Seven Days (15 page)

“Oh, well, since I’m such a nice guy, I’d be willing to help you, make sure you get every spot you can’t reach yourself,” he perked up, heading back into the bathroom and starting the bath. God, he was so adorable that I couldn’t help but watch him. There was no way I could turn down that offer.

“I’m sure you’ll do a thorough inspection,” I cracked up, following after him.

“Oh, sweetheart, you have no idea,” he said, the smile on his face turning lascivious.

“We’d better get started, then. That way I have time to return the favor,” I returned his smile, my good mood slowly returning to me. Leaning around him, I pulled the tab on the spigot. As hot water poured from the rain-simulating shower head, I stepped in and closed the curtain behind me. When he finally made it into the shower with me, his cock was hard again and reaching for me.

“I need to spend some concentrated time making sure this is clean, too,” I told him, wrapping my hand around him, tightly.

“That’s a good idea. I wouldn’t think you’d be a fan of a dirty cock.”

“It could be filthy, as long as it’s yours, I wouldn’t mind,” I said in a moment of bravery, only to be pushed against the shower wall, his lips moving over mine with a wildness I couldn’t make sense of until he spoke again.

“That’s because this filthy cock belongs to that sweet little pussy,” he said, fiercely, before losing control entirely and leaving the comfort of the hot shower to grab a condom so he could show me how truly he felt his words.

**

I didn’t know if Ryan had made reservations earlier, or if we got lucky, but we were able to get a table at the restaurant right away. With a hand in the small of my back, he guided me toward our seats as we followed the maitre’d. With a flick of his hand, he ushered the man away in order to help me into my chair, pushing it in for me and placing my napkin in my lap before taking his own seat to my left, instead of across from me.

“I don’t think I could spend an entire meal that far away from you,” he admitted, his cheeks flaming briefly, leaving me to wonder if he were embarrassed about his feelings or the cheesy way he chose to convey them to me.

“I like having you close,” I tilted my head to the side to face him more fully. Parting my legs, slightly, I let my knee come into contact with his. It wasn’t healthy that I was already used to having him around. I knew it would make leaving harder, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

Turning my head back to my menu, I almost choked on my tongue. I couldn’t believe the obscene prices for a few cuts of steak. Looking over at the other occupied tables in the dining room, you wouldn’t expect the exorbitant prices. We could’ve worn our hiking clothes and we wouldn’t have stood out in this restaurant. No one looked like they were about to drop a large bill on dinner. The oxygen tanks and tourist t-shirts had to be misleading though, or maybe people just ate above their budget when they were on vacation. I was never lucky enough to take a family vacation that didn’t involve tents and food cooked over a campfire, so I didn’t know.

“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked, looking over at me. “Oh,” he laughed as he took in my pale face and mouth that could catch flies. “Don’t look at the price, Carrie. Just order what you want,” he told me, his eyes implored me to just accept the money he was about to spend on this date.

“Some of these dishes cost more than our hotel room,” I protested, trying to close my menu, but his hand shot out to stop me.

“Let me do this for you,” he entreated, putting his forehead against mine behind our leather-bound menus. “Please,” he whispered, pressing a light kiss on my lips and dazzling me with his ‘date’ persona.

“Okay,” I found myself agreeing as the waiter came to take our order. When I tried to order the chicken, a stern look from Ryan had me looking to him for guidance. He ordered from the ‘For Two’ menu, alleviating me from the stress of ordering something I wasn’t sure I’d like. I trusted Ryan, and I’d had steak before, but it was usually the cheap, shoe-leather cuts that I got on sale at the grocery store. This was a completely different monster for me.

“How can you afford all of this?” I asked, taking a sip of my water after we were left alone again. I hadn’t meant to be so blunt, but the curiosity was overwhelming. “I thought you said your parents were disappointed in your choice to be here? Did they know about what happened with your friend?”

“Whoa!” he laughed, holding his hands out in front of him. “I didn’t realize this was going to result in twenty questions.”

