Page 37 of Anchored

Beyond the stretch in my thighs, all I can think about is the audible breathing behind me. The catch in Holt’s steady rhythm the second I eased down into the blankets in front of him. The rasp of his hands down my skin, the heat of him as he draws closer. And his gaze. Oh my savasana, can I feel his gaze lighting up every inch of my skin as he takes me in. I’m trembling, just waiting for him to take what we both desperately want him to take.

I hear a crinkle and it takes my addled brain longer to figure out what it is than it should. Belatedly, I’m relieved that Holt remembered to use protection when I didn’t. Then again, I trust him in a way I’ve never trusted anyone. It scares me a bit to even think about trusting a man again, but something about Holt makes the sleeping hope in my heart lift her weary head and sniff the air. I thought she was dead and buried the day I walked in on my ex with another woman in my bed, but leave it to Holt to nurse her back to life.

“If I hurt you, you have to tell me.” Holt’s hands wrap around my waist and slide down to my hips. My eyes flutter shut at his touch, every single nerve in my body holding its breath, waiting for him to fill me.

“Maple, sweetheart,” he says again, hands stilling. “I want to know.”

“O-okay,” I mumble back, determined to let him have his way with me no matter what. My yoga practice, along with surviving betrayal, has taught me I’m so much stronger than I think. Let Holt do his worst.

And then he moves, tugging up on my hips and pulling me onto the ramp of his thighs as he kneels behind me. The ache in my thighs instantly lessens. But in this position, legs flailed to the side, arms braced on the floor, I’m at his mercy. Exposed to his twenty-twenty vision, thanks to the glasses I insisted he wear. I try to remember the last time I shaved in earnest and come up empty.

Holt makes a sound, half growl, half whimper. “Dammit, Maple. So fucking beautiful.”

One of his hands leaves my hips and suddenly there’s a thick pipe at my entrance, insistent and hot. I tilt my hips back as much as I can and he slips inside me. We groan in unison.

“I should have known,” Holt grits out. “Best kiss, best pussy.”

Feminine pride warms me from the inside out. I preen, rolling my hips further to give him better access. Holt’s fingers grip me so tight I know I’ll sport bruises tomorrow.

“Breathe, moonbeam,” he orders. And I do.

On my exhale, and with another whimper-growl from him, he thrusts fully into me. My mouth drops open at the sensation. I’m probably drooling on the blankets and I just can’t seem to care. It’s all too much. The slight burn of my thighs in the splits, the feeling of being overly full, his hands gripping me as he grinds into my pussy.

“So good, so good,” I start chanting, absolutely mindless as Holt begins to move my body, pulling out and then sinking back in. The rhythm gets faster, but the stretch everywhere doesn’t change. Shivers track down my spine and Holt pauses long enough to bend down and trace kisses across my spine.

“Say we can do this again,” he says into my skin.

My heart is about to leap right out of my chest. The burn in my thighs and the fullness between them is making me feel like I’m about to leap right out of my brain. It’s a lot of leaping and not enough fucking.

“Yes, yes, yes,” I chant back quickly.

“Just this summer. You and me. We’re doing this.” Holt’s fingers tighten on my hips. I let out a mewl at the additional ribbon of pain.

“Yes!”

His heat leaves my back and suddenly he’s pounding into me, my body completely at his mercy. My face is going to be rubbed raw against the blankets by the time this is over and I don’t care. The angle is good. So fucking good. Each thrust has me grinding my clit against his thighs and I’m surely going to break in two at any second.

“Let go, Maple. Let me feel you pulse around my cock.”

Holt’s words are dirty. And fun. And so fucking perfect, I do just that. The world explodes into a kaleidoscope of colors and light. My body, overwhelmed with sensation, absolutely implodes. I cry out, shuddering and whimpering nonsense. Drool and tears mix to wet the blanket under my face. But Holt doesn’t stop, he just hammers into me over and over again until my tremors ease. And then he stills on a grunt, cock pulsing inside of me as he collapses some of his weight onto my back. He kisses my overheated skin, murmuring compliments I can’t make out, but instinctively know I like.

All too soon, he pulls out of me and wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me backward so that my legs can release the splits. He leans against the couch and places my head against his chest. Then his hands reach around me to massage my legs. They’re screaming from the prolonged hold of the splits, but quickly turn down the volume as his fingers knead my tired muscles. Before I can thank him, I’m fast asleep in the cocoon of his arms.

Maple’s Journal - Year 26

(6 years ago)

“Good, Maple.” The reedy voice of the new yoga instructor flowed over my skin. He touched my back, pressing me further into down dog. “Come every day and you’ll soon master this position.”

He moved along to the next person in the yoga class, but he stayed with me. He stayed in my periphery as I rolled up my mat at the end of class. He crept into my mind that night as I reserved my spot in class the next day, making sure his name was listed next to the class time.

Maybe it was his physique. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and he was long and lean. Not bodybuilder strong, but clearly he kept in shape. Maybe it was the way he seemed to have an extra twinkle in his eye when he adjusted my poses. Maybe I just needed to get laid. Whatever it was, he positively beamed when he saw me in class this morning, sealing the deal on his position in my brain.

He walked barefoot into the studio and grabbed the edge of my mat, sliding it right behind his at the front of the class. I usually stayed in the back, wanting to focus on my practice and not on other people watching me or me watching them.

“Oh, I like the?—”

His challenging eyebrow lift cut me off, while his hand intimately rubbed up and down my arm. “You like to be up here by me now.”

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