“What?” I giggled nervously, setting my mug on a coaster.
He dropped his bag and took three long strides before wrapping his arms around me and planting a deep kiss on my mouth. He cupped my jaw, and then the kisses slowed, less passionate and more careful, giving me a few more pecks before pulling away.
He bit his bottom lip, tasted the cider on his lips, and looked down at the mug. “What is that? Rum?”
I smiled. “Just a little with my cider. It’s been a long day.”
“It’s been a long month. A really long month.” He took turns looking at both of my eyes, his warm brown irises bouncing back and forth while he thought of something adequate to say. He scanned my face, sliding his thumb along my bottom lip.
He shook his head. “What is that amazing smell?”
“The candles.”
“Candles.” He breathed out a laugh. “In my apartment. Taylor is going to shit a wildcat.”
“I can get rid of them. I just thought—”
“They’re great. You didn’t have to do all this.”
“Yes, I did.”
He seemed like he was deciding something, and then his eyebrows pulled in. “I kept thinking on the mountain that I needed to focus on the job and stop thinking about you. That’s the wrong place to be preoccupied. For twenty-eight days, I’ve laid awake at night thinking about your lips, your hands, and the way your eyebrows raise when your bullshit detector goes off and you call me on it. I’ve missed you like crazy, Ellie. And then coming home to you…”
I offered a small smile, not knowing what else to say. “Do you want to see the rest?” I asked.
He chuckled and looked down, not bothered to be frustrated with my answer. When he looked up, his dimple dug into his cheek. “Yeah. Show me the rest.”
I took his hand and pulled him into the kitchen, showing him where the plates were stacked and which drawer was the silverware, and then we went down the hall, and I relished in his reactions with each room.
When we got to his, he intertwined his fingers on top of his head and sighed in awe. He didn’t have a bed frame, so I’d used some lattice boards sitting by the dumpster for headboards. I’d cleaned them up and painted them with leftover white paint from when the magazine was built.
“This is crazy. Where did you get that?”
“I made it.” I shrugged. “Wick helped.”
He shook his head. “You didn’t have to do all this, Ellie. This doesn’t even look like the same apartment … it looks like…”
“Home.” I looked around at all my hard work, grinning.
Tyler kissed me again, pulling my oversized sweatshirt over my head as he backed me toward the bed. His tongued danced with mine, and when I sat, I kept him at bay with my right leg, pointing my fuzzy-socked foot at his chest. He flattened both hands on each side of my ankles, sliding them up past my knees to my thighs, and then pulled back, rolling the socks down and tossing them perfectly into the hamper in the corner.
He took my feet in his hands, kissing my toe, the side of my arch, and then moving up to my ankle, trailing up the inside of my leg with tiny kisses, each one leaving behind a second of warmth before it cooled.
He set my foot flat on the mattress and then reached back with one hand, pulling his T-shirt up. The bottom hem revealed his stomach and then chest, before he yanked it off his head and tossed it while keeping his gaze on me. He had leaned out during fire season, making all six tight muscles of his abs stand out, and the small V protrude, making the path that lead to the bulge behind his cargo pants even more noticeable.
He kicked off his boots, and then shoved down his pants, crawling on top of me wearing just his boxer briefs. His hair was longer, his cheeks a bit sunken in, his jaw more prominent, but his skin was still rough over mine, his tongue still as soft and warm as I remembered.
The weight of him between my thighs made me dig my fingers into his back, bringing him closer, begging him to ram me and come before my heart could feel anything more. Instead, his kisses slowed, and he hovered over me while he balanced himself with one elbow, helping me remove the only two pieces of fabric between us.
I reached above me with one hand to point, holding him against me with the other. “Condoms in the nightstand.”
He grazed my jawline with the tip of his nose, breathing me in. He was contemplating something, deciding just when he reached the skin beneath my ear. “Have you been with anyone but me since Sterling?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“IUD still around?”
I nodded.
“I want to feel you,” he said. When I didn’t protest, he held his breath, sliding his bare skin inside me. He closed his eyes, exhaling as he moaned.
An intense euphoria seared through me, crawling just under the skin to the edges of every inch from my head to my toes. He fit perfectly, like he’d been molded just for me. His skin against mine was more powerful than any rush I’d felt before, whether from self-medicating or being on the mountain. Tyler Maddox was the ultimate high.