Page 56 of Brought By the Storm

Carrington wasn’t watching the screen. True to his word, his eyes were on me. “Stop being nervous. And why are you sitting so far away?”

I was two feet from him, so I inferred he wanted to cuddle. I moved up to him and let him wrap an arm over my shoulder. I leaned into his body and sighed. It was a common scenario for many, but one I had never experienced. “This is nice.”

“Hmm,” he concurred, kissing the top of my head.

We watched the entire movie while Carrington stroked my arm or nuzzled his nose against my hair. During the opera scene when Cher realized she was falling in love with Nicolas Cage and a tear slid down her cheek, a tear fell from my eye as well. I tried a subtle move to wipe it, but Carrington noticed. “Sorry. That’s embarrassing. I cry while watching sad movie scenes.”

He looked at me with fondness. “It’s sweet.”

“You don’t?” I wondered.

He shook his head no. “I don’t cry. Even when my father died, I was composed. Something broken in me, I guess.” Carrington huffed a soft laugh at himself.

“I’ll try not to,” I promised, thinking he might be more comfortable if I was composed, too.

He lifted my chin and pulled me into a kiss. “I like you just as you are, Eric Turner.”

What he didn’t realize was, though Cher emoting on screen had triggered the tear, the scene had made me realize I was falling in love with Carrington. I doubted he was feeling the same. I had to be content that he liked me.

Once the film ended, I turned off the television and turned to see his reaction. “Did you like watching it a second time?” He nodded. “I guess the criticism of the movie is that people don’t fall in love in two days. Maybe they need to be moonstruck—it’s a fantasy.”

“You don’t think it could happen?” he asked, quirking his head.

It was my opportunity to tell him that I thought I was moonstruck the night of the storm, but I was too much of a coward. “Do you?”

He got a funny expression, then broke the tension by starting to talk like Nicolas Cage’s character, repeating some of the lines from the movie. It made me laugh until he turned to me and said the line, “Now get into my bed!”

I reached over and pulled him into a deep kiss, licking his lips and tasting his tongue. I know I whimpered as he took control, and it made my cheeks flush. “Sorry. I seem to make dopey noises when you do stuff to me.”

His eyes were hooded and his lips were red and full from kissing me. “Don’t apologize. Every little noise you make pushes more blood to my dick. Your lovely sounds are like catnip for me.”

That made me laugh. “Okay. Descriptive and…weird.”

He chuckled. “You’re so sweet. And you’re such a cheeky devil.”

“Are you going to punish me?” I rasped.

He shook his head no. “Eric, I think I know what you want. When you want to play, and when you…don’t. I think tonight, you need me to hold you in my arms and make love to you. Not sex. Love-making. Am I correct?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

He got a mischievous smile, repeating a line that Cher said in the movie. “You’re supposed to say ‘okay, okay—take me to your bed’,” he joked, doing a poor job of imitating her movie Brooklyn accent.

I chuckled, but stopped when he lifted me from the couch, carrying me in his arms—replicating the actions of the movie characters. “That’s right, baby. I’m going to take you and make you feel so good,” he promised.

Carrington didn’t put me down, so I didn’t bother turning off the downstairs light. He carried me up the stairs like I weighed nothing, entering my bedroom and laying me on my bed. “Um, that was…nice. Are your arms aching now?”

He laughed and nodded. “Yes.”

“Oh. You shouldn’t have carried me,” I worried.

Carrington looked at me with affection. “My arms are aching because you’re no longer in them.” He sat on the side of the bed and took off his socks. “I suppose we should wash before we do this, huh? I mean, we were sweating outside before dinner.”

Darned practicality, but I remembered Mateo’s advice and nodded in agreement. “Um, yes. I don’t want you to think I smell bad.”

He smiled and reached for my hand. “Come on. But no fooling around in the shower. I’ll take care of you once we’re dried off and in bed.”