Page 28

27

EMBER

“ I t’s been a long time since I’ve been here,” I say, stepping into Atom’s home.

“Yeah. Well. Hope it looks better than the last time.”

There is still a lot of wood paneling and wide beams in the ceiling. The open-plan space has beautiful wide plank floors that have been refinished. And there’s too much taxidermy for my tastes. But the furnishings are soft and plush, the fireplace huge, and the view of the mountains spectacular.

“You’re right, it’s exactly the same, and yet better.”

He slips his Stetson off and places it on a hook, brim up, by the door. He once told me it was an old cowboy custom to store it that way, so the luck didn’t fall out of it.

“Glad you like it.” Atom slides my bag off my shoulder and leads me to the kitchen. “Weird thing about this place. I love it. I love the bones of it, the view, how far it is from the main ranch, and I want to stay here. I’m not much of a homemaker, but I’ve done my best. It’s just…I don’t own it. I don’t own the land it sits on. I can’t renovate it the way I want it because someone will get offended that the fireplace has been there a hundred years or the bear head on the wall over there was hunted by my great-great-great-grandpa.”

“I suppose it’s a bit like living in a museum in some ways.”

Atom touches my cheek. “Yeah. It feels like that. Preserve. Care for it. But don’t fuck around with it.”

“And you aren’t able to stay here and make it your own.”

He nods. “Exactly. It’s the impermanence. And worse, I only get to change houses when someone dies. It used to be the average age of a man in 1900 was, like, forty-six years old or something. When the ranch and this whole ‘pass it down to the oldest son’ bullshit started, a man didn’t live as long as my father and grandpa. If we were living back a hundred years, I’d already be running the ranch, and my dad and grandpa would be dead.”

“So, you’re in a holding pattern, like they use for airplanes in the sky.”

Atom nods. “Yeah. That’s exactly what it is. I’m worried about what Dad will leave me with. And I have plans that rely on the next few years rolling a certain way. Beer?”

I shake my head. “No. We need to get you into the shower.”

A sly grin graces Atom’s lips. “Are you gonna play nurse?”

“If it gets you into the shower quicker, I’ll play anything you want.”

“Do it,” he says. “Be my nurse.”

I straighten my shoulders. “Mr. Addams, you shouldn’t be out of bed and moving around right now.”

Atom grins. “I was feeling kinda dirty, Nurse Deeks.”

“A sponge bath in bed might get messy, but if you don’t mind me overstepping the boundaries of nurse and patient, I could help you in the shower.”

“I might need help getting out of these clothes.”

I step into his space and start to unbutton his shirt. “It was foolish of you to put so many clothes on.” My fingers slip through the gap in the fabric, brushing the coarse hairs on his chest.

“My mistake. I’ll wear less next time.”

I look at the rips in the shirt and lose character for a moment. “Any less and you’d have been in a lot worse shape.”

Atom runs a knuckle down my cheek. “I’ve survived worse, Nurse Deeks.”

I look up at him. “I wish you didn’t have shit like this to survive, Mr. Addams.”

He tips my chin and bends to kiss me. “I’ll always come back to you, Em.”

I realize I’ve been at overwhelm since that man’s face appeared at the kitchen window, and I can’t help the tear that spills over my eyelashes.

“No crying on duty, Nurse Deeks,” he says, but his voice is ripe with sympathy.

For me.

When he’s the one who gave chase to the men who would hurt me and got thrown from his bike.

So, I shake off the tears and do my best to replace them with a smile. “Kick off your boots on the way to the bathroom.”

He tips an imaginary Stetson. “Yes, ma’am.”

By the time we reach the simple bathroom clad in white tile with black fixings, he’s lost his boots, his belt, and his shirt.

“You need new socks,” I say, looking down at yet another hole.

“Or a wife who knows how to darn.”

“You’re richer than sin, Mr. Addams. You want new socks, I suggest you buy them.”

“Noted.”

I kneel in front of him and remove the socks one at a time. Then, I open the button and lower the zipper on his jeans. In anticipation, his cock is already hard, bobbing in front of my face as I attempt to tug the denim and underwear down his legs.

When I’m done, Atom is utterly naked, and I’m still fully dressed. There’s a heady power to it.

“Kiss it,” Atom says, tipping his chin in the direction of his cock.

I give it the briefest of kisses, a brush of lips on the head, designed to leave him wanting. “You have to follow procedure. Get in the shower, first.”

