Page 16 of Brood (After the End #5)

Chapter Six

Four days later, I stretch out on one of the lounges in the living area and plan to listen to music for the remainder of my afternoon break.

I thought Will might stop by today the way he often does, but he didn’t. Maybe he exercised and showered earlier. His schedule isn’t as regimented as mine, so he’ll often shape his days around whatever he has going on with his work.

It’s fine.

When I came out of the bathroom first thing this morning, Will was still in bed but awake. He asked about my period, and I told him it was pretty much done. I was hopeful, but I shouldn’t have been.

Just because I’m ridiculously excited about having sex with him again after five days without doesn’t mean he is too. After all, he’s not a young man. He’s mature and experienced. He’s got a lot of responsibilities. He’s not going to prioritize sex when there’s little chance of my getting pregnant.

He’s not sitting around fantasizing about it like me.

So I give myself a sensible, healthy lecture and find my favorite music on my tablet, setting it to play through the room’s speakers.

Like books, music is carefully regulated, and the only pieces that are freely available for members of the Refuge are instrumental.

Pre-War songs with lyrics too often expressed inflated views of romantic attachments or archaic religious faith, and those in our archive can only be accessed with permission.

But instrumental music is allowed, and my favorite is apparently about the planets, although I’ve never been able to understand how.

It doesn’t matter. I still love the songs. They make me feel.

I close my eyes as the first notes play, and I listen for several minutes. Will certainly will want to have sex this evening. I can wait.

I don’t mean to go to sleep, but I do.

* * *

I’m not sure what wakes me up, but something does. I blink several times and lift my head to peer around groggily.

Will is standing under the archway into the bedroom, buttoning up a clean white shirt.

His hair is damp. The scent of soap wafts toward me. He must have come in to shower and change clothes while I was sleeping obliviously.

“Hi,” I say, smiling at him and trying to shake the sleep out of my head.

“Hi.”

“I accidently fell asleep.”

“I saw that.” His brown eyes, even from this distance, are visibly relaxed. Amused. “I was trying to get in and out without waking you up.”

“Oh. I needed to be woken up.” I sit up, smoothing down my messy braid and dropping my feet to the floor. “What time is it?”

“Not even three yet. You’ve got plenty of time before your shift.”

“Oh. Good.”

We stare at each other for a minute.

“How long until you need to be back?” I finally ask.

“I’ve got an hour too.”

“Oh. Good.”

His mouth twitches up irresistibly.

The music I fell asleep to was soft and soothing, but it’s moved on to a different piece in the orchestral suite. This one is lively. Energetic. It seems to match the way my pulse points start to throb.

“Did you want to do something to fill up our free hour?” he asks, his voice thickening in that way it does in the bedroom.

Heat washes over me. “You just put your clothes on.”

“That’s not a deterrent.” His fingers are poised on the top button of his shirt. “I can take them off.”

I sit on the lounge motionless. Wait to see what he’ll do.

His head tilts to one side. “What is it?”

“You said you could take your clothes back off, so I’m waiting to see if you will.”

With a broadening smile, he walks toward me, unfastening one button and then another until his shirt is hanging open. He lets it slide down his shoulders and withdraws one hand, swinging the shirt with his other in circles timed with the music.

Then, without warning, he tosses it across the distance into the bedroom.

I giggle and straighten, oddly thrilled by the gesture and his expression.

He must see my appreciation because he starts working on the trousers, unfastening them and then letting them drop slowly down his legs. He steps out of one side and then brings his foot up so he can deftly catch the pants with one hand.

I’m laughing helplessly as he swings the trousers in the same rhythmic circles. I clap when they land right on top of his shirt on the floor of the bedroom.

Wearing just his white underwear, he takes a few steps closer to me, giving his hips two little pumps in time with the music. He’s already half-erect beneath the thin white fabric.

I’m laughing and staring and gaping at the same time. I’ve never seen him like this before, and I love it.

“What is that?” I ask through my bubbling hilarity.

“I saw it a pre-War movie a long time ago.”

“What movie?”

“A forbidden one. I was a teenager and wasn’t supposed to be watching it, but it was going around.” He’s not laughing out loud, but I see it in his eyes. “It’s supposed to be seductive, but it’s making you laugh, so I must not be doing it right.”

