Twenty (novella) (Love By Design Series)

by M. C. Cerny

  “Don’t you look satisfied.” Whit kissed me and we rolled on the cold hard floor of the cabin. My bones ached and muscles stung from overuse the night before. It was a wonderful penance to pay.

  “I’m pretty sure you’re just as satisfied.”

  “No complaints, pretty girl.”

  The fire was nothing but glowing embers under gray ash and puffs of smoke in the chilled cabin. Whit had his body wrapped around mine like a bear. A shirtless, hairless, big ass bear whose thickly corded muscled limbs entwined with my own. I was happily trapped underneath him and sunlight inched over the window sill inside. I was sore just as I knew I’d be and filled with blissfully few regrets for now. Morning came too quickly and with it the reminders of how I got here to begin with. I tried to fall back asleep, but it was impossible now and I was too cold without the fire and my clothes.

  Dinah and Ryder would be together by now, the hot new item across campus by Monday morning. Mateo would be all too eager to tell me about it and how they made out like monkeys while I was off missing in the woods. Connor, poor sweet idiot, would probably ask me if I saw any bears out here. Only one and he was currently rubbing his toes up my calf and nudging between my legs.

  “Are you awake?” There was the morning gruffness to his voice that sounded like it had gone unused for a long time instead of mere hours.

  “No. I must be dreaming. I want to go back to sleep,” I said, yawning too big for my mouth as the words muffled together.

  He cleared his throat and his hands slipped down, holding my waist tight, and my backside was against his thick proud cock rubbing between my cheeks. “All right, then it won’t matter what I do next.” He flipped me over, completely caging his body over mine, his legs spreading mine wide to rut against me in slow strokes that brought the head of his penis bumping against my backdoor.

  Rolling my eyes, I checked over my shoulder to see a wicked grin change his face. “Not even in my dreams.” I moved against him, teasing, and he groaned, the sound vibrating against my back and making us both laugh.

  “Hmm, too bad.” Heat between my legs shot up my overall body temperature and I let my head fall between my elbows, which propped my body off the floor. The cage of Whit around me kept me warm and his hard long member pierced me slowly, stretching skin and sore tender tissue wider.

  “Oh!” I couldn’t keep the sound under wraps when he executed multiple shallow strokes designed to graze the button inside me and hurtling me off into multiple orgasm land.

  “Does it feel good, Lia? Do you want me slow down or speed up? I could do this for a really long time, as long as you want me to.” He was torturing me, robbing speech from my lips as I struggled to maintain oxygen to my brain. Remorse filled me that I said I only wanted one night of this, but I knew more time with Whit would emotionally slay me when he realized he didn’t want me anymore.

  “Faster, Whit. Fuck me faster,” I begged him, chucking my regret away. The jerk simply slowed down, biting my shoulder rough enough to leave a mark.

  “That’s your dream, baby. This one is mine. I want you begging for it.” My inner muscles clamped down tight and the sensation of slowly being taken over from the inside out was only tempered by how wet I was for Whit.

  “P-please.” He gave me half a dozen rapid thrusts, which I was unprepared for and lost my balance under him.

  “I got you, Lia.” His arm snook under me, gentle like taking the pressure off my arms, and he started again this time thrusting slowly until I was crying and forgetting my common sense.

  He was just that good.

  The orgasm that hit me was like lightning and too quick to catch as I frantically attempted to meet his pumping hips move for move. My heart was beating so fast it was like the wheels on my bike in spin class had flown off and I was a runaway. We collapsed on the ground and his body crushed me for a moment before he rolled off and the cold bit my damp skin. I lay there, my eyes shut, more at peace and complete than ever before and in so much danger of losing my reckless heart.

  Whit was everything a man should be…rough and gentle, honest and funny…and yet I didn’t think I was fully able to appreciate that. I could barely get my life to stay on course long enough to pick a college major, part of the reason I left Brooklyn to come upstate. The peace and quiet was supposed to temper me until I met him. I was sad because I knew deep down this beautiful time together was a borrowed dream.

