Cora pulled around the block a few hours later. Owen had returned from Dade’s and this sudden ‘planning session’—she hadn’t needed her gifts to know that something was wrong.
Owen looked stressed and he and Leena were whispering quietly every chance they found. Something was definitely wrong.
She pulled into Dade’s driveway and sat there. What could it be? Getting out she went to the door and knocked lightly. She watched to see if any more lights came on. Peeking in the small window, she could see a light on in the living room and some light from the direction of the kitchen. She knocked again.
Chewing on her lip, she reached down and tried the handle. Opening it slowly, she stuck her head in. “Dade? It’s Cora.” No sound. Walking in, she closed the door quietly. She sniffed. Why did it smell like window cleaner? Had he washed the floors with it?
Putting her hand over her mouth, she walked into the living room and looked around. Obviously, he wasn’t big on vacuuming. She peeked into the kitchen and her eyes widened. He had a party? The counter was lined with empty bottles and a bag of garbage was overflowing on the floor.
Grimacing, she turned to head back out the door when she spotted two notes beside the phone. ‘You agreed in drunken stupor to be at witness at the handfast. Steven.’ She pursed her lips and looked at the second one. ‘Scare the shit out of me again by trying to die from alcohol poisoning and I’ll beat your ass into the ground, Bro! Owen’
Covering her mouth, she looked towards the stairs. That’s what he’d been busy doing since Mabon? Was it her fault?
She walked to the bottom of the stairs and chewed her lip. Maybe she should go up and make sure he was okay. She glanced at her watch. It had been more than two hours since Owen had left.
Setting her purse and jacket down she walked slowly up the stairs. “Dade?” She called quietly not wanting to startle him. “It’s Cora.” She walked down the hall to his room and pushed the door open.
He was lying on the edge of his bed curled up smaller than she’d have ever thought possible for a man of his size. She studied him. The dark beard made him look sexier. Although, maybe that was because of the man
She stepped closer, debating if she should try to move him to the middle of the bed, so he didn’t fall and hit his face on the table beside it. She stood over him looking down. How could she do that?
Walking to the other side of the bed, she knelt and reached in to pull his arm and shoulder to roll him away from the edge. She grinned to herself, just pull the man that outweighs you by probably close to a hundred pounds.
She was almost ready to give up when he flipped his upper body toward her. A start! She blew the curls out of her eyes and looked down at him. Maybe if she pulled his legs over, she could use a pillow to stop him from rolling onto the floor.
Walking to the other side she leaned over and lifted his legs. They weren’t light either. When she finally dropped them, she almost sprawled on top. His hand came down and grabbed her arm.
“Coralee, love it when you come to my dreams, honey.”
She looked up to see his eyes. not open enough to see. Kneeling on the bed, she tried to gently pull her arm from his grip. He obviously thought this was a dream.
“Missed you,” he whispered.
She stopped moving and looked at him. His eyes were still closed.
“Tried to drink you away.” He sighed in sleep, “glad it didn’t work.”
She didn’t know whether to answer, sleepwalkers shouldn’t be woken, was this the same? He rolled onto his side and was no further from the edge, not where she planned.
He pulled her arm gently. “Lie down with me,” he mumbled. “Like before, was nice.” He continued to pull gently.
She looked down at him. Maybe he’d let go if she did, and she could slip out quietly. She lowered down beside him, but had no choice but to face him as he was still holding her wrist. When she felt his grip loosen, she went to roll away quickly when his big arm closed over her waist, pulling her tight against him. Now what? Gently, she pushed against his chest only to feel him sigh, but the arm wasn’t letting go.
“Love holding you,” he murmured against her ear.
She turned and found her face less than an inch from his. His breath smelled of toothpaste. A good thing after having seen everything downstairs. One big leg wrapped over her legs and she found herself completely anchored to his bed.
Think, think, think, she chanted in her head. Physically moving him wasn’t going to happen. “Dade.” She whispered as softly as she could, not wanting to startle him awake.
“Miss you.” He murmured against her cheek.
Her eyes widened as she looked to see if he was awake. His face was still completely relaxed and his eyes were closed. “Dade.” She tried again.
“Mmm.” He nuzzled into her neck.
Wiggling, she tried to turn and face him, hoping maybe she could wiggle out of his hold. She just knew she couldn’t wait for him to wake up and see her in his bed. She moved her head back and touched his mouth softly. “Dade.”
