Chapter Eleven
Sophie
Christmas day was spent tending to the fire, playing chess, and talking. I had to admit that I was happier here than I would have been at home. After a visit to the nursing home, I would have just spent the evening alone in my apartment, watching Christmas specials and feeling sorry for myself because I had so little family left—and no one special to share the holidays with.
Connor insisted on making us dinner, opening a can of green beans he’d found and a packet of roast beef from the emergency kit. It was surprisingly delicious, and not what I was expecting from dehydrated food.
He poured himself a measure of the remaining bourbon with dinner, offering me one as well, but I declined. I had definitely overdone it the night that we slept together, but I’d needed the liquid courage then to finally do what I’d been dreaming about for so long.
I didn’t need that anymore.
We were sitting at the small table in the kitchen, having just finished our meal. We laughed as we exchanged stories about the worst Christmas gifts we’d ever received. For me, it was a kitten from my grandma when I was six years old, since I turned out to be allergic. For him, it was a hand-sewn oven mitt from his aunt that wasn’t thick enough and resulted in burns on all of his fingers when he tried to use it.
He recounted the experience, detailing that the burn happened on Christmas day when he was trying to pull a pork roast from the oven at his sister’s house. He ended up dropping the whole thing, shattering the ceramic pan and sending the roast rolling across the floor while hot juice from the pork splashed on his pants.
I was chuckling as the story ended, starting to stand to take our dirty plates to the sink, when the lights suddenly went out, plunging us into near darkness. If it wasn’t for the light coming from the fire, we wouldn’t have been able to see anything.
“Shit,” Connor mumbled, standing beside me. I reached out and took his hand as a particularly fierce wind buffeted against the cabin. “It’s okay. The weather just knocked out the electricity.”
Connor squeezed my hand and led me to the fire, where we took a seat on the rug in front of the hearth. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t sit on the couch, but when I turned to ask him, the words died in my throat. The look of burning desire on his face stole my breath. His fingers brushed against my cheek as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, and I felt a tingling sensation spread across my sensitive skin. The setting was too romantic to be denied, and we didn’t need words as we moved closer to each other, our lips connecting in a rough, demanding kiss.
His tongue darted into my mouth, dominating me as he explored it’s depths. A hand slid up my thigh, tracing the curve of my hip before sliding around to my back. He pulled me closer, and I let him move my body the way he wanted, surrendering to him in every way.
I’d always had feelings for Connor that went deeper than just physical attraction. I respected him, admired him. But now I could feel a deeper connection forming between us, and it wasn’t just the kind that came from hot sex. It was more concrete than that, the sort of thing that could lay a foundation for more if we wanted it to.
I want more from this,I thought.
But did he? I wasn’t sure. All of his talk about being in a bubble and enjoying ourselves while we were here made me unsure about the endgame between us, but it didn’t change the way I felt. I was falling for him.
Connor’s hands went to the hem of my shirt, pulling it up over my head, and I didn’t hesitate to let him. The hungry look on his face as he drank in the sight of my bare breasts made me feel like prey about to be devoured. Why did I like that feeling so much?
“No bra?” he asked, his voice raspy.
“When I took a shower earlier, I didn’t want to put my dirty lingerie back on, so—”
“So, you’re not wearing panties either?” he asked, his tongue darting out to lick his lips.
His fingers unbuttoned my jeans and started to pull them down before I had the chance to answer him, but he found out quickly enough as he tossed my pants aside and I was exposed to his view.
“Fuck, Sophie, do you have any idea how gorgeous you are in the firelight?”
I reached out to pull off his shirt, eager to see the light dance across his own skin, but Connor moved away just far enough that I couldn’t reach him. I let out a small noise of protest, but he just shook his head.
“Not yet, sweetheart. This part is all about you.”
“But—”
“Shhh,” he placed a finger over my lips and smirked. “We have plenty of time for more later. Right now, I’ve got to taste you.”
I gasped as he lowered his head, capturing a hardened nipple in his mouth. Connor’s hands moved to my back to hold me in place as his tongue licked and his mouth suckled the sensitive tip. Every dragging pull of his mouth on my breast caused a clenching at my core, and I moaned loudly in the quiet cabin. When he pulled his mouth away, Connor blew on the wet skin, making it tighten as I shuddered.
Urging me to lay back, Connor hovered over my body, pressing kisses along my stomach. With each wet contact of his lips, I felt a jolt of electricity go through me and it was impossible not to squirm. My entire body was strung tight with anticipation. Connor put his big hand on my lower stomach, holding me in place as he placed a kiss to the top of my mound.
“Oh my God,” I groaned as he moved even lower, licking up my center in one long, slow swipe that made my thighs tremble.
Connor continued to hold me in place as he lavished me with his tongue. I could feel myself getting wetter and wetter, and he lapped it all up, driving me crazy with the pleasure of it all. My hands went to his head, boldly pulling him even closer as an undeniable heat gathered in my body, a build-up of a release that he was driving me toward as his tongue flicked over my clit, then sucked.
“Connor!” I cried out loudly, as I tried to thrust my hips up and down as much as I could while he held me in place.