Page 18 of Meant To Be

After another shuddering gust of wind, Lucy called out from the bar, “We have backup generators that power the heat and lights. We’ll need to keep the heat lower than usual so we don’t overwork the generators. Power’s out to the whole area.”

Everyone shifted into motion, milling about before people began organizing things. Fires were lit in the massive fireplaces in the public rooms. Each room had backup heat and some lighting, but the pub area was the warmest room.

Dylan and I went to bed with the heat on low. I awoke during the night, snuggled tight against his side. I sensed he was already awake.

“Dylan?” I whispered in the darkness.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

He was warm, like my own personal furnace. Even though Lucy assured us that the generator would run the heat for up to a week with the amount of fuel they had stored, that meant keeping the temperature lower. It was chillier than I was accustomed to.

“I’m glad you’re here too,” he replied in a rumbly voice.

He slid his hand in a slow pass down my spine, curving over my bottom. I was already aroused. That was apparently my state when I was in bed with Dylan. My body simmered on low burn all the time.

“How long do you think it’ll be before they get the roads cleared?”

“A few days,” he replied, sounding unbothered. “There’s more than one area to clear.”

I instinctively snuggled closer to him, and he gave my bottom a little squeeze.

I wanted more. I turned my head where it rested in the curve of his shoulder, pressing a kiss just above his collarbone. We explored each other in the darkness, hands and lips teasing and touching. Every touch felt intensely intimate in the darkness.

When he shifted to roll me on top of him and said, “Ride me, sweetheart,” I did just as he asked, crying out when I felt the thick, delicious slide of him filling me.

His fingers pressed into my hips. He shifted back into the pillows against the headboard, levering me closer and creating the perfect angle of friction where we joined. Each subtle thrust sent piercing pleasure through me.

On the heels of a deep surge, I cried out, crying his name in a ragged gasp as pleasure ricocheted through me.

I felt him shudder against me, savoring the sound of my name as he came in a gruff shout. When I relaxed against him, he sifted his fingers through my hair. I soaked in the light touches after it was over.

He tucked the covers over us together after he went to the bathroom. I was drowsy and sated and fell asleep thinking I could stay there forever.

Chapter Fifteen

DYLAN

I woke up with Piper cuddled up to my side. Again. We’d gotten the extra blanket out of the closet. I could hear the hum of the generators. Meanwhile, the wind still rushed through the darkness. The icy snow and rain pinged sharply against the windows.

Piper felt good. This—with her—felt shockingly good. My thoughts scattered. I wanted to chalk up the way I felt to really great sex. Sex with Piper was better than great.

But this, waking in the night with her curled warm against my side, layered something else into it. It felt as if these encounters were a tide rolling in on a sandy beach. The grooves of cynicism in my mind and heart were washing away wave after wave.

Piper shifted against me, making this sweet little sound in her throat, a soft, satisfied sigh before she snuggled even closer to me. My arm wrapped around her back, with my palm resting on the curve of her hip. I reflexively stroked in a lazy circle, savoring the feel of her silky skin. I wanted to protect her but from what I didn’t even know. Maybe it was the storm, or perhaps it was the rocks life kicked in our path. At this moment in the darkness, nothing mattered other than keeping her warm and safe with me. I fell back asleep.

Light filtered through the windows when I woke again, and I rolled my head to the side to look out. The wind was finally slowing, and the sky had begun to clear. I could see slivers of light breaking through the thick cloud cover.

“Is the storm over?” Piper’s voice was soft, the edges frayed.

I glanced down to feel her lifting her head from my shoulder. Her hair was tousled and messy, and my heart felt pierced with a sharp sweetness.

Without thinking, I lifted a hand, brushing her hair away from her cheek. “Looks like it’s almost over,” I offered.

She blinked, her eyes shifting from me to looking out the window. “I wonder how long it will take them to clear the road.”

I shrugged, thinking I didn’t even care. I just wanted to be here in this cocoon, sheltered away from the world with Piper.

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