  I wasn’t the girl who got the guy and I was delusional to think otherwise. After all, I did say this was a one-time deal no matter how much I might have wanted more.

  Chapter 10

  Whit

  “Hey, make sure you guys put the fire out properly.” Conner and Mateo dumped water and what I presumed was beer over the fire, letting it fizzle out. Great, illegal camping and underage drinking…I avoided looking at Lia as Ryder handed her the jacket she forgot yesterday. It was cold as her arms pushed through the sleeves and I wished it were my arms instead coming around to hold her one last time. Do I ask for her number? Do I even want her number? I wondered how thorough Jeff’s report was from yesterday.

  “Come on, Amelia. We’ve got to get back to campus for football practice this afternoon and Dinah has work.” Football dude sounded annoyed, but I didn’t give a shit as long as he kept his hands on the roommate only.

  “Right, we should be going.” She walked away with her head down, following her friends, avoiding eye contact with me. “Um…you’re sweatshirt?” she plucked the red cotton and I shrugged.

  “You keep it,” rubbing a hand behind my neck, I thought how awkward this all was the morning after. Her cheeks tinged red to match the top of her hair while the dark purple strands stuck out of her braid. Walking backward she nodded one last time brushing the mess of multicolored hair off her face.

  “Thanks.” That was the last thing she said to me smiling as she got inside the idiot’s car, leaving me standing there with nothing but the smoldering campfire for company.

  “Yeah. Thanks.” I waved them off and walked over to my own parked vehicle, feeling darkness settle over me with each bit of distance that increased between us. It felt like I was waiting for her to say something, but we’d agreed that this was just a passing thing, hadn’t we? So why did I suddenly feel like our agreement was meant to be broken?

  I watched her wave shyly from the backseat window of the kid’s shiny new oversized SUV. Smoke from the fire still plumed in the air, dissipating into nothing like the night before we spent together. She was strangely quiet this morning, but I didn’t think much of it beyond the marathon sex we had and the high I was riding walking out of the woods with a slight swagger up to her friends’ campsite. Blowing out a breath, I didn’t need this shit.

  I didn’t want a brash girl who couldn’t make up her mind and drop me like a hot potato for a younger dipshit jock who was just going to use her anyway. Feeling miffed that she brushed me off, I gave the dirt near the fire a good kick, sending a rock into the center and ashes billowing upward. It wasn’t fair. It sucked, but she was right, what hold did I possibly have on her? She had a life completely separate from mine and she was still in school. She’d probably graduate and move back to the hustle of the city I hated and marry some boring ass banker with a small dick. Part of me hoped she would because then I knew she’d always think of me fondly and the one night we spent in the cabin appreciating each other’s bodies like we didn’t give a damn come what may. Only now I knew she did care, she cared more about what her friends thought and I didn’t fit into her life beyond today. To her, I was just some itch to scratch and I didn’t like feeling used.

  I wasn’t someone’s brush off and I had a standing agreement with a hippie chick back in town if I wanted to fuck around. It had been a good four months despite Calisto’s constant invitations to come over. Trouble was that I didn’t think that was going to work as well as it used to Especially since a brat wearing purple plaid twisted me up and made me rethink my stance on relationships in general.


  Chapter 11

  Lia

  There was incessant knocking at my door and I wondered if Dinah forgot her key…again. I got up from the couch where I was studying to fling the door open. Shock covered my surprising when I realized it was my beardless Boy Scout standing in front of me. “Whit? What are you doing here?” Opening up the door to my apartment, he barreled his way inside. Several weeks later, and I realized how much I’d missed him as soon as the pine and musk trail permeated my apartment, making my lower belly clench.

  I’d missed him.

  Like…really missed him the way one misses the other half of a stolen candy bar.

  “I don’t like how we left things.” His eyes darted, slightly panicked as he looked around like he was hunting for something and started stalking back and forth, ready to wear out my living room carpet before going into my sad little kitchen.

