Hold On

I felt the bed move, the bedclothes being whipped around. That stopped when I found my ankle in Merry’s grip, and even in the dark, he made short work of unbuckling my sandal and sliding it off. He moved to the other one. That accomplished, the bed shifted again, then I found the covers over me about a half a second before I found myself wound up in Merry.

“Pains me to say this,” he started after he’d settled us how he wanted us (and, to make it clear, how I wanted it to be, maybe for eternity). “But I ain’t twenty anymore. You starin’ at my dick like that, sweetheart, after what we just had, you’re gonna have to give me some time.” He paused before he finished, “Least twenty, thirty minutes.”

I laughed softly as I pushed closer to Garrett Merrick in his bed, his naked body tied up in me.

He must have liked that because his arms tightened around me.

Suddenly, it all hit me with a power that made me wonder why it didn’t blow me to smithereens.

Garrett Merrick had spent more than two hundred dollars on a dinner with me. He’d told me he wanted to kiss me, knowing what me kissing him back would mean. He’d made love to me, made love to me, me.

Me.

Me.

Me.

Eye contact throughout. Saying my name when he came inside me.

And now we were in his bed, naked, and he was holding me and teasing me.

“That wasn’t fucking, was it?” I blurted.

It seemed his body further solidified against mine for a moment before he relaxed and slid his hand up into my hair.

He knew I’d never had that.

He now knew he was the first who ever gave that to me.

“No, Cher,” he said gently. “That was nowhere near fucking.”

Yes, straight up, burn it in my brain…

I could not fuck this up.

I couldn’t.

He was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Not getting a goodness so good it was unreal after being stupid and getting knocked up by a junkie, the way I got Ethan.

A goodness I got because I earned it simply by being me.

Understanding that, as it seemed I was prone to do with Merry, I kept blurting.

“I want you to get to know my kid better. Tomorrow. He’s got a sleepover with Teddy, but I’m droppin’ him at the game. They’re meeting there. Teddy’s parents go to the game because their older boy plays. He’s goin’ home with them after. But before, we can take him to dinner.”

Merry didn’t say anything.

Shit, that was too soon.

“Or we can wait,” I said quickly.

“I take you and Ethan for pizza, once we drop him off, do I get you at your place?”

Not too soon.

I closed my eyes slowly before I answered, “Yeah.”

“You’re on.”

I snuggled deeper.

Merry kept his hand in my hair as he wrapped his other arm so tight around my waist, I felt his fingers skim the skin on my belly.

His warmth, his strength, my orgasm, his fantastic mattress, I wanted to stay awake and feel all that, but I couldn’t stop myself from feeling drowsy.

And drowsy, sated, held close by Merry, my mouth kept running.

“Thanks for not fuckin’ me.”

I felt his body move with a chuckle that wasn’t audible.

“Thanks for lettin’ me not fuck you,” he replied.

“Anytime,” I mumbled, starting to drift.

“Cherie?” he called.

“Yeah, Merry.”

Cherie. Merry.

Fuck, it was goofy as all get-out.

But it was also like we were meant to be.

“This is good. Proof. Truth. Remember this, honey. We hold on to this, what we just had, what we got right now, the night we shared, we don’t fuck that up, we can stick it, you and me.”

My throat closed.

My eyes started burning.

But I powered through it being me.

“Stop bein’ gooey.”

That got me more of his lean body moving in my arms, telling me he was laughing.

He got control of that, tipped his head so his lips were against my hair, and ordered, “Go to sleep, brown eyes.”

“See you in the morning, gorgeous.”

“Believe it, baby.”

I believed.

Finally, I believed.

And for the first time in my life, held tight to Merry, it didn’t scare the shit out of me.





Chapter Twelve


The Pleasure Is All Mine

Cher



I felt it shafting, tit to clit.

My eyes drifted open.

I saw shadows. I felt a nice mattress under me.

Heat behind me.