SWNOVELS The Red Zone: Chapter 22
RAIN POUNDED against the roof of the pool house.
I hadn’t looked at a clock in hours, but my guess was that it was somewhere between midnight and two in the morning. There was no telling how long I’d spent lying in bed after the fashion show, replaying the image of seeing Mae so anxious and defeated in that closet.
Every time the thought popped into my head the only thing I could think of was how deeply I wished I was the one who took Abel’s place. What I wouldn’t give to lay out the fucker who was responsible for making Mae fall apart like that.
Any man whose presence made a woman burst into tears while shaking in fear? Scum of the fucking earth.
As angry as I was about the whole situation, the part that hurt the most, was watching silently as Mae breezed through the rest of the night without so much as a slip up in her demeanor. Smiling and shaking hands with attendee’s and donors like she hadn’t been sobbing in my arms two hours earlier.
I couldn’t help but wonder how many times she’d done that before. Enough to make it look effortless, and that thought alone ripped my heart right down the middle.
Setting up I threw my legs over the side of the bed, gripping firmly at the sheets as I replayed the nights events once again. Nope, I couldn’t do this. I needed to get up and find something to distract me long enough that I could push this entire night out from the forefront of my brain. Otherwise, I’d drive myself mad until sunrise.
The rain began thumping harder against the roof as I stood up off the bed, around the same time a faint knock sounded on the front door.
Recently, Mae and I had gotten into a comfortable nightly routine. At approximately ten o’clock while I was winding down for bed, I’d unlock the front door. Then, without fail, around eleven I’d hear the pool house door creak open, immediately followed by Mae’s footsteps as she tiptoed down the hall. In my half-woken state, I’d peel back the covers and she’d crawl into bed.
I looked forward to it every night.
She did this thing where she’d start the night at the opposite edge of the bed, laying there stiff as a board, careful not to move a muscle. Yet, at some point throughout the night, she’d shuffle her way over to my side of the bed and curl up against my back, spooning me until I was forced to get up for practice.
After tonight’s event, I assumed she’d want to sleep in her own bed for once. Take some time to decompress alone. Although, the thought of sleeping alone in this bed without her for the first time in weeks was half the reason I was still awake right now, despite having one of the biggest games of the season less than thirty-six hours from now.
There was a feeling in my gut telling me I should’ve banged down her door the second she got home until she let me in. Scooped her up into my arms and held her all night. But I didn’t want to overstep. My feelings for her were becoming clearer with each encounter we had, and I could only hope that hers were following suit.
I undid the lock, opening the front door with knotted brows, but they quickly softened as Mae came into view. She stood there, drenched head to toe in the t-shirt I’d given her the other night. But it was the tears welled in her eyes and the torment written across her face as she hugged herself tightly that did it for me.
Neither of us said a word.
The silence that passed between us said more than any words ever could. The way her chest rose and fell frantically as rain droplets continued to drizzle onto her. Standing here like this, allowing me to be the person she ran to when she needed someone most.
My Mae.
Without a second thought, I pulled her across the threshold, scooping a hand underneath her ass to hoist her up. My hand gripped tightly around her neck as I stood there lost in her lips for a long moment. Her kiss was slow yet ravishing as I walked us toward the bedroom.
She didn’t want to talk. And I wasn’t going to make her.
When she felt up for it, she could start from the beginning and give me all the details she wasn’t able to give me in the short time we had in the closet earlier. Right now though, my job was to make her feel good—make her forget.
Our tongues danced together as I placed her back against the bed. She locked her legs around my hips, pulling me closer to her. My shirt pooled around her waist and I pressed my hard on against her already wet panties.
It was such a turn on knowing how badly she wanted me.
Our kiss deepened and I worked my length over her clit until she was whimpering against my lips. Desperate for me to take things further, but instead, I slowed down. Dragging out the moment, her pleasure, as long as I could.
“Aren’t you going to undress me?” She looked up at me with those blue-gray eyes that made my chest ache, despite her being right in front of me.
“Stop talking and let me kiss you for a while.” I fused our lips together again, this time slowing the roll of my hips. Tonight, I wanted to take my sweet time with her. Letting our tongues brush together until we were both so turned on we couldn’t take it any longer. “Just lie back and let me take care of you.”
