Page 45 of The Southern Submission

I blink slowly as the early morning light filters in and glints off her tan leg where it’s thrown over my thigh, her small foot tucked under my calf like she couldn’t get close enough. Her pussy is snuggly pressed into my hip and her upper body is draped over my torso. Her cheek rests on my bare chest, herhands tucked under my shoulders. I became a life-sized body pillow for her at some point in the night. She’s snoring softly and may have drooled a bit, but it’s fucking cute that she felt comfortable enough to sleep that deeply. It’s nice. I was serious when I told her I like cuddling, even if she scoffed at the idea.

After Ainsley told me her story about the ordeal she went through in New York, I just wanted to hold her longer, but I let her leave my arms and go to sleep. I can’t believe she’s connected to the fucking asshole I’ve been dying to get my hands on for the last six months. Learning Archer hurt and manipulated Ainsley, discredited and forced her out of her graduate program, sent her running away from everything she’d wanted for herself, and is now intimidating and harassing her because she’s with me made my blood boil even more than him costing my company millions of dollars. He fucking put his hands on her.

More than ever, I want to hurt the punk-ass kid, embarrass him, make him feel small, and show him what it feels like to be scared and powerless the way he’s made Ainsley feel. It was business before, but now it’s personal. All because of a chance meeting with the blonde spitfire wrapped around my body, who’s afraid to embrace her desires and represses her needs because he taught her to fear intimacy and gave her trust issues.

He’s fucking up my life even more than he knows. Not only will I make his life a living hell, I'm going to pick up the pieces of the woman he crushed and make sure she knows she’s treasured, important, amazing, and so fucking strong. She’ll walk away from our arrangement better than I found her. If I can let her go at all.

I tighten my arms around Ainsley’s back, holding her to me as I make that vow to myself, grateful for the chance to even hold her and maybe have a shot at helping her come into herown and take down her shitty ex in the process. But at this very moment, I’ve got a cock that likes her soft body lined up with mine a little too much, and if she wakes up and sees us like this, she’s not going to like it, no matter how far we’ve progressed.

Her hips move against my thigh and she lets out a quiet moan. I stifle a groan of pleasure so I don’t wake her. This is exactly what I teased her about last night, and fuck if it’s not the hottest thing ever to know she’s having a sex dream while I’m holding her. I trace my fingers down her back gently to see if that slowly wakes her up so she’s not grinding that hot little pussy against me and ends up embarrassed. I keep rubbing her back, but her hips are moving in erratic attempts to provide her needed friction, and I’m half tempted to wake her up and offer to help.

“Payton,” she murmurs into my chest. I look down to see if she’s awake now. Her eyes are closed, and she seems to be asleep, so she’s dreaming about me as she grinds against my thigh.

“Fuck, Ainsley,” I mutter as I let my head fall back on my pillow, not wanting to be a good guy. Instead, I want to pull her on top of me, nestle my cock between her thighs, and let her ride out her dream over my hard length. I don’t have to be inside of her to make her feel good, and fuck would that be nice for us both. Instead, I keep my cock out of it and press my palm against the top of her ass and move her hips in a steadier rhythm than her dream motion was able to establish and feel her arousal seeping through my shorts to my thigh. Jesus. Fuck, I want to bury myself in her sweet pussy and feel that for myself. My fingers, my tongue, my cock. All of the above. I groan as the feel of her, hot and wet even through layers of clothing, teases me. Fucking hell.

Ainsley gasps and shudders against me, and I slow therhythm of my hand at her back until she’s still again. I’m sweating from the effort of restraining myself from turning her onto her back and taking over, but that’s not what this is about. She’s dreaming, not asking me to fuck her. She can grind against me anytime she wants, but I won’t take that as an invitation unless she explicitly offers it. I’m a hedonist in my pursuit of pleasure, but I know she wouldn't be happy if I didn't have her conscious consent.

Ainsley wakes, her eyelashes fluttering against my chest, her body stiffening as she realizes how entwined we’ve become. She rolls away, untwisting her leg from mine and leaving me cold without the heat of her against me. She sits up, looking confused.

“Good morning, Muffin.” I stretch as I look at her surprised face. Her hair is tangled and wild, a crease down the cheek that was pressed to my chest, and her nipples are hard enough to cut glass as she stares at me like I’ve just appeared out of a horror movie wielding a chainsaw. I don’t look that bad in the morning, and my morning breath can’t be any worse than hers at the moment.

“What was that?”

“It looks like you’re a cuddler after all. I woke up with you draped over me. I told you it was fine, so I guess you took advantage of the opportunity at some point and came over to my side to snuggle.”

She shakes her head. “Did I—” she cuts herself off and closes her eyes.

“Snore? Not very loudly. Just cute little sounds that were totally fine.”

Her eyes fly open. “I don’t snore! And that’s not what I was going to say. I was…dreaming.” She looks down at her hands twisting in her lap.

“Oh yeah, what were you dreaming about?” I ask as I sit up against the headboard and pull a pillow over my lap to hide the evidence of what having her draped over me and watching her dream did to me.

“Stop it and put me out of my misery. Did I make any noises? Like talk in my sleep or anything…weird?” She’s so uncomfortable, I just want to kiss it out of her. She shouldn’t be worried about what her subconscious plays out in her sleep.

“Nothing weird. Just some sexy noises that still have me hard.” I pull the pillow off my lap to show her, hopefully easing her tension and putting the focus on me instead. I don’t want her uncomfortable with her body or her sexuality around me at all.

She covers her face with her hands. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I had that kind of dream while I was sprawled on top of you.”

“If it makes you feel better, you can tell me all about it in graphic detail,” I say hopefully.

She drops her hands and glares at me. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she says sarcastically.

“You have no idea.” I drop a hand onto my shorts, stroking my cock that’s painfully hard, and lean my head back against the headboard. “I’m ready when you are, Muffin. This is better than breakfast in bed.”

I’m surprised when the bed dips and I open my eyes to find Ainsley crawling into my lap. She’s playful in the morning. I smile as she removes my hand from my cock and picks up the other, lacing our fingers together. She lifts onto her knees so she can press my hands back against the headboard by my shoulders and leans into me until her breasts rub against my bare chest as she slowly settles her ass into my lap right over my cock that jumps at the feel of her hot pussy just a few pieces ofclothing away.

Fuck, what is this little minx doing to me now? Does she want to start something I’m more than happy to finish, or is she teasing me? I’ve warned her that I won’t let her tease me for long and I’ll take control back if she wants to play games. She had better be ready for a taste of her own medicine if this is how she starts her day.

“I wasn't even dreaming about you, but if I was, it would have been a nightmare where you wouldn’t stop smiling and annoying me.”

I smile at that and lean forward until our noses are touching. “Liar,” I say playfully. “You moaned my name and came against my thigh.” I was ready to keep that little fact to myself. If she’s going to tease me like this now, she’s going to get it right back. “Your pussy feltso goodrubbing against me, and those noises you make are pure heaven.”

Her eyes go wide, busted in her bravado, but I don’t give her a moment to get embarrassed. I flip her onto her back below me, getting a surprised sound from her as I settle into the cradle of her hips like I wanted to earlier. Her thighs spread and she wraps her legs around me in reflex, holding me tightly.

“That’s my good fucking girl,” I growl out at her reaction that could’ve been to knee me in the balls.

“Oh, wow,” she says, realizing how lined up we are.

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