by Penny Wylder
And with damp hair curling around her shoulders and the dress, she looks so much more at ease.
Stopping in front of me, she smiles. “Hi.”
“Hey.” I step aside and gesture into the house.
I’ve lived here for years and it’s been my passion project. But now I’m looking at it the way that Klara must be—with fresh eyes. Suddenly, I’m nervous.
But her eyes go wide as she looks around the house. It’s a lot bigger than the ones in the cul-de-sac she’s repairing, in a nicer neighborhood. It sounds crazy that they would be so close together. You’d think the two areas were suburbs of two different cities, but that’s Affliction Creek. It’s just the way it is.
The interior of this house is wood. A lot of wood. Carved pieces mixed with white walls and warm accents. Hardwood floors that I take time to make sure are always shining.
“This is…beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
She laughs softly. “Honestly, I didn’t realize that they made houses like this in Affliction Creek.”
“They don’t,” I say, shutting the door. “At least, not typically. There’s almost nothing left of the house I bought except for the bones.”
Surprise crosses her face. “You did this?”
Taking a sip of my beer, I nod.
“That’s a hell of a hobby,” she says softly.
“Not a hobby,” I say, laughing and bowing. “I’m a carpenter, and all-around contractor.”
Her jaw drops. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Nope.”
She glares. “That might have been something you told me yesterday. Or, you know, today when you followed me around in run-down houses all day?”
I can’t help the smirk that comes to my face. “My way was more fun. Do you want a beer? Or something else?”
“A beer is fine.”
Klara follows me into the living room, shaking her head and still gazing around the big living space. “So, when you were wondering if I had the skills to do everything, you weren’t just being a patronizing asshole.”
I hand her the beer. “Just a normal asshole.”
She smiles at that and sits down on the couch.
“But I was serious, Klara. Your parents are asking a lot of you to fix those houses up in what…two weeks?”
She makes a face. “Yeah. But I can make it work.”
I look at her. Telling her the odds of doing that isn’t going to be helpful. But even with a full crew, refurbishing and decorating five houses in two weeks is a huge amount of work. I shouldn’t offer, but the words are out of my mouth before I even really think them.
“I’m between jobs right now. I can help you.”
Klara flushes bright red and takes a long sip of her beer. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.”
“The budget on this project is kind of weird. I’m sure that we can’t afford you.”
“Who said anything about getting paid?”
She shakes her head again, standing and pacing like she can’t bear to stay seated anymore. “I can’t do that, Rey. It wouldn’t be right.”
As she passes me, I catch her around the waist, stilling her pacing. Klara goes entirely still, breath catching. This is a little like this afternoon. “Why don’t you let me decide what’s right for me?” I ask softly.
She looks up at me with those dark green eyes and the air between us is charged. “Why would you do that? I’m no one to you. You don’t owe me anything.”
I let one side of my mouth curl into a smile. “Not everything is about that, Klara. You need help, I have the skills. It’s not more complicated than that.”
Against my arm, Klara shudders, and her eyes close in something like relief. “Thank you.”
“I don’t mean offense, but why would you agree to something like this? You had to know that it’s an impossible ask.”
“They’re my parents,” she says quietly. “And no matter…they need help.”
There’s definitely more behind those words, but I get the feeling that right now isn’t the time to press for a better answer. We haven’t moved, my arm still across her body and hand on her hip. She turns her body toward me, and I don’t move my hand.
Just like that first time, her eyes drop to my lips, and this time I see the intent before she moves. I must be crazy, because I want her so badly that I can’t breathe, but I stop her before our lips connect. “I just need one thing, Klara.”
“What’s that?”
“I need you to tell me you’re not about to kiss me or anything else that happens after that because you think you owe me.”
A small gasp escapes her lips. “No,” she says. “No, that’s not it. I just…I want—”
That’s all I need. I close the distance and kiss her before she can explain. That’s the best description of what I feel too. I want.
Klara’s lips are sweet under mine, and the way her body softens, melts against mine, has me so hard I might as well have not even gotten myself off earlier. I reach out and place my beer on the bar, and separate from her just long enough to get rid of her drink, because I need her in my arms right the fuck now.
I lift her off the floor, and she perches on my hips, skirt riding up her legs. My hands are on her thighs, and I think that I could die happy now. The kiss has gone from zero to one hundred.
“You sure about this?” I ask, voice rough. There’s no chance in hell that I want regrets here. “’Cause I still want to help you, and if you’re going to fuck me and never want to see me again, we should stop now.”
Klara freezes, and her eyes are wide. “You don’t know?”
I raise my eyebrows in question.
She flushes, her entire body going a delectable shade of pink that flows down her chest. And suddenly, she seems shy.
Slowly, I shift my arms so she’s seated against me and there’s no way she can’t feel how hard I am. “What’s going on in there?”
Klara looks at me and bites her lip. “There’s no chance that I’ll have any regrets, Rey. I’ve wanted this for years. I’ve always wanted you.”
Her cheeks turn an even deeper shade of pink, but I’m barely processing that because my lips are on hers and I’m carrying her away from the drinks and up to the bedroom.
