by A. J. Downey
Ain’t love fuckin’ grand?
Chapter 31
Hope
I closed my eyes. It had been years and years since anyone had combed my hair for anything other than a precision trim. I’d forgotten how relaxing, how meditative it could be. Cutter’s fingers were sure but very gentle as he combed my hair carefully. Since it was less likely that he had anything I’d done his first. Not so much as a nit.
“Anything yet?” I asked and my voice sounded dreamy and relaxed. Between the hair combing and the buzz I had going on from my beer, I wasn’t in a bad place right now, but leave it to Cutter to make it better. He pressed a kiss to the back of my shoulder, I sat on his floor wrapped in a towel, peeling the label off my beer, holding it awkwardly in my casted hand.
“A few,” he murmured, “No eggs that I can tell, I think you’re safe.”
“Hmm,” I huffed a laugh, “My hero,” I said softly. He drew the comb through the long strands of my hair, and I sighed.
“Hell of a way to get you moved in,” he commented dryly.
“I don’t recall agreeing to live with you,” I said and took a deep swallow of my beer. I wanted to. I wanted to put down roots so bad but I was afraid. I wanted to maintain my independence too. I felt like I was relying on Cutter entirely too much by this point. I wasn’t, nor would I ever be, a woman who couldn’t handle her own shit.
“Let’s get something straight, Sweetheart. I said you were mine back there and you didn’t disagree so that makes you mine.”
“Oh, does it?” I asked amused but my temper was also getting a good start, fueled by alcohol and the sense that I was somehow being cornered. Except how could I be cornered into something that I wanted?
“Yep,” he cradled me back against him and pressed his lips a little more insistently against my skin, and of course he had to say the one thing that would unravel me completely…
“I love you,” and just like that I came completely undone all over again.
I took a deep breath and fought down the welling tears but he’d more than earned it, more than deserved me saying it back and so I said, “I love you too,” my voice cracking.
“Oh, Sweetheart,” he tugged on me and I stood up, turning around. He pulled on my towel and it fell to the floor and with a final guiding tug he pulled me down across his lap, I straddled him, and his towel was very much in the way.
His arms snaked around me and our lips met, carefully at first, then more insistent, hungry then ravenous, we devoured each other. I loved his wandering hands on my body, how they teased me how they gripped my ass and the appreciative and very enthusiastic noise that occurred when they gripped my ass. He pulled me tight up against him, one arm pinning me against his body the other teasing my pussy, fingers rubbing, looking for a way in though he couldn’t see what he was doing the way he had a hold of me.
I held my casted arm against me, my other hand tangled, fisted, in his long, damp hair as our mouths attacked each other. The fact his towel separated us quickly became infuriating. Cutter reached between us and gyrating his hips shoved the terrycloth out of the way and in a perfect moment of synchronicity pushed himself so I could glide down over the top of him.
I moaned into his mouth as he filled me and sighed in satisfaction as he became fully seated inside of me. He broke the kiss just long enough to look up at me. He leaned back and with a soft sigh said, “Take your pleasure Baby, I wanna watch you move.”
So. Hot.
I rode him, slow and deliberate, never breaking eye contact, and the depth of the emotion in his eyes left me breathless. He talked me up, his voice low and intense telling me things every woman wants to hear but never really believes. He told me that I was beautiful, that I was tight; that I felt so fucking good. That he loved my body, that I was everything good, and perfect for him and when he spoke, I listened and I couldn’t stop myself from believing him if I wanted to.
It heightened the experience like nobody’s business, a warm glow suffusing me from the inside out until I felt positively radiant. When his hands smoothed over my skin I tightened around him and it brought me that much higher. When his thumb found my clit, gently stroking, teasing me there, the world stopped spinning, the universe held its collective breath, my pussy gave a deep, satisfying throb and all that time that stood still, caught up all at once and I was spinning, hurdling back to earth, beautifully free falling through space and time and sensation, until I came back to myself, safe in Cutter’s arms.