His lips moved against her fingers in a small kiss. “Best dreams have you in them, honey.” He said sleepily. “Never mad at me in my dreams.”
She smiled at the sleeping man. She had put him through this by not allowing him to explain or returning any of his calls?
“So sexy.” He sighed. “Love it when you dance for me.”
His forehead now rested against hers. She smiled at his confessions. She kissed his mouth gently and admitted she had missed him too, missed being close to him, even if it was just to sit nearby.
His mouth moved against hers, slowly and lazily. “Miss your kisses, Cora.” He brushed his mouth over hers again.
She pulled back a little bit and his arm tightened around her.
“Don’t go yet, always wake up when you leave.” He nuzzled into her neck, brushing his lips over it. “Stay and dance for me, honey…so sexy…every time I close my eyes, I see you dancing.” He pulled her against him. “Those rings of yours turn me on.” He kissed her throat harder as his hand moved up into her hair. “All of you turns me on.”
She felt the heat flood her and stayed still trying to remind herself a sleeping and possibly drunk man was doing this. His hand cradled her head, stopping her from moving away from him. “Dade.” She whispered against his hair.
“I want to watch those rings while you dance for me.”
His hand tightened in her hair, pulling her head back gently. She caught her breath as his mouth moved down her neck to the first button on her shirt.
“Need to see, honey.”
His lips brushed over her skin and she looked down to see his eyes still closed, well they looked closed although with those long lashes they could be open.
“Let me see, honey, please let me see again.”
His voice was so deep it sent shivers racing over her, she bit her lip reminding herself it wasn’t real, or he didn’t know she was really here. How far could a dream state go? She chewed her lip and closed her eyes. She ran her hands down the back of his hair and felt the dampness. He really was sleeping off some heavy indulgences.
Pangs of guilt rushed through her. He’d said he tried to drink her away. As she ran her hands down his hair, his lips brushed gently against her skin.
This was so wrong she scolded herself. So wrong!
His big hand moved down her back and slid under the back of her shirt. The warmth of his hand against her skin made her bite her lip harder.
Coralee Avery you cannot have sex with a man that has no idea what’s going on. There! She thought, that was it right there. His hand moved up her rib cage as his mouth moved to her throat again.
If he could stir her body without even being aware, what would she do with a sober, focused Dade? Her cheeks flushed at her own thoughts.
“Dade.”
His mouth didn’t stop. He moved his hand and felt the resistance from the shirt she wore and tried again. She felt the bottom two buttons pop off her shirt. Now would be a good time to move. His hand moved to push the shirt aside. If he wasn’t on top of you, you could move, she thought.
Every thought vanished as he brushed his lips over the skin he’d exposed along her rib cage. Her breath caught in her throat. You have to leave, she thought.
He pushed the material up further and dragged his mouth up to her breast. You slut, she thought, bad day to not wear a bra. When his lips brush against the ring, her nipple tightened and she gasped.
His tongue played with her nipple ring, then he groaned, pulling her tight into hard body. She could feel how hard he was against her leg and even though he was dreaming, his body was more than aware.
She didn’t want him to stop and the idea made her gasp again. His mouth closed over one breast and while he sucked gently his tongue continued to lick over the ring.
His hand pulled at her blouse until she heard the last two remaining buttons pop. Releasing one breast he moved to take the other into his mouth.
His hand molded her waist and hips. I can’t believe this. She shook her head trying to focus on what to do. Besides that, she chastised as her hands gripped his hair and held him to her breast.
Just once. Her eyes flew open and she looked down at the dark head. Once to feel like I’m his. As if he heard her thoughts, he lifted his head, then pulled her body down to take her mouth with his.
He fed on her mouth as a starving man would. Her mouth responded. Her whole body responded. With his tongue, he forced her teeth apart and stroked her own frantically. He lifted himself on one arm, continuing to kiss her until she gasped, breathless, trying to keep up. When his hand moved down over her hip to caress her thigh, she pulled her head away to inhale deeply.
His hand reached down between her thighs and cupped her, as if her skirt didn’t exist. She gasped again as his mouth sucked in a hard nipple and his hand rubbed over her.
Her hands gripped his hair, she wasn’t sure if she should pull him away and launch herself off the bed or hold him to her. With a quick movement, he now had her skirt pushed up to her waist, his hand caressing her bare thighs.