Atom stares down at me for a moment, then shakes his head. “You’re never gonna make any of this easy, are you?”

“I’m not sure easy is in my nature. Would you want it any other way?”

“No, ma’am.”

He steps into the shower and starts the water running, holding his hand out beneath the spray to test the temperature. I love everything about this man’s body. Sure, he’s got ass cheeks that could probably crack a walnut, but it’s the breadth of his shoulders, the deeply muscled arms, and the way his abs pop when he raises his hands to run them through his hair as he steps beneath the spray.

When he sees me watching, he grins and slides his palms down his chest, until he reaches his cock. “You gonna come soap me, Nurse Deeks?”

If he wants to play and tease, I can do that too. I’m not in the sexiest of outfits. I kicked my sneakers off by the door, so I’m left in jeans and a T-shirt because I didn’t want to ride Lemmy for any distance wearing cutoff shorts. And I don’t have the best moves.

But Atom doesn’t seem to care.

He strokes his cock gently as I reach for the button on my jeans and shimmy them slowly over my hips. I kick them off and then grab the hem of the fitted T-shirt.

“You’ve got an incredible body, Nurse Deeks,” Atom says gruffly.

“Patients should be more focused on their own recovery than their nurse’s figure.” I toss the T-shirt to the ground.

“Hard to focus on anything other than those magnificent tits and all that smooth skin.”

“These?” I ask, squeezing them together as his eyes widen.

“Lose the bra, Nurse.”

I do as he says, and the panties. “Now, I need to wash you, and you aren’t allowed to touch me while I perform my duties.”

“Em,” Atom says, reaching for me.

“Uh-uh, Mr. Addams. That’s a violation of protocol. Please put your hands behind your back and leave them there.”

Atom narrows his eyes. “I’m not sure I’m loving this game anymore.”

“I am. Hands. Back. Now.”

With a wry smile, he does as I ask, and I begin the job of cleaning him. I wash his hair, then lead him back to rinse. Then, I add some conditioner before I begin the task of washing his face, neck, and chest.

His skin ripples with goose bumps, even though the shower water is hot. His nipples form erect peaks as I run my palms over his skin.

It’s an intimate thing to wash another human being with your bare hands. You touch every part of their body, even their most private places. And Atom’s need vibrates through me.

His tongue snakes over his lower lip as I slide both hands down either side of his groin, doing my best not to brush his cock at all.

It gives a small jerk of a bounce as I do so.

Atom moves as if to grab me, and I step away, my palms in the air. “Mr. Addams. Please. Don’t make me leave you in this state because you can’t follow the rules.”

“Em.” My name comes out accompanied by a groan, and I love the power I hold right now.

I step behind him and slide my soapy hands over his shoulders, down the strong muscles that flank his spine, to the dimples that sit at the base of his spine. Water splashes over me as I slide the side of my soapy palm through his butt cheeks.

It’s a slow and easy slide over his asshole to his balls.

“Fuck.” Atom hisses as his hips jerk.

I’ve read about prostate orgasms in men, but I’ve never tried giving one. I massage the space between his balls and ass with soapy fingers.

Atom sucks in a shuddering breath, but opens his legs a little wider, giving me more room.

“Feeling cleaner, Mr. Addams?”

“You’re testing my patience, Nurse Deeks.”

“Well, I like to test my patients,” I say, happy with my little play on words.

“Fuck,” he groans when I stop.

I chuckle at that as I turn him around and shove him one step back beneath the spray. In this intimate world of his shower, it’s easy to lose myself in him and pretend nothing exists outside these four walls. There are no men trying to extort me and others, there are no men running Atom off the road, there are no secrets from my father.

There is just me and him, and it’s all that matters.

I grip his chin, step up onto my toes, and tug his lips down to mine.

Atom respects my word and doesn’t move his hands, yet he kisses me in such a way, I feel as though he is wrapped around me.

“Let me,” he says against my mouth.

I shake my head. “Not yet.”

“I want to touch you, Em.”

“I know. I like that you’re being good and playing by the rules.”

He shakes his head softly. “There are no rules when it comes to you and me.”

I slip to my knees in front of him, my eyes on him the whole time. Red blotches of arousal mottle his chest, and his mouth is open as he breathes heavily.

Instead of reaching for his cock, I dip my head and run my tongue along the underside.

