He used the hand on my hip to lift me. His warm breath danced along the back of my neck. “This is the kind of morning I’d love to repeat over and over. Actually, this moment, right here,” he said, and I felt him poised behind me a moment before he thrust deep into me.
My back bowed as I cried out. The feeling of him—it was more intense, fuller and tighter, stretching every nerve ending to the edge. But it was more than him just being inside me. There wasn’t so much as an inch between our bodies. His much larger body was curled around me, sealed to mine.
“You okay?” His voice was dark, gruff.
“I am,” I managed to breathe. “God, Tanner…”
He kissed my cheek and then his lips moved to my ear. “I’m going to need you to hold on, because I’m going to give it to you hard.”
I shuddered.
And then he did just what he said he was going to do.
Tanner moved fast and he hit deep, only slowing down to grind against me before picking his pace up. In this position, there was nothing I could do other than meet each of his thrusts and I did so happily, willingly. He was in control at this moment, and as I clenched the sheet, a riot of sensations lit me up.
“Oh God, Tanner,” I gasped, rocking back against him. “Yes, yes, yes.”
He made this sound, like a rumble of approval, and I felt it wash over me, through me. I was panting and he was making harsh noises. He got a hand under me, and then he started to touch me between my thighs as he slammed into me. The pleasure was so quick, it was sharp and near violent.
“Fuck,” he grunted against my neck.
Suddenly I was on my knees and my hands were pressed against the headboard. One of his arms was around my hips, holding me in place as he thrust forward, the other was beside my arm, his hand closed over mine on the headboard. In a daze, I opened my eyes and stared at our joined hands.
My breath caught and I lost a little of myself at the sight, and then I lost a larger part in the way he moved behind me. And I was completely gone as the room filled with sounds of our bodies meeting together, our moans and soft curses. There was no rhythm between us. What became of us was a wild dance. The tension spiraled tight, and I was tossed right over the edge. I threw my head back against his shoulder as my body clamped down. The most exquisite rush of pleasure poured into my body, stunning me with its intensity. It whipped through me, heightened by every powerful thrust. My arms came out, but he caught me, sealing me tight against his body as he came, only his hips jerking.
There wasn’t a single muscle in my body that worked in those precious moments of pure bliss. I was limp as a noodle, trembling as he guided me down and then left the bed to deal with the condom. I was where he’d left me when he came back to the bed and somehow we ended up face-to-face, his arm around me, his hand smoothing over my flushed cheek. I was completely sated. I hadn’t known it could be like this. I wanted to tell him that, but my tongue was too heavy.
Tanner tucked me against him. “I think…I think I now need a nap.”
A tired but light laugh escaped me. “Same here.”
“Then we have a plan.”
“We do?” I murmured.
“Yeah.” He kissed my forehead. “Since we don’t have shit to do and we can do whatever we want, we’re going to nap now.”
I smiled as I snuggled into him. “Sounds like the best kind of plan.”
Late in the afternoon, I stood in front of Tanner, a package of raw chicken in my hands. “I know I’m right.”
He arched a brow as he leaned against the counter. “I have never heard of such a thing.”
“I’m sure there are a lot of things you’ve never heard of.”
“No way,” he drawled lazily.
I rolled my eyes. “If you boil the chicken first, then it doesn’t take as long to grill it and then you always make sure it’s not undercooked.”
“I get what you’re saying, but it just seems repetitive.”
“But it’s not the same thing. You’re not cooking it completely,” I tried to explain for what felt like the hundredth time. “Forget it. Just let me do this.”
He grinned as he waved a hand, as if granting me permission. Choosing to ignore that, I set the package on the counter and then cranked the heat up on the pot of boiling water.
“At least it’s stopped raining,” he said, and when I turned around, he was staring out the glass doors. “I bet Kyler and Sydney are wishing they’d stayed here.”
“They’re probably all cuddled up in a tent, making little Syd babies.”
He smiled and then winked. My heart toppled over itself. “Kind of like what we’ve been doing all day?”
Heat flashed across my face.
“Except we fall into the category of doing practice runs,” he continued, his grin sly. “Though I’d love to see a little redheaded Andrea.”
Oh my word, my eyes widened. Did he really mean that? My tummy dropped in a pleasant way and my heart started to dance, but I turned around, catching the end of the package. There was no way he was being serious, and I was not going to allow myself to read into that comment. Nope. I was not going to let my brain do anything stupid.
Earlier, while Tanner was in the shower, and I’d gone into my head—those quiet moments…they hadn’t been so great. And while I’d showered, my thoughts went to familiar places filled with doubt, areas where overthinking ran rampant.
Sometimes…sometimes it felt like there were too many thoughts running around in my head, and that was one of those moments. I started to panic as I stood under the showerhead. Would Tanner regret last night and this morning? Did it mean anything to him? What would happen if I told him that I thought…that there was a good chance that I was in love with him? Did he really even know me?
The answer to that question was what scared me the most. I didn’t think that he did know me. At least not the “me” that existed when there were quiet moments, and that was a “me” I didn’t know how to deal with.
But it wasn’t just about Tanner. Those feelings of panic and uncertainty. Those feelings were never about just one thing. If they were, they’d probably be easier to deal with.
“Was that too honest?” he asked, and his voice was closer—real close.
I shivered as I continued to rip open the package of chicken and then picked up the tongs. “I just don’t think you…you really mean that.”
“Are you inside of my head?” His hands settled on my hips and I gave a little jump. “Do you know what I think?”
That question hit too close to home. So I took a moment and picked up the chicken with the tongs, plopping it down in the boiling water. “I don’t think I want to know what’s inside your head.”
“Uh-huh.” Tanner circled an arm around my waist and pressed into me. He kissed the side of my neck. “I think you’d like the things that go on inside my head.”
Despite my earlier thoughts, I smiled as I picked up the last piece of chicken. “Okay. Maybe.”
“Definitely,” he murmured, dropping a kiss against the sensitive space below my ear.
“Possibly.”
Tanner stepped back as I took the tongs over to the sink and washed them. When I turned around, he was staring into the pot with a look of disgust on his face. “This…this is gross-looking. All that white stuff floating to the top?”
I laughed as he shot me a look. “Don’t be a baby.”
“Will it get me spanked if I act like one?”
“Oh God.” I laughed again, shaking my head.
Grilling the chicken and then eating dinner pretty much consisted of us bickering and then Tanner making some kind of random, perverted statement that either made me giggle, blush, or both. There were no quiet moments, not for a while, not even when Syd and Kyler returned from their camping trip.
But those quiet moments surged back with a vengeance as we all sat in the basement’s media room.
Rain had started up again, shortly after Syd and Kyler had shown back up, and we were currently watching the boys engage in an impromptu air hockey death match once more. Kyler had a beer. Tanner had a beer. Even Sydney, who rarely drank, had one of those fruity beers.