He cupped her again firmly pushing his palm against her. She moaned and closed her eyes. desperately trying to think.
When his hand hovered over the edge of her thong, she wanted to lift her hips to help him remove the barrier, then blushed at the thought. She bit her lip to keep from crying out when he slid beneath the material and dipped two fingers inside her. His mouth moved up to attack hers and she moaned, as his fingers stroked her.
Cora was panting when he moved his mouth to her shoulder. He was rubbing his hand against her while moving his fingers and out. She rocked against his hand and felt him rocking against her thigh. She felt her muscles tighten against his fingers and she moaned against his neck. She didn’t want to stop now.
Pushing into his hand, she felt the spasms clench his fingers. Groaning against his throat, she turned her head and bit into his shoulder as his movements halted.
She tried to catch her breath but couldn’t as he lifted his mouth back to hers and kissed her until she moaned. He pulled her thong down her hip, she shifted so he could take it off. She heard the material rip and didn’t care. Lifting his weight, she felt his knee push her thighs wider. Reaching down she grasped his sarong and pulled it aside. His hand moved under to grasp her buttocks and lift her hips into him.
Her breath caught as he slid inside her. He groaned against her mouth, and thrust past the barrier. She inhaled and breathed through the shock. She’d barely had time to accept what had just happened when he began to thrust into her with strong steady movements.
She lifted her hips to meet him and gasped every time their bodies connected. Gripping his shoulders, she tried to meet his movements, reaching for what she knew was coming again. He gripped her thigh, pulling it to his waist, so he could go deeper into her.
She moaned and bit her lip. His hand held her to him as he thrust harder. She gulped in air and felt the quivering move through her muscles again. Meeting his thrusts, she panted, then groaned against his throat as her muscles tightened around him. His body responded as he thrust into her twice more before shuddering and growling into her hair.
Swallowing, she fought to catch her breath. His chest was heaving against hers as he did the same. She could feel his heart beating against her breast. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her shaking limbs.
Her eyes flew open when the realization of what just happened hit her.
He kissed her neck and pulled out of her, moving down to collapse against her, his face between her breasts. Now she panicked, she couldn’t let him fall asleep. If he didn’t crush her, she’d still be there when he woke in the morning.
Pushing against him gently she almost cried with relief when he flipped off to lie beside her with his arm draped loosely over her waist.
“Best dream.” He whispered.
She lay there watching as his breathing became slower and steadier. She couldn’t believe what just happened! She wanted to smile and laugh out loud, but more than that, she wanted to sneak out as soon as she could.
You are so bad Coralee, she told herself. She reached to brush his hair back from his face. Her own face burned from his whiskers but she’d deal with that later. Leaning over she brushed a gentle kiss over his mouth. I’ll deal with you later, Dade Jones—much later.
She moved his arm off her slowly, carefully sliding to the edge of the bed. Looking back, she glanced down at his body. Grinning she reached over and pulled at his sarong to cover him. His body was covered in sweat. Standing up she slowly tested her legs.
She looked in the dark to see if she could find her underwear. Not good. Where had he put them? She looked around on the floor for them.
Sighing, she tied the open ends of her shirt together and bent down to look more thoroughly, in the dark. Can’t turn on a light that would wake him for sure. Straightening again, she realized his room was as just as much of a mess as the rest of the house. She’d have to come back for them when she could see.
Leaning over, she pulled the covers over his body to keep him warm. She felt a button under her hand. Buttons! She looked down at her shirt. If she couldn’t find her underwear, the chances of finding her buttons wasn’t good.
He moaned and threw an arm over his head. She froze and held her breath. Leave. Go. Leave. She turned and silently raced for the door, like a thief would. Once more, she glanced back at him, smiling, then turned and walked down the stairs.
She went into the downstairs bathroom and flicked on the light. Oh my. Who was that woman in the mirror? She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to bring order from the current mussed state. Rinsing her face with cool water, she straightened and smiled at her reflection.
A thought had her face heating, How would she ever begin to explain this to him? Oh, Dade I was worried and went to check on you, we accidentally had sex.
Shaking her head, she flicked off the light and went to get her things and leave. It was going to be a long day at work tomorrow. She thought of the man upstairs as she opened the door. Might be a longer one for him, if he’d drunk as much as she thought he had.
Closing the door, she went quickly to her car.