by S. Herrera
Her words spur me into action. I unbutton and shuck my pants to the floor before joining her in the bed. Suddenly I feel like an inexperienced teenage boy because I don’t know what to do with my hands. Then she lays a soft hand on my bare chest and it all comes back to me.
I push her to her back and settle between her legs, winding my hand around the back of her neck bringing her lips up to mine. I consume her mouth with my own, not even coming up for air. I swallow the little moans coming from Sawyer as she wiggles beneath me, her need becoming clear with each lift of her hips, searching for contact.
My hands wander down her body as I attempt to explore every inch of her bare skin. I’d made a promise to myself to take this slow, but that was before she raked her nails down my chest. It catches me off guard and she takes the opportunity to push at my chest and flip me to my back, taking control.
I grab at her hips grinding against her core, teasing her. She gasps in pleasure, and I roll her to her back so that I can rid us both of the fabric between us. I hook my fingers in the waistband of her underwear and drag them down her thighs, brushing soft kisses where the lace once was.
Sawyer squirms under my mouth, her gasps and moans only serving as encouragement to continue. And I do, until she is screaming out my name. I hurriedly remove my boxers while giving her a chance to catch her breath.
I slide back into the bed, holding my weight above her and settling back between her legs. Kissing up her chest as she slides her hand down between us to grip me. She pumps a few times and has me groaning into her neck.
“Do you have a condom?” I ask, and her hand stills.
“Umm,” she slyly bites her lip. “Check the drawer of the nightstand.”
I raise an eyebrow at her, and she shrugs.
“I figured you’d eventually come to your senses.”
Leaning across I reach into the drawer and dig around finding just one strip of condoms. I tear one off and rip it open with my teeth. Reaching down I start to slide it down my length, but she moves my hand away and she takes over, rolling it down to my base.
My body shudders from her touch as she takes hold of me again, this time directing me right where she wants me. I look up at her, just to confirm this is what she wants. And when she digs her fingers into my hair, pulling my mouth to hers, there are no doubts.
I slide into her, slowly at first, until Sawyer wraps her legs around my hips setting a quicker pace.
“If you keep doing that, I’m not going to last much longer.” I say between breaths.
“That’s the point.” She then uses her body to flip me to my back, never breaking contact. Sawyer throws her head back and picks up her pace. I watch her beautiful body move on top of mine, taking her pleasure and giving me some in return. I run my hands up her waist taking a breast in each hand, lightly squeezing.
Pleasure builds with each thrust and when I feel my release nearing, I sink into her one last time. Tugging her body down to mine with a groan, I erupt and take her with me over the edge into oblivion.
“Wow.” Wyatt breathes out the word as I roll off him and collapse into the bed next to him. “That was…”
This time I know he’s at a loss of words because of how amazing it was because I feel the same way. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I never felt this sexy or confidant during sex with Erik.
“I think the words you are looking for are, absolutely out of this world.” I graze my fingers down his chest and back up.
He smiles at me, pushing my hair out of my face and pressing a soft kiss to my lips before sitting up and turning on the light. He removes the condom and tosses it into the garbage can on his way to my bathroom. I watch his bare butt as he walks away.
When he comes back from the bathroom, he slides on his boxers and walks to the kitchen to grab us each a glass of water. I sit up in bed, tugging the sheet up to cover myself when he comes back in the room and sits down next to me.
“So, that just happened…” He says awkwardly, but I have a feeling I know where this is going.
“It did… do you regret it?” I ask, hesitantly.
“No. Of course not.” He softly presses a kiss to my forehead. “But what does this mean?”
“I don’t know, what do you want it to mean?”
“I want you, Sawyer. Since we’ve already thrown all caution to the wind, so I don’t see any reason to hold back now. If you want this, I’m in.”
“You want me to be your girlfriend?” I like the sound of it, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to put a label on this yet.
“Yes, if that’s what you want. If you’re ready to commit to something like that, and if not, that’s okay too.” He takes my hand in his. “I’ll wait.”
“Let’s give it a few days and see how things go between us. See if you still feel the same after you’ve spent some time with me without fighting whatever this is.” I snuggle into him, realizing I just assumed that he would stay with me through the night and possibly longer.
“Sounds like a plan.” Wyatt kisses the top of my head and sets our glasses on my bedside table, turning off the light and snuggling down into the bed with me. He runs his fingers through my hair and waits until he probably thinks I’m asleep before he whispers, “I’ll wait as long as I need to. And I’ll take whatever you can give me.”
When I wake up in the morning, it’s to the sun already coming in through the window and his hands roaming over my naked body. I’d woken him up in a very similar fashion sometime during the night.
I roll over to check the clock and see that it’s already almost noon. Thankfully, I have no obligations for the next few days, so no one will be missing me or trying to get ahold of me. I can just relax and enjoy this time with Wyatt. In the early hours of the morning, he swore that we wouldn’t be leaving the bed for at least three days.
“Stop thinking so hard, it’s making my brain hurt.” His sleepy voice grumbles right next to my ear and I giggle, pushing him away.
