Canaan

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Aerie Kingsley is fucking complicated. I mean, all chicks are confusing, but Aerie? Sometimes she gets me so mixed up I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. I know she’s on edge about our relationship, about what our relationship is. Is it just sex, or something else? It’s not just sex, and it never has been. But she’s…shit, not closed off, because it’s easy to tell when she’s upset, but it’s not always easy to figure out what she’s upset about. Did I do something wrong? Am I leading her on? Is it nothing to do with me? Is it everything to do with Corin and Tate, which affects her as much as it does me? There are so many factors, and I don’t know how to parse any of them. I know I like her, a fucking lot. I know sex with her is very literally life-changing. As in, I don’t think I could ever fuck another woman without comparing her to Aerie, and that comparison would always leave the other woman coming up seriously short.

But does that equate to…

Love?

Shit, it’s hard to even think about that. Love? Am I in love with Aerie? I don’t know—I don’t think so. But what if I am, and I just don’t recognize the symptoms? I don’t know how to be in love. Being in love means, like, I have to put her first in my life, and I’m not ready for that kind of responsibility. That’s a fucking lot, man, a person all wound up and tangled in and woven into my entire life?

But if there were anyone who could be that, it would be Aerie.

If I can see that as being possible with her, doesn’t it mean that this is what it is?

I see her looking at me strangely, sometimes. Waiting, expectant. Is she waiting for me to tell her I love her? I tried to talk about our relationship, and she shut it down. She wanted nothing to do with that conversation. Which is another confusing thing, because don’t all chicks always want to talk about the state of relationships? Okay, shut up, I know—that’s a gross generalization and unfair and chauvinistic of me to even think that. Right?

I’m an ass.

But it is weird that she seems to be waiting for something from me, but when I try to instigate a conversation to get at what she wants and what she’s expecting and what we are, she avoids it.

She didn’t just shut down the conversation—she shunted us away from talking altogether and into sex. And not just sex, but a blowjob.

I love getting BJs. I mean, duh, I’m a dude—I’ll never turn down a BJ, like ever. But I’m also a thousand percent aware that her giving me a blowjob doesn’t provide sexual gratification for her in any way. Sure, maybe she might get a thrill out of it, might enjoy in an arousing sort of way my visceral response to what she’s doing to me—god knows she can suck me senseless and leave me gibbering and incoherent by the time she’s finished. But her going down on me when I tried to bring up our relationship, especially after Tate and Corin’s…announcement…and the blowup with Rachel, and the whole but Daddy I love him thing. Yes, I know, it was her mom, not her dad, but the movie trope is but Daddy I love him—

Yeah…that was classic avoidance via sexual distraction.

I benefitted from it—case in point, I’m currently incapable of speech, because Aerie blew me so good my brain isn’t firing on all cylinders just yet. My mind is spinning and stuttering and wobbling, and wandering.

Aerie is still on her knees in front of me, staring up at me, probably wondering what’s going through my head. My jeans are still around my knees, and my guitar is still humming through the amp. She’s got a droplet of cum dribbling down from the corner of her mouth. Her hair, long and blonde and loose around her shoulders, is a cascade of sunshine, and her eyes are soft and green with hints of amber in streaks around the edges of her irises. She’s wearing work clothes: tight faded blue jeans and a black Badd’s Bar & Grill T-shirt, with a pair of well-worn sneakers. No makeup—or minimal makeup, at least—just a pair of small diamond studs in her ears, fingers bare of rings, no tattoos, just her flawless skin.

She’s so beautiful that when I look at her I sometimes forget what I’m saying, what I’m doing. Like right now, I am still brainless from the orgasm she sucked out of me, and stunned silly at how fucking gorgeous Aerie is.

I push off the door, pull myself together, and let my guitar sling around behind my back, then bend to lift her to her feet. I keep my eyes on hers as she rises to stand in front of me, tension crackling between us. I want to bear down with all the questions I have, but I don’t. She’s chosen to avoid, so I let her avoid. Also, I’m not ready any more than she is.

Instead, I lifted my thumb and smeared away the droplet on her cheek; Aerie smirked, licking the drop off of my thumb with an erotic swipe of her tongue.

I backed away from her, unlocked the front door, set my guitar in the rack, and shut off the amp. Taking her hand, I led her to the stairs.

“Come on,” I growled.

“Where are we going?”

“For what I want to do to you, we need to be behind closed doors.”