“Isn’t that what people do on dates?” I asked, puzzled.

“Well, yeah,” he answered, carefully. “Usually they don’t ask such invasive questions so quickly.”

“Well, isn’t this
technically
our fourth date?” I reminded him, quirking my eyebrow. “Shouldn’t we have moved on to more personal topics? I mean, you have seen me naked, more than once, so wouldn’t that make my questions right on time?”

“Again, very true,” the turn of his lips shifted higher on his face. “I guess I’m not used to getting to the fourth date in the first week.”

“Yeah, me, either,” I ducked my head, not wanting him to see the sheepish look there over the knowledge that I wasn’t used to getting to the first date in the first week either. Or at all.

“Well, to answer your questions: My parents are disappointed, yes, but they didn’t cut me off. They are still supportive, even though they foresaw a different future for me,” he shrugged. “Besides, I did have a job before I left Boston and have been saving for awhile. The money had been for an—” he stopped, abruptly, like he hadn’t meant to share so much, pulling a piece of warm bread from the basket in the middle of the table like he wanted to try and move on.

“A what?” I prompted after he cut himself off, needing to know what was at the end of that sentence.

“An engagement ring for my girlfriend,” he frowned, shifting uncomfortably in his chair as he tore his bread in two and grabbed the small ramekin of butter.

“Wow, you have a girlfriend,” I nodded, not knowing how to take the news that I was the other woman to the one man I’d never wanted to think of me like that. I was surprised I was able to respond so calmly when I really wanted to burst into tears and run away, but something kept me rooted to my seat.

“No!” he denied, dropping his half buttered bread and grabbing my wrist like he, too, had expected me to bolt. “No, we’ve been broken up for about a year now,” he clarified, letting me release the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. “She cheated on me in Paris the summer before our senior year at BC. I think I was just too young to recognize that just because we’d been together for two years, it didn’t mean that we were good for each other or even really in love,” he shrugged, releasing me and turning his attention back to the briefly forgotten bread. I wondered if his observation had been too exposing for him. Had he comprehended this truth before tonight?

“Oh, so you weren’t just running from what happened with your friend,” I stated. I’d meant it as a question, even though I already knew the answer.

“No,” he confirmed. “I just needed out of that place. There were too many toxic thoughts inside my head.”

“I understand that,” I tried to smile at him, but I was already inside
my
head at his words.
There were too many toxic thoughts inside my head.
I lived those words every single day of my life and I was ready for my own piece of fresh air. He was able to get away, so I knew that I couldn’t let him keep me from a better life.

After that revelation, our tableside Caesar salad service arrived and I tried to push everything back so that I could enjoy my first real date. As we walked back to our room, I didn’t think that I’d ever experience a more incredible night, or eaten a better steak. I decided this week would need to fuel me with happy memories for the next decade, maybe two.

I woke up Friday with a delightful ache in all the best muscles in my body. After we arrived ‘home’ from our dinner, Ryan preoccupied me with his body so thoroughly that I was able to drift off to sleep without a fight. He’d kept me so engaged in the copious amounts of fantastic sex we were having that I didn’t even recognize I hadn’t had a nightmare since our morning in Jerome until sometime much, much later.

I felt better rested than I had in years, waking with the feel of his warm chest below my cheek. My arm was still asleep underneath me as I rolled over to lay my back against our bed and my head on my pillow which was cold from lack of use. I was officially three for five on my attempts to sleep dream-free. Although, I’d been worn out completely in the last twenty-four hours in a way that being awake for 72 straight hours seemed like a walk in the park.

“Morning,” Ryan mumbled with his sleep rough voice. I loved hearing him say good morning to me in that voice. I wondered if, given the chance, it would always make my heart skip a beat.

“Morning,” I glanced over at him, trying to push down my rising doubt over what I knew I’d have to do in two days. I hadn’t expected the man beside me to mean so much to me in such a short amount of time. Pasting a cheery smile on my face, I turned my head toward his, “Well, I was hoping to return the breakfast in bed favor this morning, but you don’t sleep very soundly, apparently.”