“I was just wondering how we are going to get coffee and breakfast without leaving the bed.” I roll to face him and pull the sheet up over my mouth to hide my morning breath.
“Don’t you have one of those apps on your phone where you order the food, and they drop it off at the door? I can walk to the door, but I don’t want to put on pants.”
He throws a leg over mine pulling me closer to him to emphasize the word pants.
“I do. Let me brush my teeth and I’ll get my phone.” I hop out of bed before he can pull me back in and run to the bathroom, grabbing a robe on my way in.
After brushing my teeth and washing what’s left of last night’s makeup off my face, I return to the room to find Wyatt laying on my bed. It’s a sight I could get used to. I dig my phone out of the pile of clothes and climb back into bed with him as I pull up the app.
Scrolling until I find the closest coffee shop that’s on the list, I place an order of coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and of course some donuts. “Anything else?” I look to Wyatt and relay what I’ve got ordered already.
“Nope.” He presses the button to submit our order then takes the phone from my hand and tosses it to the bed. Climbing on top of me he gently presses kisses to my neck before I push him away.
“We don’t have time for that.” I squeal and jump out of the bed as he tries to grab me. “Put on some pants.” I walk over to my closet to find something to throw on.
Wyatt flops back on the bed disappointed. “Fine.”
We get somewhat dressed and head out to the living room. It isn’t long until we are buzzing up the delivery guy and he is handing over our food and coffee. Wyatt takes the bag from my arms and heads back toward the bedroom while I thank the guy.
I close and lock the door before following Wyatt with coffees in hand. When I get back to the room, I find him stripping back down to his boxers before getting cozy in my bed and spreading our food. He looks up at me when he’s finished, “You can’t in get bed with that many clothes on.” His
smile is wide, filling his face with happiness.
Setting the coffees down on the nightstand, I slowly pull off each item of clothing. “Deal. But we have to eat before any funny business.” Pure satisfaction fills me as the smile falls from his face when I climb into bed next to him. Completely naked.
The rest of the weekend and into the beginning of the week plays out the same. We order food and stay in bed, usually without clothes. My room is a mess of takeout containers, blankets, and pillows that have fallen on the floor.
“I think it’s time for another shower.” I say, still trying to catch my breath. Turning my head to face him, I wait for an answer.
“Are you going to come onto me again?” He teases. I have initiated a lot of sex over the last few days, but we’ve done other things too. Neither of us has left my house, barely leaving the bedroom unless we need to.
“No promises. But we should probably think about leaving the house at some point today. Everly wants me to meet her for coffee.” I nervously twirl my hair around my finger, unsure about where this will leave us.
“Damn her.” He kisses my forehead like he has done at least a hundred times since our first night together. It’s a sweet gesture he does without even thinking. That one small act of affection is breaking down the barriers that I’ve set up around my heart. Wyatt stands from the bed and walks to my bathroom to start the shower. “I should probably call Wren back and visit my parents before break is over.”
I get up from the bed feeling the soreness in my limbs and other places as I walk into the bathroom. Leaning against the doorjamb, I take advantage of my view.
“Are you checking me out?” His voice forces me to drag my eyes up to his face.
“Maybe.” I answer, then all confidence I was feeling flees my body. I hate that I can feel like such an insecure girl sometimes, but months of therapy has taught me that it has everything to do with the trauma and emotional abuse I experienced at the hand of Erik. I accept the fact that I need the validation and ask the question, “So, what are we now?”
“What do you want us to be, Sawyer?” His tone is serious, all playfulness gone.
“Do you still want me to be your girlfriend? I mean we didn’t really do much other than have sex...”
“Sawyer don’t downplay what’s been going on the last few days. We have spent every hour around the clock together. I know that you snore, but it’s quiet like a cat purring, I also know that you snack almost around the clock and now that you’ve started running again it has been driving you crazy to be cooped up in the house. You love action and sports movies, but only the old ones, because you turned down everything else I suggested. I know all of this and every beautiful inch of your body because we spent this time together.” He takes a step forward, holding my face in his large hands. “I’ve been fighting a pull toward you for months. I want you to be my girlfriend.”
Tears are threatening to fall as I lift up on my tippy toes to press a kiss to his lips. “I want that too. But I’m scared…”
“Because your brother is finally going to kill me?” He laughs lightening the mood.
“No, you idiot.” I swat at his chest. “Erik was my only real boyfriend. Which means I don’t really know how all this stuff is supposed to work.”
He gently lifts my chin so that he can look into my eyes. “We’ll figure it all out together. I promise.”
So, I put my trust in him and allow myself to fall a little further with every sweet word, soft touch, and gentle kiss.
chapter nine
We pull up to Knox and Everly’s new home about ten minutes late for Sawyer’s birthday barbeque. It’s not my fault that she looks cute as hell and I couldn’t bring myself to stop kissing her when I got to her apartment. I mean, it is my fault she had to fix her hair and makeup before we could leave, but she was kissing me back.
Considering it’s her twenty-first birthday, it was a good excuse for us to ride together. Technically her place is on my way home, so I’m able to drop her off along the way. That’s the story we’ll tell anyways when we’re asked why we drove together.