She trotted after me eagerly, holding my hand as we ascended the stairs. “I like the sound of this.”

“You should.”

“What are you going to do to me, Canaan?” This was murmured low, her voice buzzing with curiosity and arousal.

I ignored her question until we got the hallway, where I hesitated. Cor and I shared a bedroom still, and I knew Tate and Cor would need some time alone too, after everything that had gone down. I was mad at him, but he was still my twin and my best friend, and I’d always look out for him. I glanced at the other doors, Baxter’s, and Lucian’s. Luce obviously would need his room, but Bax was gone indefinitely—at least, he still hadn’t mentioned to any of us when he and Evangeline were coming home, and someone spoke to Bax every other day, if not every day.

I grabbed the doorknob to Bax’s room and shoved the door open.

“Isn’t this Baxter’s room?” Aerie asked, as we entered.

“Yeah.”

“We can’t just use his room.”

I’d never actually been in here before: growing up with seven brothers, we learned early on the value of respecting each other’s personal space. The unspoken rule was you don’t mess with your brother’s shit. You stay out of his room, and out of his business; if he feels like sharing, he’ll share; a closed door means keep out.

But this was…extenuating circumstances, you might say.

So, I was a bit surprised at what I found in his room: bookshelves. He’d shoved his bed and dresser together along one wall, had a seaman’s chest under the window, and the other entire wall beside the closet was occupied with two side by side bookshelves, each so stuffed with books that he had them stacked two deep in places, with more lying sideways on top.

Look, Bax is my bro, and I love him, and I know he’s a smart guy, smarter than most people give him credit for, but I still never quite took him for the bookish type. But then, if he wasn’t working, working out, or at a fight, he was in his room, the door cracked open as a signal that he was available if needed. None of us have ever been into TV, since Dad never got cable in the apartment over the bar where we all grew up, and we just never got into the habit of watching TV. We’re all too busy, have too many other more important interests. So, no TV, he’s not in school, no video games…what does he do in here during his off time? Read, clearly. I feel kind of judgy for being so surprised.

Aerie glanced at me after she’d taken in the bedroom, surprise on her face, and I just laughed.

“I know, right?” I said. “Who knew?”

Aerie meandered past me to the full bed, which was neatly made and covered in a flannel blanket, with a fuzzy throw folded across the back end. The room was impeccable, with few personal effects other than the books.

“Are you sure it’s okay we’re in here?” Aerie asked me.

I shrugged. “He’s not here, and hasn’t been here in almost two months, and I’m not sure when he will be here. Bed space and privacy are limited, so I say we take what we can get.”

She sat down on the edge of the bed, gazing up at me. “So. You mentioned needing privacy for something or other?”

I locked the door behind me. “Something or other…yeah.” I prowled slowly toward her. “I’d originally planned to just rip your clothes off, go down on you until you start screaming, and then fuck you until we’re both stupid.”

She reached for the hem of her shirt. “I like the sound of that.”

“But I’m thinking I have another idea.” I stopped her from peeling her shirt off.

“Oh? What’s that, Canaan?”

This could backfire. It was totally impetuous. I was going with what my emotions were telling me—there’s a fuck of a lot more to this thing between us than just sex, and we may not be ready to confront all of that, but I still owe it to her and to myself to communicate somehow that I recognize the “more” that is floating unspoken between us.

I stood in front of her, staring down at her, trying to decide how far I was going to take this.

“Say something, Cane. You’re making me nervous.” She was relaxed, though, her knees parted, hands on her thighs, just watching me. Only the way her lovely amber-green eyes were constantly flitting and searching mine gave away her nerves.

“You trust me, Aerie?”

“Of course.”

“Don’t just say that to say it.” I turned away, opened Bax’s closet, and slid a necktie off a hanger, and a pocket square from the breast pocket of a suit coat, and a red bandana from a shelf. “You really mean it? You really trust me?”

She eyed the striped, brightly colored tie dangling from my fingers, and her nostrils flared, her eyes widening. In answer, she stood up and held out her hands, wrists together. Her chin lifted defiantly, confidently.

I pinioned her wrists together in my hand. “That’s my girl.”

“I am, you know.”

“You are what?”

“Your girl.”

I lowered her wrists and leaned in to kiss her, slowly, softly. “I know,” I whispered.

“You’re not tying me up?” she asked, sounding disappointed.

“Not this time around.” I led her away from the bed to the middle of the room and stood behind her. “I want to do…this, first.”