  “There’s no one here but me, Whittaker. Dinah is at work right now.” He nodded and his shoulders rolled as if that maybe answered about half the questions he had for me in that moment.

  “You still live with her?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I forgave her. It’s kind of hard to find a new roommate mid-semester.” Closing the door, I eyed him waiting.

  “We have some unfinished business.” I wondered what he was talking about. I didn’t even know how he found me here.

  I followed him as he fidgeted before putting his hands deep in the pockets of his work pants. “What are you talking about?” He had this slightly feral look about him of a man on a mission. He circled back into my living room and instinctively I reached for a throw pillow off my couch. I felt like I needed something physical between us wearing a tank top and matching boy shorts. The poof of down filled feathers was my only protection paltry and worthless as it was between a fit and furious male.

  “Back at the cabin. You said this was a one-time deal. Right?” He was standing before me, pulling some kind of alpha shit on me and if he weren’t so vulnerable and serious looking I might have giggled watching him struggle to work this all out in his mind.

  “Yeah, because isn’t that what you wanted?” My heart skipped a beat, I had said it then at the cabin thinking that’s what he wanted…but maybe I was wrong.

  “Lia, if that’s what I wanted, then why do I keep thinking about you? Being inside you bare and craving the soft feel of your hair in my hands. You drive me crazy.” He was pacing again squeezing his hands into fists, and I felt dizzy thinking he might grab me and shake me a little to make his point.

  “Um, sorry? Maybe you could just sit down?” He looked back and I decided to let him run circles in the apartment if that made him happy. He went back to pacing and I waited for him to say something more.

  “You. Drive. Me. Crazy.” He stalked around the apartment to stand in front of me again finally grabbing me by my shoulders. His hands felt warm against my barely clothed body and the pillow dropped between us to the floor.

  “Thank you?” As far as compliments go, I was hardly impressed.

  “Fucking crazy, Amelia.” Those deep blue eyes zeroed in building a pressure inside me and it felt like a cork of champagne popped the way he held me captivated silencing everything around me.

  I poked him in the stomach and he made a forced sound. “You. Make. Me. Dizzy.” Overwhelmed was an understatement.

  “You were right, though,” he muttered, pulling me closer until the air in my chest compressed and I had to push him back to ease up so I could catch my breath.

  “About what?”

  “If I told you, I’d probably scare you.” He was scaring me now not telling me. “Why did you brush me off that morning when I brought you back to your friends’ campsite?”

  “I guess I was trying to not be one of those desperate clingy girls after sleeping with you within hours of meeting you. I didn’t want to be that girl.” I couldn’t stop the wince in my voice. I was that girl. Sooo that girl. Seeing Whit in front of me like this, I refused to admit it.

  “I don’t see you that way. I see a girl who had a rough time with a shitty guy who needs his eyes examined and a football shoved up his ass.”

  “Oh…okay awkward…charming maybe and…uh, a little sweet?”

  “It’s the least that shit-dick deserves. Did you see him after?”

  “As in hooking up? No. That ship sailed with him riding the Dinah train.”

  Shaking his head he squeezed me close against his chest. “He’s an idiot. God, I’m glad he’s an idiot.”

  “I’ll pass that on to Ryder.” I tried shrugging him off me, but he didn’t let go chuckling into my neck.

  “I mean it. I want to get to know you better because I really like what I’ve seen so far and I don’t mean you naked, though that’s nice too.”

  “Again…kind of awkward.” His compliments felt easy, not contrived, and I wanted to believe him, but I was unsure if I could. I broke free and walked to the opposite side of my small apartment, clutching my arms around my middle.

  “Lia, if you give me a chance, give us a chance, I want to see where this will go.” Time froze and the crossroad was before me where I could do what I’d always done, play it safe but unhappy. “I don’t think I’ve ever hunted out a girl’s address before and I’m grateful those friends of yours made it easy giving my supervisor Jeff your driver’s license to file with his report.”

