Page 31

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

SUTTON

I had no idea what time it was when Atlas slipped into bed behind me.

With the shades drawn, it was as dark as midnight in his bedroom, so it could’ve been 4 p.m. or 4 a.m.

With the gentle way he was trying to get into bed—a difficult feat for a man his size—I figured he was making an effort not to wake me.

And as amusing as it was for him to attempt stealth, I decided to put him out of his misery.

I reached back until I brushed his skin and murmured, “What time is it?”

He exhaled what sounded an awful lot like a relieved breath and shifted closer, wrapping an arm around my waist. His bare chest was a welcome warmth against my back, and I snuggled into him.

“Late. Are you hungry?”

Even the thought of food turned my stomach, and I let out a soft groan.

“Not even a little. Tell me about your day.”

“Not much to tell.”

“No? How about we start with you giving my daughter unfettered access to your credit card?”

“It’s just to get shit for her room since a fuckup on my watch caused half of her things to be ruined.” He pressed his nose to the back of my neck and inhaled deeply.

“I’d give you one, too, if I thought for half a second you’d use it.”

Warmth bloomed in my chest at the realization of just how well this man knew me.

Whether I had intended that to happen or not.

“Doesn’t matter anyway,” I said.

“New shit keeps showing up in my bedroom, regardless.”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

“No? Then we really need to have a talk with your grounds keeper, because I don’t think it’s appropriate that he’s leaving panties on my bed.”

“That was to replace the ones I ripped off you the other night.”

“Okay, and how about the jersey with your name and number on it?”

“You need something to wear to the homecoming game.”

“Uh-huh, and how about the?—”

“Did you know some punk little shit won’t leave Laurel alone?”

“What? Since when?”

“I don’t know when it started—at least a few weeks. All I know is I’m putting a stop to it real damn quick.” His words, though spoken softly, were firm, his resolve seeping into each syllable.

So…this was what contentment felt like.

I loved this little life Laurel and I had built.

But there was no denying it got lonely.

Would be even lonelier once she went off to college and I was by myself.

I knew that was still two years away, and if my past was anything to go by, we wouldn’t even be here when that time rolled around.

Still, a glimpse of my future flashed before my eyes—Laurel coming home from college to see me.

But that home wasn’t the cottage or some vague residence in some unknown town.

It was this house. And it wasn’t just me she was visiting.

It was Atlas and the kitten of terror too.

That thought should have scared me more than it did.

Should have sent me running.

But I was too exhausted, my meds forcing me to suffer through what I referred to as a migraine hangover.

“How’s your head?” Atlas murmured against my temple, tucking his legs beneath mine.

“Just a dull throb now. It should be gone in the morning.”

He hummed and palmed my stomach, sliding his hand down until he tucked the tips of his fingers into my panties.

“Maybe I can help you with that and get you back to sleep.”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

“I heard orgasms relieve headaches.”

“Oh, you heard that, huh?”

“I may have done a little research today.”

“You have a lot of players who are migraine sufferers?”

“Something like that.”

I breathed out a laugh.

“While I very much appreciate the offer, being on the receiving end of one of your ground-shaking fucks is a surefire way to throw me right back into Migraineville.”

“I wasn’t talking about fucking you. Jesus, trouble, how selfish do you think I am?”

I lifted a single shoulder in a shrug.

“You did say you didn’t want to go a day without it.”

“I say a lot of things when I’m drunk on your pussy. I’m not going to do anything that would make this worse for you.” Lowering his voice, he grumbled, “God knows if I don’t concentrate at work tomorrow, they’ll probably fire me.”

A smile curved the corner of my lips, and I rested my hand on top of his.

“Are you saying you were distracted today because of me?”

He tucked his face into my neck, scraping his teeth along the sensitive skin.

“I’m saying I want to make you come slow and easy so you can get some relief.”

“What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me. It won’t be the first time this magic pussy has sent me to sleep with a hard-on. Now, are you going to let me make you come?”

“Nice and easy?” I huffed out a breath, knowing the likelihood of that was slim.

I never got there nice and easy.

“You can try.”

He hummed against my skin, his voice a low rumble.

“What did I tell you about that? I don’t try, I just do.”

Reaching down, he gripped my knee and tugged my leg back over his, opening me wide for him.

Then he ran his hand down my stomach and slipped it into my panties.

The first brush of his rough fingertip against my clit made me gasp and arch against him.

“Easy,” he murmured.

He ran his fingers up and down my pussy lips, softly stroking me until I relaxed back into him.

With relentless patience, he teased me in languid strokes, his lips against the back of my neck as he slowly worked me up.

Finally, he pressed his palm against my clit and slid his middle finger the barest inch inside me, dragging a low moan from my lips.

“See? Even soft and sweet, I can get this pussy wet, can’t I?”

I hummed and reached down, gripping his forearm.

Urging him to go faster, deeper.

But that move also made me tense up, the answering pounding of my head reminding me why he was doing this in the first place.

“Relax. I told you I’d get you there, didn’t I?”

I made a noise of agreement and once again melted into the warmth of him against my back.

“Good girl. You know I deliver on my promises, don’t you? Know I can make this perfect cunt come for me however I want.”

“Yes,” I breathed.

There was no denying the truth of that anymore.

Not when my clit tingled as heat bloomed low in my belly, that familiar peak within reach.

A peak he’d gotten me to countless times before.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to my neck.

“Trust me to get you there.”

Mere months ago, that statement would have been laughable.

I didn’t trust easily, certainly not men.

But somehow, beyond all reason, this man had worked his way in.

Busted through the walls I’d erected long ago, as if they were made of nothing more than tissue paper.

And then he’d settled in beside me as if that was where he was always meant to be.

A whisper in the back of my mind wondered if this was a good idea.

If getting involved with my landlord—the person who held Laurel’s and my shelter in the palm of his hand—was in my best interest.

But before those worries could take root and grow into something I could no longer ignore, Atlas did exactly what he’d promised.

With a soft circle around my clit and a scrape of his teeth at the sensitive spot behind my ear, I came.

“There’s my good girl,” he said, pure satisfaction in his tone.

This wasn’t the earth-shattering climax of a tsunami I was used to with him—one that dragged me under whether I wanted it to or not.

Instead, it was soft waves lapping at the shore, a rush of bliss rolling over me as tension seeped from my bones.

With his hand still cupping my pussy, his cock undeniably hard against my ass, he brushed a kiss against my neck.

His voice was a low rumble when he said, “Night, trouble.”

And just like that, I drifted off, snuggled into the only man I’d ever felt this safe with.

Content with the knowledge that, for now at least, I was exactly where I should be.