I refolded the pocket square in half, so it was a rectangle, and placed it over her eyes. I lifted her fingers to her face, prompting her to hold the silk in place. I wrapped the tie around her head, pinning the pocket square in place as I knotted the ends of the tie tightly behind her head.

“Can you see?” I asked.

“No.”

“Good.” I fiddled with the positioning of the tie and the square. “Not too tight?”

“It’s perfect.”

“And you’re okay with this?”

“More than okay,” she answered.

Her skin was pebbled with goose bumps, and her nipples were poking through the fabric of her bra and T-shirt.

“You’ll tell me if it’s too much, right?” I asked, touching my lips to her temple.

“Of course.”

Now that she was blindfolded, I was going to play with her a bit.

I backed away. “Stay still.”

“What are you doing, Canaan?” Her voice was an excited whisper.

I circled around in front of her, moving as quietly as I could. She was swiveling her head this way and that, trying to sense my presence.

“Canaan?”

I tiptoed closer; her nostrils flared, scenting me. I leaned close, touching my lips to hers in a ghosting tease. Aerie pursed her lips, expecting the kiss, but I slid my mouth along her cheek instead, to her cheekbone, down to the corner of her jaw just beneath her ear. Up, then, kissing around the shell of her ear; she tilted her head toward me, offering herself to me. I breathed on her ear gently, a huff of warm air.

“Are you wet, Aerie?”

She nodded.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded again.

“Show me.”

“Wh-what?”

“Show me how wet you are.” I tangled my fingers with hers and guided our hands to her zipper. “I wanna hear how wet you are. I wanna smell and taste how wet you are for me, baby.”

I slid open the button fly, and then slowly lowered her zipper. Aerie’s hand dropped away, anticipating my touch. I breathed a laugh in her ear, and then moved to stand behind her, chin on her shoulder, hands sliding over her belly and up to her diaphragm, teasing her with my touch, purposefully avoiding her sensitive, erogenous zones.

“Oh no—no, I want you to show me.”

She tilted her head back and twisted it toward mine, lips brushing my temple. “I’ve never been this wet in my life, Cane…”

“Good. Show me.”

She dipped her fingers under the elastic of her panties, down to the juncture of her thighs. She hesitated and then leaned back against me for support as she shifted her legs apart. I watched over her shoulder as her hand moved inside her underwear, a finger or two slipping into her channel. I heard the slick squelch of her fingers inside her, and then she withdrew them.

“Hear that?” Aerie murmured. “I’m all juicy.”

I reached out and grabbed her wrist, bringing her hand to my face. I sniffed her glistening fingers. “You smell like something I want to taste.”

She traced the seam of my lips with her middle finger, and then slid her finger into my mouth, and I licked it clean of her tangy, musky, female essence.

“I want you to taste me,” she breathed, beginning to shimmy out of her pants.

“Ah-ah-ah,” I said, imprisoning her hands with mine to stop her. “Not yet.”

“Canaan, you’re making me crazy.”

“Good.” I nipped her earlobe. “Trust me.”

“Okay. What next, then?”

“Touch yourself again.”

“With all my clothes still on?”

“For now.”

“Canaan, I don’t know if you understand how sex works, honey,” she teased. “We both have to be naked to do it.”

I huffed a laugh. “You underestimate me, then, my dear. Maybe someday I’ll prove to you we can fuck fully clothed.” I slid my hand along her belly again, daring upward. “In public, maybe, even. You game for that?”

“You get me worked up enough, I just might be.”

“Challenge accepted,” I breathed, marking a line with my thumb just beneath the underwire of her bra. “Now, Aerie…I want to watch you make yourself come.”

Her fingers dove under her panties again, down between her thighs, and I watched her hand move as she dipped a finger inside herself, drew it out, dragging her wetness around her clit, moaning softly at the touch of her fingers. She began to circle, then, slowly.

“Oh…god—Cane, please touch me. Play with my tits. Something—anything, just put your hands on me.”

“I will, babe, don’t you worry about that.”

You’d think, after a month and a half of nonstop, several times a day, numerous times per session of Aerie and me fucking that we’d have exhausted the ways we could turn each other on, make each other desperate and crazy. Yet…every time, every single time…it got hotter, crazier, and more desperate.

A little voice in the back of my head rather unhelpfully pointed out that this fact may very well be how people can be married to the same person for decades, how they could have sex with the same person for all those years and never get tired of it, never need something different or new.

