Page 71 of Something to Someone

It was more graceful than my other two landings, but I still managed to almost fall against Caroline. I caught myself on the counter with her wedged between me and the marble surface. I grunted at the impact and stopped my forward trajectory before I could hurt her.

“Hi,” I said with a smile after I’d steadied myself.

She scowled up at me, and I proved that yes, seeing her annoyed expression—the furrow between her brows and down-turned lips—was worth it.

“Hi,” she managed to say back as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Why on earth would you do that? You could have seriously hurt yourself.”

I shrugged and lifted my hands to toss her damp hair over her shoulders and clasp each side of her neck. “To see you, and it was worth it.”

She didn’t try to pull away when I fitted my lips against hers, and I felt her body relax as the seconds ticked by. Her arms dropped to her sides, and her mouth opened as I coaxed her lips apart with a quick brush of my tongue.

Her hands dropped to my waist, and her fingers dipped beneath my shirt, teasing my skin and sending goose bumps up and down my torso. Every swipe of her nails and subtle moan against my lips eased any lingering anxious energy I felt any time I was away from her.

I didn’t voice that thought, though. I just lost myself in her.

“Ryder,” she muttered my name against my lips and pressed her palms against my chest. I took the cue and leaned back. “It’s two inthe morning, and I have to be up at seven. I’m exhausted. I don’t think I can do this tonight.”

I nodded and kissed her once more. “Okay, we don’t have to do anything. I’d still like to stay, though.”

In the faint bathroom light, her eyes darted between mine. She was so hard to read, but it was almost like I could see the myriad of thoughts bouncing around her mind. We hadn’t stayed the night unless it had been preceded by carnal, uninhibited sex. I knew she was considering what it would mean if I spent the night in her bed and we didn’t have sex or fool around in any way.

I took a breath and opened my mouth to further plead my case when she surprised me.

“Fine,” she said and pushed harder against my chest, slipping from between me and the counter.

Although I expected her to put up more of a fight, I wasn’t going to question her answer. Instead, I followed her out of the bathroom and shut the light off behind me. She dropped her glasses on the bedside table and crawled across the bed. I couldn’t help but appreciate the curve of her ass peeking out of the bottom of her shorts as I toed off my shoes and slipped off my shirt.

She shut off the light on the opposite bedside table, and the room descended into darkness. The only light that remained was from the moon streaming in through the window and partially open curtains.

I lifted the sheet and slid into the bed. For a place so old, the air conditioning worked incredibly well. The bed was cold, but it was more of an excuse to curl up against Caroline. I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing one beneath her head and tossing the other over her hips, until every part of her back was pressed against my front.

She adjusted the pillow, so it was wedged between her head and my arm and burrowed farther into the blankets, tucking them beneath her chin.

“You’re such a cuddler,” she mumbled, and I laughed as I kissed behind her ear. I nestled my nose into her clean hair and breathed her in. She smelled clean and warm and safe.

“You can pretend you don’t like it, but I know the truth.”

“And what might the truth be?”

My hand flattened against her stomach, where her T-shirt had ridden high enough to expose her skin, and I tugged her closer into me. She couldn’t have gotten any closer no matter how hard I tried. I drew random patterns around her navel and up and down her stomach. When she shivered, I smiled.

“That you actually love it. I know that every time you tell me you hate me or I’m annoying, you don’t really mean it,” I said, and she pressed her ass harder into me, grinding against my obvious erection. “It’s part of that hard exterior you try so hard to keep up. Why do you do that, Caroline? Is it all for me? You don’t have to protect yourself from me.”

She didn’t respond, and I knew better than to expect her to, no matter how much I wanted to hear her tell me why she wouldn’t let me in. My mom, our age difference, it was trivial. They were obstacles we could easily overcome.

My questions hung in the air around us. The only sound was our quiet breathing and the occasional noise emanating from beyond the window or rustle of the sheets. Even the sounds in the hallway had died down. She scooted away from me, and I tensed, prepared for her to demand I leave. The shameful walk—or climb—back to my room would be torturous knowing what and who I left behind.

But she didn’t ask me to leave, and suddenly, my body was tensing for a whole other reason. The little bit of space she’d made, she used to slip her hand between our bodies and palmed my cock through my sweats.

“I thought you were too tired,” I groaned.

“I changed my mind,” she retorted quickly, slipping her hand beneath my waistband and swiping her thumb through the pre-cum collecting at the tip.

Another groan stuck in my throat as I pushed my hips up into her hand. Even in the awkward position, with her hand twisted behind her and her fist upside down, she skillfully worked me into a reasonable frenzy.

“Your cock pressing against my ass is hard to ignore,” she said. “And an orgasm would help me sleep.”

Nudging her shorts down, she slipped them off her legs and allowed me to tug her closer once again. My cock wedged between her ass cheeks, I lifted her leg and propped it on top of both of mine. The change allowed me more room and the ability to slide the head of my pounding erection against her dripping slit.

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