Page 18 of Fired Up By the Mountain Man
She was extremely grateful and relieved to have him for another night. As she reached for the bedding, she hesitated and couldn’t help but feel like she’d rather have him next to her in her bed instead of the couch but maybe it was too early for that. She was so bad at that kind of stuff.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want you to sleep on the couch.”
“No? I could just go home.” Maeve shook her head adamantly.
“I was thinking that maybe you could sleep with me instead, I have a big bed.” She’d left the sheets on the shelf and shut the closet door but was afraid to look at him.
“Really? Are you sure?”
“I’m sure, I don’t want to be alone.”
Cole turned her to face him, his arms sliding over her shoulders to caress her in a loose embrace.
“So, let me get this straight. You want me to sleep in your bed with you?” She nodded.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“I definitely am. The truth is you make me feel safe. If you’d feel better about it, I can sleep under the sheet and you on top and we can put up a pillow divider between us, so I don’t touch you.”
“Oh, believe me Maeve, the last thing I was worried about was you touching me. I’m more concerned what I might not be able to stop myself from doing if I were laying that close to you. And I doubt a row of pillows would be much of a deterrent.” He always knew what to say to embarrass her.
“All I can promise is to be a gentleman as much as is humanly possible.”
The delight she saw in Cole’s beautiful eyes had her cheeks burning an autumn red. He lowered his lips to hers, firing every nerve ending she had in her entire body. She was helpless but tokiss him back and when they finally broke apart a few moments later, both were breathing hard.
“I swear much more of that, and I won’t be able to control myself at all.” Cole took a deep breath and moved away just a step.
Maeve understood. The feelings Cole had awakened inside of her weren’t at all familiar. There was a little unease bubbling inside at how quickly whatever they had going on between them had developed after only a few days. She’d been infatuated for a long while, however.
“We better get some sleep, don’t you think?” She didn’t really want that at all, but she’d panicked.
“Yes, sleep. That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
***
Who was he kidding, sleep was the furthest thing from his mind. He wanted to rip the clothes off her body and take her ten ways from Sunday. But would she want that? The way she just kissed him said she wasn’t as shy as he thought. But she was skittish, and he should take things slow.
Watching her walk down the hallway toward her bedroom stirred his southern region. Lying next to her and not touching her was probably going to be the hardest thing he’d have to do yet. He flipped the lights off in the hall and followed her.
“I can set my alarm if you’d like. What time do you have to get up?” He walked up behind Maeve, rubbing her shoulders lightly.
“No, you need your sleep. I have an alarm on my watch but my internal clock normally wakes me up same time every damn day anyway.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive, but thanks anyway. You have to be exhausted after the last few days. I go in really early so by the time you get up and around, I might just be back. That is, if it’s okay to come back here?”
“Of course, it is. I’m a little embarrassed to say I was hoping you’d want to stay.”
“No need to be embarrassed. I dowantto be here with you.” He left a trail of kisses along the nape of her neck and down the side of her throat where her pulse beat erratically. His hands roamed down her arms and around her waist, pushing his fingers under her shirt to rub softly across her stomach. He was surprised at how responsive she was when she arched back against him, not stopping him from touching. Good thing too because he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
“I want you so much Maeve, is this okay?” She nodded. Her hands reached behind her to his legs, wandering up and down the fabric, hesitated near the growing bulge in his pants, then found the top button and undid it. She then set to undo the others in his button fly jeans. As if she were trying not to touch any vital parts, she carefully pushed his pants down over his hips before he turned her to face him.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing? We could take it slow?”
“I don’t want to take it slow Cole, I want you now.” She kissedhim with force, sucking his bottom lip into her mouth before letting go.