Nope, nope, nope—not going there just yet.

I watched Aerie’s circling finger, obscured by her panties, and felt a rush of need, deep-seated, fiery, fierce, and demanding—I needed to see her. Touch her. Feel her. I denied myself, letting memory and imagination fill in for me for a moment or two longer. Denying myself made this all the more erotic for both of us.

She began to moan, and her finger circled faster, and I finally let myself cup her breast over her bra, strumming across her erect nipple with my thumb. Her spine arched, pressing her breast into my hand, begging for more. My other hand, then, danced across her stomach up to her other breast, both of them cupped in my hands. I pinched her nipples over the fabric, squeezing them until she whimpered in protest, and then I released them.

“God, Canaan, I’m getting close.”

“Good, baby. Bring yourself there. Don’t stop. Let me hear you—we’re alone, the whole apartment is empty. So just let go.” I whispered this in her ear, caressing her tits over the slippery fabric, pressing myself up against her, grinding into her butt, teasing us both. “Feel how hard my cock is? Just from watching you touch yourself like this.”

“I want it…”

“I know.”

“Take my clothes off, please? I want to be naked with you.”

I peeled the hem of her shirt up over her boobs, just beneath her chin, and then unhooked her bra and let the cups sag. “How’s that?”

“More…more!”

“Are you close?”

“So close.”

I palmed her cheek and tilted her face to mine, briefly yet intensely kissing her, tasting her mouth, demanding her tongue; her fingers flew around her clit, and I tugged a bra cup down to bare her breast, flicking her nipple with my fingernail.

“Oh—oh—oh fuck, Canaan, I’m there, god, I’m there!”

She leaned back against me, hips pivoting, legs bowing, bending, head hanging on her neck, mouth open, whimpers escaping her lips as she ground herself into her own fingers, faster and faster and faster, and I bared her other breast and rolled both nipples between thumb and forefinger in time with the rhythm of her touch.

A soft, breathless scream, then, as she came, knees dipping as the orgasm washed over her.

I scooped her up in my arms and laid her on the bed. “Keep touching yourself,” I instructed. “Keep coming, honey.”

“Oh…god, I don’t know if I can.”

“Try.”

I tugged her jeans off, bringing her panties with them, and her knees immediately drew up, heels together, baring her pussy to me, her fingers dipping in again, dragging more essence over her clit, and then she began tentatively touching herself all over again, slowly. Careful to not dislodge the makeshift blindfold, I eased her T-shirt off, and then her bra, leaving her naked.

“I don’t wanna touch myself anymore, Cane,” she breathed. “I want you to touch me.”

I knelt on the bed, kissing the inside of her knee. “Like that?”

“More, god—more!”

“Greedy, aren’t you?” I murmured against her skin.

“Fuck yes. I need you, Cane.”

I dragged my lips up her thigh, teasing, kissing, licking, nipping, closer and closer to her core, and then just as I reached it, I began all over again at her opposite knee, kissing and teasing my way up.

“Quit teasing me, goddammit,” Aerie snarled, fingers moving faster now as she neared her second orgasm.

“No, I don’t think I will.” I nipped the velvety soft silk of the inside of her thigh, so close to her core my jaw brushed her hand as she touched her clit. “You like this.”

“Fuck yes, I do. But I want your mouth, Cane…please.”

“You have my mouth,” I teased.

She growled, a feral sound of irritation. “You know what I mean, damn you.”

“Getting a bit vulgar, aren’t you?” I murmured.

She just moaned in response, her spine arching off the bed as she fingered herself closer and closer to climax. Watching her near the edge, I knew my need to touch her, taste her, wouldn’t be denied much longer.

I nudged my middle finger against her opening, and she gasped.

“Oh fuck, please, please touch me. Please.”

I slid my finger inside her curling it upward and inward, hunting for that secret place inside her that drove her so wild. I’d only hit it a few times, and she’d absolutely lost her mind every single time.

“Like this?”

“Yeah…god, yes, right there…”

Her fingers were circling madly now, crazily, flying around her clit so fast they were a blur. I watched her carefully, gently and slowly massaging that spot inside her, hearing her cry out with increasing intensity, until I knew she was at the very edge.

