Page 76 of Haunted Ever After

“Sarah?” She raised her voice, casting a desperate look around the house. “Any way you can give us some privacy? Please?” She had no idea how this would work, if this even would work, but it was worth a try.

The house was silent, and the words didn’t move on the fridge. How were they going to know if she heard them? But then a door closed upstairs, making them both jump.

“Did she just close herself in your bedroom?” Nick looked mournfully toward the stairs. “I had plans for that room.”

Cassie shook her head, her eyes scanning the ceiling as though she could see through to the upstairs. “That was from the back of the house. The second bedroom. I can’t imagine that ghosts use doors like we do. Maybe she was just making the point. Giving us privacy.”

“Hmm.” He looked back at her then, and the fire in his eyes made Cassie forget how to breathe. She knew exactly what was going to happen next, and it was about goddamn time. She yearned for him, the way he obviously yearned for her. But now that the moment was here, it was hard to believe.

“You hungry?” Suddenly nervous, Cassie took a step, then two, toward the kitchen as a saving grace. “I think there’s some frozen pizza in the…” Her throat went dry as Nick shook his head slowly. He advanced on her, step by slow step, eyes fixed on her like a lion looking at a rabbit. Her heart was certainly beating at a rabbit-like speed.

“Later.” His voice was a low growl, something she’d never heard from him. He ran his hands up her arms, to her shoulders, finally gripping the back of her neck with one strong hand.

“Later,” she echoed, her head feeling loose on her neck as she nodded. “So what about now?”

“Now?” His other arm slid around her, hand flat on the small of her back, bringing her hips flush against his. This close, there was no mistaking what he was in the mood for. Cassie had to hold herself back from squirming against him, like a teenage girl facing her first erection. “Now, I plan on fucking you on every surface in this house.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t used to that kind of language from Nick, but she could sure as hell work with that. A tiny, maniacal giggle escaped from her mouth just before he bent down to claim it. Every atom in her body celebrated. God, yes, finally! Her laughter died quickly as more serious, more passionate emotions took over. Her whole world shrank down to her and Nick and his mouth, his tongue, his hands.

Her hands went back to his T-shirt, this time with purpose, tugging at the fabric and pushing upward, until he got the hint and reached a hand behind his head to pull it off. She caught her breath at the sight of him, toned and well muscled without being showy, lightly tanned from a life at the beach, his chest furred with soft brown hair. He closed his eyes as she laid her hand flat on his stomach, his breath sighing out of him while she stroked up his chest, between his pecs, to his shoulder. His skin was warm, as though he’d absorbed the Florida sunshine into himself, and even though it was mid-June she craved that heat. She stepped back in, stretching up onto her toes to kiss him again.

He groaned against her mouth, his hands tightening on her hips before moving upward, ruching the fabric of her T-shirt as they went. “My turn.” Letting go of him was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do, but she reluctantly raised her arms so he could tug off her shirt. Impatient, she reached behind her back to unclasp her bra, sliding the straps down her arms and letting it join the growing pile of clothing on her living room floor.

Nick caught his breath, his eyes darkening in a way that had nothing at all to do with ghostly possession. “Oh,” he breathed. “Shit.”

Cassie’s laugh was throaty. “Just what every girl wants to hear when she takes her bra off.”

“Get the hell over here.” Nick slid an arm around her waist, and this time when he started kissing her he was on a mission. Her body crashed against his, warm bare skin against warm bare skin. His mouth traveled across her cheekbone and to her neck, immediately finding that place behind her ear that made her knees sag. While he lingered on her throat his hands were busy, skating up her sides, tracing the dip of her waist to the swell of her breast. Callused fingertips skimmed the sensitive skin on the undersides of her breasts, thumbs gliding across her nipples before stopping to circle the hardened peaks. All Cassie could do was cling to him, her nails digging into his shoulders while he wreaked havoc on her body.

But he wasn’t done. He stooped down, his mouth traveling lower. His beard rasped against the insides of her breasts as his mouth followed her sternum down the center of her body, sinking lower and lower until he looked up at her, on his knees in front of her like a supplicant. The emotion overflowing from his clear blue eyes made Cassie catch her breath.

“Cassie, I…” He closed his eyes as she slid a hand through his hair, her fingers smoothing through the russet waves. He was so far away down there, but when she moved to kneel, he stopped her with gentle but firm hands on her hips. She trembled as he moved soothing fingers across the soft skin of her belly, following the waistline of her denim cutoffs. She didn’t notice when he popped the button, but the sound of her zipper was loud in the quiet room. She had to hold on to his shoulders for support as he hooked the shorts and her underwear together and pulled gently, her last garments whispering down her legs to the floor.