“Well, my blanket rolled away from me and I got cold,” he fake pouted, pulling me close to him again, my breasts pillowing against his side. “And I’ve got something
much
better in mind for our bed today than breakfast. Although, I will make sure you are properly nourished,” he winked at me and shot me his devil grin that I already knew meant the best kind of trouble. In a flash, I was on my back again his cock skating across my already slick pussy.

“You have the best ideas,” I gasped as he made another pass, the ridges of his erection making contact with my clit. He could take me from sleep to horny in less than two minutes flat. It really was an incredible gift.

“We have a long drive south today, so better stock up on everything we’ll need: snacks, drinks, orgasms…” he trailed off, reaching for our stock of condoms on the bedside table.

“We’d hate to have to make a pit stop for orgasms half way through the drive,” I mused, a look of mock concern on my face.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure we’ll have to fill up on those at some point during the drive to Tucson,” he corrected, sheathing himself and wrenching my thighs wide to lie on the tops of his. My hips were at an awkward angle and my lower back was starting to ache already, but I didn’t care. “Six hours is far too long to go without some view of this beautiful little pussy,” he shook his head solemnly, moving a hand to trace my folds. My nerve endings lit up at the attention like they’d been connected to a live wire. It was as if he’d gotten a map to every single button I had and decided to push them all at once.

“I’m sure we can find a way to get creative,” I puffed out on a heavy breath, fighting against the urge to move into his fingers to create more friction where I needed it. If I tried to help him along, I knew he’d stop. Ryan had made it obvious that he loved any opportunity to tease me.

“I love how wet and responsive you are. I fucking love how green your eyes are when I’m pushing inside you,” he asserted as he slid inside me, inch by inch, as if he were savoring our union before a long day on the road. “Fuck, you feel like home,” he hissed out when he was fully seated, my hips in his vice-like grip, my shoulder blades on the mattress and my hair splayed out on the pillow over my head. I knew I had to be a vision to him, because his eyes never left some part of my body as he rocked into me. After he took in the whole picture, his eyes locked with mine and held.

“You feel incredible,” I conceded, wanting to declare that my body was now his in every possible way. “I love watching your cock work me over. The gleam from my arousal reminding me that only you can get me this wet,” I encouraged. I’d spoken words like this during sex before, as a game for the men who loved to have their ego stroked. They gave me more of their product for my dad and which gave me a longer reprieve before they had to visit me again. Yet, this time and with these words, I meant every single syllable.

“Only me,” he repeated, swiping his thumb over my clit as he continued his leisurely pace, building me slowly to a release that I wasn’t sure I could survive. I could already tell, as his eyes held mine captive, that our mutual release would be soul shaking. My breath caught at the determination I saw. His jaw clenched as he struggled to maintain his control. Usually, I would try anything I could to get him to break. Yet, something held me back. I knew he’d get there all on his own this time, and it would be well worth the wait.

“Only you,” I squeezed out, my legs starting to shake from the tension. He must’ve felt my impending release, because he moved his thumb from my hard nub. His hands moved back to my hips, lifting my torso up so that I was straddling his lap, his cock pushing even deeper inside me. “Oh God,” I moaned, rocking onto his erection in a rhythm that I let him guide, our foreheads now touching as we moved together.

“These are fucking perfect,” he praised as he palmed my breasts, careful to brush his fingers over my throbbing nipples. Throwing my head back at the sensation, I circled my hips deeper, hoping to speed our release, only to have him halt my movements again. “Eyes on me, Carrie,” he ordered and I didn’t even hesitate to obey. One hand moved into my mess of hair, fisting it at the nape. The edge of pain mixed with the motion of our bodies transcended anything we’d previously shared. Fuck, I was surrounded by his smell and the feel of him all over my body. He was destroying me with every thrust he made, but I had a feeling that I was doing the same.