At the very last second, I nudged her hand away, buried my face against her pussy, and the taste of her intimate essence filled my mouth. She yelped in surprise, and then both hands tangled in my hair, piling it on top of my head like I did with hers, and she clutched me against herself as I devoured her, holding nothing back, my finger inside her, adding a second, squelching them in and out under my chin, my tongue flying. She screamed, then arched totally off the bed, spasming against me.

“HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!” she gasped, flopping down onto the bed as her climax passed through her. “Holy shit, Canaan.” She reached up to peel off the blindfold, and I stopped her.

“Oh no, I’m not done with you yet, babe.” I pinioned her hands, crawling up her body to hover over her. “That’s just the start.”

“Just…just the start?” she squeaked. “Oh—oh god. I like the sound of this.”

“Wanna know what’s next? I bet you can’t guess.”

She pressed her wrists together and offered them to me. “You tie me up and have your filthy way with me?”

“Hmmm, tempting, but no.” I kissed her, quickly.

“What’s next, then?”

I moved off the bed to stand beside it, helping her sit up and pivot so she was sitting on the edge again. I folded the bandana and pressed it into her hands. “Now you blindfold me, without taking yours off.”

“Ummmm, okay?”

Her hands reached out, searching, and I took one of her hands, leading it to my shoulder. She shifted forward on the bed, exploring my body with her hands, and then she stood up, using me to pull herself upright. Touching my face with the tips of her fingers like a blind woman, she gently found my eyes, and then placed the fabric over my eyes, leaning against me to tie it behind my head.

“There, how’s that?” she asked.

“Good. Can’t see a thing.”

She remained leaning against me, touching kisses to my cheekbone, my forehead, my cheek, the corner of my mouth. “Now what?”

“Now get me naked.”

“This is crazy, Canaan—we’re both blindfolded now.”

“Exactly. It’s all about feel now, sweetheart.”

“You’re rather crafty, aren’t you, Mr. Badd?”

“Why yes I am, Miss Kingsley.”

She went slowly, beginning with my shirt, peeling it up and over my head. Her fingers trailed down my chest, sliding over the ridges of my abs. Without sight, I had no way of knowing where her hands were going next, heightening the anticipation. Once my shirt was off, she spent a moment exploring my upper body with her hands, roaming over my shoulders, down my back, up my abs, palming my pecs, into my hair. Then I felt her move, felt her hands sliding down the backs of my legs, to my shoes, which she untied; I toed the shoes off and she peeled off my socks, and then I felt her hands roaming upward once more. To the fly of my jeans. I hissed in surprise and then moaned in pleasure as she pressed her lips against my stomach, kneeling in front of me, kissing across my abs, up to my diaphragm, and then back down, kissing and kissing and kissing as she unbuttoned the fly and lowered the zipper. Her hands hooked into the waist of my jeans and boxers at the same time, tugging them down as her mouth continued its slow, loving exploration, delving downward as she gradually removed my jeans and underwear. My heart was racing, my mouth was dry, and I was shaky—an intense physical reaction to something as simple as her mouth kissing my body.

She’s gone down on me on numerous occasions but somehow these trailing, dancing, exploratory kisses were leaving an intense and permanent brand on me, on my skin, on my heart.

I couldn’t see where she was kissing next, that was part of it.

She was teasing me, dragging the garments down past my groin, kissing around my cock, down my thighs, kissing my belly mere inches from my cock, so close that her cheek brushed me, and then away. Her hands cupped my ass, clutching and caressing, and her lips continued to tease me, until I was breathing hard and groaning in need.

“Shit, Aerie. You’re driving me crazy.”

“Tit for tat, Cane.”

“I’ll tat your tit,” I said, just for something to say in return.

“Ah, no, thanks. No titty tattoos for this girl.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Not even a little tiny one, like on the underside or something? I’m the only one who’d even know it was there.”

“Nope. I’m tattoo free and have every intention of staying that way, thanks.” She laughed, breathing on my stomach. “Titty-tat. I tot I saw a titty-tat.”

I laughed with her, and then barked in surprise when she abruptly took my cock into her mouth, going deep without warning. I’d been so hard for so long it was a very short trip to the edge, needing a single stroke of her mouth over my erection, her tongue flicking and circling.

I reached down and hauled her to feet. “Oh no…no, no, no. You do that and you’ll mess up my plan.” I pulled her up against me, exploring her naked body with my hands. “Besides, you already did that. I want something else, now.”

“And that would be what, now that we’re both blindfolded and naked?”

