“I wouldn’t mind.”
I bit my lips together to keep from laughing at his response then said, “Listen, you can go back to the hotel, relax, whatever you want. I’ll go get the scripts, drop them off, then be back in no time.”
“Like I’m going to make you go alone.”
“Then let’s go.”
That was part of my ploy. He’d never make me drive around on a cold February night by myself. He’d go with me wherever I went.
And that’s part of what I loved about him.
Chapter Seven
Cain brought me to the door of the hospital nearest the pharmacy. I wasn’t sure why the place was so busy other than it being a hospital of course but it took me longer than it should’ve to get to the front of the line and ask for Sam’s meds. They already had his insurance on file so once I was up there, the process was pretty quick.
All in all the whole thing took twenty minutes and poor Cain just had to wait outside for me.
“Got it,” I said as soon as I shut the passenger door.
Cain began to pull the car away from the curb before I had my seatbelt on. We were both eager to get back to the hotel and our special Valentine’s Day night.
“So who’s running this medicine in?” he asked, watching the road while I watched him.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes. Whoever goes in there needs to be able to extract themselves without getting caught up in whatever they’re doing.”
True. It was too easy for a quick stop to turn into a two-hour conversation. At least with me and Kendra. But if Cain did it, he’d just pop open the door, toss in the meds, and leave without checking to make sure they had everything.
“I’ll go in,” I finally said.
Cain gave me a skeptical side look that made me laugh.
“What?” I asked. “I’ll be quick.”
“Doubtful.” Cain pulled the car into a parking spot in front of his apartment.
“OK.” I unbuckled and turned toward him. “I’m going to go up and be right back. No stopping.”
“Flannery,” he said as a warning. He knew me too well. I had to bite my cheek to keep the giggles in.
“No seriously. If I’m not back in five minutes, send in the Calvary.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
I gave him a smile, leaned over to give him a quick kiss which turned into more. Not wanting to end the kiss, I climbed over into his lap. With him being so damn tall, he always had the seat pushed back so far. With me being so short, I had plenty of room to straddle him, without my ass hitting the horn.
My mouth caught his moan which only encouraged me. He pulled my hips down onto him. But if I didn’t get out of that car pretty quickly, things would go in a whole other direction.
“All right. I’m going in.”
“That’s what I was about to say.”
I snorted and slapped his shoulder. “You’re ridiculous.”
He nodded back, not even trying to deny it. “Five minutes, Flannery.”
“Five minutes,” I agreed then grabbed the latch on the driver’s door and opened it. I slid off him slowly on purpose. Cain gave me a sexy smirk. He knew exactly what I was up to.
I would’ve run up the sidewalk if I could have but being February, I didn’t want to take the chance of hitting any ice. But I did jog once I was inside the building to get to the apartment faster. Luckily, they hadn’t locked the door yet.
“Oh thank god,” Sam greeted me as soon as I got over the threshold. He reached a hand out for me to give him the scripts.
“That bad?”
“Yes. I’m taking these and going to bed.” He popped the top on the pain medicine and swallowed it without even taking a drink. Then he did the same thing with the other one.
But I couldn’t leave him like that. I went into the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water, and brought it back out to him. “Take a drink at least.” When I looked around, I noticed a serious lack of Kendra and Adam. “Where are they?”
“Your room. I think they’re arguing. I have no idea and I don’t care.”
“Maybe they aren’t arguing,” I suggested.
“Also don’t care about that. I just want to go to bed.”
“Need some help?”
Sam gave me a scowl. I didn’t think it was because he didn’t need the help but because he hated that he needed it. I reached out to him to help him up off the couch and grabbed the bottle of water to put beside the bed once he was settled.
We walked slowly to the guest room where he climbed into bed and I covered him up.
“The water is here if you need it.”
“Thanks Flannery,” he said, the exhaustion of the day taking him over.
I turned the light off on my way out and shut the door behind me. Then I tapped on Cain’s bedroom door.
“I gave Sam his medication, and he’s in bed. You have to wake him up in a couple of hours.”
The door swung open with an irritated Kendra standing before me. “We got it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Everything all right in here?”
“Dandy. We’re just talking.”
“Just make sure—”
“We got it, Flan,” Adam assured me. I didn’t have to worry. He’d make sure everything that needed to happen would.
“Good. Have a great night,” I said, waved, and walked away.
As I came out of the front of the building, Cain was sliding out from behind the wheel of his car.