Lately, I’d been thinking about her a lot more than I liked to admit. More often than not, it wasn’t in a sexual context either. Occasionally, I’d let my mind drift. Thinking about the morning after our first night together when she tried to deny cuddling with me. Or the morning after we ditched the bet, enjoying a nice breakfast together with no arguments.
I held back a small laugh at all the recent reminders I got of her snoring. She’d swear up and down she didn’t do it—maybe even going as far as getting one of those sleep recording apps to prove she didn’t—but there was no hiding the truth.
My favorite though, was the night I made her come so hard so many times in a row that her mind turned into a puddle. One would’ve thought that’d be the part that stuck out in my mind most. But it wasn’t. Not by a landslide. Every time, without fail, my mind reverted back to scooping up her limp, replete body into my arms and carrying her to the bathtub.
The way she slumped against my chest, resting her head on my shoulder as I lathered her skin with soap and rinsed it off. Then drying her off and putting her in one of my t-shirts. There wasn’t a single complaint out of my mouth when she’d peeled back the covers on the bed and curled up on the left side, ready to stay the night as if she’d done it a thousand times before and would do it a thousand times again.
“Please,” she begged, pulling me from the recesses of my brain and back into the present moment.
At her request, I broke apart from her lips, although I could’ve stayed there for another half hour without so much as a complaint. I began placing searing kisses, across her jawline and down the sides of her neck, lifting her legs up and pinning them together by her ankles as I dropped down to my knees to lick her sweet pussy.
One flat tongued lick from her entrance to her clit, and she was already soaking wet for me. Fuck, I could do this all night, getting drunk off her juices until she was too overstimulated to keep going. Still holding her legs up by the ankles, I flicked my tongue against her clit until the room was filled with her cries of pleasure. It was only once her thighs started to quiver that I stuck two fingers deep inside her, to push out her orgasm as it came closer to its peak.
Mae’s head shot up and she placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from continuing as her walls started to tighten around my fingers. “No, please. I want it with you inside me.”
My pretty girl wanted to come on my cock.
How could I deny her that gratification?
“Spread your legs and play with your pussy for me.”
I peeled off my sweatpants, unleashing my hard cock while she peeled off her t-shirt. Reaching over to the nightstand to grab a condom, I glanced over at Mae, who shook her head while toying with her clit. “I don’t want anything between us right now.”
This girl.
Settling between her legs, I drove my length into her, making her take all of me at once as I sealed our mouths together. A delicious gasp breezed past her lips as I filled her to the hilt.
That sound.
It unfurled something deep, something primal inside me that I couldn’t put words to. Whatever it was, I craved it.
Dropping down, I burrowed against her neck, licking and sucking at the sensitive skin I knew would elicit more of those heavenly noises from her.
I worked my hips, finding the usual hard, steady rhythm that I knew she liked. That was until she gripped the side to my waist, urging me to go slower.
“Can you…” Mae’s words trailed off.
“Do you want me to be gentle, baby?”
She nodded, giving me a shy smile that was unlike anything I had ever seen from her. This girl showing me her soft side? I loved it.
“Okay, then let’s be gentle.”
I slowed down my pace, and instead of going hard and fast, I went deep and slow. Filling her completely with every stroke as needy moans broke free from her throat, echoing off the walls around us. Mae ran her nails up and down my neck as she pulled me in, pressing her lips to mine.
If I didn’t have a job, I’d stay in this bed and kiss her forever. Spending days, weeks, committing every inch of her mouth to memory. Picking up on all of her little antics, like how she’d bite my bottom lip to throw me off guard, so she could take dominance.
The two of us inched closer to our orgasms together, and as we got close, I thrust deep into her one more time. Switching to small movements of my tip rubbing against her g-spot while my pelvis brushed against her clit.
Mae gripped the back of my neck harder, deepening our kiss as the tension between us exploded, and our bodies shook together at the same time as we both came to a climax.
Fuck.
I didn’t know a feeling like that was humanly possible.
We continued to kiss while I stayed inside her, and the only thought in my brain was that there was something different about this time. There was something different about us—about me.
That wasn’t just sex.
Whatever it was, a thousand times of it would never be enough.