How could I have been so blind? She wanted me? Where the fuck was I that I couldn’t see her standing right in front of me?
I lay her down on my bed, fucking glad that I chose to build myself a bed that’s huge. There’s room to spread her out and worship her, and that’s exactly, completely the plan.
“You wanted me?”
“Yes.” It’s a breathless gasp. “For…so long. It never went away. When you showed up yesterday, it was crazy. Like you walked out of a dream.”
Whatever made me take a walk when I did, see her car when I did, decide to check on the new person in the neighborhood, I’m sending out thanks to that. I drop my mouth to her neck, savoring the soft floral fragrance coming off her skin from the shower. Her hair is still damp. I feel it as I sink my fingers through the silky strands.
God, I’m already lost, and we’re only at the beginning of this. I can’t stop kissing her skin and listening to her soft gasps whenever I find a new and sensitive place. “You have me,” I whisper. “You have me.”
5
Klara
I never allowed myself to imagine that this would happen. But if I said that I wasn’t hoping for it, then I would be lying. The moment our lips meet, the chemistry that I’d always imagined becomes real, and everything opens up between us.
It feels like lightning and fire and pleasure and relief.
His face when I told him that I wanted him—I’ll never forget the look on his face. The raw hunger and lust that made his eyes go dark and his mouth crush mine with bruising force. I don’t give a shit. I’ll take the bruising.
Rey’s mouth drags down my neck, leaving a tingling line of chills as he kisses across my collarbone and down
the strap of my dress to the edge of it. I didn’t wear a bra with this, which puts him so, so close to where I want him.
A low laugh rolls across my skin. “I swear I didn’t invite you over for drinks only to get you into bed.”
“Not only,” I say with a grin.
Hands drag up my legs, lifting my skirt with it. “Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it. Or the fact that I got myself off in the shower so that I could have some chance of holding myself back.”
Rey pulls back to look at me, and his eyes are still dark, chest heaving with breath.
I drag my hands down his chest, wanting to feel the skin under his shirt. “I tried, this morning. I woke up from a dream, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t get there. I’ve been so fucking frustrated all day and then you where there, just existing. Do you have any idea how distracting you are?”
His gaze sharpens, looking down at my body, and a smile that makes me shiver grows on his face. “What kind of dream?”
I blush again, and that’s all he needs to tell him exactly what my mind conjured about him. And right now, he’s doing exactly what he did in my dream, sinking down my body and pushing my dress out of the way entirely. All that’s separating him from me is my thong. A slip of lace that he looks at like he wants to tear it away.
“Was this the dream?”
I nod, and he slips the thong down my legs and tosses it aside. And then I’m sinking into pleasure and déjà vu, except that this déjà vu is so much, so much better than the dream.
Rey’s lips brush against my clit, the faintest of touches that makes me shudder. It’s almost nothing, and I have to strain my senses to feel it, which makes it so much more intense when he wraps his lips around my clit and sucks. “Oh, fuck.”
“Mmm.” The low sound in his throat sends shivers across my skin. “You taste delicious.”
Is this actually real? This can’t be happening. The number of times that I’ve imagined this situation and only thought that it would ever be a dream. Rey licks lower, down to my entrance, tracing me where I’m already wet, and dipping inside with long, smooth strokes.
The movement is so intimate, I shiver, eyes closing and my hands reaching for him, for anything to hold on to because I’m falling through clouds of pleasure and I feel like I’m slipping away.
Rey wraps his hands around my hips, lifting them off the bed so my pussy lines up better with his mouth, and he feasts on me. He swirls his tongue up and over my clit, around and around before sucking it deep with long pulls that have my hips moving and seeking more.
My knees fall over his shoulders. I’m completely at his mercy, the pleasure from his lips and his tongue and the graze of his teeth pulling me up and out and holy shit, this is so good. And if it’s this good before either of us are naked? I can’t fucking wait.
“Holy fuck,” Rey says, turning his mouth to kiss my inner thigh.
“What?” My voice doesn’t sound like my own. I’ve been replaced by a woman who’s wanton. Her voice is rich and deep and seductive.
A long lick all the way from my entrance to the top of my clit. “I think I could get addicted to this,” he murmurs as he does it again.
“To what?”
He seals his mouth over me, teasing me, licking underneath that swollen bundle of nerves in a perfect rhythm that has me arching further off the bed. That exact motion is taking me higher. I can’t breathe. I can’t speak. The pleasure is unfolding in my mind piece by piece, unlocking feelings that I haven’t had in far too long. You can use a vibrator all you want, but nothing compares to the feeling of someone consuming your pussy like it’s their last fucking meal.
My hands grip the comforter and I feel myself go over the edge.
For one breathless moment I’m hovering in that deep burst of pleasure before the rush of my orgasm crashes through me. It’s so fast and so bright that I can’t even cry out. The pleasure has stolen my breath and ripped everything away. I’m shaking and blind and I’m still reeling from the fact that this is actually happening.