I slid my foot across the floor, seeking the edge of the bed, and I found it. I moved past her to sit on it, and then reached out to find her, and my hand brushed against skin. Further exploration told me I had her thigh, and then I found her hips and twisted her in place so she was standing between my knees. I pulled her closer, cupping her ass, mirroring her from moments ago, kissing her belly and then up between her breasts. I latched my mouth onto one nipple, and then the other, and she whimpered, pressing her core against me.

“Canaan, I need you,” Aerie murmured, reaching down to cup my head, holding me against her breasts as I laved her nipples, one after the other. “Please, I need you.”

She bent, then, palms on my cheeks, and her mouth stuttered over my cheek, found my lips, and her kiss was desperate, delirious, wild, passionate. Demanding. No more games, this kiss said.

Breaking away from her kiss momentarily, I cheated, just a little: I lifted my blindfold just long enough to peek in Bax’s bedside table drawer, relieved when I found a pile of condoms. I took one, replaced my blindfold. Reached up to bring her back down, resuming the kiss.

She pressed into me, whimpering into my mouth in desperation. “Cane…”

I flopped backward to the bed, bringing her down on top of me. She eagerly straddled me, sliding her bare pussy over my hard cock, teasing me.

“Tell me you have one,” she murmured.

I groped, found her hand, and pressed the condom into it. “You do it.”

“This could be tricky, blindfolded.”

“Makes it all the more fun.”

“Hold still,” Aerie ordered.

“I won’t move a muscle,” I promised.

She remained straddling me, and slid down my body in an erotic tease, lips trailing, stuttering, dancing in jumping kisses from chest to stomach to hips, and then she had her hands on me, stroking me with one hand in slow twists. She paused, and I heard foil rip, and then she gripped me in one hand and I felt her roll the condom onto me, using both hands in a hand-over-hand movement that drove me wild.

Then, as slowly as she’d descended, Aerie moved back up, the tips of her breasts tracing hot, silky lines across my skin, her damp core dragging. Her hands scoured my body, circling my chest before delving into my hair, and then her mouth was on mine as she hovered over my erection. I reached up between her thighs, found her slit wet and waiting, traced the opening, using my other hand to guide my cock to her entrance. I notched myself inside her, just the very tip of the head at first, wanting to take this slowly.

She had other plans.

The moment she felt me inside her, Aerie sank down on me without breaking the kiss, her palms on my cheeks, crying out as I filled her. “Oh god, Canaan—fuck, you feel so good.” Her forehead touched mine as she finally paused the kiss to gasp, her ass flush against my thighs. “Touch me, kiss me, fuck me.”

“You’re like a dirty poet,” I murmured, palming her hips. “I like it.”

“Dirty poetry, huh? I like that idea. Maybe I’ll write you a dirty poem someday.”

“How about this—you write me a dirty poem, and read it to me while I’m fucking you fully clothed, in public.”

She giggled, and her walls pulsed around me with her laughter. “God, that’s an amazing idea. Let’s do it!”

“For real?”

“Fuck yeah, for real.” She kissed me again, slowly lifting her hips to draw me out, hovering when I was still just barely inside her. “I’m not kidding, Canaan. I want to do that.”

“You seriously do?”

“I seriously do.” She gasped as she sank down on me again, driving me into her. “You make me crazy. You make me want to…you make me want to do crazy things I’d never do with anyone else, things I’d never even consider with anyone else. I don’t know what it is about you, but you just…”

I slid my hands all over her skin, exploring her soft flesh, my hands carving from shoulders to waist, hips to thighs, up her stomach to caress her tits. Again and again, I explored her body in an endless circuit of touches, and she rose and fell on me, drawing me out and impaling herself on me over and over and over in slow, deliberate movements. Unhurried, relishing the feel of us connecting, gasping each time I drove into her tight wet hot slit. I groaned with her, and we continued like that, me touching her, Aerie holding the pace of her strokes to a maddeningly slow glide.

Finally, I could take no more. I gripped her hips in my hands and tugged her down onto me, thrusting up with my hips. “I want it to last forever, but at the same time I want more, right now.”

“God, me too.” She bent over me, touched her lips to mine. “You can’t stop time, can you, Canaan? So we can have this moment just like this, for as long as we want it?”

“Wish I could, sweet thing. Wish I could.”