Not that we haven’t been nearly inseparable for the last few weeks or anything. Now that we’re done fighting our feelings for each other, we’ve been spending a lot more time together. I’ve spent most nights at her place instead of my apartment on campus.
Our transition from friends to a couple was seamless. She’s still my friend, but we no longer have to pretend that’s all we are to one another. Everyone knows that we hang out and study together from time to time, but that is all. Except for Everly. Sawyer maybe let it slip that she’d been with me when they went to coffee and she pried the information out of her from there.
Everly was the one to plan this barbecue for Sawyer’s birthday. She’s invited Knox and Sawyer’s parents, Wren’s family, and Charlotte and her parents. We’ve always been a close-knit group and they probably would have invited my parents if they weren’t out of state for an accounting conference. Which sounds like torture if you ask me.
Sawyer takes a deep breath then gets out of the car. Sometimes she still needs to prepare herself before going into a large social situation. Especially when the focus is on her. She knows how much it means to her family, and she might not admit it, but it means a lot to her that Everly would throw this together.
I get out and follow her through the front gate. We were instructed to let ourselves in and walk through the house because everyone would already be in the backyard. I imagine that it must drive Knox crazy that his wife still leaves her front door unlocked. I guess you can take the girl out of the small town but not the small town out of the girl.
“Happy Birthday!” Everyone yells as we step out onto the back deck.
Sawyer just shakes her head, laughing nervously in response. “Thank you, guys!”
Everly comes in for a side hug and hands Emmy off to her. “The food is almost ready. Knox just needs to finish up the meat! And I will get you guys drinks!” She bounces off in the direction of the coolers and Charlotte sweeps in, taking her place.
“Happy Birthday!” She gives Sawyer a hug around Emmy and follows in the direction Everly went.
Her parents are next to greet us, each of them pulling in Sawyer for a quick hug.
When Everly comes back, she shoves a beer at me and drags Sawyer away to talk with the women. Not knowing where else to go, I walk over to the grill where Knox, Dean, Charlotte's dad, and Wren's dad are.
“Hey, how's it going?” I say to no one in particular.
Knox lifts his head looking at me for a long moment before finally saying, “Hey.”
This isn't anything new for our interactions but I'm sure it's awkward for everyone around us. The silence doesn't last long though when Ben comes over and we all start talking about Wren and his spring training.
It's not long until Sawyer comes over to the group and I steal Emmy from her.
“Come, walk with me.” Her dad says once her arms are free.
She smiles at him, taking his arm and walking across the yard with him.
I try and fail to tear my eyes from her hips as they sway back and forth with every step.
I know I should look away because if Knox were to catch me... we won't go there. Especially considering that I am standing here, holding his baby, that was kind of almost my baby, with my ex-girlfriend who is now his wife, thinking about his sister. Who is now my girlfriend.
This is a mess.
But Sawyer is worth the mess.
“Dude, stop looking at my sister like that.” Knox's growly voice breaks through my brain’s ramblings at the same time that Charlotte is taking Emmy from my arms.
“It's time for little miss to get ready for dinner.” She says walking away.
I look around and see that it's just Knox, Dean, and I left standing here. “We talked about this, that is my sister, you need to stop looking at her like that.”
“We're together.”
“What?” The word come
s out as almost a whisper. Like he is positive he heard wrong.
“Your sister is my girlfriend.” I clarify in a tone that might be a little more asshole than necessary. That thought is quickly confirmed by the fist flying toward my face.
The crack I hear has to be my nose. Apparently, he has a few throws left in that injured shoulder yet. And instead of being the bigger guy and just letting him have the punch that I might deserve, I get one in of my own.
Soon we are both lunging for each other and the only sound to be heard is Everly yelling at us to stop and threatening her own violence. I hear Dean telling me not to hit him as he pulls me away from Knox. After taking a few steps back I see that Ben was the one to pull Knox away and Sawyer is looking between us unsure of what to do next.
“I just want you to know how proud I am of you and how much you have grown in the last year. Your mom and I are so happy to have you home.” Dad says before pulling me in for a tight hug. “Happy Birthday, my bug.”
His words leave me speechless. I’ve spent a lot of time feeling like a such a disappointment to my family and his words of reassurance mean more to me than he will ever know. “Thank you, Daddy.”
Dad releases me abruptly from his hug at the sound of Everly yelling. We both turn in time to Wyatt throw a punch at my brother, but by the looks of his face, he has already been hit himself.
“What now? This better not be about Everly again.” Dad takes off running across the lawn and I follow while his words sit like a rock in my stomach. I can’t do anything but stand by as him and Dean pull the guys apart.
There’s no way they are fighting over Everly. Right?
“What the hell is wrong with you?” She yells, swatting at Knox’s shoulder.
I look to Knox, but he doesn’t answer. When I look to Wyatt, he looks guilty and my heart sinks.
“Were you guys fighting about Everly?” I ask, forcing my voice to sound as nonchalant as possible. I cannot break down in front of this group of people.