The last of the climax slips out of me, leaving me boneless and still laying on Rey’s shoulders. I can feel his smile against my skin.
“I think I could get addicted to the taste of you. And to making you do that.” He pulls back and takes off his shirt in one smooth motion that now has me staring. Holy shit. Being a carpenter and contractor has been good to him. All that work has created a body with stunning amounts of muscle. The contours I saw under his t-shirt earlier today are all on display. All golden skin and sharp lines. Harsh, beautiful lines that disappear beneath his belt.
Everything I imagined wasn’t even close to this. My mind couldn’t even comprehend the real thing. I don’t know what possesses me, but the words fall out of my mouth. “You’ve already seen my ass. It’s my turn to see yours.”
Rey raises one eyebrow, but he stands with a grin. “Fair enough.”
He turns away from me, quickly undoing his belt and shoving his jeans off his hips. And then, slowly, his underwear follows. And of course, his ass is fucking perfect. Carved like a sculpture in a museum. The sight makes my mouth go dry. “Good trade?”
“Yeah,” I say, still hypnotized. “Yup. Good trade.”
“Good.” He turns, and I get my first glimpse of his cock, and I think that I’m about to pass out. Holy fuck. But he’s not even showing off this time. “Now that I’m naked,” he says, climbing over me, “I need you to be too, or I’m going to lose my mind.”
He helps me lift my dress up my body and tosses it aside. The way his eyes consume me the minute the fabric is gone makes all the arousal in my body come rushing back. I’m wet again—I was wet the second that I walked into this house —and I need to feel him. Now.
Reaching out, I grab his shoulders and pull him down to me, desperate to be skin on skin. He’s warm like the summer sun, smells like fresh air and whiskey, and his lips are intoxicating. I understand what he means when he says he could be addicted. His lips are already something that I don’t think that I’ll get tired of. Having them on mine, having them on my skin, just fucking looking at them.
Rey explores me with his hands. It feels like there’s not a single inch of skin that he doesn’t touch. His heat sinks into me and leaves marks. I could trace his path on my skin by it. And when he finally sucks a nipple into his mouth, I’m so hazy with his touch that I arch off the bed. “Oh my god.”
My nipples are hard and he makes them harder, sucking them into peaks like diamonds, teasing and nibbling. Every stroke of his tongue and brush of his teeth sinks southward, making me even wetter. I want more than this. I want him in me, and at the same time I don’t want to rush this. This is everything that I’ve ever wanted, and I want to savor every second.
However, he wants to explore me, I’m going to let him.
I wrap my arms around his neck, holding him close as he licks my skin, pushing my breasts together so he can suck both nipples into his mouth at once. A gasp escapes me, and I arch into him. “You’re fucking good at that.”
“It’s not hard when you have tits like these,” Rey says. “Fucking beautiful.”
He licks a path down the center and further down my stomach. I think for a second that he’s going to taste me again before he rolls away, grabbing a condom from the bedside drawer. “Want to put it on me?”
My eyes drop to his cock. Hell yes, I do. I want to touch him.
Moving to the side of the bed, I take him in my hands, stroking the hardness between my fingers and watch him go completely rigid before taking the condom from his hand. I squeeze him as I roll it down, making him feel every fucking inch. If I didn’t need him inside me as soon as humanly possible, I’d keep him here and tease him. Make him come all over my hands and my chest and then let him do it again.
God, I can’t even blame alcohol for these thoughts. I only had a few sips of that beer. But just being around him unlocks these thoughts about things that I’d never thought that I’d want or need. But ri
ght now, in this moment, the idea of Rey’s cum on my skin is enough for me to press my legs together in need.
Rey kisses me, guiding me backwards onto the bed again. “I see your thoughts spinning.”
“You have no idea.”
He chuckles. “I think I have an inkling.”
“Oh really?”
“Yup. And we’ll have time.” I raise an eyebrow, and he just looks smug. “Time to act on every dirty thought that’s in that head of yours. And that’s in mine. I promise.”
He fits himself against my entrance and I arch into him, moving my hips to take the tip. “Are you going to tell me your dirty thoughts?”
“Only if you tell me yours,” he says. I blush at the thought as he thrusts into me and I cry out. It’s been fucking forever since I’ve been so full, and it feels so good. I can’t even breathe.
“Fuck.” The word is a choked prayer. There are no thoughts other than the feeling of him inside me. I can’t breathe.
But now Rey is holding himself still. “Are you going to tell me?”
I don’t even know if I can form words. His face is above mine, eyes so intense it steals even more of my breath. “I thought about how I would just tease you and let you come all over me.”
Rey’s eyes grow darker. “I like that idea.”
“I thought you might.”
I don’t have a chance to ask him what his dirty thoughts are because he’s fucking me. Hard and fast and deep, setting off fireworks all over again. Holy fuck, it’s better than I ever imagined that it could be. I am so fucking glad I agreed to come back to town. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here.
Pleasure rises all around me, and I fall into it. Reaching up, I wrap my arms around Rey’s shoulders and my legs around his hips. It feels so natural and so perfect to be wrapped up in him that I never want it to end.