God damn, orgasms with him were the most intense thing I had ever felt in my life. I shuddered with little aftershocks as he held me, blinking stars out of my vision, yeah, stars, as in blotches and fire bursts of color swimming across my vision, obscuring the room. My head lay on Cutter’s shoulder as I panted and his arms held me to his body. I was up on my knees and he took full advantage of that, thrusting lazily but evenly up inside me, drawing out the crashing waves of my orgasm until they gently lapped at my edges, the tide of intensity receding gradually.
“Holy God!” I half gasped half groaned and Cutter chuckled.
“Can you hold onto me? I want to finish this in my bed,” he murmured into the side of my neck, kissing me there, lips, tongue and teeth worrying at the erogenous zone, sending a wash of tingling bliss skittering along my edges, washing over my skin.
It took me several moments to get my shit together enough to wrap my arms around his strong shoulders in any kind of grip that left him secure enough to lean forward and propel us up with his strong legs. The cast on my arm made it awkward at first and I thought for sure I was going to slide off him and crash through the coffee table at one point, before he got his hands under my thighs and hitched me up so I could wrap my legs around him.
He slipped out of my pussy and I mourned the loss for only a moment but then we were moving, Cutter striding with some serious purpose and intent up the narrow hall, the cool wood paneling brushing my knees to either side of him as he propelled us towards his bed cupboard where I was pretty sure he had every intention of fucking the last bit of sense I had right out of me for the night.
I was on board, in fact, as soon as he set my ass on the edge of the mattress I made to pull myself back, into the bed. Wrong answer. Cutter wrapped his strong arms around my thighs and pulled me back towards him and the edge.
“Where the fuck you think you’re going?” he asked, an edge of humor to his tone.
“Not going to finish what you started?” I asked.
“Oh, I always finish what I start, Sweetheart. I’m just finishing it my way.”
He pressed into me from his standing position and I let my arms fall above my head in supplication, back arching. God he felt so damn good. Filling me, stroking all the right places, rough, slow, it didn’t matter this man was every kind of hot and then some and was a god with the way he used his dick. Cutter laughed, a bright rich sound that coated my soul in warmth. Such a sexy sound. I sighed, arching.
“A god, eh?” he asked and I giggled. Had I said that out loud?
He bent over me and kissed my mouth, slipping in and out of me at a sedate pace that just stoked my fires higher.
“Harder, please harder,” I begged, breathless with need. Cutter laughed again, a low, deep, dark chuckle and it was just such a turn on. I mean, his laugh turned me on like nobody’s business and I’d never encountered that before. His hands found purchase at my waist, above my hips, where he held me tightly so that he could drive himself into me and oh like that! Yes, just like that!
I was boneless, voice lilting as I cried out with every deep thrust. It felt so incredible, and every time his body met mine, his cock went just deep enough to bottom out, to bump my cervix and that slight edge of pain was just perfect, giving such a sweet, intense sharp edge to the pleasure building between my thighs, pooling in my lower body. That heavy glow of impending explosive orgasm.
“Oh yeah, you’re close aren’t you, Sweetheart?” his voice was low and intense, I opened my eyes and met his which
were positively molten, his expression set in lines of concentration.
“Yeah,” my voice came in a breathy, girly gasp and I didn’t even care. I could be something soft, something feminine and sweet, I could be a woman with Cutter and he wouldn’t hold it against me later when the clothes were back on and I had shit to take care of. He wasn’t like that with me, he was the only one who wasn’t. I liked letting go for him, he made me feel secure enough to do it and that was pure magic on his part.
“Good, I want you to come, I want you to come all over my dick and then I’m gonna make you come again. You like that idea?” he asked, but he wasn’t asking, he was telling me exactly what he was going to do and he already knew exactly how his words would affect me.
The sensations coiled tightly in my body sprang free with his words and I cried out, body tightening, shuddering, spine bowing backwards until just my ass and the crown of my head met the sheets. Cutter let out a triumphant whoop and drove up into me with a renewed vigor as my body fluttered and pulsed on the inside.
