Wish I Might (Wishful 5)

A lamp flicked on. She blinked a bit as her eyes adjusted, then noticed the faint look of horror on his face. “What is it?”

“I…um…wasn’t expecting company.”

Cecily looked down at the bed and saw the Batman sheets.

“They were a gag gift from Mitch. I didn’t see any reason for perfectly good sheets to go to waste.” His ears had gone adorably pink.

She reached out and curled her fingers around his belt, tugging him back toward her. “Somehow I don’t think it’s the Dark Knight who’s rising at the moment.” To illustrate the point, she rubbed her knuckles down the erection straining his jeans.

Reed made a strangled noise. “Vixen.”

Cecily only grinned and began to work at his belt.

He shook his head and backed out of reach. “Nope. Ladies first.”

He crouched down, taking hold of her boots and pulling her toward the edge of the bed. Releasing one, he ran his hands along her calf to where the zipper started. Cecily felt the burn of his touch even through the leather.

“Do you have any idea what kind of fantasies I’ve had about these boots?”

“The kind that will, I hope, someday combine really well with mine about the bookcase.”

“Wasn’t even in the top five, but now that you mention it...” His gaze ran up the length of her, and the look in his eyes had her wishing she was wearing a skirt instead of skinny jeans.

He took his time, unzipping one boot with such slow, deliberate focus she felt like he’d exposed more than her pant leg by the time he slipped it off. Why, oh why, hadn’t she worn a skirt tonight? He finished with the second boot and set the pair of them neatly aside. Jesus, even the sight of him being neat was a turn on. Or maybe it was that now that they were here, in his room, in his bed, he didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry. Like they had all night. Or forever. And because of his planning, they did.

Something shifted in Cecily’s chest, a last piece of her heart cracking open as he crawled beside her on the bed. She was in love with him. She was in love with him, and he’d given her the means to stay. There

was no more reason to hesitate, no more reason to hold back.

She wrapped her arms around him, pulling his lips back to hers as she poured out everything she wasn’t quite ready to say. He met her heat in equal measure, hands touching, taking, working some kind of magic on buttons and zippers, until the warmth of his palm skimmed across her belly and lower, beneath the edge of her bikini briefs.

“Oh!” She’d been about to say something, but the moment his fingers cupped her sex, every thought melted right out of her head, save one. “More.”

She arched into his touch, maddened by the pressure of his hand trapped against her. The jeans limited his movement, but oh, dear Lord, what he managed to do with just a little friction. She wanted the jeans off, but that required more coordination than she could manage just now and his fingers felt so damned good… Her body bowed as she shot over the first peak.

Reed eased his hand out of her pants. She was too insensible to speak a word of protest. By the time she came down enough to form a coherent thought, they were both naked and she was wondering how the hell a bookseller had a body like this. Running her hands over the abs she hadn’t stopped dreaming about since summer, Cecily decided her comparison to Steve Rogers hadn’t been far off the mark. She straddled his body and stretched out, glorying in the feel of all his long, lean muscles as she kissed her way along the tendons of his throat.

“So patient,” she murmured, giving a little nip at the shell of his ear, then kissing to soothe the sting.

His hands tightened on her thighs.

“It’s one of the things I admire about you. But here’s the thing.” She wriggled until she could rub the length of him through her slick folds. Definitely not enough. “I’m not.”

“Thank Christ.” He cupped her nape and pulled her firm against him as he rolled. With one hand, he groped in the nightstand drawer, finally coming up with a condom.

Cecily took it from him, ripping it open and rolling it on. Her eyes met his as she took him in her hand and guided him inside. Reed breathed her name, muscles tensing as he began the slow thrust and retreat, until he filled her completely.

Lowering from his hands to his elbows, he cradled her face. “Okay?”

Pressed skin to skin, body stretched around his, Cecily couldn’t contain the radiant smile. “So okay.” She laced her hands with his and kissed him.

They began to move, an exquisite torture, riding the edge of pleasure. Skin began to slick and her heart beat hard and fast, in time with the pistoning of his hips. Tension coiled, and she rose higher, her body impossibly light and airy. Joy and love built in equal measure, until full to bursting, she wrapped tight around him and took the leap, carrying him with her.

~*~

Reed woke in the chill, gray light of dawn and reached for Cecily, thinking they could keep each other warm for another half hour before getting up for work. But his bed was empty. Pushing himself up on one elbow, he frowned. Had it all been a dream? No. He could still smell her on the pillow.

He ran a hand over her side of the bed and found the sheets cold. Had she snuck out in the middle of the night to avoid the walk of shame? Did she have an early meeting she forgot about? They hadn’t talked much last night. Was she having regrets? Worse, had she changed her mind about possibly staying?