“Open your eyes.” My voice is a little raspy from having his cock in my throat, and I like the way it sounds. He does what I ask. His eyes are glazed with pleasure.
“Don’t hold back,” I order. Then I give him back the wordshe gave me last night. “Look at me, Ash. Eyes on me while you come.”
His eyes flash and I dive back on his cock, keeping my gaze locked with his while I bob up and down on his length, speeding up when I hear his breath start to catch. Like I saw him do last night, I grasp his balls, rolling them in my hand while I swallow him down. He gasps out a breath and I know he’s close when he cups my cheek with one of his hands and tries to pull away, but I grab his ass with my other hand, keeping him in my mouth.
“Juliette. I can’t…I’m going to…shit, baby I’m gonnna come.” His legs start to shake, and I slide my mouth up, sucking hard on his tip. He comes in a full body shudder, groaning as his release fills my mouth and slides down my throat. I stay with him until he gives me everything he has. Then I let him slip out of my mouth, my gaze still on his as I swipe my thumb over the side of my lips, catching a drop of his cum and sucking my thumb into my mouth.
I think that might do him in because he reaches down and hauls me up, lifting me straight up into his arms, covering my mouth with his, and toppling us both back onto the bare mattress. He kisses me breathless before ripping his mouth from mine and sucking in oxygen.
“Holy fuck, Juliette. You know how to suck a cock. You sucked my soul right out of my body.”
I grin and shrug. “You know how I hate to be bad at anything.”
He laughs, breathlessly. “A-plus. Gold star. Gold medal. Best head of my life.”
Then he hugs me tightly, raining kisses all over my face while I giggle, and I love every damn thing about this morning.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Julie
“Do you ever think about just chucking it all and moving to the middle of nowhere? Settling in a place like this, far away from everything?”
We’re sitting outside in rockers on the inn’s front porch, dressed in our winter gear and drinking hot chocolate, looking out at the snow-covered landscape. The blizzard was over by the time we woke up this morning, but the roads out here hadn’t been plowed yet, so we’re staying put for now. The cold and snow called to us both, and sitting here bundled up side-by-side next to a fire pit, hot drinks in hand, and breathing in the crisp winter air makes for the very best morning.
He reaches over and covers my gloved hand with his. The question has been on my mind since we woke up this morning and looked out over an endless blanket of undisturbed snow. Actually, it’s probably been on my mind since we left Pittsburgh. This whole trip has made me think about living in a different way. Not jolting awake every morning, working eighteen hours a day, and surviving on anxiety and caffeine. Enjoying things like a coldwinter morning.
“It’s beautiful here, but I’m pretty happy where I am. I sometimes think about Boulder, though. I miss my family a lot during the season.”
My stomach bottoms out at the thought of him leaving Pittsburgh. Leaving me.I don’t want him to go anywhere. The thought is immediate and crystal clear. The old Julie might have kept it in and worried over it, but the me who takes spontaneous road trips with NFL quarterbacks and howls with wolves asks the question on my mind.
“You think you’ll move back there one day? When you’re done playing?”
“Not anymore.”
The answer surprises me, so I ask the second question. “What changed?”
He puts his cup down on the floor and turns his chair so he’s facing me, then reaches out to spin my chair around too.
“I met you. My plan was to go back to Boulder when I retired. But then I danced with a brilliant, gorgeous, smart-mouthed lawyer who refused to give me her number when I asked for it, and I’ve thought of her every damn day since. And now that I have her? I never want to let her go. Boulder used to be my favorite place. But now? My favorite place is wherever you are.”
His answer has tears pricking my eyes, but I blink them back. I don’t want anything blurring my view of the man sitting in front of me. I don’t know how I got this lucky, but I’ve always thought winter mornings have a way of making wishes come true.
“You would really stay in Pittsburgh for me, even when you don’t have to be there?”
“Of course I would. Pittsburgh is your place. The business you built is there. Your family is there. Your whole life. Youneed to be there, and I need to be with you. Everything else will work itself out.”
A little stunned by his answer, I say nothing. Instead, I put my cup down on the porch and climb out of my chair, right into his lap, curling myself into him and resting my head on his shoulder. He slides his arms around my waist, kissing my forehead, leaning his head against mine.
“I can’t imagine a day without you in my life. Is that weird? It hasn’t been very long.”
He just chuckles, probably at the way my analytical mind tries to make sense of the nonsensical. “I told you, Juliette. All I had to do was hear your voice. You asked me to take your picture outside the gala and I was a goner before I even turned around and saw your face. I can’t explain it. I just know what I know. You were it for me then and you’re it for me now.”
“I’ve never been good with things I can’t enter into a spreadsheet, but I think I’m just fine with that.”
He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “I’m just fine with that too.”
I let out a little sigh and snuggle deeper into him, as close as our puffy winter jackets allow, and speak another truth. “I wish we didn’t have to leave later this afternoon. I like it here.”
