?” I begged.
She nodded. “Here.” She passed me a slip of paper. “Can you get the cake from the grocery store? We already have everything else for the party out back. Take as long as you need.”
“Thank you,” I said with a sigh. “Michael is so…”
“Isn’t he?” my mother said. “Blocked energy, that one. All muddied and black around the edges. He could use a chakra cleansing.”
I snorted. “Good luck telling him that.”
“I did try,” she said.
Penn grinned. “I’m sure that went over well.”
“Men are generally skeptics anyway,” she said, brushing it off. “He’s young. He has time. Now, go on. Get out of here. And take your father’s car.”
“Dad’s car?” I asked in surprise. “Does he know that you’re letting us drive the Chevelle?”
She winked. “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
“Come on, Penn. Let’s get out of here before my dad finds out.”
I snatched the keys hanging next to the door and pulled Penn out of the house. I veered him around back to my dad’s precious, restored 1960s Chevy Chevelle. It was the only thing that my straightlaced father had ever put time and energy into. And it made no sense since he was hardly the kind of man who would drive around a bright orange muscle car. But he did. One of the things I loved about him.
“What a car,” Penn said in awe. “Can I drive?”
I shot him an incredulous look. “Yeah, right, Kensington.” I popped the driver’s door. “We don’t trust city boys to handle stick shifts down here in the South.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Should I make a joke about you handling my stick shift?”
“Would I have even set you up if I didn’t expect you to spike the ball?” I said, dropping into the seat.
Penn sank into the passenger seat. “I liked the way you handled it last night.”
“I think you still handled me,” I said, warmth hitting my cheeks.
“I think you liked that even better.”
My eyes were shining with excitement. “Maybe.”