“I was just coming in to get you. Everything OK?” he asked.
“Peachy. Let’s go.”
Cain drove us back just as quickly as he had to the first time. This time we weren’t in any less of a hurry to get up to our room and be alone again. But the place looked slightly different from when we’d left.
Now there were several bundles of daisies, my favorite flower, strategically placed around the room as well as a very large box of chocolates on the bed. But enough that I thought I could probably swim in those chocolates.
I turned to him with a smile. “When did you do this?”
He shrugged me off. While Cain knew Valentine’s Day didn’t mean a lot to me, he did know gestures like this hit my heart in a way that defied explanation. And me being OK with these things meant a lot to him.
I walked over to him slowly then slid my arms around his waist and squeezed. “Thank you,” I whispered. Which brought his lips down onto mine.
He moved against me, his tongue sliding into my mouth and this could’ve gone right to where we wanted to be but I remembered that I also had a treat for him.
I pulled back and said, “Hang on.”
After grabbing the red set I’d bought for tonight, I headed into the bathroom to change. I took my time. Yes, I put on the bra and panties as well as the silky robe before running my fingers through my hair, giving it that slightly messy yet still put together look.
When I came out of the bathroom, Cain had the lights dimmed and had taken his shoes off to sit back on the bed comfortably.
But me… I wanted to do something for him. I stalked slowly told him. He didn’t see me at first but when he did, his eyes grew wide and his mouth slacked open a bit. Now that was the reaction I’d been hoping for. I’d left the robe open loosely making the bra and panties visible while still leaving a little to the imagination.
I got to the bed. Cain made a move to get up to reach out to me, but I pushed him back down causing his eyebrows to shoot up in surprise. Then I climbed on top of him much like I had in the car. Once I got settled on top of him, he was already growing hard beneath me.
His hands coursed a trail up my body until he pushed the robe off me completely.
“Flannery,” he whispered. “You’re beautiful.”
I smile down at him. He told me that pretty often even when I looked horrible and hadn’t brushed my hair. He loved me. So, to him, I was always beautiful.
When I leaned down to kiss him, he slid each of his han
ds into my hair and pulled me even closer. I pushed my hands under his shirt to the silky skin I’d been missing. I kept pushing until his shirt came up over his head. I kissed my way down his chest and stomach all the way down until I hit the waist of his pants. When I did, I lifted back and quickly undid the button and zipper before awkwardly pulling his pants off. He helped. There were still things I wasn’t so great at.
This time I didn’t climb back onto him. This time I kneeled beside him then leaned over and took him into my mouth. I heard a groan and thump that made me look up at him. Apparently, looking up at him while he was in my mouth turned him on even more. His leg muscles tightened under my hand.
That’s when I went to work. Using my tongue and my hand to work him up. There was a time with him when I had no idea how to do this kind of thing, but he’d been patient and taught me exactly what he liked. Now… with him… I loved how it made me feel powerful. With him I didn’t have to guess the right amount of pressure. Or exactly where to touch him to drive him crazy.
When I picked up my speed, Cain grabbed my shoulders and pulled me up.
“Keep doing that and this will be over before we really begin.”
I smiled but pressed my mouth against the back of my hand. “Sorry,” I said with a smirk.
His eyes widened. “Never.”
Then he used that grip on my shoulder to pull me to him. Which meant straddling him again. His tight hold on me had me wishing he’d tighten it even more. Cain’s lips traveled from mine, down my neck to the swells of my breasts, nipping, sucking and kissing as he unfastened the bra. Once he removed the barrier, he sucked a nipple into his mouth. I tightened my grip on his shoulders and let my head fall back with a moan.
Without warning, Cain flipped up, tossing me onto my back with him hovering above me. He kissed me again and lingered like he needed a reminder of what kissing me was like then trailed those little kissed down my body, sucking my skin into his mouth with each one. Down even more until he slipped his thumbs into my panties and slid those down my legs.
Cain settled between my thighs, pushing them apart with his shoulders. His tongue and fingers worked their magic between my legs as his tongue lapped against my most sensitive area, shooting pleasure to the far reaches of my body. I’d never imagined being with someone felt like this. Cain had assured me it wasn’t always like that. Sure, sex pretty exclusively felt good to one degree or another but even he’d admitted that it’d never been as good for him as when he was with me.
