In her bedroom, I shut the door behind us and dropped her unceremoniously on the bed. It took us mere moments to tear off our clothes. I kissed and licked her skin as I undressed her, pausing only to let her pull my clothes off me.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her naked, but it was the first time I was able to appreciate her natural beauty. She was soft and curvy with slight definition in her legs, probably from all the hiking she did with her dog.
Perfection.
Her hands were silky against my rough skin, her mouth eager. I took care of the condom situation but I didn’t rush. My body ached for her but I wanted to savor this. Touch her, taste her, experience every curve.
Her hands roamed over me, fingers digging into my flesh as I explored. Her gasps and whimpers spurred me on until I couldn’t take it anymore.
Groaning, I slid inside her, reveling at the feel of her body joining with mine. It was all I could do not to explode right there.
We found our rhythm, moving in sync like this wasn’t our first time together. I felt her let go, opening up to me, sighing and moaning with the pleasure I was giving her.
I wanted to take all of her, devour her completely. I couldn’t get enough. Possessiveness and the instinct to protect her flared to life, adding intensity to every movement. Every thrust felt like a chorus of mine, mine, mine.
The heat between us built to a breaking point. I saw her climax begin to overtake her, watched her eyes roll back and her lips part. She was so fucking beautiful, I couldn’t hold back any longer.
I unleashed inside her, groaning as the tension released in hot waves. When it was over, I paused to catch my breath.
“Wow,” she said, her lips curling in a dreamy smile. “That was amazing.”
I preened a little at her compliment. Hell yeah, it was amazing. I gave her a half-grin and gently kissed her.
I got up to deal with cleanup and she took the bathroom after me. I was about to pull my clothes back on when she came out and crawled back into bed. Normally I wasn’t much of a cuddler. The sex had been great, we’d both enjoyed it, couldn’t we get on with life?
But the little eyebrow raise she gave me, the nonverbal please, was irresistible.
I got back into bed and pulled her close. She took a deep breath, relaxing into me. I felt my muscles loosen, the tension in my body melting away at the feel of her nestled against me.
I was calm and sated, and although I was a bit afraid to admit it, maybe even happy.
July 8th
Tilikum is filled with idiots.
I went to their so-called emergency town meeting. No one noticed me. I’m good at that; going unnoticed. It’s a useful skill.
But it was a hollow victory. Who cares if I can slip in and out without calling attention to myself.
She’s still here.
I should have known my present wouldn’t be enough to drive her away. She still has her job to consider. And the mountain man.
I’m not worried about him. I don’t care who she dates or who she fucks. She can fuck half the town if she wants to.
It just makes me hate her all the more.
CHAPTER 25
Audrey
A few weeks went by and three things didn’t happen. One, Lou didn’t put up much resistance to my ideas for the newspaper. I wanted to focus not only on local news, but on the locals themselves. Feature them, in all their quirky, Tilikum glory. So we came up with Hometown Spotlight, a weekly piece that would focus on the people of Tilikum.
I thought it was a pretty good idea, if I did say so myself. Hopefully the readership would like it.
Two, I didn’t get a reply to the job I’d applied for in Seattle. Boo.
And three, no one wrote anything in animal blood on my door, or performed any other creepy acts of vandalism. That was a yay.
The biggest yay? Josiah Haven.
We’d stopped discussing whether or not he was going to sleep at my place. He just did. It wasn’t like he was moving in. Not exactly. But a toothbrush and a few other things did appear in my bathroom and instead of taking everything home each day, a few clothing items made their way onto the chair in my bedroom.
Josiah’s presence in my life eased the sting of not getting a reply from the Seattle job. Despite how great it had sounded, it was also hours away, and it wasn’t a remote position. When I’d applied, starting a relationship here in Tilikum hadn’t even been on my radar.
But now? Things were changing. Fast.
That didn’t stop me from my usual Saturday morning routine of checking online job listings and noting the ones that might be worth pursuing. But my heart wasn’t in it. I took a sip of my coffee as I sat at the kitchen table and scrolled through the postings.