  “Really?” Turning, I saw his confidence waver. Whit had to hunt me out; nobody had ever done that for me before. Damn if he didn’t make my decision that much easier to see where this might go.

  “Yeah, Amelia Rae Faust. I held onto to that report for weeks hoping you’d contact me first, come back to the Ranger Station with those chocolate chip cookies you promised me.” My name lingered on his lips, lips I wanted to kiss and nibble at like a treat.

  “It’s always about the food with you guys.” Hands on my hips I shake my head smiling.

  “I’m waiting.” Whit opens his arms, but I want him to take me and to mean it.

  “Well, don’t just stand there, Mr. Green-Forest-Power-Ranger, sweep me off my feet already.” He rolled his eyes and power walked over to me.

  Whit leaned down, whispering, “As you wish,” and picked me up, carrying me toward the bedroom.

  “Floors not your thing anymore?” I tried dismissing my nervousness, but Whit was too perceptive.

  “Not today, Lia.”

  “Hmm, too bad cause there’s a yoga mat under the couch we could use,” I tapped his chest playfully.

  “Proactive but no thanks.” He stopped inside the doorway to my bedroom and I realize then what he must have seen. His red sweatshirt folded neatly on my bed next to my pillow. Ugh, I’m such a dork.

  “Nice shirt.” Gently, he placed me on the bed, stripping the comforter out from underneath me, and crawled on top, trapping me beneath him.

  “All right, well, hopefully the mattress isn’t too soft for your liking.” I was rattling off nonsense as we ignored the awkwardness of the shirt for now. He smiled shaking his head, his lips hovering so close I could breathe him in, the outdoors permeating every cell of my body with giddy happiness.

  “You’re soft and I like you and that’s all I can handle right now.” Whit leaned over to kiss me and I was undecided if he was kissing the stupid out of me or into me because my heart fluttered and our lips connected, moving like the words we didn’t or couldn’t say. Each touch conveyed another wordless thought, fingers tangled in hair and hands gripped hips, holding him closer to the place that craved him. I relaxed into him, thinking that maybe this time I was the girl who got the guy.

  Yeah, I’d like that a lot.

  A Note About the LBD Series

  Twenty is a short novella in my Love By Design Series that will follow the shenanigans of a group of friends all grown up… I’ve got grand plans for this small town where my couples are big on love, and tormenting each other the way only close friends can. I hope you enjoy each story as much as I have writing them. Eac
h novella or full length book will be a standalone story, though the characters will connect throughout. I can't wait for you to meet them. XO - M.C. Cerny

  Acknowledgments

  There are many people who have my thanks and appreciation as always each time a project is birthed into this world. To all of the authors in the MOUTH Anthology, my deepest gratitude for letting me tag along. Here’s to round two!

  Emily Lawrence–editor extraordinaire. Mandy Hollis–stunning photography. Julio Elving–your perfect face intently staring back. Najla Qamber–for a gorgeous cover. You all worked diligently behind the scenes and without you–I couldn’t put this book front and center.

  To the ladies who gave me tits on a bull: Emily, Jennifer, Brandy, Michele, Lisa, and Jodi… it was a group effort! Love you to the moon and back! xoxo My personal assistant, Angie, my author BFFs, and special thanks to my reader group–you are FRESH and SEXY!

  And to the Mr. for answering my research questions day or night with only a few mild complaints and bribes. So when are we going to the range?

  XOXO

  m.c. cerny

  About the Author

  M.C. Cerny fell in love with books after experiencing her first real ugly cry reading, Where The Red Fern Grows. Her debut romantic suspense novel, Flashpoint was written in a series of post-it-note ramblings that would likely make her idol Tom Clancy and her mother blush. She is a post graduate of NYU, and calls rural NJ home with her menagerie of human and feline fur-babies. When M.C. is not writing, you’ll find her lurking in Starbucks, running stupid marathons, singing Disney show tunes, and searching out the perfect shade of pink nail polish.