I’d told him he was lying. I was a virgin when we finally had sex. Had zero experience. I’d expanded my experience with him over the years, but he’d said right from the start it’d been better. Probably because we’d already been in love at that point.
My orgasm hit me like a bus I had no control over. It was intense and beautiful and glorious and exhausting. Once it subsided, I couldn’t move. My body had turned to Jell-O. Cain began the trip back up my body but stopped to kiss the sensitive spot on my hip that made me giggle.
“I fucking love you,” he whispered in my ear. He reached down, about to push into me, but I put my hand on his chest.
“No. Wait,” I said.
Confusion replaced heated desire, but he stopped anyway. Which let me nudge him off me over onto his back. Once he settled back against the pillows, half laying down and half sitting, I threw my leg over his then slowly lowered myself onto him.
His head fall back with a thump against the headboard as I braced myself on his shoulders for balance. He felt so good I almost didn’t want to start moving. But Cain used his grasp on my hips to push and pull me. I stifled a giggle and began to move on my own. That didn’t mean he let go. He didn’t.
Cain snaked a hand up my back to take hold of my neck and pull me down to kiss me. Even with me on top like this, he still surrounded me. I could feel him and the heat of his body everywhere. Nothing about my world contained anything but Cain.
I spend up, the muscles in my legs beginning to burn but I wasn’t giving up until he came. Our skin slapped together, and his fingers dug into my skin until he mumbled words I didn’t understand, groaned, then sighed, and slowly brought me to a stop. I collapsed into him and he wrapped his arms around me.
After dropped several kisses against his chest I asked, “What were you saying?”
“When?” he asked sounding as exhausted as me.
“A second ago. You were saying something, but I couldn’t make out what.”
“Oh. I have no idea.”
I let out a quiet giggle then sat up enough to see him. His eyes were closed and his face relaxed. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I am not responsible for what I say or what I do when I’m inside of you.”
I shook my head then kissed him softly before lifting off him and going to the bathroom. I needed to clean up and put on some actual pajamas. Once I came out and settled under the covers, knowing I’d be having some of the best sleep of my life that night, Cain went into the bathroom himself.
He came back to the bed, a small rush of cool air slid under the blanket when he lifted it to join me. He pulled me into his arms and molded his body behind me. This was how I was meant to sleep.
“I love you, Flannery,” he said against my ear then kissed my cheek.
“You said that already. I love you right back.” I relaxed back into him. “Maybe Valentine’s Day isn’t the worst,” I said honestly.
“Maybe not,” he said back tiredly. “I still have an actual gift for you. I can go grab it right now if you want.”
“Don’t you dare,” I said back almost half asleep. “Tomorrow.”
“OK. Tomorrow.”
I don’t know how long it took to fall into that relaxing slumber, but it wasn’t long. I didn’t have to worry though. Cain would be right there when I woke up, and we’d have lots of time. The rest of our lives. I hoped.
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Also by Heather Young-Nichols
New Adult Romance
Courting Chaos
Something Irish
Cross
Ransom
Finding Love
Making Her Mine
Making Him Hers
Harbor Point
Love by the Slice
Love by the Mile
Love by the Rules
Harbor Point Boxed Set
Gambling on Love
Highest Bidder
Highest Stakes
Highest Rewards
Standalones
Moonstruck
Written with Amelia J. Matthews
Dirt on the Diamond
After Office Hours: Seducing the Professor
Acknowledgements
I often find this part of the book the hardest to write. The fear of missing someone is real. But here we go!
First off, I have to give a big shout out to Nicole Andrews Moore for more reasons that I should probably list here because then I’d be rambling and people might get bored. But I’m thankful that the universe put Nicole in my life. Also, I can’t thank my Steamy Sensation Holiday Love girls for even having me along for this project. It’s going to be awesome! And for helping me with the blurb and whatever else might pop up. This is going to be an awesome year!
I never know if anyone reads this but I’m so grateful to my Sweet + Sexy with a Side of Snark girls for reading, loving, and remembering Cain and Flannery and choosing them for the first story in this HoliDATE series!
Lastly, a lot of people don’t have supportive family which makes everything that much harder. I’m lucky. I don’t have that issue. The husband and kids are mostly understanding and always supportive with the husband even reminding me to take chances. Chances aren’t always easy to take when you’re talking about your income or your career. But he pushes me to do it and I mi
ght not if he didn’t.
Waiting on the Bachelor (The HoliDATE Series Book 1) Page 4