Ash’s anxious face broke out into a smile when she eyed Slappy. “Oh, yes that’s right. I- oh my god. What time is it?” She grabbed for her phone off the night stand and breathed out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness. It’s only seven. We still have time to get a plan together and get ready. Twin Falls is a forty-minute drive and it will probably take at least half an hour to get out of the city. The thing starts at five, but I don’t want to look desperate and arrive right at the beginning, I’d rather wait an hour or whatever and hope that by then I can just get in and get out unnoticed or at least unscathed and I-”
“Hey, hey,” Trace cut her off. “It’s going to be okay. Just calm down. We have lots of time to talk and get ready. I know we didn’t mean to fall asleep last night, but worse things have happened. Don’t turn feral on me now.”
Ash rolled away from him, leaving his arms- and heart- empty. She glanced around the room wildly, like something awful was waiting in the corners to devour her. Her eyes were wide and wild, and he could practically feel the tension radiating off of her.
“Hey…” he brushed the cat away, who swatted at his hand angrily as he dared disturb the regal beast from the throne it made of his head. He rolled out of bed and stumbled, still sleepy, to his feet. He held out his arms, but Ash rolled her eyes and stalked out of the bedroom, muttering things under his breath he wasn’t quite sure were entirely complimentary.
Trace sucked it up. He couldn’t take Ash’s rudeness personal. He could tell that she was a hot mess already. He followed Slappy out into the kitchen, where Ash was busy cracking a can of tuna open. She poured it over a bowl of hard cat food and set it on the table.
“It’s the only way he’ll eat his crumbles. Ever.” She didn’t look at him. Her hand shook when she tucked the can opener back into the drawer.
Trace closed the distance easily with his long stride. He dropped one hand to the small of Ash’s back and she froze. He wrapped her up in his arms and tugged her against his chest. She tried to wriggle away, which only served to make his already raging hard hard-on that much harder.
“I think we need to take this back to the bedroom. You’re wound so tight that you’re going to explode.” He placed a seduction kiss on the nape of her neck where her hair had fallen out of the way, exposing the sweet, creamy skin to him. “You definitely need to take that tension out on me.”
“No,” she protested as she struggled harder. Her sweet hips grinding into his cock nearly made him see stars.
Trace licked that tender spot on her neck and Ash gasped. “Yes. Trust me on this one.” He suckled her skin and she made his favorite whimpering sound. “Have I ever steered you wrong?”
“Don’t start that,” she gasped. She tried one last time to push away, but he held her fast. “You giving me an orgasm isn’t going to fix my reunion problem, much as I would like it to.”
He rolled his eyes even though she couldn’t see. His hand snaked up from her waist and smoothed over her shirt, right above her nipple. She sucked in a breath and ground her hips against him. “That’s right, baby. You’re so responsive to me. You want this. Your body wants this. Just let go. And one orgasm… please.” He pinched her nipple and she made a sweet mewling sound in the back of her throat. “Do you know who it is you’re talking to? I think four should do nicely. Get you good and relaxed and then we’ll shower, eat some of those amazing leftovers your mom packed up for us last night, and go over our action plan.”
“We’ll go over it now,” Ash protested breathlessly.
Trace traced his way up her tunic, under her bra and straight to her other breast. He rolled her nipple between his thumb and index finger before he pinched her. Hard. She bucked against him so fiercely if she did it again, he doubted he’d last more than a few seconds with her when he finally got her naked.
“I’ll go back home and get changed and you’ll get yourself ready, though you could roll in mud or dog shit and still be the prettiest girl at that damn reunion.”
“Dog shit. Riiiiggghhhhtt. Get real.”
“Oh I’m real.” He pinched her nipple again and literally heard her grind her teeth together to keep from crying out. “I’m very, very real.” He whispered into her ear, for better effect.