She should feel self-conscious, she thought, standing here in her own living room completely naked, while Nick was on his knees in front of her, still wearing his jeans. But her blood was running too hot to care. Her body practically ached for him, and the longer he knelt in front of her, the wetter she became under his gaze.

“God, you’re perfect.” He leaned in, placing a kiss just below her belly button, and a whimper escaped Cassie’s mouth at the contrast of his soft lips and rough beard. “Is this okay?” He looked up at her as he kissed an inch lower, then another. One hand skimmed up her leg, her inner thigh, urging her legs to part slightly for him.

Cassie was beyond language. Every muscle in her body was wound tight, and God help her, Nick was going to give her the release she needed. She bobbed a nod, her eyes captured by his. “If you don’t touch me soon I think I’m gonna scream.”

“Oh, you’re gonna scream no matter what.” He smirked—he actually smirked!—at her, but before she could give him any shit for it, his mouth drifted lower. Lower. She only had a moment’s warning, his hot breath against her most sensitive skin, before his tongue was there, licking gently, so very, very gently, at her clit. At the same time, his hand cupped her, so hot, but she wanted more. She only had time to drag in one frantic breath before he slid a finger inside her. A second one joined the first, his hand pumping her gently while his mouth increased the suction.

Cassie didn’t scream, but she did moan an awful lot, her body swaying against him as he held her up. She braced shaking arms against his shoulders when he added a third finger and his tongue licked harder. Her trembling legs barely held her up as everything inside her wound tighter and tighter. And then she was there, over the edge, coming apart and being remade under his hands and his mouth. When the waves finally subsided and Cassie was back in her body, Nick sat on his heels and slowly, slowly pulled his hand from her. His eyes stayed trained on hers as he licked his fingers clean, and that was it. She dropped to her knees.

“Holy shi—” She didn’t let herself finish the sentence; she was too busy pulling his face toward hers, kissing him hard, taking her taste back onto her own tongue. A good orgasm like that usually left her boneless, but in his arms she was energized. She wanted more and wasn’t going to wait one minute longer.

It was a group effort to get Nick undressed, but soon enough the rest of his clothes joined the pile of discards. As they stretched out together on the area rug, Cassie had never been more thankful that the living room curtains were closed. But then Nick rolled to his back, pulling Cassie with him, and his body was warm and hard and soft all at once, and as she sank into his kiss Cassie stopped thinking about living room curtains. She stopped thinking about anything at all. Her senses were full of warm skin, legs twining together, the hardness of his cock nudging against her, and her hips rocking softly in response. It was easy, so easy, to hitch a leg over his hip, slide herself along the length of him, teasing them both. If she moved up just a little more, he could slide…

“Wait.” His hands were iron bands on her shoulders, pushing her away. He looked wild, his dark pupils almost eclipsing his blue eyes. His hair was tousled, his breath coming fast and hard in his chest. “Protection. I don’t have…” He sighed in frustration as he let his head fall back to thud against the floor. “I didn’t know I’d need to bring condoms to an exorcism.”

“It’s okay. No kids coming from me, and I’ve been on the pill since I was a teenager.” Cassie knew this was an important conversation to have, because pregnancy wasn’t the only worry. But let’s face it, the last thing she wanted to do right now was have an important conversation. “How about you? Do you always use condoms?”

Nick nodded. “Yeah, always. I had a physical over the winter, everything was good then. And I haven’t…well. There hasn’t been anyone since then.”

“I’m clean too.” Goose bumps broke out over her skin at the implication. She’d always used condoms with her long-term partners, but could they…? Were they going to…? “Do you think we could…”

“Go without?” Nick’s breath gusted out of him, and his fingers flexed against her skin, digging in. “God, Cassie. That would be…”

“Yeah.” She gave a single, decisive nod before reaching for him. Or maybe he reached for her. Didn’t matter. A heartbeat later she was in his arms, rolling under his body, on the area rug in the middle of her living room. Something in the back of her mind reminded her that they were about to have sex for the first time in the same spot where they’d exorcised the ghost of C.S. Hawkins, but she left that thought in the back of her mind where it belonged, and she got back to more important things. Like kissing Nick like her life depended on it. He kissed her hungrily, his weight settling over her, pressing her down into the floor, and Cassie opened her legs beneath him, cradling him, welcoming him in. They both caught their breath as his cock nudged her entrance, hard skin meeting wet skin, and he started the slow slide inside. Nothing in the world felt like this. So naked, so open. Cassie felt like she was sharing her body for the first time.

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