“You’re definitely doing it right.” I stand and start unbuttoning my shirt the way he did. When I’ve got it off, I swing it in circles and try to toss it toward his clothes on the floor.

It doesn’t even get close.

When I turn back with my mouth shaped like an O, Will is shaking with suppressed amusement.

“I can do it.” I slide my pants down and lift them with one foot the way he did. Grabbing them, I wind up and throw them more purposefully.

This time they land just beside his clothes.

It’s close enough. I raise my arms and hop a few times in victory. Then I try to roll my hips the way he did, matching the rhythm of the music.

He’s gazing down at me, not far away now. And on his face is an expression I’ve caught only brief glimpses of before. It’s still amused, but it’s also warm and soft and deep and strong.

All of it focused on me.

My breath catches in my throat. “I did it,” I whisper. I’m still wearing my panties and camisole, but I feel naked. Deliciously naked.

“You did.” He takes another step toward me. He gently brushes hair that’s come loose from my braid back behind my ears.

I smile up at him. “Can we have sex now?”

He chuckles again. Reaches around to find the elastic tie in my hair and slide it off so he can unbraid my hair. “We can. But first…”

“First what?”

He holds my face with one of his big hands. Then tilts his head toward mine until he can reach my mouth.

He kisses me.

It’s the very first time.

The kiss is no more than a gentle brush of his lips on mine, but it sends shivers of pleasure all through me. I’m panting when he straightens, searching my face for a reaction.

My response is dramatic. I wind my arms around his neck and pull him back down so I can kiss him again, this time deeper and more enthusiastically.

It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

The sensations overwhelm me, and they’re not only physical.

My heart throbs. Like it’s pulling toward Will through the connection of our mouths.

Soon, he’s even using his tongue, licking inside my mouth in a way that really gets me going.

My pussy aches, and when I feel the shape of his cock pressing against me, it aches even more.

“Will,” I finally mumble, “I really want to have sex now.”

“We’re going to have sex.” He’s smiling as he pulls out of the kiss. His eyes move from my face and down my body with a heated entitlement. “I’m going to fuck you real good. Right now.”

I’m so excited, I start toward the bedroom, but he grabs me before I can get very far. I squeal in delighted surprise as he swings me up until he’s carrying me cradled in his arms.

“What are you doing?” I ask, almost strangling on an intense mingling of laughter and arousal. “Is this something else from your forbidden movies?”

“Exactly that.” He bounces me slightly to readjust my position. Then leans down to give me another quick kiss. “Don’t tell anyone.”

He carries me through the archway and uses his elbow to turn on the lights.

Automatically, as I pass by the panel, I reach over to shift the white light to gold.

He pauses, frowning down at me.

“What?” I ask.

“Why do you always change the lights like that?”

“I like gold better.”

His previous mood has tempered, but he still looks gentle. Soft. “Tell me why.”

I swallow, briefly tempted to brush it off. But I feel close to him. Closer than I’ve ever felt to anyone. And he wants the truth from me. Glancing away, I admit, “It makes me look better.”

“Better how?”

“More…blond. Less white.” I’m embarrassed now, and it feels like I’ve ruined our previous mood.

He’s quiet as he carries me over to his bed and lays me down on top of the covers. Then he walks back over to the panel and changes the lights back to clear, true white.

After he sits on the edge of the bed, he reaches over to brush his fingers through my loose, messy hair a few times until he carefully picks up a bunch of it. Holds it. “Your hair is beautiful, Cadence. You’re beautiful. I had no idea you might ever think otherwise.”

I gulp. “I…I try not to be self-conscious. But no one else has hair like this. It’s a mutation.”

He shakes his head at the way I say the last word. “It’s beautiful. And it’s you. I don’t want you to ever try to hide it from me.”

I nod and have to swallow again to clear the emotion from my throat. “Okay. I’ll try.” Then, with a sigh, I add, “Now I’ve messed things up. We were going to have a good time.”

“We’re still going to have a good time. I promise you that.” He’s giving me that hot, tender look that makes my body feel like melting again.

He shucks his underwear and climbs on top of me.

Kissing him on the bed like this is just as good as it was standing. Even better because his weight is pressing down on me. I can still feel the shape of his erection nudging at my center, and his tongue slides deep into my mouth, making the same little thrusts as his hips.