“Wait here,” he says, pulling out of me slowly. I feel it then; the escape of fluid as it leaves me. “Let me get you cleaned up.”
I notice how soaked his dick is as he slips off the bed. Wet with my release, and his own. My stomach bottoms out, but I wipe any worry from my face as he grabs something off the chest of draws and uses it to clean himself up. Calder barely glances at me as he pulls his boxers on.
“Where are you going?” I ask, rising up on my elbows.
Calder smiles, leans down, and kisses the top of my head. “Bathroom. To get a washcloth.”
“Maybe I should?—”
He cuts me off with an actual kiss. “No, you wait here.” His eyes darken as they roam my body. “I want to see you like this when I come back.”
I shudder, but say nothing as he leaves me. Maybe I should feel embarrassed about having sex in his family’s home. Actually, I should. But I feel…
I don’t know how I feel. Especially after everything.
The night is a mess of our kiss, the break-in, and now sex.
I had sex with Calder Sterling. Someone I should not like as much as I do.
I lie back and run a hand over my face. God, what have I gotten myself into?
Calder returns quietly with a washcloth in hand, and something else. “T-shirt for you,” he says, setting it down on the bed before sitting at my feet. “So you can sleep comfortably.”
My cheeks warm. “Thanks. But you don’t?—”
He doesn’t listen, instead giving me a look I don’t comment on. He slides the washcloth between my thighs, cleaning me with a gentleness that has my heart doing that thing again.
That thing that tells me I’m about to be hurt badly if this man walks away.
I waketo sunlight shining through an open window. I groan, trying to cover my eyes, but something warm and heavy has my arms trapped.
It takes me a moment to realise that I am not in my own bed, alone in the cabin. And it is not four in the morning, which means I overslept.
It means I’m late.
I turn my head to find Calder sleeping behind me. It’s his large body holding me captive, his damned heavy arm trapping my own.
A rush of sensations hit me; desire because I can feel the press of his hard dick against my ass, despite the dull ache between my thighs; annoyance at my bladder being full and requiring relief; embarrassment that I’m still here and not sneaking out like I should be. And fear of what will happen when he wakes up and realises just that.
I startle at the feel of soft kisses on my neck, a nip at the lobe of my ear. Warm breath fans my cheek as the man holding me sighs. “Morning, trouble.”
“Morning,” I squeak, tensing as he buries his face in my hair. “What?—”
He makes a sound in the back of his throat that is sexy—which should concern me. Part growl, part groan, both going right to my lower belly. “How are you feeling?” he asks, arms tightening around me.
I tense. “Like, mentally? Emotionally?” I try to shift in his embrace, to maybe roll over and put a little bit of space between us, but his hold on me is firm. “Fine.”
Calder chuckles deeply. “And physically?”
Somehow, my cheeks grow hotter. “Uh, a little sore.”
His fingers trace little circles on my belly; once, I would have felt insecure about it, maybe even subtly tried to pull his hand away from that spot. But none of that rears its head. I actually enjoy the gentle touches, the cuddling.
I shouldn’t, but I do.
For the first time since my grandfather died, I actually feel something again.
And it’s terrifying.
