Chapter 28
Avery
Okay so Bryce was a perfect date at Thanksgiving dinner. Too perfect if that was possible. It was strained at first around my family. Well not Aunt Gina and Uncle Tristan, or the kids, but I wasn’t sure how Mom and Dad would be even though I’d given them advanced notice that I was coming with him.
So we got through it all. My father gave him a few tense moments, but it all worked out. The part that bugged me was when Bryce brought me back home. He walked me to my front door, gave me a kiss and a hug, thanked me and then BOOM, he was gone!
I guess I had further expectations.
Needs.
I’d no sooner settled myself into a sweet bubble bath when my cell phone rang from the bedroom. I grabbed a towel and ran dripping into the next room hoping it was Bryce.
It was.
“Hey,” his deep voice said softly, “I just wanted to tell you again what a nice time I had today. I wish… well, I wish it didn’t have to end as soon as it did.”
My heart fluttered like a million butterflies were trapped inside of it. My pulse raced. The ball was in my court and I was fine with it. “Me too,” I said softly, “Want me to come by?”
“Can you? What about your folks?”
“Are you inviting them too?” I asked coyly. His sexy laugh warmed my belly. “Gimme fifteen minutes and I’ll be there.”
I finished my bath, pulled a sweater and a pair of jeans on and pulled my hair up into a messy bun. It was still damp, but I wasn’t going to waste another ten minutes blow drying it.
I left going down the back staircase and slipping silently out of the rear entrance. The night was chilly, but the stars were out in a clear sky as I let them light the way through the parking lot, past the barn and up the cement steps leading to the cottages.
His porch light was on. The only cottage that was, but I couldn’t see Mandy or Carter’s cottage from here because they were located further down the hill with a shroud of trees in between. It was just as well. Nobody needed to know my business except me.
He opened the door before I took the final step up onto the porch. God he looked hot. He was shirtless, wearing a pair of jeans and his muscled physique seemed as if it was chiseled to perfection. I swear Bryce Slater could be a male model if he so chose.
“Hey babe,” he greeted with a sexy smile as he held open the screen door for me.
I stepped inside, immediately noticing how clean and neat his cottage was once again. The stench of Mandy was gone.
“Hey you,” I replied, taking off my jacket.
Within moments we were tangled up with one another, our lips finding common ground, the familiar current pulsing between us.
“Fuck, I’ve missed you,” he breathed, taking my hand and leading me to his bedroom. I stood there while he undressed me with his eyes and then his hands. I loved the way he studied every part of me in a possessive fashion. Because the truth was, I wanted him to claim me; to possess me in a way that only lovers can. To make his mark; to own my body and nobody else’s. Bryce was mine. The fact there was a chance Mandy carried his baby gutted me and I knew that sounded hateful. But again, I’d never loved anyone the way I loved Bryce. If anyone should have his baby in their belly it should have been me.
Had it happened too quickly? It had taken months upon months for me to feel as though I loved Trent; and then when I decided I did, it wasn’t like this feeling at all.
His hands caressed my bare skin wherever a piece of my clothing had been carefully removed by him. Strong hands. Man hands. Calloused from the work he did; beautifully adept hands that were working their tender magic as they explored my most sensitive areas. Cupping a breast, sliding downward over my hip, caressing my inner thigh until I released a moan and pushed back. “My turn, Bryce.”
He lowered his lips to mine, kissing me softly. “Have at it, babe,” he whispered against my mouth. “It’s all yours.”
His words were said so intimately I knew they were the truth; his truth. And my hands fumbled with his fly, my breath hitched as his erection sprang free and he assisted me in shedding his jeans. I lowered to my knees, and took him into my mouth. I heard his sharp intake of breath, and his fingers tangled into my hair, releasing it from the clasp so it fell to my bare shoulders.
“Oh baby,” he growled huskily, “That’s it. You’re so fucking beautiful, Avery. I can’t wait to be inside of you. I’m going to fuck you first because that’s what I need. And then I’m going to make love to you because that’s what we both need.”
I felt him fist my hair, pulling me up from him. His eyes burned with need. He cupped my face with his hands, and crashed his mouth to mine, pulling me up against his hard muscled body, I felt him bring me along, as he took several steps backward, his mouth never leaving mine, as he pulled me down on top of him on the bed.
Our hands explored each other with a passion and fury we’d never displayed before. It was a primal hunger for one another. Our movements were almost frenzied. So caught up was I in the passion, I didn’t realize he’d rolled a condom down his length until he raised me up and lowered me down onto him.
The fullness of him inside of me was perfection, and we moved together in a cadence that was ours. It was familiar. It had been missed. His hands braced my hips, as his dark blue eyes locked with mine. In an instant he flipped me over so that I was pinned beneath his weight, and my legs instinctively wrapped around his torso. He pounded into me with a fervor never shown before. Bryce had always been a good lover; tentative, slow and methodical, this was different. It was so intense, so primal, and when he moaned I nearly lost it.
“Come with me baby,” he whispered, “I need it, Avery.”
And that was all I needed to topple over the edge and spiral into wave after wave of pleasure.
He raised himself up on his elbows and pulled his lips from mine. “I need to see your face when you come. Yeah, that’s it baby, keep coming for me,” he coaxed as I felt him go rigid inside of me as another climax unfurled from deep within me. I cried out his name, and my hips bucked up against him as we became one in our love.
True to his word, Bryce and I made love. Afterwards, we stayed curled up in his bed, our limbs intertwined, my head resting on his chest where I listened to the strong beat of his heart.
“I’ve missed you, can you tell?” he asked.
I felt my smile widen. “You’ve missed this,” I challenged coyly.
His hands reached down and lifted my face so our eyes met. “You know that’s not true, Avery. It’s not about the sex, it’s about you—about us. I love you. And trust me, I’ve never said that to anyone else.”
My heart fluttered at hearing those words from him. I knew it was no small thing for Bryce Slater to put his emotions out there like that.
“I loved you first,” I replied softly.
“Oh yeah? What makes you so sure?”
“I think I started loving you the night Tula delivered her foal.”
“Imagine that,” he said with his crooked grin, “Same here, A-Girl.”
Bryce wanted me to spend the night, but with my parents in town for the Thanksgiving holiday, I knew I’d be pressing my luck keeping my absence from being noticed.
“I can’t. Not until my parents go home.”
“Let me walk you down then at least.”
And so he did. With his arm wrapped around my shoulders, Bryce walked me down to the manor, and when we got there, we kissed for a long time in the moonlight. “I love you,” he said for the second time. I’d never get tired of hearing those words from him.
“I love you too, Bryce.”