Like tonight, he let me cuddle with him on the way back to the cottage. What man did that without the expectation of sex? Not that I should be thinking about sex with Cary. The first few weeks I’d been here, that was all I could think about. He was the source and star of my most intimate fantasies, but I realized if I were to maintain any kind of distance, I had to stop.
Damn, I really, really didn’t want to stop, but it was for the best. Things were looking up, finally. We were about to open the restaurant. I had a cozy place to live. I’d made some great friends in Christie, Al, and yes, Cary too. I didn’t want to do anything stupid to risk jeopardizing any of my good fortune.
I walked into my open-plan attic bedroom and sighed with pure pleasure. I loved this space so much.
I’d found so many things at the local thrift store that matched my style and the vibe I wanted for the room. I ran my hand over the old hand-stitched grays in the quilt Cary told me his grandmother had made, and felt all the love she’d sewn into it. He’d said it was just an old blanket, but I knew it for what it was… love for family.
One of my thrift store runs had produced an antique white blanket, which I slipped on top of the quilt to lighten it up and loved the contrast between the dark and the light. It was a perfect room in every way.
I had to laugh at myself. This wasn’t my home, although technically it was since I owned it, but I was only staying here because I was still too terrified to be alone in the manor. That, and even if Cary and I never did anything besides being touchy-feely friends, I liked being with him. I wanted him as a friend and I wanted him as a lover, but why couldn’t I want both?
I stripped and went into my equally impressive newly remodeled bathroom. I slipped into the shower and sighed with pleasure as the hot water poured over my tired muscles. We’dmoved furniture around a hundred times today, and yes, I’d wanted it moved that many times to get it all just right, but still.
Just then, the water stopped. “What the heck?” I asked, thankful I’d rinsed off most of the soap and shampoo.
I dried off as fast as I could before grabbing my skimpy-ass housecoat I’d had since I was fourteen. It no longer fit, obviously, but I still loved it and didn’t want to spend money to replace it.
“Cary,” I yelled down the stairs. “You better come look. The water stopped in the shower.”
“Hold on. I’m headed up,” he said, and rushed up the stairs.
His eyes swept over me in my skimpy housecoat, and I’d swear his gaze turned heated before he looked away and asked what the problem was.
His reaction caused me to lose my breath for a moment. I knew what it looked like when a man wanted me. Even my stupid ex, critical as he was, never said I wasn’t a good fuck.
“Um, the water stopped in the shower.”
He nodded without looking at me, then popped into my bathroom to check on it.
When the shower didn’t come on for him, he opened a panel I wasn’t even aware was there, picked up some bizarre-looking key, and twisted it. Just like that, the water came back on. “We didn’t turn the valve all the way on, so it must’ve jarred closed. Here, let me show you how it works.”
My wet skin must’ve been steaming with all the heat coming off me. “Okay, thanks, Cary,” I said, and was about to push him out of my room because damn, it was that or attack him with my mouth.
Instead of leaving, he stood with his two feet planted firmly in front of me. “Evan, do you… do you want me?” he asked, uncertainty clouding his handsome face.
I looked up into his eyes, surprised by his directness. “Huh?”
“Do you want me? I mean, like, sexually? Because I want you. A lot.”
I didn’t hesitate. Instead, I launched myself into his arms, putting my mouth on his. Fuck, if he didn’t ever need to ask that question again. I explored his mouth with my tongue, and moaned as his big rough hands slipped under my robe and caressed the skin underneath.
“Yes, please,” I whispered, need pouring from me.
Cary reached down and, like I weighed nothing, swept me into his arms and into the bedroom. He laid me gently on the bed and, after taking his shirt off, pressed his lips to my neck. “Oh fuck,” I said as his tongue began to explore, then his mouth took my earlobe.
My ears always made me crazy. Usually I was too sensitive, but damn, right now, everything this man was doing to me felt good.
His mouth ravished every inch of exposed skin he could get his lips on, and I writhed with pleasure. He was so big, so strong, and I was at his disposal, but I eventually had to get my mouth on him again. When he pulled back, I leaned up and licked his throat.
The purr of pleasure from him made me weak. “Lie down, lie down on the bed for me,” I told him.
He looked me in the eye, and I knew he didn’t want to give up the power he had at the moment, the freedom to take me, but he nodded and did as I asked.
I quickly pulled my robe off and flung it across the room while he whipped his shirt off and did the same. I dove for his pecs, kissing and nibbling, taking his nipples into my mouth until he gasped and moaned with pleasure.
I was thrusting against him the entire time, my cock pushing its own agenda. Every part of me wanted Cary, wanted this moment with him.
He leaned up this time, pushing me gently aside before standing up and unbuckling his pants, letting them drop.
