Scarlett
A man has never carried me anywhere. A man has never revealed his soul to me. A man has never looked at me the way Austin is looking at me as I lie in the center of his queen-size bed. He’s on his side, facing me, twirling a strand of my hair around his finger.
“I was kidding about bribing you with my story for sex,” he says.
“Then, why did you bring me to your bedroom?” I’m not sure I considered what his bedroom would look like, but with the cherrywood-finished floors, black-stained furniture, and light gray decor, it fits him. The air around us smells like him too. I know medical personnel are clean people, and he’s no exception. I’ve never smelled anything besides soap and laundry detergent when near him, although there’s a hint of pine in his room, and it’s like a pinch of spice.
“A man can hope, plus Waldo can really do a number on a room.” He follows with a quiet snicker that tells me he’s a bit unsure of our situation.
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you were avoiding me until I decided whether I was staying in South Carolina or not.”
He scratches the back of his head, the part of his hair that’s shaven closely to his skin, and his right eye squints a little as a smile teases his lips. “Yeah, well, I wanted to be sure you weren’t the type to have your way with me and then run off.”
“So, I take it you’ve changed your mind, and you’re willing to risk your heart for a night with me?” I know my questions are digging deep, but I’m curious what made him change course when his feelings and heart are buried so deeply for such a traumatic reason.
He clears his throat and readjusts his position as if my questions are making him nervous. “Honestly, I can’t help that you turn me on. I’m still a dude, and aside from the fact that you’re hot as hell, your personality makes me tick.”
“I’m used to men talking themselves up, convincing me I’d enjoy them rather than they’d enjoy me, so your words are kind of a turn on for me.”
“Well, then, the truth is, I’d rather experience a little time with you, whatever that may consist of, than have to wonder for the rest of my life what it might have been like. I’m just sorry I wasted two long weeks.”
“Just before we met at the festival, I had made my decision about staying here or going home,” I tell him.
“Why’d you tell me you hadn’t?”
“The same reason you disappeared. I didn’t want anything between us to be based on a future when we hadn’t yet experienced anything in the present.”
“So then, what’s the decision?” he asks. I can see how nervous he is to hear my answer as he swallows hard and balls his fists, but I want to know what this is between us without strings attached. I don't want there to be a pull or a push.
I press my lips together and look into his eyes. “I’m not ready to tell you,” I whisper. As the words come out, I question whether he might be upset with me after just opening up about his past, but I think he understands why I don’t want to tell him yet, seeing as he’s kicking his boots off.
Austin slowly straddles my waist, giving me a view I might want to burn into my mind. I’ve noticed he likes to wear t-shirts that are a size too small. Whether it’s for show, I’m not sure, but it looks great from my perspective. He places his hands on the ends of the pillow my head is pressed into, then lowers himself down, inch by inch, until I’m ready to grab ahold of his shirt and pull him on top of me.
“In the south, we move a little slower. I think you mentioned something about that earlier, didn’t you?”
“Possibly,” I mutter.
“Mmm. Do you know why that is?” I nod because I’m having trouble putting words together at the moment. “Well ... ” He gently presses his lips to my neck, letting them linger for a long second. “It makes the good things last a little longer.”
Oh my God, I’m not a patient girl. He moves up, touching his lips to mine so softly it’s as if a feather is stroking every inch of me at once. His tongue flicks into my mouth for a teasing moment before his lips continue to explore, becoming acquainted with my ear, neck, and collarbone. I’m in pain with anticipation, waiting for more.
With a hand still holding him up, Austin’s other one is slipping beneath the thin layer of my shirt. Every place his fingers touch causes a burning desire, all while his mouth amplifies the build by tugging my shirt down with his teeth.
“Are you going to torture me?” I ask with more weakness than I’ve ever let a person hear from me.
“I am going to torture you until you tell me to stop even though you didn’t give me that same option earlier tonight, did you? You were mean, Miss Scarlett, making me imagine that shot glass was my cock.” His words are like nails gently scratching my back and I’m already about to cry out his name with a plea for more.
I reach down for the hem of his shirt, trying to pull it up, but he stops me. “No, ma’am. A true Southern gentleman does the heavy lifting.” While I might argue that in all other parts of life, I’m okay with this type of control.
He sits up, careful not to bear all his weight on my waist and crosses his arms over his body to seamlessly remove his tight shirt. I saw him shirtless in the locker room earlier, and I nearly lost the ability to speak. Seeing him take his shirt off this close to me makes it hard to take in a breath.
I just want to touch him, so I trace my fingertips down the length of his right arm, over the several tattoos stretching from shoulder to forearm. The closeness between us allows me to get a better look at the one on his chest—words that reveal the missing pieces of his heart. I touch the inked marking with caution before dragging my fingers down the center of his body. “I thought I said hands off, Miss Scarlet.” He’s grinning with a bit of seriousness, but also, a touch of intrigue.