“God I love the feel of you when you do that!” he cried and he wasn’t about to let it stop. He found my clit with the pad of his thumb, just when I thought I could begin my descent from the clouds, and with some gentle strokes, he brought me again, the pleasure and intensity of it bringing a shout from me. I came again and he made me come at least one more time after that and I had no idea how, but he just kept the orgasms rolling, until I was completely steamrolled flat in his bed and didn’t care what he did. I think that had been his entire plan in the first place.
He pulled from me, and I knew he was soaked, I felt slick, drenched and it was all because he wrung me out so beautifully. He urged me to crawl up into bed and got up into it with me.
“Not done yet, Sweetheart. On your knees for me, Baby.” I complied and he knelt behind me. He shoved into my soaking cunt and I guess I wasn’t completely out of it because I shoved my ass back at him, meeting his body with mine. I arched low and moaned loud and almost missed it when he opened the cupboard beside him. A plastic clack, the lube was cold between my ass cheeks, against my asshole but I was close to coming yet again so I really didn’t care.
“Tell me if any of this is too much,” he murmured and his voice had gone from demanding, to velvet wrapped steel. Warm and alive, his tone genuinely concerned and loving, I don’t know how… but it somehow added sensation to what was already going on with my body. I squeezed down on him, close, so close and I couldn’t believe it but I wanted to come again so badly.
He teased the pad of his thumb against my asshole and oh wow, close and closer still… and then he pressed in carefully and breached my opening and I came all over again. Hard and fierce I shivered violently, collapsing onto my chest gasping. His thrusting slowed and eased and he rode me out, withdrawing from my body slowly as I shook and quivered a beautiful nerveless mess.
“Ready to try this?” he asked and I could only nod dumbly. He murmured sweet things, encouragement, yes, but also gave me an out, as he continued to play with my body, working me up to the girth of his cock. He really wanted this, the idea really turned him on and admittedly, I had never had a good experience with anal but holy god… this was different. I’d never felt anything quite like this before and it was good. A tingling wash swept down my entire body from the back of my neck to the soles of my feet, wrapping around and teasing me from the inside out, sparks of pleasure flitting along my nerve endings like will-o-the-wisps.
He pressed his cock against me and slipped in, stretching, there was a bit of discomfort, my body spasming a time or two around him, trying to adjust. He murmured a suggestion and I obeyed, pushing out against him and he eased his way in, slow, deep and the sound of pleasure that rumbled from his chest had me sighing and relaxing further. He took his time, moved slowly, took such tender care not to hurt me, but it didn’t hurt. It did just the opposite.
“Oh my god…” I heard myself say but I couldn’t be sure it was my voice. I was in a euphoric haze, like I was riding out the longest, softest, purest orgasm of my life. My whole body floated and it was a little bitter sweet as I recognized that this was one of those moments that sure, subsequent times would be really fucking good, but there was nothing as awesome as your first time. I recognized that in this, and oh my god, I was determined to enjoy it, to ride this out as long as I could because it felt incredible.
Cutter was amazing. He moved slowly, his stamina beyond fucking compare. He took his pleasure now, at his own pace. From the feel of his long, leisurely, strokes he was in no hurry to come. He would ask how I was doing every once in a while, and I would try to pull it together long enough to moan but I was in that place between worlds now, loving every minute of it.
“Don’t stop, God please don’t stop,” I whispered and he made a satisfied hum, his hands stroking leisurely over my ass, my hips, up my back in a sweeping arch to my shoulders and back to my hips.
“Oh, Baby, oh Hope, I can’t help it, I’m gonna come,” he said, voice breathy and almost as euphoric as my own when I found it. His hips jerked and he came inside me and it felt so, deliciously dirty. I loved it, he slowly and carefully pulled out and smoothed his hands over my body one more time as I giggled and just sort of keeled over onto my side, panting. My legs were numb from kneeling so long.
Cutter lay facing me and gathered me to his chest, kissing my forehead, which made my eyes drift shut. Reverent, cared for, loved, that was what his kiss made me feel in that moment and it was all I had ever secretly longed for… It was a powerful spell he wove over me.