She couldn’t keep the pace slow anymore, either. When I pulled her down onto me, she whimpered, leaning back, bracing her hands on my chest. She held there for a moment, my cock buried deep inside her, balanced on me. I wished I could see her, naked above me, her breasts perfect teardrops, with small dark nipples and wide areolae. I wished I could see her, the way her pussy looked wrapped around my cock, her thighs braced on either side of my hips. Her trim waist, her long blonde hair cascading around her shoulders.

I didn’t take the blindfold off, though—removing my eyesight meant I felt her all the more intensely, felt the way her slit hugged me, pulsing, throbbing around me. Her weight was a delicious presence on top of me, pressing me into the bed, her skin softer than silk.

She whimpered again, and lifted up. “I can’t wait anymore, Canaan. I need to come.” She sank down. “I need to feel you come.”

I could only groan in response, the wild explosive delirium of feeling Aerie begin to rise and fall, faster and faster…it was too much. I couldn’t speak, could only grunt and moan and sigh. I gripped her hips and thrust with her, driving into her.

Faster, and faster.

My hips slapped loudly against her ass as our bodies met, and she was crying out nonstop, now, wordless howls of crazed bliss. I felt her touching herself, the swift circling movement of her hands brushing against the joining of our bodies.

Nothing but touch, her smell, our bodies united and sliding together.

I felt her come, felt her clamp around me, heard the hoarse cry of her voice as she detonated around me. “Cane! Cane, god…Canaan!” She fell forward, wrapping her arms under my neck, burying her face against the side of my throat. “Come for me, baby…come with me, Canaan!”

Her encouragement was all it took to let go.

My hands clenched into the crease of her hips and I pulled her down, burying myself deep, and I drove into her like that, hips rolling, grinding against her. She growled, a low murmur of ecstasy as she continued to come around me, and then I was letting go, heat blasting through me, my orgasm wrenching a shout out of me.

Her lips met mine, demanding, kiss-starved, desperate, as she felt me coming. She whimpered into the kiss, her hips rolling to milk my climax, which went on and on, until I was dizzy and gasping from the force of it.

Finally, after what felt like minutes of mutual orgasm, Aerie went limp on top of me, and I buried my face in her hair, whispering…I don’t even know what. Random sounds? Gibberish?

Aerie giggled, her body jiggling pleasantly. “Canaan, what are you saying?”

I laughed. “I don’t even know. That was so good it fucked all the sense out of me.”

She nodded. “God, wasn’t it?” She rolled off me and rested her head on my chest. “I like being blindfolded with you.”

I peeked, and saw that she still had hers on. I removed mine, and then hers, and her green/amber eyes met mine. “That was crazy intense.”

“It was more than just intense, Canaan.”

“I know,” I whispered. “But we’re not talking about that, are we?”

She shook her head. “No, not yet.”

A long comfortable silence in which we just…snuggled, for lack of a more manly word.

And then she lifted up on an elbow, staring down at me, her hair a messy tangle around her face. “Canaan…I have something to say to you.”

I frowned up at her, tangling my fingers in her hair. “Okay?”

She sucked in a deep breath, and let it out. “I want more.”

I blinked, hesitating to answer. “More, how?”

She rubbed my chest with one hand. “Just…physically. There’s more to this, but like you said, we’re not talking about that just yet.”

I hesitated again. “Um, I mean…we have sex, like, twice a day. How much more can we have?”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t mean in frequency. I mean in terms of…god, I don’t even know.” She flopped to her back beside me, sighing. “I don’t know how to put it.”

“Bluntly? Just say what you want, Aerie.”

“You make me crazy. I said this already. Well…I’ve always been the careful, responsible one. The reserved one. I never went really boy crazy like Tate did. And…you just…you bring something out of me.” She paused, thinking, then resumed. “I…at the risk of sounding weird or melodramatic…you’ve awoken something insatiable inside me. And I want more. More craziness.”

“So what does that look like, Aerie?”

She shrugged again. “I don’t know.” Another pause, then she glanced at me. “That’s not entirely true. You’re sometimes…it feels like you’re being careful with me. Gentle. Like you’re holding back from being as…as rough and wild, I guess, as you might otherwise want to be.”

I nodded. “That’s true enough.”

“I don’t want you to do that anymore. I don’t mean rough like painful, I don’t think I’d enjoy sadism or anything, but just…let go, with me. Don’t be gentle. Don’t be careful. Don’t always be…sweet.”

“I just…I guess I hold back because I don’t want to scare you, or make you think I need things to be all…caveman, or whatever, all the time. I like it when it’s slow and sweet.”