“I can’t help it,” I tell him.
“As a medical professional, I need that arm of yours to stay put somewhere safe while I handle the rest. Do you understand?”
“I understand,” I mutter.
“I’m going to carefully remove your shirt now, so don’t move.” He does exactly as he says, except as my shirt is being tugged upward, the tip of his tongue is following in its path and my back arches instinctively in response.
He removes my shirt, carefully slipping it over my cast. I’m kind of happy I decided to wear my black lace bra and matching panties today.
His hands smoothly run over my breasts, causing my nipples to pebble beneath his palms. The impact he must sense forces him to speed up a little as he effortlessly unclasps my bra with one flick of his fingers. Once more, he’s careful with my wrist while removing the next layer of clothing, and I’m thankful the rest is simple.
His eyes are full of lust as he stares me down like an animal willing its prey to come closer. I want to reach up and grab him again, but before I can move, his mouth falls heavily onto my breast. My God. The cool air mixed with the wetness of his tongue teases me with sensations from opposing extremes.
I reach for his belt, but he moves again, still limiting my participation. “Austin, you aren’t being fair,” I tell him.
“When has anything been fair between us?” His words are mumbled as his mouth continues to play. Then, his teeth reach the waist of my jeans, and I’m intrigued to see how he’ll manage this. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a person unhitch a pants button with their teeth, but he confidently works at it for a minute as I focus on the scruff of his chin scratching my sensitive skin.
“Austin, let me—” My pants are loose and he’s pulling them down my legs with his teeth. On his way back, he removes his jeans and boxer briefs. I don’t know how much slower he’s going to take this, but I may not last as long as he’d like.
His mouth reconnects with mine and his hands are scaling the sides of my body, down to my panties, which are slowly pulled down to my ankles over the course of what feels like a long two minutes. All of him is on all of me, and I’m completely ignited. “Do you have—”
“I’m a nurse. Of course I have protection,” he says.
“That’s not what I was going to ask,” I inform him.
“Well, you should have asked,” he rebuts.
I lift myself up on my elbows, bringing my face inches from his. “I was going to offer to teach you how to take a blowjob the right way. You seemed a little uneducated.”
His head falls into the center of my breasts. “You’re killing me,” he groans.
“I don’t think you’ll be saying that in about thirty seconds.” I push him off me, and he falls onto his back, giving me the space I need to move down the bed.
“Is the no-hand thing a rule in bed too?” he asks.
“It’s your bed. Your rules,” I tell him. He throws his head back into the pillow without answering me, and I dip my head down ready to slowly give him a taste of what he was doing to me. When the tip of his cock touches my lips, I stretch the span of time it takes to move down, sliding my tongue along the grooves as I go. I haven’t ever moved this slowly, so I’m not sure what it’s doing to him, but he’s inhaling shorter breaths and gripping the sheets around his head almost as if they might save him from falling. I place my good hand on his inner thigh and squeeze gently while bringing my mouth back up to the top. “How’s that?”
“Don’t stop,” he begs.
“What was that?” I ask, leaning forward, letting my breasts feather along his chest.
“Scarlett, for fuck’s sake … ”
“Oh, you want me to keep going?” He’s smiling but gritting his teeth together. “Why didn’t you just say so?”
I take my time moving back down his legs, but before my mouth makes contact with his cock again, he flips me over onto my back.
“That’s it. No more control for you.” He tears open his top drawer and pulls out a condom. For someone who has been moving painfully slow throughout the last half hour, he’s moving pretty damn fast right now. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone slip a condom on so fast, as a matter of fact. “I was going to be gentle.”
“Don’t,” I tell him.
Darkness pools in his eyes as he plunges into forcefully. The sensation is overwhelming, but I keep my head up, needing to watch what he’s doing to me. He grinds into me, and I watch the muscles of his arms constricting and releasing with each movement. After the amount of foreplay we’ve enjoyed, I’m moving toward the end of my stamina, so I reach my hand up and sweep it against the side of his face. He complies by burying his lips into my neck. His breaths are loud and hard, and that alone is a turn on. His movement is like a rhythmic pattern of amplifying pleasure, and my body is warning me that release is imminent. I can’t help crying out as I grab the back of his headboard with my hand, holding on as he thrusts deeper and harder until I shout, “Oh my fucking—” I stop myself from finishing my thought, but I arch upward, giving into the pulsing sensations.
He spends another minute aggressively bucking into me before I feel a protected warmth inside of me. His sweat-covered body falls onto mine, and his lips peacefully press against my cheek, then my lips. “I win,” he says.
“I—” I try to catch my breath before fighting back. “You win? What do you mean by that? I think I came first.”
“But, I lasted longer,” he says with a wink.