Page 70 of Snake

Autumn locked that thought up with her hall monitor. They could both sit in the dark and think about what they’d done.

No more thinking. She twisted her hips, moving him inside her, and they both groaned. Cox moved suddenly then, flipping them around, putting her down on the bed. The swift, purposeful movements sent him even deeper into her, almost impaling her—and Cox’s restraint broke. He shoved himself into her in one forceful surge, withdrew and did it again, and again, and again, bucking his hips against her faster and harder each time until they were crashing together, the bed bouncing against the walls. Each crash pushed a squeaking shriek from Autumn, but it wasn’t pain or fear. It was mounting, igniting ecstasy.

Never in her life had she felt so uninhibited, so hungry, so desperate.

She wound her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck and held on as everything she knew about sex, everything she thought she’d wanted in a man, rearranged and regrouped.

When she came it was sudden, a burst of light and sensation so vivid she arched backward. Her hands clenched and her toes curled. It went on and on and on, Cox slamming into her, chasing his own while he kept hers rolling, the fingers of one hand under her ass, between her legs, strumming her, giving her every single atom of her completion.

He let himself go the second she began to relax. He went rigid as a steel beam from head to toe. She studied the tendons in his neck, the way they rose like flanges, how they pulsed with his racing heart, how his skin darkened to russet.

When it was over, he dropped his weight onto her and let his face fall into the pillow beside her head. How she loved the feel of his weight pressing her into the mattress, holding her, swaddling her. Better than any weighted blanket ever designed.

Autumn drew her fingers through his damp hair. She understood that this was not a mere isolated incident. Whether or not she and Cox were ever alone together again, what happened here had changed her in ways she’d never undo.

In ways she’d never want to undo.

Sense began to return, and she noticed how dark the room had become. Night was fully upon them. Still holding Cox, she checked her smartwatch. They’d been back here longer than she’d realized—more than an hour. She needed to get up, find Chase, get him in the rental car, and head to the B&B.

But she didn’t want to move. So she didn’t.

A few minutes later, Cox sighed and rose onto an elbow. Looking down at her, he brushed stray strands of sweaty hair from her eyes. “I hurt you?” he asked again, a refrain to bookend this sojourn.

Catching his hand, she brought it to her lips and sucked the salty sweat from his fingertips. A sound like a purr caught at the back of his throat.

“You didn’t hurt me. That was ... amazing.” Studying his still-shocked eyes, she asked, “Are you okay?”

A smile almost achieved his mouth. “I got no fuckin’ idea.”

A new clamoring voice rose in Autumn’s mind, begging her to Ask what this means, ask what this means, ask what it means. She’d sooner die that let those mood-killing words loose, so instead she shifted beneath him and said, “I guess we need to face reality again. I need to figure out what’s going on with Chase—”

“No,” he said. That one word, like it was enough.

It wasn’t, not for her. “What? Why no?”

“He’s fine. He’s attended to. I don’t want ...” he stopped and seemed disinclined to finish.

“You don’t want what?” Autumn asked, gently, hoping she knew the answer.

Again he stared down at her, his mouth silent while his eyes screamed.

“What, Cox?” she nudged softly.

He looked away, shifting onto both elbows above her—she realized he was still inside her, still mostly hard. “I feel good right now. Different. I’m not ready ... not to.”

She had known his answer, because it was hers as well.

“Okay.” She kissed him. He relaxed again and settled into that kiss. Soon enough, it was foreplay—and this time, Cox took his time about it.

Eventually, much later, they fell into sated sleep, tangled together in sweaty sheets.

Autumn’s last conscious thought was that she’d been changed in an important, fundamental, but not yet entirely clear way.

Chapter Seventeen

Cox came awake into a dark room. As usual, he needed no time to gather his bearings; he was in his dorm room, and he was with Autumn. They were both naked, the covers kicked away. She slept in a sprawl across his chest. One of his hands was full of a firm little globe of her ass.

He felt raw and rocked to his core. Something new had happened; he didn’t understand it, and he didn’t think he wanted to understand. Each time he tried to think about it, a steel door slammed shut in his head.

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