Page 99 of After the Snap

He finally stills inside me, and I don’t give him long to recover. I lift my hips, watching his eyes close briefly before his gaze finds mine again. I move beneath him again, and Jubal follows this time, drawing back before pushing into me with a slow stroke that makes my fingers tighten against his shoulders. I meet him on the next one, then the next, until we find a rhythm together and there’s no room left for the restraint that got us into this bedroom. As I move with him, his hand slides around my hip, helping me find the angle that feels best without taking the movement away from me. I wrap my legs tighter around him when he hits it, and the rough sound he makes against my mouth tells me he feels the difference.

“Right fucking there, Pea?”

I nod and pull him closer, unable to manage much more when he does it again. The pleasure builds on top of everything his mouth already did to me as his breathing turns rougher, the praise against my mouth breaking apart between curses.

“So fucking beautiful.” His hand tightens around my hip as I meet him harder. “Taking me so fucking good.”

My eyes close as another wave of pleasure moves through me, but Jubal’s hand comes up to my face, his thumb brushing my cheek.

“Fucking eyes on me, Pea.”

His control is almost gone now, and I want to watch the rest of it disappear. I lift into him again, holding his gaze while his rhythm gets harder. The pleasure inside me winds tighter with every movement, but it’s the way Jubal looks at me that finally pushes me too close to stop it. There’s nothing guarded in his face anymore. He wants me, and he’s letting me see exactly how much, and I don’t have to wonder whether I’m imagining any of it.

“That’s it.” His voice breaks against my mouth. “Come for me, good girl.”

My body tightens around him on command as the orgasm rolls through me, and Jubal groans my name as his rhythm breaks. I hold on to him while he follows me over, his mouth finding mine as his body shudders against me. The kiss softens as the pleasure begins to ease, but neither of us pulls away. Jubal’s forehead settles against mine while I run my fingers through the damp hair at the back of his neck, and I stay wrapped around him until he finally lifts his head.

“I need a minute,” he murmurs, and a laugh slips out of me when I see how wrecked he looks.

“Old Man.”

“Keep talking, Pea.” His eyes narrow, but the smile he’s fighting gives him away before he carefully pulls back.

I’m still smiling when he disappears into the bathroom and returns with a warm washcloth. I hold out my hand before he can use it himself.

“You don’t have to do everything for me, Old Man.”

“I know.”

Jubal gives it to me without arguing, and when I’m finished, he takes it back before settling carefully onto his good side and opening his arm for me. “Come here.”

I go to him, curling into his side as his arm closes around me and the covers come up over us. His mouth presses against my forehead while my hand settles over his stomach, and I don’t have to wonder how long I’m allowed to stay here before I should start putting distance between us. I already told him I’m staying, and nothing in me wants to take it back now that the night has gone quiet around us.

“My girlfriend,” he murmurs against my hair, and the happiness he doesn’t even try to hide makes something warm unfurl inside me.

I lift my head and find him looking down at me with a smile that makes it obvious he’s been waiting for another excuse to say it. “You’re going to keep doing that, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely.”

I laugh and settle against him again, but girlfriend stays with me. Hearing how happy Jubal is calling me his has me smiling against his chest, and I let myself enjoy belonging inside that word without searching for what might eventually take it away. I thought tonight would end with me going home, and normally, realizing how late it’s gotten would be enough to make me check the time. Instead, I stay where I am, tracing my fingers absently over Jubal’s stomach while his hand moves along my back.

“You good if I turn the light off?”

I nod as the room goes dark, fitting myself against him again as his lips brush my forehead. I close my eyes, knowing morning will come whether I know what happens after it or not, and for once, I don’t need an answer before I let myself want it. I curl closer to Jubal and let myself want to wake up beside my boyfriend.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Jubal

Iwake with my arm numb beneath Calliope and her knee wedged between my thighs. I’m still caught somewhere between sleep and waking, aware of the slow brush of air over my skin before anything else. Calliope drags her foot lazily along my calf as she curls closer, and the familiar scent of her shampoo reaches me at the same time my eyes open. Her braids cover half my chest and most of my pillow, leaving only enough of her face visible for me to see that she’s still asleep. One hand is tucked beneath her cheek while the other rests loosely against my stomach, and sometime during the night, she managed to work herself almost completely onto my side of the bed. I should move my arm before the tingling reaches my fingers, but I don’t want to disturb her.

Calliope takes a deeper breath, and her fingers flex against me before sliding across my stomach in a sleepy search that ends with her palm flattening over my side. Her touch lands close enough to the bruises along my ribs that my muscles tighten, and even asleep, she reacts. Her hand shifts lower, settling somewhere that doesn’t hurt, while her body stays pressed to mine.

I turn my face into her braids and close my eyes again. In Houston, I woke to an empty bed and missed her before I had any right to. This morning, my girlfriend is asleep on my arm. Calliope stirs against me, her forehead creasing before she lifts her head and blinks at me through the braids that have fallen across one eye. Confusion lasts only long enough for her to look from my face to the hand spread over my stomach before she flashes me a sleepy smile.

“Morning.”

I slide ‌a few braids away from her face, letting my fingers follow it before my palm settles against her cheek. “Morning, Pea.”