“Y-y-yes!” I manage to get the word out as my pussy starts spasming in a hard orgasm. The word extends into a long whine as the pleasure overwhelms me.
He keeps fucking me through the waves of release, grunting like he’s doing manual labor. He holds on long enough to bring me to a second orgasm before he gives up with a loud, stretched sound, grinding against my pussy as he comes.
He keeps hold of my ass for a minute afterward as both of us gasp and shake through the aftershocks. Then we smile at each other as he pulls out, taking care with the condom.
When he’s thrown it away, he collapses beside me on the bed, easing me toward the wall to make room for his body. He wraps his arm around me, and I cuddle against him.
Safe and satisfied. Happy.
He feels the same.
“Shit, this week seemed to go on forever,” he says after a while.
“I know. For me too.”
“You’re feeling okay though, right? The bump on the head isn’t giving you trouble still?”
“No. I’m completely fine. I just wanted to see you.” Then I add because I can’t seem to help it. “And I didn’t want to fuck any other customers.”
His body tightens before he relaxes again. I’ve always known he doesn’t like to talk about me being with anyone else even though we both know it’s a reality of my life here.
Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s just work. While Cade and I together is something else.
I still hated the thought and the reality of both men I brought upstairs this week.
“We don’t got much choice,” he says at last with a thick exhale.
“I know. Not while I’m living here anyway.”
I can’t help but think about the fact that Cade lives somewhere. He said he’s only at the cave when he’s on the job, which means he has a real home.
Maybe one day there would be room for me there too.
It’s too early to mention it. Too soon to even be hoping in that direction.
There’s no dating like there used to be. Being in a real relationship is life and death because you’re directly responsible for helping the other survive.
His mother made it clear that he has real feelings for me, and it’s been impossible not to see that truth myself. But it doesn’t mean we’re anywhere close to a real relationship or that we ever will be.
Keeping people safe is his priority.
And, in his mind, I can’t be safe and also be with him all the way.
I need to bring my hopes and dreams back to earth, and I need to do it quick.
I must have some version of extrasensory perception because it’s just after this thought—within seconds of this thought—that Cade says, “I can’t drag you into my life, angel. It’s just too dangerous.”
I let the words linger in the air, sit in my heart, and then I make myself accept them. “I know,” is all I say.
He tilts his face down to nuzzle the side of my head. “I’m sorry I don’t got more to offer you.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. You’re doing something good and keeping people alive. And I’ve never really been the dreamy, romantic sort.”
I never was before. And this recent thing can be nothing more than a temporary aberration.
“I know that.” He still sounds slightly bittersweet but also warm and fond in the way he only is occasionally. “You’re the toughest, bravest person I’ve ever known. My resilient little angel.”
I laugh because he expects it, and I work on once again mentally accepting the world as it is.