“Jesus Christ that was good,” he uttered when he had mostly caught his breath.
“Hmmm…” I hummed gently, words were not in my forecast just yet.
“C’mon Baby, let’s get you cleaned up, I’ll change the sheets while you’re in there and tuck you in, wash up myself and be back before you know it.” I nodded reluctantly. It needed to happen, it really did.
“Be right back, let me get the shower heated up for you…”
He left me and I dozed lightly, I wondered if I were going to be sore tomorrow… then I lazily drifted from that thought to wondering if I would care. He came back, made me drink some water and helped me into the shower. It was a pain in the ass holding my cast out of the spray but I managed a good wash and rinse of my body and only mildly got my hair wet.
Cutter was a man of his word. He had the sheets changed and the bed ready when I got out. He dried me off, tucked me in and kissed me with that same reverence of before and I melted. I couldn’t ever remember a time when anyone took such care of me…
He kissed me, and smoothed my hair back from my face, “Back before you know it… I wish my damn shower were big enough for two. You good?” he asked.
I smiled, “I’m good,” I whispered drowsily.
“Okay, back in a minute,” he promised again and I was alone.
I lay in the soothing dark, lulled by the sound of his small shower and the water lapping against the hull of his boat, the gentle bob and sway of the vessel in the harbor. This was peace. I opened my eyes, I didn’t want to fall asleep before he came back, despite how it sucked at my edges. Light from one of the portholes fell across the image of the sad girl I’d examined the first time I’d ever been in his bunk. I closed my eyes then. I didn’t want to think about him with anyone else. Not after what we’d just shared.
I was barely, vaguely aware of him coming back to bed, he slipped in behind me and pulled me back into the curve of his chest, kissing the back of my shoulder with that same reverence, making me sigh and drift off more soundly, more completely into the deepest, securest, dreamless and probably most restorative sleep I had ever had.
Chapter 32
Cutter
She slept soundly, and I drifted off right along with her. The sun was streaming bright through the portholes the next morning when the sound of people boarding the Mysteria Avenge jolted me awake.
I carefully slid my arm out from under the curve of
Hope’s neck and slipped to the end of the bed. I pulled a pair of blue and white board shorts out of my cupboard without really caring and pulled them on. If it was some of the guys, which was likely, they didn’t want a view of my junk. Not that I cared. I stood up and stretched, yawning and plucked a hair tie off the hook from under my cut, replacing it. I whipped my long hair into a low pony as I trudged the length of my boat just for the first knock to fall on the hatch leading above deck.
“All right!” I called out and flung it open.
A keen girly excited shout and I was stumbling back into my living room confused, the glaring light of the outside which had stolen my vision resolved into the smiling pixie face of Li’l Bit who was legs around my hips and arms around my shoulders.
“Hi!” she crowed and laid one on me, her lips as soft as I remembered, lush and warm. Her enthusiasm caught me off guard and I froze of a second, eyes wide, hands on her hips and the world lost focus for a second.
Damn. I was completely caught off guard. I’d wanted the woman in my arms for fucking ages, had been bitter as hell to let her go back to her man, to her life and now she was here, warm and enthusiastic and all I could think about was putting her down, putting some distance between us before…
“Eh he he hem…”
Fuck.
Chapter 33
Hope
Fierce, hot, intense and immediate. Jealousy ripped through me like a rocket propelled grenade. I finished buttoning the front of my black shirt dress and watched the man I loved, who supposedly loved me back, kiss another woman in front of me and I didn’t have a damn thing I could really say. I reached down and pulled my flip flops out of the pocket on the side of my pack that just happened to fit the two pairs I had perfectly and dropped the black ones to the carpet by the bunk step.
I shrugged my feet into them while Cutter stared at the woman in disbelief and then it registered, not what I was looking at but who. Fuck. It was the sad green eyed girl. The one whose picture was taped, wrinkled and forlorn to the inside of Cutter’s bunk. Where he could wake up to her image every morning and fall asleep looking at it every night… like I had last night.