“And so do I,” she answered. “Just…not all the time. Like this—” she lifted the blindfold, “this was amazing. But I really do want you to actually tie me up and just do whatever the fuck you want to me. And I really do want to have sex in public with you, fully clothed, and read sexy poems to you. And whatever else.”

“Why, Aerie? Why do want all this with me?”

She shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know. You just make me want it. I’ve never wanted anything like what you make me want. But I feel safe with you. I trust you. So…I’m willing to let go, willing to explore a little.”

“I think that could be arranged.”

She quirked an eyebrow at me. “Arranged, huh?”

“Yeah. I may be able to figure something out, eventually.”

Aerie bent and snagged my T-shirt off the floor, tugging it on. “You promised me vodka. And also, I’m hungry again.”

“Several orgasms will do that to you, I guess.” I tugged my jeans on commando, fastened them, and we left Bax’s bedroom.

Aerie rummaged in the fridge while I got out the vodka, some glasses, and an unopened bottle of tonic water in the back of a cupboard. Aerie found a block of cheddar cheese and a package of crackers, and we took our snacks and drinks to the living room where we sat and demolished the cheese and crackers and more than a couple vodka tonics, all in a companionable silence.

We’d finished the snack and were discussing whether we wanted to hunt down Aerie’s iPad to watch Netflix when the door to the stairs opened and Corin and Tate entered the apartment. Which led to a long, tense, awkward silence.

Eventually, Tate shook her head, sighing. “I’m too exhausted to deal with this bullshit.” She rubbed her face with both hands, and then shot a look at Aerie and me. “My first act as an official crazy pregnant lady is to claim the bedroom for Corin and me. I can’t handle being apart from him right now.”

“We decided to crash in Bax’s room for the night, since there’s no word on when or if they’re coming back” I said. “We kind of assumed you guys would need the bedroom to yourselves.”

“Thank you for that,” Tate said, grabbing Corin’s hand and leading him toward the bedroom. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, I’m so completely done with this whole being awake bullshit.”

Corin hesitated though, as they passed us. “Hold on, though.” His eyes met mine, and being his twin, I could read the flurry of emotions there as easily as if we’d had an hour-long conversation laying it all out. “Cane, we need to—”

If I can read him, then he can read me, and I wasn’t ready for that yet, so I looked away. “Give me some time first, okay?” I cut in.

Tate hauled him away. “Not now, Cor. Just…not now.”

“Fuck—fine.” He glanced at me over his shoulder. “We’re gonna have this out, though, Cane.”

I nodded. “Absolutely. Just not now.”

“I just don’t get what you could possibly have to be pissed off about.”

“Corin!” Tate snapped. “Come on, baby. I need to sleep. This has been a hell of a day, okay? Please?”

He growled, pivoted on his heel, and vanished into the bedroom, and I watched him go. When Tate had the door closed behind them, I collapsed backward against the couch.

“How does he not get it?” I asked, irritation flooding through me.

“He’s dealing with a lot right now,” Aerie said, her voice gentle. “His whole life just got blown up.”

“Because of stupid decisions he made!”

Aerie twisted, leaning close and grazing my cheek with her hand. “I know, and he has to come to grips with that, as well as the fact that he’s going to be a father—which he literally just found out, and that whatever plans or dreams he may have had are now going to be changed in some way.” She rested her head on my shoulder. “I know you’re pissed, Cane, and you have every right to be, since this affects you too, but…have some compassion, huh? He’s your brother.”

I groaned. “Gahhhh, you’re right. You’re right. I’m just—”

“Trying to figure out where this leaves you?”

I nodded. “Yeah, exactly.”

She stood up and hauled me to my feet. “It’ll all work out, okay? For now, let’s just…sleep. Okay?”

I laughed. “I’m so worked up right now I don’t know if I’ll be able to.”

“Let’s just try.”

It was weirdly intimate, climbing into bed with Aerie, but not with the expectation of sex. I donned my underwear in exchange for the jeans, and we wiggled around a bit, trying to find a comfortable position…but neither of us was used to sleeping with another person, so it took us some time to figure out positions. Eventually, we settled for spooning, with her behind me, pressed up against me, her knees tucked up behind mine, her breath on my shoulder, her hand draped over my chest, her breasts flattened against my back.

And, to my surprise, I found myself falling asleep faster than I ever had before in my whole life.