It’s not drugged, either, and that’s more important.
Instead of saying that and scaring her when I don’t have all the information yet, I push up out of the booth, taking her glass with me. “This cup’s dirty. I’ll go get you a clean glass and some new ice.”
11
Rafe
It has been a long fucking day. As much as I usually enjoy going out, I’m glad as hell to finally be home, this day nearly over. I don’t like to let a day end like this, though. Some people go to bed depleted after a long day and wake up refreshed, but I’ll carry it with me. I need the rest of this night to go a hell of a lot better than it has so far, and that all depends on the lovely brunette in my bed.
Emerging from the bathroom after a hot shower, I find Laurel curled up on my king-sized bed, hugging her pillow as if for solace. She looks sad, and that makes me feel like an asshole.
It drove me temporarily crazy tonight how this girl I once had full access to is so closed off to me, yet when Sin shows up, I sense her opening like a flower, hoping for a drop of his attention. Like he’s her fucking sun, the nourishment she craves deep down in her soul. It drove her crazy when he didn’t acknowledge her, and I don’t want her to care. Laurel has all the pieces and parts I want, she let me have access to them when we met in Chicago, but now she’s closing me out. Now I’m not the person she wants to open up to.
By nature, I am not a jealous man, but this is a different thing. I didn’t have Laurel and lose her; I had a sample of Laurel, sent it back to the kitchen, and when I changed my mind, a different dish was brought back to the table.
A dish served cold, as it were.
Not being able to reach her is getting to me. I see what I want, it’s lying on my bed wearing nothing more than one of my T-shirts, and I can’t have it.
But Sin could.
That’s the worst fucking thing. I knew Sin was the one who initiated ending things, but I didn’t realize she had attached to him more strongly than she had attached to me. Under similar circumstances, when I rejected her, she dismissed me. That’s why I can’t reach her easily now. If I somehow missed it prior to seeing them at the club, it would be clear now: she still has a thing for him. It’s hard to imagine his rejection being less cold than mine, so I don’t know what the difference is. Why was she able to cut off her fondness for me so effectively he happened, but after just a few days with him, she’s stuck in some kind of mourning period and can’t move on with me?
I need to backtrack, that’s all I know. If I don’t start doing a better job of reaching her, I’ll lose her altogether. Given she’s having my baby, that’s the last thing I need.
I thought Laurel would be easier than this.
As I approach the bed, Laurel’s gaze flickers to me, but it doesn’t linger long. One thing I can usually count on even when she’s not impressed with my behavior is Laurel’s physical attraction to me. Right now I’m shirtless, and she barely even looks. She must be really pissed.
The room is dark since Laurel went to bed while I showered. I pull back the comforter and climb in beside her, but she keeps her back to me like we’ve already been married 20 years, half of those miserable. This won’t do at all.
/> Since she’s on her tummy, I advance closer and climb over her ass, straddling her body. I hear her sigh with annoyance, but I know it’s because she thinks I’m going to fuck her. Joke’s on her; I won’t fuck that pretty little cunt tonight even if she begs me to. No, this relationship needs something more than sex—it needs attention.
So, I give her attention. The irritation melts right out of her as I start rubbing her tense little shoulders. I massage her shoulders wordlessly until she feels relaxed, then I lean in and add a few mild neck kisses to the mix.
Some tantalizing sound somewhere between a sigh and a moan slips out of her. “You smell so good,” I murmur, before lightly kissing her earlobe.
“Mm, so do you,” she murmurs back.
I rub and knead my way down her back. Run my fingertips along her sides, testing her response. I remember most of the things she liked in Chicago, but I need to get reacquainted with her body. Especially if I’m going to piss her off so much. Gotta know which buttons to push to disarm her ruthless little ass.
She’s such a sweetheart 90% of the time, but boy, is she a pistol when you piss her off.
Right now she’s not a pistol; right now she’s my kitten, practically purring with contentment as my hands glide all over her body. Experimentally, I lean in and let her feel my breath on the back of her neck, drop a few feather-light kisses. Her little sighs of pleasure are reassuring. If she genuinely disliked me, she wouldn’t enjoy this. Even with her Sin hang-up, this feels good to her. That’s a good sign. For all the damage I’ve done, there’s still something here I can work with.
After a few more minutes on her back, I move lower. I run my hands over her ass, but knowing she’s not wearing any panties underneath this shirt, I can’t resist sliding a hand between her legs. Cupping her pussy in one hand, I use the other to caress the inside of her thigh.
This is harder than I accounted for. Laurel has left me in such a dry spell, and her bare ass looks so fucking incredible. I bet everything I own no one has ever taken her ass before. That makes me want it even more. My cock stirs, trying to convince me to go back on the “no sex” plan. She’s letting me touch her, even inched her legs apart slightly when I started rubbing her. A helpless little moan shudders out of her and it’s all I can do not to push a finger deep inside her.
Before I can get too carried away, I move lower to massage her legs before working my way back up. After a couple more minutes massaging her neck and shoulders, I reach a hand under her body and turn her over on her back.
“There’s that pretty face,” I say, smiling faintly.
She narrows her eyes with playful suspicion, but I can see how much more relaxed she is already. Since my next move is to drag her T-shirt up and off her body completely, her suspicion seems warranted. At least she doesn’t object. I’m still not going to fuck her; I just don’t see the point in her wearing clothes when I could look at her bare body instead.
In case she is less relaxed now that she’s naked beneath me, I rub her shoulders again while maintaining eye contact. Her gaze is softer now, more receptive to me. When my fingers lightly graze her collar bone, she sighs with pleasure. When I take both breasts in my hands and start massaging them, her nipples harden against my palms.
The glint of sexual interest in her gaze gets me too hard to hide it. I rock my hips forward so she feels it, then lean down and kiss the corners of her mouth while I squeeze her nipples. Laurel wraps her arms around my neck to hold me close. Since I can feel her wanting me, instead of kissing her deeply like I intended, I run a light finger along the most sensitive areas on her face. Her eyes drift closed when my finger glides over her brow bone, so I kiss her eyelids. Laurel smiles, and there’s even more warmth in her gaze when her eyes open. Now I cradle the back of her head and take her mouth. She wants it, so those plump, perfect lips part for me. Our tongues tangle and she sucks lightly on mine in the most tantalizing way. Growling into her mouth, I take her lower lip between my lips and nibble on it.