Atom’s head falls back. “Fuck, Em.”

I repeat the move, one long stroke that ends with a flick of the tiny piece of skin at the head.

Pre-cum drips from the tip, and I slide my tongue over it, licking it gently.

Atom lets out a feral groan, and I reward him by placing my hand on his shaft, gripping firmly, and stroking him as I take him into my mouth.

His eyes meet mine, and his hands break free of their unbounded hold to stroke my hair and cup my cheek as I work him over.

I let him continue for a minute, then say, “Hands, Mr. Addams.”

He quickly returns them behind his back.

I alternate between sucking hard and licking gently. Rubbing his head over my lips before tightening them to create friction as he surges back inside.

“Yeah, suck it hard like that, Em.”

He places his hand over mine, just long enough to encourage me to squeeze him even tighter than I was doing, then returns his hand behind his back.

“I really want to fuck your throat, Nurse Deeks.” His voice has dropped an octave, rougher than I’ve ever heard it.

I’ve never let anyone do that before, but I feel safe with this man. “Slowly.”

This time when I take him between my lips, I go past the point of comfort. When he reaches the back of my throat, I gag, and he groans.

The two things shouldn’t go together so perfectly, and yet, I feel myself getting wetter at the prospect of…more.

When I slide him out, I take a breath before doing it again. I try to relax the back of my throat, let it open like I’m about to take a large gulp of water, and ease his cock down farther. This time, my eyes water, but it’s easier. I only gag this time when I pull it out.

“Ah, fuck, Em. Feels so fucking good. Let me fuck it. Let me move, please.”

I look up at him, and the adoration I see in his eyes, the disbelief that we’re doing this, is enough. “Use me.”

Every feeling he has for me is etched in his expression as he slides his cock into my mouth and back towards my throat. I see the want and need and love and pride.

I feel his respect for me brush up against the desperate need he has as he follows my wishes. Slow and gentle, at first, as he fucks my mouth almost tenderly.

Then, his hips start to pick up speed.

“Jesus, Em. Don’t…fucking deserve…you.”

My jaw aches, my eyes water, and I don’t care about any of it, because there’s a pulsing in my clit that I can’t override. My control frays, wetness pools, and I drop my hand between my thighs.

I moan at the relief.

“Ah, yeah. Play with yourself,” Atom says with a grunt. “Stroke that clit for me. Work your pussy. But don’t come.”

I slide a finger between my lips and know it’s going to be hard to do as he says. I already feel the low vibration that says I’m close to an orgasm of my own.

I struggle to breathe, grabbing gulps of air as Atom withdraws. Saliva slides down my chin. I probably look like a hot mess but can’t bring myself to care. I’m lost in this moment with this man, exploring who we can be with one another.

“Wanna come over your tits, Nurse Deeks,” he says. “Can I use my hands?”

I nod and he withdraws, stroking his cock from balls to tip, before focusing more on the head.

“Feels like a waste,” he grunts. “Coming on you. Not in you.”

I must narrow my eyes in confusion.

“One day, I’m gonna pump this so far inside you, it’ll stay there for nine months.” He gasps in a breath. Then another.

A baby. He wants a baby with me. Despite the heat of the moment, I smile softly. “I want that too.”

“I want you knocked up so bad, Em. I wanna fuck you every day, come hard and deep, and stay there, plugging it in with my cock. And I want to fuck you from behind, holding on to your pregnant belly. Just the idea of it. Fuck—I’m gonna come.”

Long white streams spill from him, landing on my neck and over my chest, dripping from my breasts.

“Em. Fuck!”

The muscles in his neck go tight, his mouth open as his orgasm shakes through him.

“Suck it again,” he says breathlessly, offering his cock back to my lips, and I do as he commands, tasting the salty essence of him.

“Sweet baby Jesus, Nurse Deeks. That’s some mouth you’ve got.” He reaches toward my breast and scoops up some of the come spilled there. “And someday, when you’re ready. I’m gonna do this again, and finger fuck my cum deep inside you.”

Gently, he uses it to write the letter ‘A’ in the center of my forehead and grins. “Just fucking baptized you as mine. Stand up.”

He switches places with me, nudging me beneath the shower to rinse off, before he kneels in front of me. “Hands on the wall,” he says.

And it’s the only warning he gives me before he puts my leg over his shoulder and shows me just how good his mouth is.