Page 22 of By Candlelight

“You’re so fucking gorgeous.”

I felt Drew wipe me with a hot washcloth, then follow the path with kisses.

I moaned, unable to say anything else. I was too far gone in a post-orgasmic haze. It was all his fault. I heard him snicker, then the bed shifted again. He pulled me up and over to him so that my head rested on his chest.

“You okay, there?” he asked.

I opened my eyes and looked up at him.

“Is that what sex is always like for you? Because holy heck, I’ve never done anything close to that.”

He kissed the top of my head and ran his hand up and down my back as he spoke. “Did you like it?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “I loved it.”

I felt him release his breath, as if in relief?

“I mean…I don’t fuck gentle. But no. It’s not always like that. That was…something else.”

My heart jolted but I didn’t want to assume ‘something else’ meant special. Because that’s how I felt. And it seemed silly, when I thought about it. I just had the most rough and raw sex of my life and all I could think was how it felt so special to me.

I was sure he didn’t feel the same. But I could pretend. As he held me in his arms, and the snow flurries still fell outside the cottage, I could pretend he thought it was.

sixteen

DREW

After we spenthours talking about our childhoods and ate our body weight in the cookies she’d made, Mia went to take a bath and I came downstairs to actually build the fire now that I wasn’t on the verge of combustion. Goddamn that woman slayed me.

I wasn’t lying when I told her sex wasn’t always like that. I just didn’t elaborate on the fact that I’dneverhad sex like that, either. I mean, yeah, I was rough. I liked to fuck hard, I liked to dominate. I’d had my fair share of girlfriends and dates who were happy to oblige that. But there was something primal that flooded through me when I was inside Mia, something I’d never felt before.

She was mine.

That thought slayed me. I never got possessive over women. Never cared much either way about anyone. I’d known Mia for two days and all of a sudden I needed to claim her. Needed to keep her and show her she’s mine.

On the surface, it seemed both crazy and natural at the same time. Crazy because of the circumstances, but natural because she was one hell of a catch. Anyone would be stupid to not fight to lay claim to her the second they had the chance.

Mia was everything I wanted in a woman, and I’d never put much thought into that before. But she showed up and I knew it in my bones. She was everything. I thought about what did it for me, but the fact was, everything did. The way she was so cheerful and polite. The way her face lit up as she played in the snow like a little kid. The way she opened up to me as we laid together, her hand resting over my heart, like it was home. The way her body yielded for me, took everything I gave it like it was made for me.

And she made me fucking cookies. How was I supposed to walk away from her after all this?

“Hey,” she said, gliding down the stairs. “That looks so cozy.”

The fire was roaring and the neanderthal in me cheered that she noticed.

I patted the couch next to me and she came to sit, sliding up against me. My arm circled her shoulders, bringing her in closer to me. Again, natural.

“Any word on the storm?” she asked.

“Nah, just more of the same.” It was probably true since the snow hadn’t stopped but I wasn’t about to admit she had me so twisted up, I hadn’t even thought to check. We were in our own little bubble and I had no intention of bursting it before we absolutely needed to.

She didn’t seem to mind, though, as she snuggled in and rested her head on my shoulder.

“So, you didn’t tell me about your family. Aren’t they missing you on Christmas Eve?”

Ah. I’d avoided the question. Mia had told me all about her parents and brother, how they still lived down in Florida, and she saw them whenever she could. They all seemed close, and I thought how nice that was for her. But it made me hesitant to tell her about my situation.

“Nah, we just do our own thing.”

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