Page 45 of Apex of the Curve

For all of his rough exterior, his frightening countenance, he was so very sweet to me.

“Up you go,” he whispered and I got up into his comfortable bed.

“You’re not coming?” I asked.

“Nah, I have some shit to do out in the barn. We got a couple goats about to give birth, but I’ll be in at some point.”

“Okay.”

“You want some music?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind, please?”

“You got it.”

He tucked me in close and went to the candle-covered dresser and switched on a couple of the flameless, yet realistic LED kind. I smiled and he turned on a speaker, tapping buttons on the top a few times to get the soothing rhythmic melodies going.

He came back to me and leaned down, brushing his lips against mine. It was so unexpected; I froze, and it was over before I even had time to register what’d just happened.

Damn it.

“Was that okay?” he asked, voice strained.

“No,” I whispered. “It was too short. Come back down here.”

He smiled and it held a wicked edge to it, but he obliged me. Bending at the waist, supporting himself on the bed with a hand pressed into the pillow by my head, he bent to cover my mouth with his.

His lips were soft, his beard lightly tickling my face as he brushed his lips against mine. I closed my eyes and captured his face between my hands, kissing him back this time, pressing both my lips to his bottom one.

He kissed me back, and it evolved until my lips naturally parted to let him in.

He groaned slightly against my mouth and flicked his tongue past my lips and teeth to stroke it against mine. He tasted masculine – hops from the beer he’d drunk lingering and mixing with the taste that was so intoxicating and purely him.

I whimpered slightly, wanting so badly for him to come to bed, but he pulled back carefully and let his eyes drift over my freshly scrubbed face.

“Get some rest,” he urged. “I’ll be in to snuggle you as soon as I can.”

I smiled and nodded. He straightened and boy, it was the hardest thing ever to let him go.

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