Page 43

The warm, solid body at my back, and the gentle breaths on my neck tell me that last night wasn’t a dream. At least not the part where Sterling carried me home, washed me in the shower and then made me come so hard I could barely move afterwards.

The rest of it – the damage to my farm, the howling in the woods – those feel like a nightmare, though I suspect when I get up and look out at the sheep paddock, I’ll find they were just as real as the good parts of my night.

“Hmm.” There’s a rumbling from behind me moments before wet lips and a soft beard brush the side of my neck. “This is nice.”

Sterling has one arm slung over my stomach, his fingers twitching against my naked skin. Rolling in his hold, I position myself so that our heads are both on the pillow, my forehead touching his.

“What is?” I ask, ghosting my lips over his. He leans into the kiss, groaning as his fingers dig into my hip.

“Waking up next to you,” he answers, lips still pressed to mine. “Holding you all night. We should stay like this today.”

I smile into the kiss, my tongue darting out to lick at the seam of his lips. Sterling opens and I explore his mouth, my body heating from the tips of my toes to the ends of my fingers.

When last did I cuddle someone? When last did I lie in bed and kiss someone like this? Lazy and warm and wanted. I’m almost tempted to take his suggestion and stay right here wrapped up in him.

But then my alarm goes off and reality rushes in, pulling me from his warm embrace.

“Urgh,” I groan, breaking the kiss and rolling onto my back. I reach an arm out to the side and find my phone, then silence the alarm. Sterling takes my change in position as an opportunity to roll on top of me. I let out an audible oomph as he settles his weight, resting with one arm next to my head. It feels good – his erection pressing against my thigh through his trousers, the heat from his chest soaking into my naked skin.

“Stay a little longer.” He kisses my neck, then moves lower, biting and kissing every inch of me he can reach, over my collarbone, to the top of my chest and then to the soft skin under my arm. He litters me with little stinging nips that have my pulse racing and my breath stuttering out.

“I…have to… get…up.”

Sterling shifts his lower body and I suck in a breath. His eyes darken and he pushes himself up on one elbow so that he’s looking down at me. Then he rotates his hips again and my eyelids flutter closed for the briefest moment.

Leaning in, Sterling rests his lips against the shell of my ear.

“Do you want more, sweet Caspian?”

Say no, Cas. You need to feed the animals and open the bakery and…

“Yes. Please. More.” A needy sound escapes me when Sterling pushes down his trousers with one hand, then thrusts his hips, our cocks sliding together, creating a beautiful friction that sets my skin ablaze.

All thoughts of responsibilities float out the window. Sex has never felt like this before. It’s always been quick. A means to an end. Nice. With women who needed more from me than I could offer. But this? This man, these feelings whirling inside me? The fire building like a volcano in my blood? This is my fantasy come to life.

The bakery can wait. Kiernan will forgive me.

Sterling nuzzles my neck with his nose and I turn my head to the side, as if offering myself up to him. He grazes his teeth over the skin, right where my pulse is racing. He does it once and then twice and on the third pass; he bites me. Not hard enough to make me bleed, but enough to sting and have a gasp catching in my throat.

Bringing my hand up, I card it through the long hair at the nape of his neck, where the bun he usually wears has come loose. I tug and he groans, pressing his teeth harder into me. My heart thuds heavily in my chest, a mix of excitement and trepidation twirling in my gut. He’s holding me down, his weight anchoring me to the bed, his teeth so close to breaking the skin. I'm vulnerable in this position. At his mercy. It's both terrifying and electrifying and all I can think is…more.

“Sir,” I whisper, the word feeling right in the space between us. I never really thought I would say it to someone. I dreamed about it, jerked off in the shower to the idea, but never imagined it would come true.

Sterling releases my neck, then licks over the abused spot.

“I love the way you smell,” he admits, taking a deep breath in and burying his nose beneath my ear. “Aroused, and a little afraid.” He pulls back, green eyes boring into mine. “Why are you afraid?” He tilts his head in question.

“Not afraid. Just…” What am I exactly? Overwhelmed? Anxious? Excited? I shake my head because I don’t know how to describe what I'm feeling. It’s an intoxicating mix of want and need, anticipation and arousal, and perhaps a tiny bit of fear.

Fear that I don't know him very well, but that I’m falling hard and fast, wanting to give all of myself to him – hand over everything so he can take care of me and I can just breathe. But then there's also the fear that this won't last. That I'll become too attached and then I'll be alone again when he eventually leaves.

Or when he realises I’m too much.

Sterling grins at my non-answer, then surges forward, slamming his lips to mine. The buzz I experience beneath my skin pushes away any thoughts of him leaving. This kiss is hard, brutal, and I lean into it, kissing him back just as fiercely. His hand runs down my chest, his nails scratching into the flesh and causing me to shudder. And then his hand is wrapping around my cock, sliding against his as he holds us both in his palm.

“Fuck,” I grind out, thrusting my hips upwards.

Sterling moves his hand up and down our shafts. The friction of us moving together is incredible and I don’t want him to stop.